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Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, December 5, 2005
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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.
■ In my opinion
Thank you, Emerald, and goodbye
I went to a movie the other night
with a group of friends. It’s a new re
lease, “Jarhead.” A good ol’ war
movie. A few good explosions. Some
nudity. All in all a decent flick.
In a scene where soldiers are in the
midst of burning oil wells, one asks
who else in the world gets to experience
what they’re experiencing right then.
It was an obvious attempt to highlight
the weight of such a once-in-a rare-life
time moment, but I had an answer to
that seemingly rhetorical question.
Journalists.
Journalists are the only people, oth
er than soldiers, who get to experi
ence situations like a desert full of
fires. Because we are charged with
reporting on the world, we are
charged with experiencing the world.
Sounds good to me.
This is the column where I’m sup
posed to tell you, the reader, that I’m off
to that world. No more college for me.
I’m finished. I’ve earned my credits. My
work here is complete. I’m off to intern
at The Spokesman-Review, first in
Spokane for general assignments then
in Boise for the Idaho Legislature.
I’ve been trying to think of some
thing incredibly profound to say, but
all I can think about is how I would
n’t even have a chance to say good
bye if it weren’t for the Emerald. The
Emerald was by far the best thing
that happened to me in college. Fif
teen months after working here, I
know this university inside and out.
(I still haven’t decided whether that’s
a good thing.) I have favorite people,
and now seems like an appropriate
time to mention them.
Mike Eyster and Dan Williams are
MEGHANN CUNIFF
ALL UP IN YOUR BUSINESS
the only administrators worth mention
ing. The best people I know at the Uni
versity are, of course, my co-workers.
Spending 12 to 16 hours a day with
people will definitely help forge long
lasting friendships, but I think the fact
that they’re the best and most fun jour
nalists I’ve worked with makes our
friendships all the more solid.
Though I’ll miss reporting on the ac
tions of the administration, I’ll miss
working late into the night in the news
room with my best friend and fellow
news editor Jared Paben more. He’s the
one who got me in at the Emerald, and
he’s the one I turn to the most for ad
vice. Not to mention the fact that he
loves deluxe nachos from Chapala’s
Mexican restaurant just as much as I do.
I often wonder how the stories I
write impact the community. Much of
the time it’s difficult to say, but every
once in awhile something happens
that serves as a reminder that our work
does matter — people do pay atten
tion. I received such a reminder the
other day in the form of a three-page
typed letter that detailed one Eugene
woman’s reasons for opposing the
University administration’s push to sell
Westmoreland Apartments.
Much of what she cited came from
the articles I’ve written concerning
University Housing and the financial
policies that some past and present
housing officials say have hindered the
department and prevented needed ren
ovation and additions. Those stories
were a highlight of my Emerald career,
not because they were the best but be
cause they involved an extensive
amount of work and made me realize
how much I love being a reporter.
I still have the big stack of documents
— ranging from minutes from the state
board of higher education meetings to
memos between administrators — that
I used to write the stories. Looking
through it makes me happy.
Though thinking about how difficult
obtaining documents from the Univer
sity is makes me quite angry, no matter
how frustrated I get with the adminis
tration, I’m always thankful for John
son Hall and the adjacent parking lot.
Parking on this campus is such a mess,
and that lot has provided me with a
parking spot every day this term.
So I guess I can’t really say the ad
ministrations never did anything for
me. I’ve gotten free parking all term,
and I got to watch the first quarter of
the Civil War game in the president’s
skybox. But now that I think about it,
the Emerald’s more responsible for
those experiences than the administra
tion. If I didn’t work at the Emerald I
wouldn’t even know the parking lot
existed, and I certainly wouldn’t have
had the opportunity to write a story
that brought me to the skybox.
So thanks, Emerald. I’ll certainly
never forget our good times.
mcuniff@ daily emerald, com
■ Guest commentary
Recent immigration column was
misinformed and irresponsible
I have read many poorly written ar
ticles in the Emerald over the 10 years
that I have been a graduate student at
the University, and some that were
also downright offensive, but this is
the first time I feel compelled to write
a response. “Immigration reform
doesn’t cut it” (ODE, Dec. 1) by Ms.
Brock is a very troubling, misin
formed, and irresponsible piece of
“journalism” that contains more than
just a tinge of racism.
More than once, Brock makes very
direct connections between undocu
mented “Mexicans” and terrorists like
those responsible for 9/11. Making a
comparison between undocumented
workers who come here to be able to
feed their families and 9/11 terrorists is
simply outrageous. Are all people of
color potential terrorists?
By the way, not all undocumented
workers, or illegal aliens as you Call
them, are “Mexican:” There are other
countries in Latin America from
which people migrate to the U.S. for a
variety of reasons, and indeed, other
countries in the world from which
people “illegally immigrate.”
