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Oregon Daily Emerald Tliesday, November 15, 2005 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 PARKER HOWELL EDITOR IN CHIEF SHADRA BEESLEY MANAGING EDITOR MEGHANN M. CUNIFF JARED PABEN NEWS EDITORS EVA SYLWESTER SENIOR NEWS REPORTER KELLY BROWN KATY GAGNON CHRISTOPHER HAGAN BRITTNI M(X;LENAHAN NICHOLAS WILBUR NEWS REPORTERS JOE BAILEY EMILY SMITH PART-TIME NEWS REPORTERS SHAWN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR SCOTTI. ADAMS LUKE ANDREWS JEFFREY DRANSFEI.DT SPORTS REPORTERS AMY EIGHTY PULSE EDITOR TREVOR DAVIS KRISTEN GERHARD ANDREW MCCOLLUM PULSE REPORTERS AII.F.E SIATER COMMENTARY EDITOR GABE BRADLEY JESSICA DERLETH ARMY FETH COLUMNISTS TIM BOBOSKY PHOTO EDITOR NICOLE BARKER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER KATE HORTON ZANE RUT PHOTOGRAPHERS JONAH SCHROGIN DESIGN EDITOR JOHN AYRES MOLLY BEDFORD OSSIE BLADINE KERI SPANGLER DESIGNERS CHRIS TODD . 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Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law Guest commentary Professor should keep attacks free of unjustified claims of racism In response to Professor Cole man’s editorial (“Out-of-control foot ball fan behavior is intolerable,” ODE Nov. 9), 1 am one of the many stu dents who is also disappointed with the behavior of our disrespectful stu dents and fans. I completely agree that the University should not toler ate the behavior that occurs within the student section. However, you seem surprised that the students booed the opposing band. No, it is not the best demon stration of sportsmanship, but it is not surprising. As a senior member of the Oregon Marching Band, I have been booed at every single away game I have attended for the past four years. I have had things yelled at me, thrown at me; I have been spit at, sworn at and physically pushed. The OMB has a tradition of clapping and cheering for the opposing band, and also creating gift bags for visiting mu sicians and are recognized as a classy organization. I have friends in the UW and OSU bands that enjoy visiting our stadium because of the warm encouragement provided by our band. I have certain ly been embarrassed at the behavior of our student section, booing every thing not in green and yellow, sneak ing in alcohol and drugs, passing out and puking in the stands ... it is dis gusting, but you, professor, shifted your attack in such random ways that I feel your argument has been com pletely invalidated. For example, the racial implications of booing some Husky band members. Our drum ma jors are booed along with our band as we travel, and our drum majors are all white! The booing of the UW drum major, particularly after a dropped baton, was not a racial issue. The students booed before they could see who the drum major was! Following the unjustified racial statement, you began to insult our band. Given that you are not part of the School of Music, it is perhaps jus tifiable that you do not understand how to compare marching bands. For clarification, the UW band is a tradi tional marching band, limiting their repertoire to marches and using a showy technique called “high step.” They employ simple moves in order to allow focus on stand-still music and drill visuals. Their uniforms re flect their traditional style. The OMB is a contemporary march ing band. We play many different tunes and do not limit our repertoire. Just think about the last eight years of shows, or maybe you haven’t paid enough attention to the music, given the distraction of our shiny “military helmets.” We also use a different marching technique to make our mo tions more uniform. A couple of years ago, it was decided that we would change our uniforms to something more contemporary: new and different, to reflect our style. Yes, our uniforms are very different than UW but so is our style and music. We are a very re spectable marching band; one of the top in the country. But I guess you are probably too concerned with the racism in the student section and the shiny helmets on the field to listen to us play. Try purchasing an OMB CD and supporting the school that you so elo quently referred to as “well-respected.” Beth Overgard is a University senior, and four-year OMB member INBOX Your rights aren't on hold during confrontations Thank you for publishing Jonathan Irwin’s account of last month’s Critical Mass bike ride (“Po lice hostility toward bicyclists hinders progressive movement,” ODE Nov. 8). Being that I was one of the cy clists who got detained and cited, I’m glad the Emerald is helping spread awareness of the regularly occurring harassment that Critical Mass partici pants suffer by the Eugene Police. I would like to take this opportunity to remind readers of their rights, quot ed from lawcollective.org: “If an officer tries to start a conver sation with you, find out whether you’re free to go. If you are, then you should leave immediately, without saying anything else. “If you’re not free to go, the police may merely be “detaining” you while they decide if they have enough evidence for an arrest. Dur ing this period, say nothing except: I’m going to remain silent. I would like to see a lawyer. “If you are arrested, you’ll have to give your name and show ID to be considered for release. Except when an officer’s asking for your name or ID, say: I’m going to remain silent. I would like to see a lawyer. Don’t an swer any other questions or make any remarks. “ (When others are being detained) you have the right to observe and film the police. You can stay as close as is necessary to see and hear clearly, as long as you don’t interfere with the of ficer’s ‘work.’” The more people know their rights, the less easy it is for police to put false statements in the report. Keep this in formation in mind even if you think you’ll never have to use it. Ashley Wright University Alumna Do research before saying unfounded judgments I would like to respond to Alex De ley’s guest commentary regarding the Nov. 1 visit by Dr. Mitchell Bard that was sponsored by Oregon Hillel and the Jewish Student Union (“Narrow minds inhibit peace,” ODE Nov. 10). Mr. Deley should get his facts straight. Dr. Bard is not presently affil iated with AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee). Second, Mr. Deley’s criticism that Dr. Bard re fused to answer a particular question posed to him “immediately after the lecture” is also incorrect; we allowed Dr. Bard approximately 45 minutes af ter the lecture for questions, and no question similar to the one that Mr. Deley described was posed by anyone in the audience. If there were a private exchange with Dr. Bard as he was leaving, then the criticism is nonethe less unfounded and misleading. As to the content of Dr. Bard’s talk, Oregon Hillel invites speakers with a wide variety of viewpoints in order to foster dialogue and discussion; I am happy that we were successful in pro voking discussion. Together with that, I might add that it is ironic that Mr. Deley’s anguish and disagreement of Dr. Bard’s de scription of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization comes in the same week that the Argentinean government con nected Hezbollah directly to the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured 200 civilians — the worst terrorist attack in Argentina’s history: www.cnn.eom/2005/WORLD/ameri cas/ll/09/argentina.bombing.ap/. Thank you for the opportunity to * set the record straight. Hal M. Applebaum Executive Director Oregon Hillel Professor's letter implies racism at football game Emeritus Professor E.L. Coleman’s letter (“Out-of-control football fan behavior is intolerable,” ODE Nov. 9) takes an admirable stand against re cent behavior at Duck football games, and correctly calls for the censure of those fans who display unbecoming conduct. Where Coleman goes wrong, how ever, is in the insinuation that a chorus of boos following an African-American drum major’s fumble were racially mo tivated. While in no way discounting the centuries of very real enormities endured by blacks, frankly, it is absurd to presume that race played any factor in the case at hand. Indeed, someone of Coleman’s impressive accomplish ments in the field of African-American studies (he is listed in “Who’s Who in Black America”) should know better than to resort to a wholesale character ization of all the fans who laughed at the drum major’s mistake as having done so on the basis of racial prejudice. And while it’s worth noting that I harbor no misconceptions of racism as solely a thing of the past, it is disingen uous for Coleman to impulsively as sume that racism was at play here. In doing so, Coleman does us all a dis service, and does nothing to further advance a productive dialogue on the state of race relations today. Miles Church Kane University student OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentanes 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 venfication. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald. ■ Editorial Mutual respect is necessary for change After an extended period of near-silence, French President Jacques Chirac has finally come out with a statement addressing the root cause of recent rioting in France. During his first major speech since the youth riots began, Chirac called attention to the “deep malaise” and discrimination within French society, which led to underprivileged community members taking matters into their own hands. He pledged to create a civil service that would offer jobs and training for 50,000 youths by 2007. With this move, Chirac is pro viding his country with options and ideas be sides deportation and curfews. Perhaps Chirac has realized that the root problems of the ri oting stem far beyond youth unrest and the desire to burn things. Thankfully, Chirac has promised to work toward equal opportunity for French youth. Unfortunately, there is still much work to be done. He must acknowledge and also pledge to deal with the state of impoverished French suburbs, as well as the issue of discrimination faced by many Muslims in France. Chirac’s re cent statement that foreign rioters ought to lose their French citizenship is probably not the best way to quell religious, ethnic, or racial tensions. Chirac is correct in his belief that “[If] one belongs to our national community one must respect the rules.” In order to create a nation of people who respect the rules, those citizens must first be secure in the knowledge that they are an important part of their national commu nity. Now is the time for Chirac to prove his re gard for the underprivileged, and encourage a mutuality of respect. Congress' voting-rights review should consider immigrants Next week, Congress will complete its review of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and decide which portions of the act should to be renewed. One provision, debated before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, mandates bilin gual election material for certain jurisdictions. If an election jurisdiction’s voting population in cludes more than 5 percent (or, at least 10,000 citizens) of people who speak a single minority language, then bilingual ballots, pamphlets, etc. must be offered. Those who oppose renewing the bilingual voting provision claim that the government shouldn’t waste resources translating election material, because the test to become a U.S. citi zen already mandates a knowledge of reading and understanding the English language. If vot ers have become U.S. citizens, they must al ready have a comprehension of the language; therefore, bilingual ballots are unnecessary. This argument, however, fails to take into ac count the fact that people without a firm grasp on the English language will be at a disadvan tage if election material includes complicated wording or colloquial phrases. Why take a step to make voting more difficult for any portion of the population? When deciding which parts of the act should be renewed, Congress ought to remember the United State’s historical position as a nation of immigrants. Approving a decision that decreas es minority participation in democracy would be a decidedly un-American move. Financial ramifications, and minimal ones at that, should not dictate the disappearance of bilingual election materials.
