Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1982)
Tufts explains reasons for anti-nuclear stand By T. Jeffries Of The Print “A nuclear war is a low probability event,” said Marlene Tufts, Clackamas Community College psychology instructor, of her work in the nuclear arms freeze movement. “But in extended time, a low probability event becomes inevitable. That’s not conjecture, it’s a mathematical fact.” Tufts, 44, worked as a management analyst for the justice department for four years before receiving her Masters degree from Sacramento State University. She began teaching at the Col lege in 1969 and is presently enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Hawaii Medical School. Her involve ment in the nuclear freeze movement began only recently after attending a meeting of the Physicians for Social Respon- sibility at Lewis and Clark Col lege. “We were meeting to discuss the problem of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Crib Death) when someone men tioned that it wouldn’t do too much good to save children from SIDS only to have them die in a nuclear war. Certainly SIDS was worthy of considera tion, but the probability of nuclear war was a much greater threat to the lives of children, and adults as well,” Tufts said. “At that time, the AuCoin Weaver Bill calling for a freeze on the development of new nuclear arms was up, so I began distributing petitions. “Of course, my feelings about it have been around longer than that. I was frighten ed during the Cuban missile crisis. I remember Civil Defense drills, where we were told that a paper bag over your head would protect against radia tion.” Her greatest fear is in the generation of weapons that the government wants to build, the foremost being the Pershing II missile. To be deployed in Europe, the Pershing II has a target error of only 120 feet and a 99 percent kill factor. In addition, it gives the Soviets only four minutes to decide if it is a real attack or only a com puter malfunction. The pro blem stems from the fact that “every week something hap pens that is interpreted as an attack by one side or the other, except that right now there is a lag of 30 minutes, in which to nail it down as either an error or an attack,” Tufts said. “The fate of the world then is depen dent on the accuracy of Soviet computers. It’s utterly incredi ble that we want to do this. It’s too risky for an accidential war.” Another attitude hampering efforts is the “survivalist men tality,” Tufts thinks. “It’s im practical. They don’t under stand the horror of a nuclear war. To some it sounds like fun. They don’t realize that 10 minutes exposure to the sun would be lethal, or that normal vegetable plants wouldn’t grow. They could survive for a short time, but it wouldn’t be pleasant,” she said. “In fact, we have so many weapons that scientists have no idea what would happen if we set them all off. The worst estimates expect the complete elimination of life on earth, with the exception of grasses and a few insects. The best an ticipates the reduction of the United States and-USSR into siolated pockets of semi barbarism,” Tufts said. “We’ve got to demand that our government negotiate honestly for a freeze on new weapons. They increase the chance of nuclear war by either accident or design, and unintentional use is the most dangerous of all.” Tufts concludes, “Historically, mankind has always solved its problems through armed conflict. It has caused untold suffering but never really" threatened the continuation of the species. Now war does threaten the species, but mentalities haven’t changed since we were shooting arrows at each other.” Elected Gardner guides group Marlene Tufts Staff Photo “CCOSAC?” What is it? “This is how Brian Gardner, executive chairperson of the organization feels many Officers retreat to organize year By Brett Bigham Of The Print “It was exciting to see students go from not knowing each other to a cohesive team,” Debbie Baker, Clackamas Community Col lege’s activities director, said about last weekend’s Associated Student Govern ment’s retreat. Attending the retreat were the College’s executive council and the new Senate. “They got to know one another and learned skills to work with each other and to use them,” Baker said. Students attended a series of sessions to explain job ELCOm MH page 4 responsibilities as well as ASG rules and practices. It was a very “productive” week, ASG Activities Director Stephen Vohs said. Each member was given a notebook divided into different sections of information. Budgets, activities and the ASG Philosophy Statement were among some of the sub jects included. Students also participated in several indoor/outdoor ac tivities including “name train,” which helped members learn each other’s names, volleyball and several group cooperation exercises. These included blindfold games, relays and team games. Saturday, the council members held a session on parliamentary procedure. A mock meeting was held to help familiarize the new members with the format of regular ASG meetings. Each Senator was assign ed a group in which brainstor ming and goal setting were us ed to prepare for this year’s ac tivities. A mock College Bowl was also held to test the members’ knowledge on the ASG Constitution. “The students as a group,” Baker said, “ seem to be super strong. There are no weak links. These are the qualities to make an outstanding student government.” students react when they hear the acronym for Community Colleges of Oregon Students Association and Commissions. CCOSAC is a statewide organization involving all 13 community colleges of Oregon. Its purpose is to allow member colleges to meet and discuss problems as a learning ex perience and to decide on statewide action if necessary. CCOSAC’s membership is exclusively students. It consists of student body presidents from each school and the ex ecutive chair, who was selected last spring. “The executive chair is basically an administrative of fice” Gardner said. The posi tion was first developed three years ago because of a need for a permanent chairperson at meetings. He also takes care of responsibilities the student body presidents just don’t have time for,” Gardner said. The financial standing of Brian Gardner Oregon’s community colleges is a big concern to CCOSAC this year. The organization wants to increase its lobbying efforts. A new commission has been formed. It is a Political In volvement Commission (PIC) which will consist of five to seven students. The purpose of PIC is “to create a high quality lobby,” said Gardner. He in vites any student interested to apply for a lobby position. “You don’t need experience but you do need good speaking abilities, interest in politics, courage enough not to go out on a limb, and you have to be a full time student,” Gardner said. Students interested in lob bying must have letters of recommendation and a letter of intent. Some other major goals of CCOSAC this year include get ting students on campus more politically active and bringing a new awareness of the organiza tion to the student population on each campus. Staff Photo Clackamas Community College