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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1996)
2 The Clackamas Print Wednesday, January 31,1996 Public libraries under attack Attention anyone who believes in the democratic process: your public libraries are under attack. In the current proposal from the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) titled “The Minority Status and Child Protection Act of 1996” it states in section 4: Though subsection one is established and in effect, books and literature in public libraries which promote or express approval of homosexuality shall be kept from minors: access made only under parental supervision. Such material must meet local com munity standards established through the existing library review process. This section is vague and leaves questions concerning spe cifically what types of literature “express approval of homosexu ality.” In what way does a book, poem, play or general informa tion provided by a library express approval? Would our history books need to be rewritten so that we wouldn’t read about great people who gave much to the civilized world? Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Whitman, Steven Foster, Alexander the Great, Michelangelo, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Gertrude Stein and Tennessee Williams were all gay people who gave a lot; their being gay shouldn’t af fect whether we learn about them or not. “If you were to take out all of the literature written by homo sexuals in the Intro to Literature book there would be very little left,” stated Kate Gray, English Instructor at CCC. Cyndi Andrews, director of the Learning Resource Center for CCC, agrees that the literature in the libraries shouldn’t be subject to censorship. “The implications of such an amendment severely compro mise the mission of the college library,” Andrews said. Library Mission Statement: In keeping with the purpose of Clackamas Community College, the primary mission of the col lege library is to provide information resources and services to support instructional programs. The library also provides for the general information needs of students, staff, and community pa trons, maintains a well-balanced collection of print, non-print, and electronic resources, and assists patrons in the effective utili zation of these resources. Judith Krug, director of the office for Intellectual Freedom at American Library Association (ALA) interviewed in Church and State, Nov. 1995, said “This all comes down to political control. They (OCA) think if they control the ideas and information avail able, if they teach the future generation not how to think but what to think, they will create a new society that only a few people feel comfortable in. This is not about who is going to run this country in the year 2000 and beyond, but what this country is going to be, who’s going to be acceptable and who is not.” Because of the threat to our freedom to learn, the members of the Clackamas Print feel that the passage of such an amendment would do harm to existing public libraries and institutions receiv ing public funds for literature and educating purposes; therefore, we do not endorse the amendment in any way. We support the following statement from the ALA: “The people should have the freedom to read and consider a broader range of ideas than those that may be held by any single librarian or publisher or government or church. It is wrong what one man can read should be confined to what another thinks proper.” First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of reli gion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peace able to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Constitution of Oregon: Bill of Rights, Article I Section 8. Freedom of speech and press. No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print freely on any sub ject whatever; but every person shall be responsible for the abuse of this right. The Clackamas Print Staff Editor-in-Chief: Chad Patteson (Ext. 2576) Managing Editor: Amy K. Hanson (Ext. 2576) Feature Editor: Jon Roberts (Ext. 2578) Sports Editor: Jesse Sowa (Ext. 2578) Photography Editor: Josh Kehler (Ext. 2578) Copy Editor: Vicki Welch (Ext. 2578) Opinion Editor: Brendon Neal (Ext. 2576) Business Manager: Cori Karget (Ext. 2578) Assistant Opinion Editor: Ryan Humphris (Ext. 2309) Assistant Feature Editor: Brad Zimmerman (Ext. 2309) Assistant Photo Editor: Lora Wahrgren News Editor: Pamela Sirianni (Ext. 2309) ♦ ♦♦♦ Staff Writers/Photographers: Eric Eatherton, Megan Friedow, Paul Ulmen, Andrew Beck, Laney Fouse, Damon Fouts, Joel Gunderson, Tarah Nimz, Karin Redston, Joel Shempert Secretary: Joanne Gale (Ext. 2309) Advisor : Linda Vogt (Ext. 2310) The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbi ased, professional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do not necessarily reflect those of the student body, college adminis tration, its faculty or The Clackamas Print's advertisers. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are.not necessarily endorsed by anyone associated with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication distributed every Wednesday except for finals week. The advertising rate is $4.50 per column inch. All signed letters to the editor will be considered for publication and must be submitted by 1 p.m. the Friday prior to the next issue. Clackamas Community College, 19600 S. Molalla Avenue, Oregon City, Oregon, 97045; Barlow 104; (503) 657-6958, ext. 2309. E-mail: cccprint@.clackamas,cc.or.us OCA’s Minority Status and Child Protection Act 1996 The Oregon Citizens Alliance is on the road with their third attempt to legitamize discrimination against lesbians and gay men. Here’s the language: Ballot Title: Amends constitution: Restricts local, state, government powers concerning ho mosexuality. Question: Shall constitution forbid basing civil rights on homosexuality, other sexual behaviors, desires; bar spending public funds in a way approving homosexuality? Amendment to the Oregon Constitution: 1. Minority status shall not be based on sexual behavior or desires; therefore (a) Children, students and employees shall not be advised, instructed, or taught by any government agency, department of political subdivision that a person’s sexual behavior or desire is the legal or social equivalent to existing minority civil rights classifications, (b) The People find that to be morally opposed to certain sexual behaviors such as homosexuality, when based upon a person’s convictions, is a Right is Conscience in accord with Article I Section 2 and 3 of this Constitution. Such objection produced by one’s moral standards and values is therefore not discrimination relating to civil rights, nor shall it be considered to by any unit of state or local government; therefore: (1) Public funds shall not be expended in a manner that has the purpose or effect of expressing approval of homosexuality. (2) Marital status shall not be recognized or spousal benefits awarded on the basis of homosexuality. 