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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2004)
Commentary Oregon Daily Emerald Wednesday, December 1, 2004 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 ii:n sudick EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR JARED PABEN AYISHA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER MORIAH BALINCIT AMANDA BOLSINGER MEGHANN CUNIIT KARA HANSEN ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON IONES SPORTS EDITOR JON ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR NATASHA CH1LINGERIAN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER DAHVI FISCHER AMY LICHTY RYAN MURPHY PULSE REPORTERS DAVID JAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR JENNIFER MCBRIDE AILEE SLATER CHUCK SLOTHOWER TRAVIS WLLLSE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER ERIK BISHOFF PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER BREI FURTWANGLF.R GRAPHIC ARTIST KIRA PARK DESIGN EDITOR ELLIOTT ASB11RY CHARLIE CALDWELL DUSTIN REESE BRIANNE SHOL1AN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY IFANN1E EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD PAUL THOMPSON SPORTS COPY EDITORS AMANDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE N El .SON ONLINE EDITOR SLADE LEESON WEBMASTER BUSINESS (541)346-5511 JUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRITCHETT RECEPTIONIST NAT HAN FOSTER AIBING GUO ANDREW LEAHY JOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELL DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (5411346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ HERON CAUSCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HIRONAKA MAEGAN KASER-LEE MIA LEIDELMEYER EMILY PHILBIN SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUFTHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED (541) 3464343 TR1NA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KATY GAGNON SABRINA GOWETTE LESLIE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541) 3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA Ql DAM PRODUCTION COORDINATOR FEN CRAM LET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT ANDY HOLLAND DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fn day during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law Bret Furtwangler | Graphic artist ■ In my opinion A Christmas wish Jot' weed. The one thing I’d like to see under my Christmas tree is a Chippendale’s dancer, partially unwrapped, of course. The second thing is world peace. A slightly more realistic option might be wishing for no hypocrisy from our nine funeral-clad dark angels whose job it is to protect the Constitution. Sandra Day O’Connor is no sugarplum fairy, but if she has a little ideological consistency in her body, I might be getting some thing sweet in my stocking after all. Angel McClary Raich, one of the plaintiffs in Ashcroft v. Raich (which hit the Supreme Court’s gladiatorial arena Monday), is hardly the stereotypical scary, tattooed drug dealer. She suffers from a gauntlet of wasting diseases, in cluding fibromyalgia, endometriosis, scoliosis, uterine fibroid tumors, paraly sis, asthma, rotator cuff syndrome, seizures and an inoperable brain tumor. Thirty-five alternative medicines failed to dull the pain, so she turned to an act of Californian compassion that legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Unfortunately, the federal government robbed her of her home grown plants under the auspices of the Federal Controlled Substances Act, because when our ports are unprotected, our firefighters are underfunded and our education sys tem is an international travesty, the best possible use of the federal budget is to shove handcuffed grannies to the concrete floors of their own base ments for the crime of seeking a little relief. Republicans yet again show JENNIFER MCBRIDE QUASHING DISSENT that they believe in states’ rights, as long as the states don’t do anything they object to. The Supreme Court can stop this heresy right here and now, and it must, if it’s to show respect for legal prece dent. Liberal policies with similarly sympathetic victims have been hacked down with the sword of federalism (the concept that the federal government is limited in the scope of what it can do, short of specific constitutional man dates) and now Chief Justice Rehnquist needs to enjoy some of his own bitter medicine and sign on to a broadly worded majority decision that admits drug policy, in this case, does not be long under federal controls. After all, Rehnquist and the four other right-wing election-stealers threw out a congressional ban on guns on school grounds because such encroachments by the U.S. govern ment would lead to “police power” ending in tyranny. They also ravaged a federal remedy for gender-based vi olence because, while admitting rape is heinous, it certainly doesn’t fall un der the commerce clause. The feds can regulate the flow of money but not the flow of illicit semen! If Rehnquist and the rest truly be lieve the federal government has no power in either of these cases, one can only hope Acting Solicitor General Paul Clement’s contentions that med ical marijuana is a national issue be cause patient use may tangentially af fect interstate commerce will also be set aflame — violence and rape have much more impact on our economy than a little legal dope. For this rea son, the