Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, January 29,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editor
Pat Payne
Letters to the editor
University should speak out against war
On Jan. 21, a forum was held at the University to discuss whether the Uni
versity —as an institution—should speak out against war against Iraq at this
time. University President David Frohnmayer argued that the University
should not take a position on controversial issues and that “the state charter
prohibits the school from making formal statements on ‘partisan activities’”
(The Register-Guard, Jan. 23). While the charter restricts governance of the
faculty of the University to “the immediate government and discipline of it and
its students,” Frohnmayer missed two important points.
First, President Bush has announced that—even in the absence of a clear
and present danger to the United States or of U.N. sponsorship—he is willing
to invade Iraq, thereby violating the Constitution and the U.N. charter. How
can a research University justify silence in the face of such an assault on our
democracy, a key prerequisite to unfettered search for truth?
Second, given that the “immediate government” of the University would be
directly affected by a drain on state and federal resources resulting from any
war, should not the University as such try to prevent this as-yet-unjustified war?
Let us all, citizens and institutions alike, speak out against unprovoked ag
gression before it is too late.
Jette Foss
Institute of Molecular Biology
S&M a legitimate ‘playtime’ pursuit
Pat Payne’s comments in “Disrespect, Leather and the KKK” (ODE, Jan.
11) are what triggered this missive. I am into the S&M sexuality, and I agree
with him completely: It was an invasion of a serious arms expert’s privacy.
And Payne is right; spare us the word on Saddam Hussein’s no doubt many
fetishes. Too bad he isn’t into S&M; he could take all his aggression and let it
out in the bedroom, and maybe even have some fun!
There are 250 million pursuits of happiness out there in this fair land of
ours. Some of them are ones some of us don’t like. Whatever our feelings on
any given one, we must, as democratists, respect each other’s rights, as long
as they don’t really hurt anyone. The type of S&M we practice may cause us
to be called — and call ourselves — “sadists,” but we are not sadists like
Heinrich Himmler, Genghis Khan or Heliogabalus. Rather we enjoy a
shared exchange of heightened sensations, perhaps with some psychologi
cal play that may or may not accompany playtime.
As a child, I played “cowboys and Indians,” but that did not make me an In
dian. Now I play S&M. That does not make me Torquemada (and I don’t have
any idea how to spell Torque..., etc., but you already got the idea anyway).
P.S.: I just ran spell check. It came to “Saddam,” didn’t recognize it, and
— no kidding — the word it suggested was sadism!
Robb Goldstein
Chatham, N.Y.
S&M enthusiasts form caring relationships
Pat Payne may as well nominate himself for one of those awards he so
gratuitously handed out in “Disrespect, Leather and the KKK” (ODE, Jan.
11). To say that a person who finds themselves aroused by the thought of
being completely dominated by another needs to “find help on pages 569
570 of the Yellow Pages, under psychologists” should put him foremost in
the running for the “has no idea what he’s talking about” award.
To single out people and deride them for the ways in which they choose
to express themselves to their partners behind closed doors shows extreme
ignorance.
Perhaps “Captain Sensible” should do some research on this topic first.
Those who engage in S&M behavior are extremely caring of their partners’
wants, desires and concerns, taking great pains to ensure that the activities
they engage in will not harm either person. A relationship such as this requires
trust beyond that which many spouses of any gender hold for each other.
The people who engage in these activities take much more care not to
cause harm to the recipient of their attentions than a “normal” person hav
ing a one-night stand at a bar would.
Do your homework before sounding off on issues that you have no per
sonal experience whatsoever with.
John Taylor
senior
biochemistry
Elena Jonas
sophomore
undeclared
Sex ed, legal abortion will save lives
Regarding our president’s Sanctity of Life Day last weekend, I have two
points.
Each person should have the choice to decide what happens to his or her
own body. If you do not believe in a woman’s right to have an abortion to ter
minate a pregnancy, don’t have one. Any woman who does wish to have this
procedure deserves to be able to make her own decision on this issue.
Second, to those who support abstinence-only sex education for our chil
dren, please get your heads out of the sand. Our young people need the most
medically-accurate information available to protect and educate themselves
about life. They say “ignorance is bliss,” but in this case ignorance, or the lack
of accurate information, will just lead to increased teenage pregnancy and the
spread of AIDS and other STDs. AIDS still leads to death the last time I
looked. Teenagers and adults will keep having sex and not just to procreate
—let’s not keep anyone from information that may save their life.
