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mentary Oregon Daily Emerald Wednesday, May 18, 2005 NEWS STAFF (541) 346-5511 |EN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR JARED PABF.N AYISHA YAUYA NEWS EDITORS MECHANN CUNIFF PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTERS MORIAH RALINCIT ADAM CHERRY BRITTNI McCLENAHAN EMILY SMITH EVA SYIWESTER SHELDON TRAVER NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON JONES SPORTS EDITOR JON ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR AMY UCHTY SENIOR PULSE REPORTER JOSHUA UNTEREUR PULSE REPORTER CAT BALDWIN JOHN PALMER PULSE CARTOONISTS AILEE S1AIT-R COMMENTARY EDITOR GABE BRADLEY ANNEMARIE KNEPPER CHUCK SLOTHOWER JENNIFER MCBRIDE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHERS KATE HORTON ZANE RITE PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHERS BRET FURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST DUSTIN REESE SENIOR DESIGNER ELLIOTT ASBURY WENDY KIEFFER AMANDA LEE JONAH SCHROGIN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY JEANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD JOSH NORRIS SPORTS COPY EDITORS GREG BILSLAND AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS JENNY GERW1CK PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR WEBMASTER (541)346-5511 JUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHYCARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER LAUNA DE GIUSTI RECEPTIONIST JERED NAGEL PATRICK SCHMF.RBER HOLLY STEIN JANA SWANSON ROB WEGNER CAROLYN ZIMMERMAN DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ HERON CALISCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HIRONAKA MAEGAN KASER-LEE KELLEE KAUFTHEIL MIA LEIDELMEYER SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES CLASSIFIED (541) 3464343 IRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KORALYNN BASHAM AN DO KATY GAGNON KER1 SPANGLER KAnE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541)346-4381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER 1ARA SLOAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR IEN CRAMLET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT SABRINA GOWETTE JONAH SCHROG1N DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri 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 The value of anonymity There are a lot of things I don’t un derstand in this world. For example, scientists in November were able to produce batteries powered by the prop erties of ground-up spinach. Apparent ly peas would have worked just as well, but professor Shuguang Zhang, associ ate director of the Center for Biomed ical Engineering at M.I.T., said spinach is cheaper and more available. “You can buy nice bags of washed baby spinach, and you can get that year round,” he stated. While Popeye might have considered spinach-powered batteries possible, I certainly hadn’t. My admittedly limited capacities have also been baffled by the current events of this week. I don’t understand the recent riots commonly blamed on a hotly contest ed Newsweek article. The piece alleged that soldiers at Guantanamo Bay flushed a copy of the Quran down a toi let in the process of interrogation, though the story has since been retract ed. Protests spread like wildfire across the Muslim world, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Palestine. In Afghanistan, unrest caused the death of 16 people and the injuries to many more. If the allegations are true, which they probably aren’t, flushing the Quran was a stupid move on the interrogators’ part. Not only was it likely to increase general tension, but it also doesn’t seem to be an effective technique. Why would such blasphemy encourage ter rorist suspects to cough up information helping U.S. interests? However, regardless of side issues, I think the Bush administration is trying to find a scapegoat that’s not grazing in its own backyard. Granted, I’m not Newsweek’s biggest fan. I consider Newsweek, TIME and U.S. News & World Report JENNIFER MCBRIDE QUASHING DISSENT as the big three “McNews” of the magazine world, serving pre processed lard completely devoid of nutritional value. However, I do not think that Newsweek truly erred in running the article. In matters of na tional security and secrecy, it’s im portant to consider that sources are often anonymous for obvious rea sons. Newspapers must often rely, as Newsweek did, on one anonymous source. If only one whistleblower comes forward, it doesn’t mean the story is untrue; sometimes bringing uncorroborated details into the pub lic light is the only way to encourage others to come forward. I hope this incident will not make reporters hes itant to jump on wrongful acts per petuated by the United States, even if the sources are anonymous. It would, of course, be nice to see such allegations reported as rumors, not facts. Even so, Newsweek went above and beyond the normal call by submitting the article to the Pentagon for comment before it hit publication. Mark Whitaker, editor of Newsweek, said the news item came back with no dispute about the Quran detail until days later, just hours before Newsweek’s deadline. The fact that the Pentagon took so long to verify this sto ry suggests to me