mentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
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■ 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
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■ 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.