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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, May 18,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald -
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
EDITORIAL.
ASUO funding
disclosures
are symbolic
of attitudes
After what has proven to be a successful and organized end
to the 2004 elections funding disclosures, we commend those
student leaders who — unlike those of years past — haven't
shown utter contempt for the process' system of accountability.
Last year, the situation post-election was surprisingly more
gloomy. One pair of candidates — Christa Shively and Greg
Bae who lost the election — snubbed the process altogether
and failed to release a complete record of their campaign's
finances. Or did they?
"We turned the sheet in," Shively told the Emerald in May
2003. "(The ASUO) must have misplaced it."
The other pair — Maddy Melton and Eddy Morales, who
won — failed to properly account for funds after the election,
and financial records show a sizable discrepancy According
to last year's expenditure forms, Melton and Morales raised
$ 1,768.87 but spent only $965.69, leaving $803.18 in unac
counted funds. Melton told the Emerald in May 2003 that
$529.87 of that discrepancy could be attributed to a failure to
record donated campaign supplies as an expenditure. She
also said ASUO double-accounted for a $ 100 donation.
However, even after these errors were accounted for, a
3> i /jJ.Ji discrepancy existed.
Melton told the Emerald last year that she was "90 percent
sure it's a missing receipt," but like many other relevant is
sues in the ASUO, it simply slipped through the cracks into
obscurity. Their constituents are still waiting for a full disclo
sure of what happened.
Adrian Gilmore — whom the Editorial Board endorsed as
the best person for the 2004-05 Executive — echoed the un
fortunate argument that losing candidates don't have an ob
ligation for full disclosure. Gilmore, who only spent $50 and
came in third in the primary election, should have set an ex
ample and followed the rules.
But many others undoubtedly question the necessity of
such disclosures; after all, these are just students, right? Why
should they be forced to undergo any sort of watch for some
thing so small as funding an ASUO campaign?
Well, if these student-government elects are going to pre
pare themselves for the political arena after college, they
might as well get used to public and media scrutiny regarding
their campaign finances. It's called open democracy, and
damn if it isn't a great watchdog.
Let's face it: Proper accounting during a campaign can be a
great indicator of how student-government officials will ap
proach funding throughout their tenure. Those who decided
that a hundred bucks here and there is no big deal will prob
ably feel the same about student money — your money.
We could venture to suggest that the Executive's failure to
properly disclose their campaign funds was indeed indica
tive of how they felt about student hinds this year, but no
body outside the campaign has a clear idea of what hap
pened. Was it, as Melton suggests, simply an honest error?
Or was it apathy about the students' right to know?
One thing is for sure: The ASUO Executive's support for
wasting student money was blatantly apparent this year,
whether this policy is a result of wasteful campaign spend
ing or not At this year's ASUO Programs Finance Committee
hearings, the Executive lobbied — and succeeded — in in
creasing OSPIRG's budget by 14.6 percent despite grave con
cerns about the group's questionable accounting practices (a
gross lack of transparency and the concern of sending stu
dent money off campus, to be precise).
Both Melton and Morales also lobbied heavily to fund the
United States Student Association, despite even more con
cerns that giving student money to an off-campus non-parti
san political association would be a misuse of incidental fees.
Melton, who is a member of the group and subsequently
participated on student-funded trips to Washington, D.C.,
argued that USSA lobbying efforts were the reason govern
ment officials at the federal level decided to spend more
money on higher education.
So what's the moral of the story? Sure, disclosing cam
paign finances may not seem like such a big deal at the col
lege level. But often students can glean a lot of meaning from
how candidates control their money. And just because cer
tain candidates end up getting elected doesn't mean they can
shirk the system and feel autonomous from the realm of
scrutiny throughout their incumbency.
TOO MUCH SHOCK
In 1896, Guglielmo Marconi invented
radio. On Wednesday, another Marconi
destroyed it.
On Wednesday morning, Portland disk
jockey "Marconi" played the audio track
from the most gruesome video on the
market, that of the beheading of Nick Berg
in Iraq. If you thought that video was the
worst thing in the world, Marconi's replay
was even worse. By 1,000 percent.
Marconi, KNRK's resident "shock jock,"
didn't just play the audio track of the
video. He set music to it and cracked jokes
with co-host "Tiny" and producer Nik J.
