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Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Monday, March 31,2003
-- Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant:
Salena De La Cruz
Emerald prepares
coverage of war,
ASUO elections
It’s so unfair. The sun is shining in the office windows this
afternoon, and I can’t help wondering why. Where was it last
week? Why don’t we have another week off? I need more
spring break.
But we’re back, and as we prepare to cover two extensive
news events — war in Iraq and ASUO elections — I thought I
should tell you what we’re doing and why.
Our war coverage, at least as far as national news goes,
will be light. We don’t have the space to
run six or seven wire stories every day,
so we will generally have only one up
date on the front page. When we run
other wire, we will try to cover different
domestic and world issues. While war is
important, it can be dangerous for the
public to ignore the other things gov
ernment is doing.
We will try to bring other sides of the
war story home, by localizing different
issues that aren’t receiving as much
coverage in other media. Please call or
e-mail us with story ideas, names of
loved ones sent to battle and news tips
about local events.
And then we have the ASUO elections. While it doesn’t
have the gravity of war, electing student leaders is impor
tant. The ASUO Executive is students’ voice and represen
tation at the local, state and federal levels. Students should
be sure these folks represent their interests and opinions.
The ASUO Student Senate is equally important, if not more
so. The finance senators, in particular, are responsible for
spending millions of dollars in student incidental fees. Stu
dents must be informed about the know-how and agenda of
these candidates.
With the importance of student senators in mind, our elec
tions coverage this year is a bit different than in the past. In
stead of only covering the Executive race, we are writing sto
ries for every contested race — 18 in all — and with the
primary election beginning April 9, we have only seven pub
lishing days in which to do it. This means a flurry of stories,
beginning today.
Through April 7, on the front page we will print two candi
date stories every day. We have three Executive stories, each
of them looking at two candidate tickets in the race. Those
run today, Tuesday and Wednesday. We have eight finance
senator stories and one At-Large Programs Finance Commit
tee story, each of them looking at all the candidates in a sin
gle race (for Senate Seat 1 or Senate Seat 2, etc.). Those run
one per day today, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then two per
day through April 7.
On April 8, we will have a special section inside the paper
for the remaining five senate races, the Associated Students
Presidential Advisory Council Race, the At-Large EMU Board
races and the ballot measures.
While all of these stories are based on interviews with the
candidates, the entire transcripts of the interviews will not fit
in the paper. They will, however, be available online, linked
from the candidate stories.
The elections begin April 9, and on that day the editorial
board will devote the entire Commentary section to the Emer
ald’s endorsements. We will be considering the transcripts of
interviews as well as campaign materials. Feel free to drop off
any materials at the office to my attention.
Which brings me to my final item: letters in support of can
didates. For space reasons, we have some guidelines. Any let
ters endorsing a specific person are limited to 200 words or
less, and they must be received by 4 p.m. Friday or they will
not be able to run. Please include a phone number and e-mail
for verification.
That’s our plan; we’ll keep you informed.
Michael J.
Kleckner
The editor's office
Contact the editor-in-chief at editor@dailyemerald.com.
MAJORITY SOPPORT
It’s happened, war, and with it
tragedy, death, sadness and loss.
Though I am saddened by these
things, I can’t help but remember the
purpose we have. Our purpose is to rid
Iraq and the world of a madman with
destruction on his mind and the but
ton to do it at his fingertips.
Some of you may argue that President
George W. Bush is the madman because
of the civilians being killed in Iraq. In
fact, you think we shouldn’t be at war at
all. I agree that it’s terrible that innocent
people are being killed. And no one re
ally wants war, including me, despite
what my last column said. However, I
am not naive enough to believe that by
doing nothing, nothing bad will happen.
Had we done nothing, we would be sit
ting here, waiting for more smoke and
bodies to clear. We would be waiting for
another Sept. 11.
However, despite what most people
think here in Eugene, polls show that
support for Bush
and his decision to
go to war remain
strong. The polls
show 72 percent of
respondents in the
ABC News/Wash
ington Post poll
support the war
versus 26 percent
who opposed it. I
believe at least 20
percent of that
number are people
from Eugene.
Your “peace” protests weren’t the
majority; your voice wasn’t the one
heard. The majority was in favor of go
ing to war and showing Saddam Hus
sein that the United States will not sit
by and watch a madman hold weapons
that can not only hurt his people but
ones that could come back to haunt
this country. Steps have been taken,
Salena
De La Cruz
Say it loud
Peter Utsey Emerald
the people have spoken — it s time to
rid the world of this madman. Whether
for peace or for fighting, none of us
want to see people killed.
