Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Ian Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
EDITORIAL
Student funds
wrongly filling
state's coffers
After state government higher education funding has
dropped about 8 percent and tuition has jumped to
more than $5,000 for the first time in school history,
Oregon's lawmakers have told the state's seven public
universities that they need to return some $ 14 million.
This, of course, is bad news in a state that's already
cash-strapped to the point of being forced to cut weeks
of K-12 classes last May and June. But the problem swells
from unfortunate to diabolical when you see the devil in
the details: The state has told the university system to
take the sum from a fund fueled mostly by students' tu
ition and fees.
As Oregon Student Association Director John Wycoff
observed in an Oregonian article last week ("Colleges
told to draw on funds," Oct. 8), until now, only the
university system itself has used student funds to bal
ance its internal budget. But now, the details of plan
ning aside, the state is working to balance part of its
own budget shortfall by taking funds effectively paid
for by students.
Here's the bureaucratese underlying what seems to be
an — intentional or otherwise — usurpation of student
funds. In the waning days of this year's record-setting leg
islative session, the state House and Senate passed two
relevant bills. Through House Bill 5077, "the authorized
appropriations and expenditure limitations ... (were)
changed by the amounts specified to reflect the reduc
tion in employer contribution rates for the Public Em
ployees Retirement System." The change in limitations
mandated recalling $14 million from the Department of
Higher Education's "Other funds," as well as $15.8 mil
lion from general funds. House Bill 2148 defined how to
calculate how much in PERS-related reductions each of
the state's programs would suffer, and mandated that
"the amount... be transferred to the General Fund to be
available for general government expenses" by the begin
ning of 2005.
Now the University is slated to lose up to $5 million
in these "Other funds" — in the neighborhood of $250
per student — to state misappropriations.
Should the University's number-crunching fiscal
wonks have anticipated this development when plan
ning the 2003-04 and 2004-05 budgets (that is, those af
fected by this biennium's Legislative budget)? Possibly.
But that point is moot: The state is now taking mon
ey paid by students — who, like members of the Edi
torial Board, no doubt justifiably assumed it would be
spent on University student academic and other pro
grams — and funneling it into the state's drained gen
eral service coffers.
Certainly this is unfair to students, and moreover, the
means don't justify the ends.
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.
Authors are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone number and
address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right
to edit for space, grammar and style.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Brad Schmidt
Editor in Chief
Jan Tobias Montry
Managing Editor
Aimee Rudin
Freelance Editor
Ayisha Yahya
News Editor
Travis Willse
Editorial Editor
The first and only call came from Lach Litwer, a Universi
ty senior and an active member of Oregon Hillel and the
American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. Litwer's phone
had rung often on Oct. 13, he said, because of an illustra
tion that appeared in that day's Emerald.
Me called the office to share his and others' displeasure.
The drawing, titled "The Middle East's wonderful future,"
had upset many in the Jewish community, Litwer said. In the
following days, three individuals wrote to the Emerald to share
their disapproval.
The heart of this particular issue, as the phone call and
letters have illuminated, is the misunderstanding that the
Emerald is in some way anti-Semitic.
Litwer said in his phone call that while the illustration
wasn't racist, it certainly was offensive. Specifically, he said,
the caricature perpetuated the stereotype of the "Dirty Jew"
through its facial exaggerations and the use of the Star of
David. Litwer said the drawing reminded him of the sort of
propaganda used by Nazis during World War II.
Graduate student Sol Hart also likened the drawing to
propaganda and said the illustration implied that Jews con
trol the world. Additionally, he wrote in a letter to the editor,
the usage of the Star of David and a yarmulke on Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demonstrated insensitivity on
the Emerald's part. Hart concluded that the cartoon was
anti-Semitic.
In another letter, community member Libby Bottero also
called the illustration anti-Jewish and anti-Christian reli
gious-political
propaganda.
I Finally, senior
Matthew Peltz
made the argu
ment that if the
Emerald chooses
to print cartoons
Brad Schmidt
Of chief concern
like the one pub
lished Oct. 13,
other illustra
tions — particu
larly with dead
civilians — also should be acceptable. Peltz hinted in his letter,
too, that the Emerald shouldn't discuss issues when it lacks
first-hand experience in the matter.
For the individuals who contacted the Emerald, and for
those in the community who were affected by the cartoon,
let me stress that the Emerald is not anti-Semitic. One car
toon alone does not warrant such a critique.
The purpose of the Page 2 illustration varies from subject
to subject, sometimes offering analysis of religion and poli
tics, other times campus issues; sometimes they are drawn
with only humor intended. In this instance, religion crept
into commentary meant to be strictly political in nature. The
religious overtone in the illustration was an error on the part
of the Emerald, a grand one at that: Sharon was drawn wear
ing a yarmulke, while Bush can be seen in a hat most often
associated with the Catholic church. Bush is a Methodist.