Miles. Thankfully, all three were fired and
the show was yanked off the air. The sta
tion refused to release the real names of
the two DJs to The Associated Press.
I'm not so sure that canceling the show
is enough. Marconi deserves much worse.
He should be sent to Afghanistan to root
out terrorist cells with a water gun. He
should be forced to read bedtime stories to
Saddam Hussein in jail.
Berg is the ultimate victim in this situa
tion. He was a 26-year-old from suburban
Philadelphia who reportedly went to Iraq
to find business for his small communica
tions company. His murder was brutal, a
message and seen by thousands. His me
morial service was closed to outsiders but
still attended by 500 people.
And the worst of it is, some people in
the world think that Berg's beheading was
fair retaliation for American soldiers'
abuse of Iraqi prisoners. According to a
Chicago Tribune story which ran in the
Emerald on Thursday, one Gaza mother
even said Berg "deserved it."
' SHF m 'm >■
— H i ii imii i i H i——
Peter Hockaday
Today is Hockaday
So this thing is serious. Everything re
lating to war in a time of war is serious.
That's what makes Marconi's act even
more deplorable.
But Marconi isn't the only one suffering
at the hands of the Nick Berg video. In Vil
la Park, Calif., an English teacher was
placed on leave because he let his students
access the video on a dassroom computer.
The teacher, Steven Arcudi, said he didn't
give out the address of the video but sever
al students say he did.
The Associated Press reported that at
least two other California teachers have
been placed on leave in similar situations.
Seriously, why do you need to show the
video? Are you not getting enough vio
lence off "NYPD Blue" and "The Shield?"
But back to Marconi, who is hardly a
teacher. The teachers' actions are some
what justified by the fact that they present
ed the video in an educational setting,
even if they didn't show it for educational
reasons. Marconi didn't present a sliver of
news value when he played the clip. He
laughed as a man's head was cut off.
Marconi offered a sincere vocal apology
on his Web site. He said he already put
himself through more punishment than
anybody else ever could. But as sincere as
that sounded, I don't think personal pun
ishment is enough for Marconi.
Let's shock the "shock jock." Let's tape a
radio to his head and replay his shocking
segment over and over. Let's make him
man the KNRK phones, which have been
ringing solid since Wednesday. And I can
guarantee that not many people are calling
to congratulate Marconi on his journalis
tic integrity.
Whatever we do, it won't be enough
punishment for one of the most despica
ble acts I've ever heard of.
Contact the columnist
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Liberal use of ‘hero’
detracts from its meaning
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, America be
came, to itself, a nation of heroes. We be
stowed the word amongst ourselves freely,
as if the smallest of gestures, displaying pa
triotic placards and vehicular flags, were
heroic. It was as if we imagined that a na
tion full of heroes would somehow be
safer, more secure.
And yet our democratization of the
word "hero" has amounted to a theft of
its once lofty status and has reduced it to
but a shadow of its former self. In the
wake of the death of former NFL football
player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, we
would be wise to restore the word's true
meaning, and remind ourselves that most
heroic endeavors are those unscripted
and quietly performed.
In the days following Sept. 11, rather
than succumb to collective glorification
and patriotic triumphalism, this man
chose to forsake monetary riches in order
to defend his country in the way he felt he
best could. Whether or not you agree with
what he saw as his duty, at least acknowl
edge the heroism in following his own
clarion call to it.
As is daily displayed on these very edi
torial pages, our generation appears hope
less to resolve the timeless dilemma of
whether freedom is best defended through
force or through fellowship. I submit that
those among us quietly defending it by
whichever means they feel is right, be they
activists or diplomats or soldiers, as the
true heroes of our times.
Todd Huffman
Eugene
Don't condone “The Chief”
by playing Illinois
I grew up in Ukiah, in Northern Califor
nia, with the Pomo Indian reservation in
my community. I can only imagine how
hard it was to live in Ukiah as a marginal
ized person.
What would a Pomo Indian feel watch
ing a white student with face paint come
dancing onto a football field or basket
ball court?
The answer is that there are hardly any
Native Americans here to comment — the
Illini are no more.
Please do not condone "The Chief" by
passively assenting to play us.
Marsha Woodbury
professor
University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign