Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2004)
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 Oregon Daily Emerald COMMENTARY Editor in Chief: Brad Schmidt Managing Editor: Jan Tobias Montry Editorial Editor: Peter Hockaday Friday, April 2, 2004 "Quick Quacks" is the newest Emerald fea ture, a spontaneous Q&A session aimed at giv ing readers an expedient look at campus and community members' thoughts. “Quick Quacks" will run every Friday this spring. Please send suggestions about possible intervie wees to letters@dailyemerald.com. Eugene City Councilor David Kelly kicks off our “Quick Quacks" feature. Kelly has been the University-area's City Council representa tive since 1999 and spends his days as a soft ware developer. Emerald: If the Eugene City Council was its own reality show, what would it be called? David Kelly: Oh, goodness. "Conflict on Pearl Street." Emerald: What CD dominates your CD player right now? DK: Let's see, what have I been listening to? A lot of Cuban music. Emerald: Anything in particular? DK: "Bue na Vista So cial Club." Emer mam .wo or in this i mayoral election? Who you vot DK: Kitty Piercy. Because she can reduce that "Conflict on Pearl Street." Emerald: Last year, Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti shaved off his trade mark mustache. Have you thought about shaving your trademark beard? DK: I've had it for 20 years, I'd hate to see what's underneath! Emerald: How much longer will you stay on the City Council? DK: The serious answer there is that my current term runs through 2006, and after that, who knows? Emerald: What, if anything, is the City Council doing to investigate the many re cent claims about the Eugene Police De partment? DK: The council is not investigating. The police commission, which is a com mittee appointed by the council, is work ing on a number of issues with the police department. Emerald: What is the last Oregon ath letic event you attended? DK: It was a women's basketball game. Gosh, I think they won it, but I don't re member which game. It was in February. Emerald: What's your favorite restau rant in Eugene? DK: There are so many that are good. One would be The LocoMotive on Fifth Street. It's gourmet vegetarian. It makes you forget about all the stereotypes about vegetarian food. Emerald: Would you vote for a city housing code? DK: Absolutely. Emerald: Finally, where can we find David Kelly on a Friday night? DK: Attending a play or dancing to live music. Emerald: David Kelly, you are done with "Quick Quacks." Emerald missing point on racism The Emerald recently corrected an error sur rounding the 4J Chavez rally ("Chavez editorial misconstrues important point," ODE, March 11). But it is important to look at the main argu ment of the original article, in addition to its mis take, because this is the most recent example of the Emerald missing the point and not under standing the deeper underpinnings of racism. Brad Schmidt said, - "The Emerald Editori €51JEST alBoarddoesnottalk to every individual in volved in a discus sion." While not talk ing with activists, the Emerald has used such heated rhetoric as "some of the worst rhetoric to date, and one of the worst plays of the race card the Editorial Board has seen in recent memory" ("41 Chavez campaign must look beyond race," ODE, March 10). In its "Vagina Monologues" editorial, the board dismissed a protest as "a bizarre display that seethes with a distinctly Eugenean brand of irony" ("Protesters undermined the diversity they sought," ODE, Feb. 17), and said, "The protesters' arguments... are riddled with fallacies that detract from their message of fairness, tolerance and diversity," saying "The protesters' arguments are ultimately divisive, not diversifying." This same ar gument was used in "4J Chavez campaign must look beyond race," claiming that it "constitutes a more racially divisive policy, harmfully dividing a community instead of unifying it. * This tendency to blame protesters for being "di visive" when they confront racism, rather than an alyze the racism, is disturbing. I don't have the space to debate the racism that the protests sur rounded, but when a person of color perceives a group to be racist, unifying with them is not usual ly the first thing on that person's mind. The Emer ald's accusations come down to the argument that it is "divisive" to claim someone is being racist. While examining these claims may be distressing, they are important claims that should be dis cussed, not set aside for the sake of unity. The Emerald's arguments also completely ig nore the claims of institutional racism, seeing such conflicts only as personal disputes. While "Vagina Monologue" protesters claimed that a racist environment created a hostile space for performers of color that forced them out, the ed itorial board said "Some of those who com plained that the play's cast did not represent them didn't try out for the play, and some of those who did dropped out." When protesters complained that no outreach was done to mi nority populations, the Editorial Board said "It would be wholly inappropriate for the produc ers to ask each auditioner what her sexual orien tation or gender identity was, and worse yet, cast parts based on her answer." When people pointed out that each Eugene school was named after a white man, the Editor ial Board said "Picking a namesake for the school on the basis of race reduces the recognition of legacy to tokenism." When they pointed out that the lack of representation of people of color, and Latinos specifically, shows that Eugene is still in fluenced by racism, the editorial board was up set by its interpretation that "One of the com mon arguments for naming Southside after Chavez is a simple matter of demographics." I've come to love and depend on the Emerald for coverage of campus activities and activism. But instead of attacking anyone who claims something is racist, I would appreciate it if the Editorial Board would at least begin by analyz ing the alleged racism. Toby Hill-Meyer is a senior majoring in women and gender studies and sociology. Paper trivializes fliers' fraternity rape accusation GUEST COMMENTARY I was ap palled by Brad Schmidt's _ reaction to the fliers inadvertently distributed with the Emerald before spring break ("Fliers distributed irresponsibly," ODE, March 9). Women should be advised of the events that occurred during a Sigma Nu sponsored party, if indeed they happened. This woman allegedly witnessed the rape of another uncon scious young woman, and the subse quent protection of the rapist by fra ternity members. Sex with an unconscious person is rape; this is a black and white area. I ran across one of these fliers in a women's bathroom in McKenzie and I was amazed by this example of a woman possibly talking back The issue here should not be over the ridiculous accusation of stolen advertising space! Once again, just like the University al ways does, the alleged indiscretions of a major fraternity are being shoved aside The issue is rape — stolen power, stolen dignity. The flier stated that at least 20 members of Sigma Nu stopped the rapist from being apprehended — that sounds like full fraternity support of a rape Did Mr. Schmidt, in the midst of his trivializing a serious criminal al legation, stop to think that perhaps spreading fliers "all over campus" was the witness's best chance of a woman reaching the largest amount of other campus women? I think not. As he said, the information certainly would n't have been welcomed by a fine "in dependent" newspaper like the Emer ald. Of course not Perhaps she should have just kept her mouth shut like a good little girl. Wake up! Darlene Hampton is a University senior majoring in English.
