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Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor
Travis Willse
Monday, April 26,2004
EOITORIAL.
Ending sales
of tobacco
on campus
is right move
A campus anti-smoking group has made concerted and
reasonable efforts recently to make it harder for smokers
at the University to buy and smoke cigarettes on campus.
The Campus Advisory Board approached the EMU
Board to lobby for a ban on cigarette sales at Erb Essen
tials, the EMU convenience store. The group is also seek
ing more strict enforcement of the University's 10-foot
rule, which states that smokers must be at least 10 feet
away from a building when lighting up (the stricter
rules allow for the possibility of expanding the distance
to 50 feet).
For smokers, the idea of impeding the habit would
clearly be an abuse of the University's power. For anti
smoking activists, the idea would mean a cleaner campus
environment and a step toward better health standards.
But for the rest of us, does the smoking issue really
matter? It should, for several reasons.
At first glance, the anti-smoking effort may seem like a
suppression of freedoms, and one could argue that ban
ning cigarettes from the campus marketplace would re
strict the legitimate right of smokers to purchase tobacco
products at the University.
But as University Health Center Health Education Di
rector Paula Staight told the EMU Board, the debate is "a
bigger issue than the freedom to buy a cigarette."
Not only could student smokers make the trek to 7
Eleven, located just off campus, to buy cigarettes, but the
University is in a position to do its part in saving a por
tion of the student body from future health problems.
According to http://www.webmd.com, smoking can in
crease the risk of lung cancer, throat cancer, emphysema,
heart disease, high blood pressure, ulcers, gum disease
and asthma complications. Smoking also results in
coughing, poor athletic ability, sore throats, face wrin
kles, stained teeth, dull skin and damage to sense of taste
and smell.
Furthermore, recent studies have shown a dramatic
link between smoking in college and the chance of smok
ing later in life. According to Health Psychology maga
zine, more than 90 percent of college smokers who light
up on a daily basis will continue smoking for at least four
years after college. Disturbingly, 50 percent of college stu
dents who smoke even occasionally am the same risk.
Nearly 33 percent of college students in America use
tobacco products, according to the University, and a Uni
versity Health Center survey released in spring 2003
showed that 22 percent of students at this campus identi
fy as "regular or casual smokers."
In fact, the University is currently part of a national
study to test the success rate of tobacco control programs,
according to a University press release. What better way
to get started than stopping the sale of those products on
campus?
That's not to say that all the Campus Advisory Board's
arguments are sound. One argument, voiced at the EMU
Board meeting, is that selling tobacco products on cam
pus violates the University's and EMU's respective mis
sions. But no specific mention of a duty to ensure the
health of students is included in the EMU's mission
statement, which reads "The Erb Memorial Union. ...
with a commitment to the involvement and develop
ment of students, shall serve its diverse campus commu
nity by providing high quality programs, services and fa
cilities that complement the mission of the University of
Oregon." Similarly, the University's mission statement
makes no specific mention of a responsibility to physical
health of students.
Regardless, it seems to be an implied duty of the Uni
versity to do everything in its power to influence the good
health of students. While it's clearly not the University's
job to preach life habits, banning the sale of tobacco
products on campus will send a clear message that using
tobacco products has scientifically proven negative health
effects and is not endorsed by this institution.
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Eric Layton Illustrator
IDOL worship
The country is in shock, and rightfully so.
Many people believe a conspiracy is talcing
place, and President Bush's speech two
weeks ago only aggravated them more.
Thankfully, the news coverage is expansive,
and the people are once again spealdng out,
demanding a recount. This is the America I
love. The one that questions the decisions
made by others. The one that voices its dis
content for the outcome of an election. The
people are finally rising up in anger and de
manding to be heard, and what they are say
ing is "Jennifer Hudson shouldn't have been
kicked off'American Idol!'"
Now, I'm not a big fan of "American
Idol," so 1 wouldn't know if Jennifer Hud
son might be the next Whitney Houston.
