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Thursday, July 17,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
EDITORIAL
Timing of policy changes
more than coincidental?
Remember the girl from the residence
halls freshman year, the one who had all the
big ideas? She was the good girl in high
school who did what her parents told her,
but as soon as she got away from her family,
all hell broke loose.
First it was the tongue ring. Ilien the tat
too. And who could forget when she moved
in with her boyfriend?
By die time she finally told her parents of
her actions come winter break, it was too
late. 'Ihe damage had already been done.
The new girl in the residence hall these
days, it seems, is the University administra
tion. While students are away for the sum
mer, important changes oddly seem to go
into effect.
First, the l Iniversity decided to update its pri
vacy code to comply with federal regulations
that require institutions to hand over student
information to law enforcement agencies
upon request — without telling the student By
law, the University has had to follow the policy
since 1996, but it chose to update the language
of the privacy code in June. One meeting oc
curred June 3, during Dead Week. The other
occurred June 20, after school ended.
Yes, the change needed to be made. But
couldn't it have happened when students
weren't busy studying or when students were
actually on campus?
As biology professor Frank Stahl, a verbal
opponent of the change, noted. "This should
have been out where people know about it.
1 think the process doesn't smell good, al
though we don't have all the farts yet."
Good call, Frank. We wouldn't want to
jump to any conclusions.
Second, the University realized it was go
ing to be in the red for the 2003-04 academic
year. Back in January, Oregon voters rejected
Measure 28 — which would have prevented
those pesky tuition surcharges and the result
ing permanent charges — essentially setting
the tone for tilings to come.
Ihe Legislature hasn't even set a budget for
the 2003-05 biennium — which, of course,
started July 1 — so perhaps that's also part of
the problem. Moreover, Oregon is in a reces
sion, so state funding clearly isn't going to be
what it was.
We understand all that. In fart, given all of
the above, we knew tuition was going to in
crease in 2003-04.
So why, then, did the revelation come just
weeks ago? Yes, the meeting that will ulti
mately determine whether the University
gets to increase tuition is this month, but
couldn't the administration have put out the
word earlier?
Instead, as students are gone for the sum
mer and effectively have no voice, the Uni
versity and six other state schools are seeking
drastic revisions to the plateau policy that de
termines tuition rates. To top it off, the Uni
versity sought changes that would go into ef
fect in the fall. What a nice surprise that
would have been: Welcome back to campus;
you owe us more money than what we said
we'd charge you.
Thankfully, the University is no longer
seeking the provision to increase tuition in
the fall because of people like Amelie
Welden. As the Oregon Student Association
spokeswoman remarked, "Students are total
ly unaware and they'll get to school in the fall
and find things changed."
Boy, imagine what would have happened
if OSA was taking summer vacation too.
Finally, the University's administrators on
Monday gleefully supported changes to city
law that would allow Department of Public
Safety officers to issue certain drug and alcohol
citations on campus.
It should be noted that this change in law
would give DPS officers power that seems
somewhat reasonable given that state law al
lows the very same officers to detain and ar
rest individuals under certain circumstances.
The Eugene Police Department, which cur
rently issues the citations, could utilize their
time better, too, without having to cite disor
derly college students.
But the thing is, laws get broken all the
time, often in front of police officers. In an
ideal world, we suppose, no crime would go
unpunished. But the way things are, that's
not even remotely the case, and officers have
to make decisions by considering time re
straints and, more importantly, the severity
of the crime.
If the University is given the power it
seeks, and DPS officers start deciding
whether or not to cite students, we'd bet
that — with the plethora of parking tickets
the office hands out — students will be tick
eted more often, despite University com
ments to the contrary. As we said, maybe
that's how it should be. This argument —
we have others, as well — goes against en
forcing the law and is quickly dismissible.
But, hey, we figured we'd give it a shot. Stu
dents aren't around this summer to make
their own arguments and, unlike the previ
ous scenario, our student representatives
aren't representing student interests.
"The timing is not only inappropriate,
but irresponsible, to conduct this hearing
on an ordinance that is very specifically tar
geting the University at a time when the
University community is largely absent,"
preached Ward 3 City Councilor David Kel
ly, who represents the University area, at
Monday's meeting.
In all three instances, the ideas behind
the changes aren't new. The University
could have updated the language in the stu
dent privacy policy at any time since 1996,
yet it chose to do so at a time when students
were unavailable.
The University could have let students
know earlier that tuition was going to go up
next year; administrators must have known
months ago. Nonetheless, word didn't come
out until this month, when students weren't
on campus.
Lastly, the University could have — and
still has — the chance to push back its at
tempt to expand DPS power. The University
could realize that students aren't here for the
summer, and even those who are and who
should argue on the behalf of students can't
because of the questionable scheduling. All
it would take is a phone call to each city
councilor. Otherwise the decision will likely
come on July 28.
Perhaps the timing is just coincidence. The
University certainly didn't wait for students
to leave before making all these moves, right?
University administrators surely have the in
tegrity to make changes when students are
around to put up a fight. The University ad
ministration isn't really that girl from the res
idence halls. Right?
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be
sent to letters ©dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest commentaries
are encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Peter Utsey for the Emerald
TROUBLE in IRAN
I don't know about
you, but I didn't know
about the massive
demonstrations happen
ing in Iran until I ran
across a few news reports
on the Web. Apparently,
not much news about
Iran has appeared on tele
vision besides the con
joined Iranian twins story.
According to many
A.Sho Ikeda
Dial-a-coiumn
news repons, tnousanas ot students have tak
en to the streets to fight for democratic reform
of Iran.
But what does this have to do with me? Iran is
all the way on the other side of the world. Well,
they're students just like us, except they're fight
ing for something that we have enjoyed for a
long time.
Freedom.
Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the
Iranian people have been living under a hard
line theocracy. After living under a brutal regime
for all of these years and catching glimpses
through the media of the freedoms enjoyed by
the democratic world, these students seek to
gain what we already possess.
And Iranian students still have a dangerous
road ahead of them. The attempted reforms of
the past few years have yielded few results, as
Iran's mling hard-line clerics routinely block re
form changes of the moderate president, Mo
hammed Khatami. Due to deepening public
discontent and the lack of progress toward re
form, Khatami recently offered to resign if Irani
ans willed it.
"We are not masters of people, but servants
of this nation. If this nation says, 'We don't
want you,' we will go," Khatami was quoted as
saying in the government-owned newspaper,
the Iran Daily.
The problem is, most of Iran's leadership
will not step down even if the majority of the
nation desires reform. Since June 10, when
the protests began, the regime has made
4,000 arrests, according to Abdolnabi Na
mazi, Iran's prosecutor general. Members of
the Basij, a paramilitary youth militia loyal to
the regime, and members of the Ansar-E
Hezbulla, another organization loyal to the
regime, have burst into student dormitories at
the University of Tehran and attacked stu
dents in their beds. They even attacked driv
ers who honked their horns in support of
the demonstrators.
Photos of the aftermath of these arrests and
attacks displayed dorm rooms with broken
doors, shattered win
dows and floors splat
tered with blood. Anoth
er set of photos showed
the nasty wounds some
students suffered when
they were attacked by the
regime's goons.
The government, seek
ing to quell student un
■ rest, arrested three student
leaders on July 9, the four
year anniversary of an attack on student groups
that resulted in at least one death and twenty ar
rests. The government discouraged protesters to
demonstrate last Wednesday, placing riot police
on the streets and monitoring Tehran with gov
ernment helicopters.
Iranian police arrested Zahra Kazemi, a 54
year-old Canadian-lranian photojournalist,
after she took photos of a Tehran prison.
While in custody she was beaten into a coma.
She died Friday. A government report said
Kazemi suffered a fatal stroke when she was
"subject to interrogation."
For atrocities like these to be committed
against protesters in America would be un
thinkable. However, that this is taking place in
another country shouldn't allow us to ignore
what is happening.
Changes must occur in the Middle East to sta
bilize the region and to eliminate terrorism
across the globe. Establishing a democratic gov
ernment in Iran would be invaluable for accom
plishing this goal. Though it is also possible that
Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons, I
don't believe military intervention is the solu
tion right now.
The key lies in helping the people of Iran.
Currently, the majority of Iranians appear afraid
to speak out against their government. The
abuses inflected upon students and the count
less arrests seek to discourage action against the
brutal regime. I lowever, promoting causes, such
as human rights groups in Iran and independ
ent Iranian media, is crucial.
Revolution cannot happen in a day, a month
or even a year. Governments with bureaucratic
and military power are too strong to fight physi
cally; however, spreading the message of democ
racy and reform and convincing others to work
to reform the structure of government can
achieve significant diange.
For us in America, it's a matter of caring about
what other students are fighting for.
Contact the reporter
at shoikeda@daihemerald.com. His opinions
do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald.