Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, October 28, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Where has common courtesy gone?
Within a university, one would as
sume that most people have a certain
level of intelligence and a certain
amount of knowledge. Yet somehow a
large portion of people on this campus
lack a sense of common courtesy.
Common courtesy centers on the re
alization that there are other people who
share this campus with you. I, for one,
am tired of people spitting all over the
sidewalk. Why is this necessary? Consid
ering that the culprits are often men, I
have to wonder if it is just a display of
masculinity. It is nothing short of dis
gusting, especially if people are eating
near by. And, if one is brave enough to
wear flip-flops, there is the possibility of
stepping in a stranger’s saliva and hav
ing others’ body fluid contact the skin. If
anyone out there finds that they have to
spit, for whatever reason, I implore you
to have some common courtesy and aim
for the bushes.
This spitting habit comes to mind
right away because it is public, just like
littering. Overall, I find the University to
be impressively clean. Yet there are some
who leave their Big-Gulp cups sitting by
benches and drop their gum wrappers. I
do not see how someone can litter with
out feeling guilty, and I also do not see
how people can walk by a piece of trash
and not feel obligated to pick it up. We
have all heard the saying, “If you aren’t
part of the solution you’re part of the
problem,” and it’s true. I encourage
everyone to pick up any large pieces of
trash. It is absurd to expect people to dig
through the leaves to get a gum wrapper,
but when various sections of a newspa
per are scattered around a bench, why
not take a couple of seconds to stop and
pick it up? That simple act can make a
world of a difference.
JESSICA DERLETH
FREEDOM RINGS WHERE OPINIONS CLASH
Another simple thing to consider is
how one enters and exits a room. Dur
ing a recent panel discussion in the
lounge of my dorm, people entered and
exited the building, letting the door slam
each time. There was a panel, an audi
ence, a camera and a stream of door
slammers. I understand that the disrup
tion was not intentional and comes with
being in a dorm. But door-slamming
should not be a problem in the class
room. During a recent midterm, people
were leaving as they finished and every
time people left they let the door slam
behind them. I sat there trying to answer
the essay questions as the door banged
shut every 30 seconds. Where is the
common courtesy? Taking a midterm is
stressful enough without having loud,
repetitive noise.
There are aspects of common cour
tesy that go beyond simply annoying
those around you. Take, for example,
washing your hands. You may not think
that washing hands has no effect on any
one else, but it does. In a study conduct
ed by the American Society for Microbi
ology, more than 7,000 adults were ob
served in airport restrooms across the
country to see just how common hand
washing is. Overall, 90 percent of
women wash their hands and 75 percent
of men wash their hands. This may not
seem that bad, but one must take into
account that people who don’t wash
their hands open that bathroom door to
leave. And people who do wash their
hands have to touch the same handle.
Then they are out in the world where the
non-hand-washers touch other surfaces
and shake hands. These people can easi
ly spread the common cold, the flu virus
and more serious diseases such as hepa
titis A, impetigo and pinworm. Believe
me, these things are not nice. I have seen
countless women leave the bathroom
without washing and it makes me cringe
every time. Do they think that they don’t
have germs? To help protect yourself and
others from germs, all it takes is some
soap, water and 20 seconds of your time.
Hand-washing really comes down to
health, as does smoking. I could never
smoke. It smells gross, it is unhealthy, it
is addictive and it would not mesh well
with my asthma. As an asthmatic indi
vidual I often find myself having a hard
time breathing if I am around someone
who is smoking or wearing three layers
of perfume. And I have to say that I have
found the quantity of perfume to be a
larger problem than the smokers. From
what I have seen, people stay off to the
side or go to appropriate areas to smoke.
Sure, there is the occasional person who
walks through a crowd blowing smoke
into everyone’s face, but for the most
part, University smokers have a sense of
common courtesy.
It is not hard to be polite and cour
teous. It is not hard to realize that you
are not the only person out there. So
please, close doors quietly, spit in the
bushes, pick up your trash and WASH
YOUR HANDS!
jderlth@dailyemerald.com
Long live New Orleans!
New Orleans is down, but definitely
not out. Like the guy who valiantly stag
gers to his feet, gripping the bar while
slurring, “And another thing, buddy—”
after having his ass handed to him in a
brawl, New Orleans is not over. Not by
a long shot.
I thought I would return to utter de
struction. I thought that the past few
days would be the most painful of my
life. Hurricane Katrina has caused me
her fair share of sadness and has also, at
times, shaken my belief that everything
happens for a reason. But the two days I
spent in New Orleans two weeks ago
were some of the best of my life.
I thought everyone would be broken.
And the city is.
It’s impossible to walk down the
streets because the enormous piles of
debris block the path. It’s as if every
house has vomited out its contents,
starting with furniture and ending with
the walls. A brief lesson in New Orleans
topography: the land nearest the river is
highest, and it slopes down towards the
lake which borders the city on the north.
If you lived more than a few blocks from
the river, you got water. Imagine if every
one who lived farther than two blocks
from the Willamette had everything on
their first floor obliterated.
People who had only three inches of
water are gutting their houses. It’s not
the water — it’s the mold that climbs to
the ceiling and ruins literally everything
but glass and metal.
There is debris everywhere. Much of
the garbage in the dumps was picked up
and distributed liberally around the city.
With the exception of Audubon Park,
which looks beautiful (thank you, Okla
homa National Guard!), there are no
streets, no yards and no sidewalks with
out at least a small heap of garbage.
KELLY BROWN
Y’ALL HEAR THAT'NOLIA CLAP...
I woke to the sounds of my down
stairs neighbors’ mountain of belong
ings being picked up by giant claws and
dumped into an accompanying garbage
truck. “Oh, that’s a cute comforter,” I
thought to myself as it dangled, along
with jeans and a stuffed camel, from the
grip of the construction equipment.
Out in Lakeview, near where the
canal broke, things are even worse. Oak
trees that had trunks six feet across he
prone, browning in the sun. The black
water line stretches as far as the eye can
see — a perfectly level mark of the “toxic
gumbo” that flowed into our city. Dri
ving at night is like driving in the coun
try because all the streetlights are out,
yet you’re surrounded by buildings.
Amidst this mess, my room was fine.
Aside from a ruined throw pillow that
was under a leaky window, everything
sat in the same place where I left it. The
outfit I’d worn on my last night of work
was still strewn across the floor; a half
written letter sat on my desk, collecting
dust. It seemed incredibly unfair that my
stuff was unharmed while so many oth
ers had lost so much.
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t nice to
have my own clothes and my photo al
bums back, and I know that if I had lost
everything, it wouldn’t make any differ
ence except to me. I know it’s just stuff,
but sometimes it’s not. There are things
that have so much more value and
meaning than could be reported on an
insurance loss sheet.
But, in the midst of all this, I found
something that I never expected. Re
member after Sept. 11, when everyone
felt unified, and trivial events were no
longer important? Everyone in New Or
leans has experienced a watershed event
that will change us forever, and I have
never experienced such a sense of com
munity and solidarity as I did there.
People called out to me as I walked
down the street. They wanted to hear
my story. They wanted me to hear
theirs. They wanted to serve me lunch,
and some truly wonderful individuals
presented me with some cigarettes.
People who had lost everything were
concerned about how I was liking Ore
gon. They wanted assurance that I
would be back, and when I told them I
would, they asked me to stop by and vis
it when I got back.
At the overflowing bars — some
things never change — people toasted
New Orleans, each other and even the
hurricane that gave us so much perspec
tive. We drank to the past, and we drank
to the future. There is nowhere like New
Orleans, and it will never be the same
city. We don’t know what’s coming, but
no matter what it is, we’re New Orleani
ans and we’ll always be a part of it.
“Screw the ones that don’t return —
we didn’t need them anyway!” was a
common theme, but I think most people
will be back.
I’m not sure I’d put it that strongly,
but it’s hard to imagine my life without
New Orleans. It’s my hometown, and
I’ve learned so much —good and bad —
from the past two years there.
kbrown@dailyemerald.com
■ Out loud
“It’s easy to tell everyone to do this and
not give money to do it.”
— University Director of Telecommunica
tions Services Dave Barta on a new order
from the Federal Communications Commis
sion that might cause the University to have
to revamp its communications systems.
“I’m not saying that this is for all stu
dents. Not all students smoke weed, throw
beer on people and burn bears. It is show
ing that we’re taking a stance and that
these stupid, stupid people will not be tol
erated in public.”
— Athletic Department Finance Com
mittee Senator Kyle McKenzie on an
ADFC proposal to punish one-time disor
derly offenders at games.
“Sports is just so much more to me than
politics, and I think that being a journalist is
so much more to me than being a politician. ”
— Athletic Department Finance Com
mittee member Spencer Crum, who
stepped down from his position in order to
pursue journalism and write for the Emer
ald as a freelance sports reporter. Emerald
policy prohibits printing news articles by
students who are simultaneously involved
in student government.
“I’m on a fixed income. For $355 a
month I could live in a cockroach-infested
apartment on Seventh and Blair.”
— Westmoreland Apartments resident
Darlene Hampton, a GTF in the English
department, at a meeting Wednesday
night with University officials, The Univer
sity recently announced future plans to
sell the apartment complex, displacing its
360 leaseholders.
“We started out as family housing, and
we’re not really housing very many fami
lies. We started out full, with a lot of de
mand, and that’s not really the case right
now. We started out trying to serve chil
dren, and there aren’t very many children
living there,”
— Mike Eyster, interim vice president
for Student Affairs and director of Univer
sity Housing, discussing the shortfalls of
the Westmoreland Apartments.
“I wish there could be someone held re
sponsible for what happened, whether it
be a student or housing.”
— Hawaii Club co-Director and Univer
sity junior Lily Bender discussing a
Hawaiian freshman who lived in the resi
dence halls this year and left during his
first week at the University because of al
leged racial harassment and death threats.
The incident prompted the University to
send an administrator to Hawaii.
“This wouldn’t be a reason or an extra
reason to go, but it clearly is an opportu
nity to answer questions. ”
— Interim Vice Provost for Institutional
Equity and Diversity Charles Martinez dis
cussing the causes of his visit to Hawaii.
“There are no finer marketers, I believe
— in certainly the sports industry — than
Nike, and we have a very good relation
ship with them here at the University of
Oregon.”
— Athletic Director Bill Moos on the in
volvement of Nike in helping to secure Eu
gene as the location of the 2008 Olympic
TVack and Field Trials.
“I wouldn’t be suicidal if it did pass, but
I don’t think it will.”
— University Development Gift Plan
ning Director Hal Abrams on the U.S. Sen
ate’s impending decision on whether to re
peal a tax on inherited estates, a move
some say could drastically cut donations
to nonprofits and universities.