Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, March 3, 2005 *
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■ In my opinion
Praising PETKXHY
As a space dedicated to commentary
about (ostensibly) fresh viewpoints
on relevant topics from the local to
the international, this column’s efforts
at critical thinking have often been,
well, critical.
Over the better part of two years,
the subjects of my written disdain have
included the Office of Trademark
Management, the English measure
ment system, Democratic strategists,
People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, Oregon State University,
radical feminists, Ralph Nader, voting
machine manufacturers, Abu Ghraib
military guards, the University of
Michigan, Sudanese janjaweed,
fist-fighting priests, Michael Moore, the
Electoral College, John Ashcroft, Tom
DeLay, frivolous lawsuits, several
members of the Programs Finance
Committee, President Bush, the town
of New London, and several brands of
politically correct, “ideologically inces
tuous,” and usually self-serving
nonsense-rakers. Per the suggestion of
one of my more devoted readers, I’m
drafting this, my next-to-penultimate
column, with a different tenor.
Freshmen, you won’t remember, but
your student government wasn’t
always this way. Sure, the PFC hearings
have always been heated messes of
arguments, grievances and hotly
contested debates (though this marks
the first year in my memory that has
seen injunctions, suspensions or — my
favorite — accusations of “sleeping
with the devil” directed at some
ASUO officials).
But before you were here, the Exec
utive wasn’t the collected and usually
level-headed authority you know today.
Last year, under President Maddy
Melton and Vice President Eddy
Morales, it was a muddle of gross
TRAVIS WILLSE
RIVALLESS WIT
conflicts of interest punctuated by
dereliction of constitutional duties,
incomplete campaign accounting,
election scheduling blunders, a several
thousand dollar deficit and (eventually
dropped) charges of assault.
While nearly any Executive
imaginable would be an improvement
over last year’s bumblers, ASUO Pres
ident Adam Petkun and some other
officials who have avoided scandal
have mostly managed the office with
an aplomb and sensibility deserving
applause in its own right. They have
become the first administration in my
five years at the University character
ized more by reason and progress
than by self-induced controversy and,
sometimes, severe ethical failures.
In a Senate meeting early in his
term, Petkun pledged to be “very
committed to making sure that the
ASUO Executive office is fiscally
responsible and is an example for the
rest of the ASUO. ” And so they have
seemed to be. With the arguable
exception of money spent on a
finance retreat, the Executive’s record
has been spotted with none of their
predecessors’ fiduciary blemishes.
The events surrounding that
embattled retreat made for the
administration’s biggest blunder this
year: Even though the conduct that
evidently took place at the retreat
calls into question the validity of
using student dollars there, the
administration has defied fair inquiry
and hidden its response to the incident
behind a philosophically incoherent
veil of “collective responsibility. ”
But I promised praise, so here:
Petkun helped clean up the messes of
last year’s administration . While the
Constitution Court’s then-chief justice
declared Melton unfit for duty after
she failed to find law students to fill
vacancies there, the incoming
Executive managed to find candidates
by early July — when law students
aren’t even in session.
When the hiring of an ASUO staff
person’s husband sparked “concerns
about the appearance of nepotism,”
Petkun stepped in and issued a hiring
ban. The Executive also registered
record numbers of voters in last fall’s
registration campaign and made good
on its campaign promise to nix the
“sketchy scheduling fee. ”
But Petkun’s shiniest moment this
year was his involvement in the tricky,
contentious brouhaha about funding
the Oregon Commentator. Where
other administrations have faltered,
Petkun remained true to the spirit of
viewpoint neutrality, even citing and
bringing copies of the Supreme Court’s
Southworth decision.
While every student government
administration suffers problems —
such is the territory of governing
a complex, diverse community —
student leaders’ success is defined by
how they respond to those challenges.
And, more often than not, Petkun and
several other ASUO officials have
met those challenges with an even
handedness that freshmen shouldn’t
take for granted.
traviswillse@ dailyemerald. com
■ Guest commentary
A question of diversity:
'How, then, shall we live V
We are three white people who do
not live on the receiving end of
racism. Yet, in part because of our
positions of leadership, but mostly
because of the humanity we share
with all, we feel a strong need to
respond to racism and other forms of
discrimination in our community
when they come to light.
Deeply concerned with this perni
cious wrong, we struggle personally
and professionally knowing that we
must all work together as friends,
neighbors, fellow workers and
members of our community to find a
better, healing way.
More than a century ago, the great
Russian writer Leo Tolstoy asked,
“How, then, shall we live?” In doing
so, he focused on how he should and
must treat his fellow human beings.