But what I do know is how upset America
is that she was kicked off, because I've seen
the story so much in the news. Conspira
cy theorists have even circulated rumors of
hackers breaking into the system and alter
ing the votes. Another factor that suppos
edly led to Hudson's elimination was a
power outage in her hometown of Chica
go. The outage left 15,000 people unable
to watch or vote for her, but which is the
real tragedy? Fifteen thousand people
without power or 15,000 people unable to
watch "American Idol"?
What is going on in the United States? On
April 13, President Bush scheduled a news
conference, causing Fox to push "American
Idol" to the following night. The next morn
ing on the radio, I heard more about the pub
lic's disappointment in the show's reschedul
ing than I heard about the president's
comments! Bush answered questions in the
conference about the embattled Aug. 6,2001
briefing that discussed terror threats, an
important political issue item in recent weeks.
But did America care? Not really. Instead they
felt tricked, because they hoped to turn on
their television and find Paula Abdul, but in
stead got the leader of their country.
Marissa Jones
Cry me a river
People love watching "American Idol,"
because it gives them the ability to make
someone a celebrity — and doesn't every
one long to be famous themselves? Televi
sion is filled with shows like VHl's "The
Fabulous Life," which showcases their
pimped-out cars and calculates how many
Louis Vuitton bags Jennifer Lopez could buy
with her last paycheck. Even A&E's "Biogra
phy," which used to tell the stories of historic
figures, has graduated to talking almost ex
clusively about celebrities. For the month of
April, David Koresh is the only non-celebrity
being featured.
So our country enjoys hearing about the
private lives of pretty people. Big deal, right?
The problem is that this phenomenon is
slowly seeping into our political system. We
elected a professional wrestler to govern a
state and now have extended the title to an
action hero. Although Arnold may have
some good political views, I wonder if this
trend of electing inexperienced celebrities
into office will continue.
If celebrities themselves don't run, they
are always there to support their favorite
candidate. Celebrity endorsements have be
come more important than ever as candi
dates fight for coverage in the press. Person
ally, the political opinion of someone who
starred in "A Pyromaniac's Love Story" does
n't mean much to me, but who knows what
his appearance did to sway the votes of
"Backdraft" fans.
Celebrity political intervention even ex
tends overseas. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anisr
ton are trying to stop the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict in between movies and magazine
shoots. That's really sweet, but maybe th<jv
should try just sticking to their day jobs.
Celebrities need to wake up and realize be
ing Hollywood royalty doesn't grant them
ambassadorial powers, and Americans need
to vote because of their own feelings on the
issues, not because of the opinions of a good
romantic comedy's star.
Just imagine if we all talked about world
politics as much as we do celebrities or
watched as much news as we do reality
shows. Maybe then we would all start to be
educated about the issues and actually be
gin to make progress on the problems af
fecting our country. Maybe if we made it as
easy to vote for the presidency as it is for
"American Idol," people would actually
vote Until then, I will go to sleep every night
hoping when I wake up the phrase "Diddy
Runs the City" still refers to his participation
in the Boston Marathon. Cross your fingers,
America, and maybe once in a while turn off
your televisions.
Contact the columnist
at marissajones@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
ONLINE POLL
Each week, the Emerald publishes the
results of the previous poll and the
coming week's poll question.
Visit http://www.dailyemerald.com to vote.
Last question: What should the U.S.
military’s next steps in Iraq be?
Results: 55 votes.
• Ask for more assistance from the
United Nations: 54.5 percent or 30 votes.
• Surrender: 20.0 percent or 11 votes.
• Send more troops and continue with
current strategies: 16.4 percent or nine votes.
• Pull out ground troops and use long
range tactics like bombing from the air:
5.5 percent or three votes.
• Negotiate with insurgents: 3.6 percent
or two votes.
This week: Do you fee! safe walking on
campus at night?
Choices: Yes - The campus is well-lit: Yes
- Public safety is present; No - Recent
crimes have made me avoid campus at
night: No - Campus is poorly lit.