But when and how do we decide
whose life is worth more than anoth
er’s? I ask a question to those who
protest. Who would you protect? Who
would you rather die? If it was between
your families and those of the Iraqi peo
ple, who would you choose?
On another front, you’ve protested
loud and proud. You continue to do so,
and I commend you for your persever
ance to your cause. But, now it is time
to use your voice to show support — if
not for the president and his decisions,
then for the troops who have taken their
lives and used them to give the Iraqi
people the same kind of freedoms that
you have.
You protest because you can. You’re
free to speak because you can. You’re
free to march because you can. Why?
Through the years, soldiers fought for
the freedoms our country has, and it’s
about time you support it instead of
protest it.
They fight because they believe in
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness.” They fight so their children and
their children’s children will understand
and believe in freedom for every coun
try around the world, not just the Unit
ed States. They fight because it’s our
time to fight.
Contact the columnist
atsalenadelacruz@dailyemerald.com.
Her views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Dry endorsement insults greek system
Guest commentary
What has happened to the greek sys
tem at University of Oregon? Through
out my time at Oregon, all I have seen is
a constant downfall and University dis
crimination to the time-honored greek
organizations on this campus. How could
a community with more than 100 years
of pride and tradition be diminished and
insulted so quickly and silently?
I used to believe that the dry endorse
ment policy was the main concern for
the greek system, and many of us battled
it as vigorously as possible. However, it is
most apparent to me now that the dry
policy is merely the tip of the iceberg.
When I attended a meeting with Uni
versity President Dave Frohnmayer last
spring to debate the problems and con
cerns with the new endorsement crite
ria, I was angered and shocked to see
how hypocritical and unwilling to com
promise the administration was. Each
argument that I made was either met
with subject change or completely un
realistic counterpoints.
Why was the school pushing this en
dorsement so thoroughly, and why did
it happen so suddenly? The adminis
tration argued that the reason these en
dorsement requirements were passed
was to help boost numbers for every
chapter and provide safer environ
ments for active members.
However, how are you supposed to
boost membership by telling 21-year
old adults that they cannot have an al
coholic beverage in their own rooms?
And how are already struggling non
profit organizations supposed to pay for
a $150,000 sprinkler system installa
tion, or the $30,000-plus-benefits ex
pense of a full-time, live-in adviser who
in fact cannot be an alumnus of the
chapter? How is a fraternity or sorority
supposed to hold social events at third
party vendors, when most of them cost
thousands of dollars an evening with
numerous other expenses? All of this
without any aid from the University. If
anything, that is the perfect recipe to
extinguish the greek system.
With an estimated 25,000 students at
tending the University, perhaps there is
an ulterior motive. The administration
knows that the majority of greek chap
ters are not at their live-in capacity,
meaning there are many rooms available
for students. By providing substance-free
living conditions, it seems as though the
University is trying to turn chapters into
dormitories, eliminating the cost of hav
ing to build and supply new areas of stu
dent housing on campus, in exchange
delineating the traditions, privacy and
pride of the greek system.
I fear the day I return to campus to
see the greek system a mere shadow of
what it used to be, if it still exists. One
would believe that the University would
cater to the majority of alumni, which
is 66 percent greek; however, it seems
that these extreme idealistic sanctions
are to simply benefit Frohnmayer’s up
coming political run and to cover all li
abilities of the school.
I believe it can be best explained like
this: Communism looks good on paper,
too; however, it clearly does not work.
Patrick Gilligan is a junior English major.
Letter to the editor
Don’t overstate
black slave owners
In the article “Anti-reparations points poorly rea
soned” by Ellen Buller (ODE, March 14), she calcu
lates that 3,000 slave owners in 1860 were black,
compared to nearly 4.5 million black Americans,
“therefore only 0.7 percent of blacks in America at
the time owned slaves.” Actually, these numbers
point out that only 0.07 percent of blacks in Ameri
ca at the time owned slaves.
Lori Kessler
graduate student
architecture
Online poll
Each week, the Emerald publishes a poll question, Visit
www.dailyemerald.com to vote.
This week: How long do you think the war in Iraq will last?
Choices;Three months; Six months; Nine months; One year;
Longer than a year; Leave me alone!