there was something to investigate and something worthy of public interest. Additionally, no one could have anticipated the furor the story would cause. Stories about Quran abuse have been printed before without unleashing massive protests. Whitaker also notes that there was a time lag between when the story first appeared and when the protests began, adding that the Newsweek article was one of many elements leading to the riots. Despite these mitigating factors, White House spokesman Scott Mc Clellan seems to be putting most of the blame squarely on the shoulders of Newsweek’s staff, continually dis cussing the serious consequences of the report and detailing lives lost as a result. It’s all well and good for Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to claim that peo ple need to be just as careful about what they say as what they do, but the uproar over Newsweek’s use of anonymous sources is misdirected at best. Riots did not occur in a vacu um but were the result of a pres sured buildup that was exploited by extremists. Clearly, the policies of the United States in Guantanamo Bay and the world in general need to be addressed. Anti-U.S. sentiment only endangers our lives, creates in stability and derails peace processes essential to world harmony. I only wish that mistakes, when made, could be less fatal. Mark Whitaker is not denying that his mag azine could have been more careful. Let us hope that we, the general pub lic, don’t make the mistake of allow ing a debate over sources to overshad ow the terrible incidents that have occurred at interrogators’ hands. jennifermcbride@dailyemerald.com OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office, EMU Suite 300. Electronic submissions are preferred Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submissions should include phone number and address for verification. The Emerald reserves the rigit to edit foi space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald. ■ Editorial Fees without perks unfair for students in Portland How would you feel if, after stepping into the Student Recreation Center and preparing to swipe your student ID card, you were instead told to shell out $5? What if you got onto the city bus, just as you do every morning, and had to pay full fare? You would be rightfully mad, because the truth is that you have already paid for these sendees with your incidental fees. To pay more money for the use of buses or student facilities is double taxation. And yet, this is exactly what a group of University students is forced to deal with. Last week, the Emerald reported that stu dents at the University’s Portland Center had filed grievances with the ASUO (“Students at Portland satellite file grievances,” ODE, May 10). Angry about paying incidental fees with out receiving the same benefits as students on the Eugene campus, these students want their money back. Although concerns among Portland cam pus students were brought up earlier this year (“Committee formed to advocate for equal perks,” ODE, Jan. 5; “Students doubt justice of fees,” ODE, Feb. 23), neither the adminis tration nor the ASUO took steps to address the problem. The Portland Student Action Council, creat ed in early 2005, rightly strives to give Portland students the perks they deserve. Here in Eugene, our incidental fees allow us to ride the local bus system, use the rec cen ter, ride with Assault Prevention Shuttle or Designated Driver Shuttle and access sporting events, all for free. Students at the Portland satellite campus receive none of these benefits. Each time their incidental fee money goes toward one of these Eugene services, Portland students are paying for someone else’s free ride. Interestingly, students at the University’s other satellite campus in Bend are not re quired to pay incidental fees. It therefore seems that the Portland campus fiasco is based on some strange University oversight. Administrators obviously realize that satellite campuses should not be forced to fund perks for Eugene students, and yet nothing has been done to remedy the situation. Likewise, the ASUO has been unwilling to seriously evaluate or solve PSAC concerns. In January, ASUO Vice President Mena Ravas sipour said that student government was sim ply unaware of the incidental fee situation and promised that students’ concerns would be addressed. As of yet, the ASUO has done no tangible work to correct the problem. Although stu dent government may not have the power to decide how much students pay in incidental fees, the ASUO should at least use its power as a major figurehead to advocate for the Portland campus students. PSAC’s wise decision to file grievances shows that the issue of equality in benefits will not go away on its own. We hope that this time the Univer sity will not try to use time as a device to shove the concerns of PSAC underneath the administrative rug. It is costly enough to put oneself through an education. The University is making these Portland students throw away money on un usable services, and that is just plain wrong. Until comparable perks can be offered at the University’s Portland Center, those students should not be required to pay money toward benefit hat benefit someone else.
