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Wednesday, May 21,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor.
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant
Salena De La Cruz
Editorials
UO Senate gets
kudos for ‘yea ’
vote on privacy
The University’s Faculty Senate deserves a hearty
round of applause for passing a resolution at last week’s
meeting that requires the University to tell the commu
nity when the federal government comes snooping.
Under the USA PATRIOT Act, federal agents can de
mand, without a warrant, private information about stu
dents, faculty and staff at the University. In the event
such information is requested, say from a University li
brarian, the agents could forbid the librarian from telling
anyone he or she had released the information.
The Faculty Senate’s motion instructs the University
to provide an annual report disclosing what, if any, infor
mation has been released to the federal government, and
any policies and procedures that have been put in place
to control the process.
While we would have liked to see the full University As
sembly vote on an anti-war resolution in early March, this
step, which also contains political overtones, is by far a
more productive action. According to the Bill of Rights De
fense Committee, the state of Hawaii and more than 109
cities, towns and counties have passed resolutions opposing
the PATRIOT Act. The states of Alaska and New Mexico
currendy have legislation pending to oppose this degrada
tion of civil liberties. Some communities even have banned
local officials from complying with the act.
The Faculty Senate’s resolution doesn’t go that far, but
it gives the community important tools — knowing what
the federal government is asking for and how the Univer
sity is responding. University general counsel Melinda
Grier told the senate that the library, the admissions of
fice and others would consult with her office before re
leasing any information.
It is unclear how this would work in practice. Theoret
ically, agents could simply demand information from per
sonnel and not allow them to consult with anyone or tell
anyone. That shouldn’t be allowed to happen; in the hunt
for terrorists, the public ought to be informed when their
privacy is being breached.
ASUO should show
students the money
The ASUO elections ended on April 23, but they’re not
quite over. A last round of campaign expenditure forms
for the candidates were due May 2, but some 10 days lat
er, they still hadn’t been completed for all candidates.
This may seem like a small detail, but there’s no way to
know whether it’s a big deal or not, unless the forms are
turned in and a final accounting is done.
As reported in the Emerald on May 12 (“Alleged cam
paign errors surface”), some campaign forms for ASUO
Executive candidates Christa Shively and Greg Bae, as
well as a final form for ASUO President-elect Maddy
Melton and Vice President-elect Eddy Morales, were not
to be found. This situation needs to be corrected.
Embezzlement, fraud, vote-buying, large contributions
—anything, in short, that violates election rules could have
occurred and no one would know. Let us be clear: We are
not accusing anyone of improprieties. We have no reason to
believe that every campaign dollar wasn’t spent properly.
But until a final tally is done (and until the Elections Board
clears up its embarrassing snafu and begins using standard
accounting procedures for donations-in-goods — namely,
counting them on both the contribution and expense sides
of the ledger), students are kept in the dark about fair play
during the elections. Why is this allowed to continue?
Editorial policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be
sent to letters @dai lye merald.com. letters
to the editor and guest commentaries are
encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words
and guest commentaries to 550 words.
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Nontraditional students deserve respect
Guest commentary
I would like to express my extreme
disappointment with the staff of the Ore
gon Daily Emerald. A recent commen
tary written by DJ Fuller (“Countdown
to graduation,” ODE, May 6) lists gripe
No. 10 as nontraditional students.
Fuller’s article shows a lack of under
standing for nontraditional students.
I am a graduate of the University, and
both my wife and I are/were nontradi
tional students. I did not return to col
lege after spending many years in the
workforce. I did not ask “stupid” ques
tions, at least not compared to many of
the younger students in my classes.
In fact, many of the students asked me
about my experiences and took the sto
ries I told as the life lessons that they
are. I spent four years serving my coun
try in the military, including six months
in Operation Desert Storm. During my
time as a student at the University, I not
only maintained a 3.4 GPA as a full-time
student, I worked full-time and raised a
family with my full-time-student wife.