In light of these circumstances, it is necessary for the Emerald
to clarify its position for campus and community members.
The Emerald will not stray from a topic of discussion simply
because staff members are not proficient in a particular lan
guage or have not been to a certain area of the country or world.
The Star of David resides on Israel's flag, and Sharon is
the Prime Minister of Israel; thus, Sharon is speaking on be
half of Israel.
To draw similarities between the Emerald illustration
and Nazi propaganda is possible, but to establish a mean
ingful philosophical connection is not viable for two rea
sons. First, Nazis used these cartoons to further their own
beliefs and had a military movement aimed at ethnic
cleansing. The Emerald has no sudi beliefs, nor does it have
any military power.
Continuing, it is hypocritical to say that someone may
draw a caricature of President Bush but not of Sharon, sim
ply because the latter is Jewish. This double standard is not
acceptable; the Emerald will not restrict itself to caricatur
ing white men because they are neither ethnic minorities
nor women.
In the future, the Emerald will look more carefully at its il
lustrations in an attempt to prevent misconceptions about the
purpose of the drawing and to remove any underlying, unin
tentional tones.
To reiterate, the Emerald does not and will not allow
racism or racist remarks in the paper.
Finally, the Emerald Commentary section will continue to
create illustrations that may draw the community's ire. If peo
ple didn't disagree over varying viewpoints, this world would
n't be very much fun, and this page wouldn't exist. And if the
Emerald didn't occasionally fire up some of its readers, the
Commentary section wouldn't be doing its job.
Contact the editor in chief at editor@dailyemerald.coni.
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Illustration promotes
‘prejudiced bigotry*
Steve Baggs' illustration in the Emerald
("The Middle East's wonderful future," Oct.
13) was one of the most despicable pieces of
anti-Jewish and anti-Christian religious-polit
ical propaganda and prejudiced bigotry I’ve
seen in a long time.
The characterization of Jews and Christians
as darkly evil and greedy was false and vi
cious, especially in light of ongoing suicide
homicide bombings by those groups like
Hamas and Islamic Jihad whose aim is to un
dermine any road map for peace in the re
gion. It reminds me of the anti-Semitic car
toons and articles published in Nazi
Germany, and applauded by the Islamic Con
ference this week in Malaysia when it called
for the destruction of Israel and America.
Shame on the Emerald for publishing this
kind of wicked hatred. It is a disappointment to
those of us who work for peaceful coexistence
Libby Bottero
Eugene
Illustration caricatures
inappropriate, inaccurate
I am writing in response to Steve Baggs' ed
itorial cartoon published in the Emerald on
Oct. 13 ("The Middle East's wonderful fu
ture"). I was shocked to see this form of bla
tant anti-Semitism appear in our local cam
pus newspaper.
Baggs included several elements that are
patently offensive. Baggs implies with the
words "You're my bitch, ain't-cha Georgie!"
that there is a widespread conspiracy where
in Jews control the world.
This falls under the same line of lunacy as
those who make the claim that it was a Zion
ist conspiracy that was behind the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, instead of al-Qaida terrorists.
Baggs also implies that the caricature of Ariel
Sharon represents all Jews with the kippa
placed upon Sharon's head (Sharon is rarely
seen wearing a kippa) and a Star of David
pinned to Sharon's jacket. The cartoon thus
implies that Jews are something less than hu
man, thirsting only for money and violence.
This cartoon should be offensive to anyone,
and its inclusion in the paper demonstrates a
dangerous kind of insensitivity on the Emer
ald's part.
The Emerald needs to offer an apology to
all Jewish students and the general campus
community for publishing anti-Semitic car
toons such as this.
Sol Hart
graduate student
Biased cartoon' illustrates
narrow world view
I think that in order to be fair, as people love
to be here in Eugene, Steve Baggs should draw
a cartoon representing the "Muslim Middle
East Road Map" to go with the Oct. 13 car
toon, "The Middle East's wonderful future."
Maybe a picture of Yasser Arafat with dead
babies and blown-up busses, Saddam Hus
sein with dead Kurds and kids, and Osama
bin Laden with dead Americans would sum
up the Muslim view just as accurately as Baggs
chose to sum up the Jewish and Christian
view with his biased cartoon.
Baggs should thank his lucky stars he lives
in America, where he is allowed to draw freely
whatever he wants. He'd probably be severely
punished for drawing an anti-Muslim cartoon
if he lived in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan,
Egypt, Yemen, etc.
But feel free to keep on criticizing, Baggs.
People like you, and many others in Eugene,
who have lived their whole lives in Eugene,
don't speak Arabic or Hebrew, and have never
ever been to Israel or any of the surrounding
countries, always have so much to say. Isn't
that ironic?
Matthew Peltz
senior
Judaic studies