Supreme Court should do what it has rarely done: affirm the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that marijuana grown for limited local use cannot be regulated by the federal government, only by the states. Of course, intellectual hypocrisy is seldom limited to conservatives. Suddenly, liberals of the high court have praised stricter interpretation of congressional powers. Clinton ap pointee Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed out, “Nobody’s buying anything. Nobody’s selling anything.” Who knows, maybe Rehnquist’s jolt of chemo will give him insight into peo ple’s pain and create a new, softer chief justice who lurches leftwards and begins a new fantastic five of left ist hippie justice. Please, Santa, please! Maybe then we can all sit back and enjoy our "special” fruitcakes without fear of the feds. jennifermcbride@dailyemerald.com INBOX Emerald pursuit of ASUO interferes with job duties I am appalled at the uproar the ASUO has suffered over the drinking infractions at Sunriver. This minor in fraction of rules would have resulted in a simple resolution in any legal court. Because the ASUO is responsi ble for self-regulation in these cases, the mandate for radical punishment of offenders comes from all angles. This fails to serve the student body of the University. Every hour our student representa tives spend trying to mollify the blood lust of the Emerald is taking away from the execution of their offices. The Emerald itself claims that "... mem bers’ relentlessly immature actions prove they don’t deserve to be treated as serious politicians — or as adults for that matter.” Yet nothing published thus far has shown that these activities, in any way, negatively affected the sen ators’ ability to do their jobs. When the ASUO maturely brought this issue to a press conference to avoid a repeat of last year’s contro versy, it made no difference in the calls for extreme action. If the ODE is interested in benefiting the student body of this University, then bring is sues of interest to light in the propor tion to which they will affect the av erage student. If the ODE is interested only in propagating con troversy and ridiculing those hired to protect those interests, then refund the incidental fees that support the ODE, move off campus and take your place amongst the tabloids where you will be in like company. David Watson Environmental Science ■ Editorial Unheeded rules make Dead Week truly killer We are smack dab in the middle of Dead Week, so no doubt you are about to drop dead from exhaustion. What happened to this week? When did our buffer before finals — perfect for catching up on studying and sleep — become the favorite week for teachers to dump loads of work and spring im portant tests? Many students don’t realize that some of these practices violate the rules governing Dead Week. While teachers are allowed to as sign homework, they are not supposed to overload their students with big projects and examinations. Of course, this doesn’t stop them, and enforcement of the rules appears to be nonexistent. Nevertheless, as a student, it is important that you know your rights. Here are the rules governing Dead Week, as they appear in min utes from the March 10, 1982, meeting of the University Assembly: 1. “No examination worth more than 20 percent of the final grade will be given with the exception of make-up examinations.” 2. “No final examinations will be given un der any guise. ” 3. “No projects will be due unless they have been clearly specified on the syllabus within the first two weeks of the term.” 4. “Take-home final examinations will be due no earlier than the day of the formally assigned final examination for the class in question.” We are hard-pressed to recall a time when these rules have been followed, even in just the spirit of the law, but an even larger prob lem is the flawed nature of these rules — the loopholes are so large you could drive a freight train through them. Does it make it better that a professor gives notice of a Dead Week due date within the first two weeks? Of course, but there is still some thing wrong with assuming that students should work through the holiday weekend when it is almost assured that few professors will spend the same time preparing for their next week of school. We can all agree that because of how the quarter system is structured, with Thanksgiv ing falling on the week before a large mass of projects hit the docket, a week for students to prepare would be a welcome addition. Additionally, professors seem to think they are doing students a favor by getting them out of finals during the actual Finals Week, but this couldn’t be further from the truth — what we’d really like is to have adequate time to prepare for our finals. Let us return Dead Week to its original in tent. Let’s start by amending the rules: Rather than limiting the size and nature of the work, how about requiring no examinations and no projects whatsoever during Dead Week, peri od? And how about actually holding teachers accountable for breaking the rules — what re course do students have for the professor who slips in a large project? A final note to instructors: Give us a break already, before Dead Week becomes tragically literal. EDITORIAL BOARD Jennifer Sudick Editor in Chief David Jagemauth Editorial Editor Steven R. Neuman Managing Editor Gabe Bradley Freelance Editor