Many of my co-workers who have
known me almost all of my academic
life have marveled at the work and
time management and devotion to edu
cation we have put in to achieve our
education while maintaining a healthy
family and social life.
I am proud of my accomplishments
and the degree I have earned. I am proud
of the fact that I took the time to learn
who I was before I leapt into college. I
am proud that I worked to earn my de
gree from the sweat of my own brow;
nothing was handed to me.
I am not proud to say that such an in
sensitive person as Fuller will also have
a degree from the same University, as
obviously he has learned nothing of tol
erance or respect for others, regardless
of their backgrounds.
The University failed him, and the
Emerald has chosen to showcase his and
the University’s failure on its pages.
Stephen Venneman is a member of the Class
of'02.
We can’t fight homophobia until it shows itself
Guest commentary
I’m writing in support of your decision to
print Vincent Martorano’s May 9 commen
tary (“Homosexual men should hide their
disgusting acts”). I feel that, in astrangeway,
his letter of ignorance and hatred does a serv
ice to those of us in the GLBT community.
As he pointed out, this campus seems
to pride itself on being “liberal.” Com
pared to other universities, perhaps it is.
The overwhelming consensus among my
liberal friends is that, for the most part,
homophobia is a distant problem, some
unfortunate chapter of our past that has
been left behind.
Letter to the editor
War debate challenges the
constitution of faculty
I recently read a guest commentary
(“UO’s war debate must be remem
bered,” ODE, May 14). Although I agree
with the sentiment expressed in the ti
tle, I disagree with the way in which the
author, Henry Crimmel, suggested we
remember that debate.
First, it wasn’t just a “political” issue that
Professor Stahl (joined by hundreds of facul
ty and thousands of students) was advocat
ingastandon. Itwas war, a war of aggression;
It’s easier for some to assume that such
attitudes don’t exist when they don’t receive
the direct insults so many of us do. And then
along comes proof of the opposite.
Bigots like Trent Lott, Rick Santorum
and our very own Vincent Martorano do
more good for the GLBT cause than all
the mushy moderates in the world. As
long as they “tolerantly” stay quiet in
classrooms because they lack the spine
to stand for up for their beliefs out of
fear of criticism, the rest of the world is
fooled into believing they don’t exist.
Every time some compassionate con
servative compares me and my life to in
cest, kleptomania or the mentally de
ranged, I have yet one more piece of
the systematic murder of tens of thousands
of human beings in their homeland"
Second, even if the University com
munity had voted to take a stand against
the war, it would’ve been done via a
democratic process (though a somewhat
tainted one, see my fourth point), unlike
the process used by the Bush adminis
tration to start the war.
Third, although he may not have taken
an overt stand at the meeting itself, Uni
versity President Dave Frohnmayer did
take a stand on the issue, and he made his
stand very well known in the weeks lead
ing up to the calling of the assembly.
Fourth, many of those members who
evidence for those who would describe
our society as progressive. Leaving aside,
for the moment, Martorano’s very real
right to voice his opinion, I say, “Keep the
homophobic tripe coming! ”
I don’t fear Martorano’s disapproval of
me (of course, he didn’t mention that he
disliked seeing women “make out” —
the usual hypocrisy of homophobic
men), or the fact that his hatred might
embolden others to raise their voices as
well. I welcome it. Opponents are diffi
cult to engage when they sit in the back
of the classroom like cowards.
Danielle Haraburda is a second-year
law student
did not attend the assembly meeting
(thereby depriving it of quorum) were ei
ther staff whose livelihood could be af
fected by the administration’s decisions
on any number of issues (including
budgeting and personal performance
records) or faculty who, due to sabbati
cal or emeritus status, were not even re
siding in Oregon.
This raises serious questions about
the integrity of that meeting and the
constitution of the body that was sup
posed to attend it.
Paul Griffes
senior
geography