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Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor
Ian Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
Thursday, November 13,2003
EDITORIAL
More drinking
at UO, or are
officers simply
citation-happy?
The recent revelation that student alcohol violations in
creased 171 percent between 2001 and 2002 raised many eye
brows on campus and likely shocked the small minority of
deluded people who still think students aren't drinking.
Yep, they're still drinking. A whole lot. No big mystery
there.
Campus authorities suggested many possible factors for
the steep increase — more Department of Public Safety offi
cers throughout campus with better training, less tolerance of
drinking by fellow students and a greater residence hall pop
ulation for the 2002-03 school year. DPS Interim Director
Tom 1 licks even told the Emerald last week that "My sense is
the University of Oregon is going to get spotted pretty quickly
about having one of the biggest jumps in alcohol violations
across the country."
But the trend didn't end on campus, where hundreds of
residence hall dwellers discover the joys of drunken debauch
ery each year. The Eugene Police Department reported that
the West University neighborhood has seen a 19 percent in
crease in alcohol violations from 2001 to 2002. In the South
University neighborhood, a 59 percent increase was recorded
in the same period.
Given the increase in these different areas, a vitally impor
tant question arises: Are students actually drinking more, or
are law enforcement officials simply seeking to write more ci
tations?
Housing Director Mike Eyster told The Register-Guard that
he questioned whether the increase in alcohol violations is
attributed to a sudden increase in drinking, citing the lack of
any noticeable change in the residence hall atmosphere.
"As the director of housing, it didn't feel different to me last
year," he said in a Nov. 12 Register-Guard article. "I didn't
have a sense that the staff was overwhelmed or there was a
huge difference, so it's difficult to explain."
University President Dave Frohnmayer's edict in fall 2002
that required all fraternities and sororities go dry could pro
vide another explanation for the increase. Members of the
greek system who live in chapter houses may choose to drink
in surrounding neighborhoods instead. Likewise, new mem
bers may choose to drink in the residence halls instead of put
ting a fraternity or sorority at risk by drinking in the chapter
house. But less titan 7 percent of the campus has greek affilia
tion, so it's unlikely the increase could be wholly attributed
to substance-free housing.
Most likely, the increases do not indicate a rise in students
who are actually drinking; instead, patrols in those particular
areas are probably increasing. Of course, more concrete re
search would have to be conducted to find any real trend.
It's not proper to justify underage drinking — some would
say it's unhealthy for people younger than 21 to consume al
cohol but, more than anything else, it's against the law.
Choosing to break the law is, of course an individual's choice,
and it doesn't seem fair for any individual or group to pass
moral judgment on an individual who chooses to get a little
sloshed before the all-important, incredibly subjective age of
21.
College students, whether it's the right choice or not,
choose to drink. Do University students drink more than
those at Oregon State University, the University of Washing
ton or Arizona State University? Probably not. The real ques
tion is why students at this University are dted more fre
quently. What are the priorities of most law enforcement
agencies, and why are the local agendas seemingly so differ
ent? That's the real question that needs to be answered.
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.
IRAQI INSURGENTS
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Steve Baggs Illustrator
Who’s American?
I'll never forget the first day of high school
history, senior year: Mr. Smith (I've changed
his name for the sake of anonymity) entered
the classroom, removed an American flag
from the wall and hurled it to the ground.
"How does this make you feel?" he asked,
stomping on the flag after every single word.
The class was slack-jawed.
"Remember this feeling,* he said. "Ibis is
what 20th century history is all about."
Patriotism.
It's one of those words — like art, terror
ism, evil, love and God — that 1 cannot de
fine, except to say, "I know it when I feel it"
And I felt a patriotic rage that morning
watching Mr. Smith step on the Stars and
Stripes, especially since he was a well
known socialist and draft-dodger. The
feeling surprised me. I didn't think I was
the patriotic type.
After die Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many
Americans who never thought of themselves
as patriotic were suddenly overcome by a
similar rage. Rhetoric changed overnight.
The Mr. Smiths of the world — the self-iden
tifying proud anti-patriots — joined the di
nosaurs as an extinct species. The question,
"Can one be unpatriotic and a good citi
zen?" fell away into thin air.
Now, the guy burning the American flag
at an anti-war rally claims to be a patriot;
that dissent is patriotic. The most unpatriot
ic legislation in my lifetime appropriates the
word, along with a tortured, Orwellian title.
And CEOs trip over themselves to market
their product as the most patriotic brand of
toothpaste or fabric softener.
The natural momentum of big words is
to grow ever bigger and more inclusive so
David Jagernauth
Critical mass
inclusive that they become meaningless:
Everyone is patriotic, everything is art, any
act of violence is terrorism, everyone bad is
evil, every good feeling is love, God is every
where and everything.
1 usually denounce these definitions as
philosophically lazy, but, in the case of pa
triotism, 1 think it is a good thing.
We no longer need to ask, "Which is pa
triotic: Stomping on the flag or refusing to;
questioning or listening; being skeptical or
having faith; focusing on progress or tradi
tion?" We should toss this question away be
cause to ask it is really to ask, "Who counts
as an American?"
We have yet to reach a consensus on that
question. Arab-Americans have been made
to feel more and more Arab and less and less
American over the last few years. Even those
who originate from other parts of the Islam
ic world — whatever that is — have felt this
pressure on their identity.
In North Portland, for example, a group
of South Asian immigrants began hanging
American flags in the windows of their ho
tels along Interstate Avenue, not because
of a sudden burst of patriotism, but rather
as a statement of identity: It says to their
community, "We consider ourselves Amer
ican, too."
In response, a few of the other hotel own
ers began hanging a new sign next to their
flags: "American-owned." It was an attempt
to cut that word down to size, to keep it in
line and in check, to keep the big word from
getting too big.
For some, the A-word is near microscopic.
Once, when Fox News commentator Bill
O'Reilly disagreed with an African-American
guest, he said, "You can go back to Africa if
you want to. I mean, you could go and repa
triate back."
Repatriate?
And remember the oft-used response to
anti-war protesters and liberals in general:
"Go live in Iraq if you hate America!" I guess
the logic is: Shut up and enjoy your freedom
of speech.
It seems to me, as I reflect on patriotism
and the enormous debt we owe our veterans
— debt being the perfect word since it has
gone unpaid for decades — the word Amer
ican can never be too inclusive. It seems to
me that the word American was originally
created to be all-inclusive: but it grew too big
and became meaningless. For that meaning
lessness could speak volumes about Ameri
ca's most cherished ideals.
Who knows? Maybe one day the word
will grow so large that it can include Mr.
Smith as well.
Contact the columnist at
davidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Help University employees
by being clean, responsible
There is nothing quite like walking into a
recycling station and coming within inches
of stepping in a big pile of crap. I don't mean
Toto left a present for Dorothy, but right be
neath my partner's feet is a big pile of nasty
human excrement. What follows does not
apply to most of the students here, but for
those who act like this — grow up!
Last I checked, we're all college students
and shouldn't have to deal with this. I have a
work-study job, attend classes and have a
family, so the last thing I need is to not be
able to do my job because some fool decides
it'll be funny to lay a load at our feet. If this
was isolated, I wouldn't be writing this, but
in the last week we've had people puking in
the recycling barrels and throwing trash on
the ground while being kind enough to
leave a note asking us to clean up the mess.
Maybe you're here spending Mommy
and Daddy's money on dasses in under
water basket-weaving, but you don't need
to make life hell for the work-study stu
dents who are trying to live on minimum
wage and complete college. It took some
brains to be accepted to this school, so use
'em and give the employees on this cam
pus a break.
Sheldon Traver
junior
journalism