In this same vein, each one of us
must ask the same question: How
shall I treat the woman 1 work with,
the man who cuts my hair, the child
in my classroom, the family in the
restaurant? How shall I respond in
thought and actions to the diversity,
racial and otherwise, that comprises
the world we live in?
At the University, the very basis
of what we are as an educational
institution cries out for diversity. We
must have that diversity, not only in
ideas and intellectual offerings, but
in people. We must have the breadth
of experience that comes from a
multitude of cultural experiences. We
must have the richness offered by
history and art, and the music and
beliefs that expand our knowledge
and our lives.
In our cities and our greater
community, we are deeply concerned
that there are some who feel we do
not recognize acts of racism and do
not consistently respond to reduce
the incidence of such acts. Recent
discussions regarding school achieve
ment gaps, exodus of employees and
racial profiling have brought to light
some of the inequities lived and felt
by men, women and children in our
community. We strongly believe in
finding ways to hear where we are
failing and commit ourselves to
improvement and action.
There is a pragmatic side to this
discussion. As improving the climate
for diversity and tolerance can enhance
our regional and national reputation, it
can also improve our ability to recruit
and retain quality companies and
employees, as well as the health and
strength of our local economy. Toward
this end, in a partnership of local school
districts, municipalities and utilities,
we will sign a memorandum of
understanding on March 4, reaffirming
our commitment to the Diversity and
Human Rights Consortium and its
efforts to address human rights and
diversity issues of mutual interest.
Lane County recently celebrated
the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a
life dedicated to overcoming hateful
discrimination of all types. He
understood, and communicated
eloquently, the need to move beyond
“just the way things are.” If racism
and intolerance are “just the way
things are” here in our community,
we must be willing to honestly
examine ourselves and find ways to
struggle toward something better,
toward Dr. King’s “mountain top.”
“How, then, shall we live?”
is a question we must answer.
Acknowledging the difficulties
that lie ahead, we pledge ourselves
to move surely and meaningfully
toward actions that will answer it
for the betterment of all citizens
in our community.
Dave Frohnmayer is president
of the University, Sid Leiken
is mayor of Springfield, and
Kitty Piercy is mayor of Eugene
■ Editorial
Senators
save Oregon
from more
Bush idiocy
President Bush has conceived of some pretty
stupid plans over the years. His plan to fight
poverty by spending federal money on marriage
counseling immediately comes to mind.
Well, another gem from Bush’s moronic mind
mercifully went up in flames yesterday, blocked
by senators from the Northwest, saving all of us
hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
Bush’s plan was to force the Bonneville Power
Administration to increase its electricity prices to
correspond to market rates. The change could
have resulted in a 20 percent jump in electricity
bills throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Conspiracy theorists will suggest this was
President Bush’s attempt at revenge against a
region of the country that didn’t vote for him in
the last two elections. Whatever his motivation,
the fact remains that his plan would have
devastated our already shaky economy and
barren job market and was vigorously opposed
by members of both parties.
Thank you senators for standing up against the
president and for the Northwest taxpayer.
A fox guarding the hen house
With more than 9.9 million victims of identity
theft in the United States last year, according
to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Americans
are becoming extremely sensitive about their
personal information. So it makes perfect sense
that the Department of Homeland Security would
create an advisory committee to help it navigate
the ethically thorny and technologically complex
world of privacy issues, especially given the
department’s plans to do background checks
on everyone boarding a plane and entering the
country, according to the Associated Press.
What makes less sense are some of the names
included on the 20-member Data Privacy and
Integrity Advisory Committee, which is
overloaded with representatives from privacy
violating corporations and light on actual privacy
advocates. For example, Cendant Corp. owns a
company that turned over customer records
without their knowledge; Science Applications
International Corp. let thieves steal computers
with loads of employees’ personal information;
and Claria Corp., installed pop-up ads on
customer Web sites without their permission.
This oft-called “fox guarding die hen house”
approach to advisory committees is a Bush
administration favorite. It allows them to appear
as if they care about the public’s privacy concerns
without really doing anything. They do the same
thing with AIDS and a host of environmental and
civil liberty issues.
This practice cuts to the heart of the Bush
administration ethic: See no evil, hear no
evil, speak no evil. The administration surrounds
President Bush with yes men (from the press
room to his Cabinet to the federal courts), switches
the televisions in the White House to FOX News,
holds unscripted press conferences once in a blue
moon and attempts to silence all dissent.
The echo chamber of this White House is
ringing more than ever, with the conservative
press acting as a megaphone. And what is getting
drowned out is any semblance of truth.
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