Please keep abortion safe and legal and let’s all push for medically-ac
curate sex education in our schools.
Albert Kaufman
Portland
'TRAQ. ISN'T
rCOOPfRATlNGi ENOUGH
WITH OUfc INSPECTIONS
TO UNGoMER BMNEb
WEAPONS, 0f KAA'S.S,
^E^TRUCnoN
:\»I*R?/i
■SW
Steve Baggs Emerald
Cintas doesn ’t deserve to recruit
Guest commentary
This week, a company is coming to
campus that should not be welcome
here. Cintas Corp., which is recruiting
at the Career Fair, has repeatedly bro
ken the law while mistreating its own
employees and the environment.
Cintas is the biggest uniform and
laundry business in the country. It’s a
very profitable company, with record
profits last year of more than $200 mil
lion. And the people at the top are
making off like bandits — the CEO
gave himself a $51,000 raise last year
(more than most workers make in a
year), and the chairman of the board
is listed by Forbes as one of the richest
people in American, with a net worth
of more than $1.6 billion.
But while Cintas may be a leader in
profits and executive pay, it is at the
bottom in terms of how it treats its em
ployees and local communities. Cin
tas’ workers are struggling to get a fair
raise while being forced to cope with
rising health care charges and without
any secure retirement plan.
More shocking, Cintas employees
have been subject to numerous cas
es of harassment and discrimination.
The company was forced to pay
more than $200,000 in damages after
illegally discriminating against a fe
male employee and then firing her
for complaining. Another African
American employee was told by a
manager that “Cintas didn’t promote
minorities” and that “upper manage
ment did not want black employees
working in supervisory capacities.”
All told, there have been more than
40 lawsuits against Cintas for dis
crimination on the basis of race, gen
der, age and disability.
In addition, the company regular
ly cheats its employees out of the
wages they’ve earned. In California,
Cintas employees recently won a
class action suit worth millions of
dollars when the company was found
guilty of cheating its workers out of
overtime pay. This is in addition to at
least eight other Cintas lawsuits, ci
tations or fines for failure to pay min
imum wage or overtime.
Cintas is also a notoriously anti
union employer — the company has
been cited 25 different times for vio
lating federal labor laws.
Finally, Cintas is a polluter. In Con
necticut, Cintas was sued for repeat
ed violation of state and federal clean
water laws. In California, the compa
ny was served an “Imminent and
Substantial Endangerment and Re
mediation Order” by the Department
of Toxic Substances Control.
This is a company that should not
be welcome on our campus. At the
very least, the company should be re
quired to disclose all its wrongdoing to
University students before asking us to
go work for it. Right now, Cintas em
ployees across the country are trying
to unionize and make sure they get
treated fairly; and community activists
are trying to force the company to
clean up its environmental act.
If students knew the facts, I don’t
think anyone would take a job with
this company until it changes its ways.
The Career Center should make all
these facts known to students and not
be part of hoodwinking us into work
ing for an employer like this.
Robert Hayden is a senior in political
science.
Online poll
Each week, the Emerald
publishes the previous week’s
poll results and the coming
week's poll question. Visit
www.dailyemeraid.com to
vote.
Last week: Do you agree with
the University of Michigan’s
race-based admissions policy?
Results: 59 total votes
Yes, Michigan is doing the right
thing — 27.1 percent, or 16
votes
Yes, Michigan’s system is better
than nothing — 1 $.3 percent,
or 9 votes
No, having a point system is
unfair — 8,8 percent, or 8 votes
No, race should never be a
factor—39 percent, or 23
votes
Don’t know — 1.7 percent, or 1
votes
Leave me alone!-- 3.4 percent,
or 2 votes
This week: If found guilty,
should ASUO Vice President Ben
Buzbee be removed from
office?
Chokes: Yes — He broke the
taw; Yes — He is a poor
representative of the students;
No — His personal and
professional life should remain
separate;
No — It’s not that big a deal;
Don’t know; Don’t can*;
i
CORRECTION
Some of College
Democrats co-Chairman
Mike Linman’s comments
were taken out of context
in Tuesday’s student
walkout article (“Midday
walkout calls for 'yes’
votes on 2 8,” ODE Jan.
28). Unman said that if
Measure 28 fails, classes
would have to be cut only
if the tuition surcharge
was not implemented to
make up the budget
shortfall and the
administration wasn’t
bearing the brunt of
the cuts.
the Emerald regrets
the error.