I understand that Ms. Brock has
written an opinion piece, but I was
taught that effective persuasion
pieces should still be well researched
and based on examining many sides
of an issue. Ms. Brock, however,
seems to be simply using her column
as a platform to spit out the same
anti-immigration propaganda in
mainstream U.S. society, without
looking into any carefully researched
works on the matter.
In regards to history, it is
an acknowledged fact that the U.S. il
legally took a large part of Mexico’s
territory in The TVeaty of Guadalupe.
The U.S. government is not above
acting illegally.
Second, if you know anything about
U.S. immigration policy, you know that
we have changed our policies over the
years for our own convenience, de
pending on labor needs. We let people
in our borders when we need them (for
example during the Bracero program),
and then kick them out when we don’t.
Third, part of the reason “Mexico’s
lack of infrastructure” exists is not its
own problem, but rather a result of
how the U.S. has exploited this less
powerful country over time.
Fourth, as you yourself point out, the
U.S. economy survives, at least in part,
because of the cheap labor that undoc
umented workers provide. Don’t tell
me that American citizens would take
these jobs for the same crappy pay and
no benefits and hazardous working
conditions. Why do you think the U.S.
rarely prosecutes people who hire
undocumented workers?
Given all this, ask yourself why
immigrants leave everything that is
familiar to them, risk their lives to
come to this country, live in constant
fear of being deported, and work for
low wages. I think I might act “ille
gally” and cross the border rather
than watch my thirteen year
old daughter starve to death because
there were no jobs in my country
that would allow us to eat. Or,
1 might act “illegally” and come
to the U.S. if my own country was
torturing and murdering its citizens.
Instead of making any attempt to
see people who come here as what
they are — human beings — who
for the most part come here out of
sheer desperation, Ms. Brock turns
them into faceless “criminals” and
“terrorists.” I guess I would hope
that more of us would make some
attempt to educate ourselves, espe
cially those of who are in a position
to challenge biases.
Tami Hill is a University graduate
student in Anthropology and Education
CORRECTION
in the Dec. 1 Emerald article “UO Senate
passes three motions Wednesday," it was
reported that it costs between $6,000 and
$8,000 to close campus for a University
Assembly meeting. It actually costs that much
to hold a University Assembly meeting,
regardless of whether campus is closed.
■ Editorial
I/O records
accessibility
needs to be
improved
As students, you pay thousands of dollars a
year in tuition and taxes that benefit the Universi
ty. But do you know how that money is spent?
As a public institution, the University is
bound by Oregon Public Records Law to re
lease many records that can show us how the
University uses our money. Further, we be
lieve open government, including this Univer
sity, is vital to our ability in making informed
decisions in this democracy.
We are fortunate that Oregon laws require gov
ernment institutions to release most records to
anyone who asks for them. Unless University
lawyers can prove that a record is specifically ex
empt from the law, they must release all of the
record or the portions that are not exempt. Uni
versity President Dave Frohnmayer helped craft
this law in the 1970s.
Public records theoretically available at the
University include faculty salaries, University
contracts, bills, budget documents, most meeting
minutes and even correspondence via e-mail be
tween some University employees. These records
help us keep leaders accountable.
Yet a recent Emerald investigation of how the
University releases public records and our experi
ences over the last several years, reveal that ad
ministrators sometimes do not understand the
law or are reluctant to release records.
Most records requests are filed through the of
fice of General Counsel to the University Melinda
Grier. As she recently told the Emerald in an e
mail, workload in her office has been “extremely
heavy,” and she regrets she has not been able to
provide information “as quickly as we would
like. ” This statement understates the problem.
For example, in a written response to the
Emerald’s request for the travel records of three
administrators, Grier stated it would cost $275
to “collect the information and provide the doc
uments.” She stated that it would cost $125 for
labor to gather employment contracts for five
top University administrators.
These costs are puzzling and disturbing. As
a newspaper, we have a small budget to re
quest key records. But how can the average
student who is curious about this information
afford these costs? Moreover, why are these
costs so high?
In another case, the Emerald filed a request to
Grier on Oct. 16, 2005, asking for all documents
the University sent to the Department of Educa
tion’s Office for Civil Rights in its investigation
into an Office of Multicultural Academic Sup
port’s policy that reserved slots in some math and
English classes for minority students. We hoped
to shed some light on the University’s decision on
a controversial issue. We sent two more requests
before we received word back on Nov. 7, after we
had already received the documents from the
Department of Education.
We do not dispute the fact that Grier’s office is
busy. Yet what really matters is that the University
is not releasing records in a reasonable time or at
a reasonable cost. This defeats students’ ability to
obtain information that is their legal right to
know. This situation is not acceptable, and it is
President Frohnmayer’s ultimate responsibility to
ensure that these records are released at a price
students can afford.
We know budgets are tight. We suggest that
the University hire one or more legal assistants to
help Grier and her co-workers with locating,
redacting and duplicating records. This would re
duce costs because Grier’s pay-rate is far higher
than that of a legal clerk. We can look to other
universities as examples of this solution.
It’s time to stop accepting excuses and demand
faster and cheaper access to records.