2. Though subsection one is established and in effect, no licenses, permits, services or benefits shall be denied any person otherwise due under existing statute; nor shall the holding or exercise of any rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the State of Oregon or of the United States of America, be deprived, nullified or diminished. 3. Though subsection one is established and in effect, with regard to public employees, it shall be generally considered that a person’s private, lawful sexual behavior is a nonjob related factor, provided such consideration does not violate any provision of this Act or the Constitution of the United States. 4. Though subsection one is established and in effect, books or literature in public libraries which promote or express approval of homosexuality shall be kept from minors: access made available only under parental supervision. Such material must meet local community standards established through the existing library review process. 5. The term minority status shall refer to any class or category of individuals created in the law as a special civil rights classification such as race, religion, gender, national origin, etc. 6. The people intend that if any part of this enactment be found unconstitutional, the remaining parts shall survive in full force and effect. This Act shall be in all parts self-executing. For the purposes of this Act, every Oregon resident and non-profit entity doing business in the State of Oregon has standing.________________________________________________________ ________ --- _________, Creativity, academics can go hand in hand Joel P. Shempert Staff Writer As a result, there are many amateur writers who produce in teresting work but possess almost no knowledge of spelling, punc tuation, or sentence structure. The truth is, however, that quality artistic creation and aca demic excellence go hand in hand. Before you learn the art, you must first learn the craft. The reasoning behind this is simple. Basically, you must learn the rules before you are allowed to break them. I have been attending Clackamas Community College for about a year and a half now, and I must say that the experi ence has been enlightening and enjoyable. However, I have observed a general condition which seems to have crept into various cor ners of the college—some people just don’t want to learn. The cross-section of stu dents to which I refer, though I would make no attempt to pi geonhole them, in general seem to take an attitude that the for malities of their college educa tion don’t matter; that they can. “get by” with a substandard level of work and a loose inter pretation of the conventions of their particular field. I believe this to be a seri ous problem. I would propose that stu dents should push themselves to greater academic achievement, ___________________ and realize that, whatever their long-range goals, this is the time A rule broken in ignorance of their lives where the founda speaks nothing of the tion is laid for their futures. practitioner’s artistic ability, Reality is that one must ad while a rule broken deliberately here to certain standards in or and with expert perception speaks der to succeed in various fields volumes. in our society. If you want to create beauti I’m sure that some will ob ful art, than you should strive to ject to my contentions. A com learn as much as you can about ment I hear frequently goes that artform, so that your art will something like this: “I think be more beautiful. that those who make great art There may be talented ama don’t worry about proper form. teurs who, for instance, paint They just put down whatever beautiful figure pieces, but there comes to mind, and the rules is no question that their paintings and regulations don’t matter.” would improve if they studied This is used most often re anatomy. garding writing. Anyone can A second objection would write, which means that literally likely be similar to this: “But I’m anyone can take a crack at cre just not as talented as those high- ative writing if they really want achieving people!” This is, of to, and while some of those who course, a valid concern. No one do have a good grasp of gram would expect a student to be the mar, others who try it do not. next Einstein simply because they a / think that those who make great art don’t worry about proper form. were enrolled in a Physics course. Some courses at CCC, such as Leland John’s art courses and Bill Braire’s Comparative Reli gion, take this into account, ^grading students based on their individual abilities. However, most classes by their, nature are very concrete and inflexible in their knowledge base. If you don’t know the chemical formula for Hydrogen Peroxide, then you don’t know the formula for Hydrogen Per oxide. You may be a wonderful person, but I wouldn’t necessar ily want you to do medical re search for my hospital! The point is not that students should be better than everyone else, but that they be the best that they, personally, can be. I would like to make re garding our academic achieve ment as it relates to our future careers. Quite frankly, like it or not, everything in the workforce, no matter the field, is based on economics. One thing. I hear over and over as a music theory student is that commercial success as a musician depends on versatility- -being able to say, “Sure, I can do that” as opposed to, “Oh, I don’t know that scale.” Simply put, how well you succeed de pends on how much you learn about your particular field. All these points come to gether in one fact—academic achievement is the cornerstone of artistic creation. All fields of study, and the arts are no ex ception, contain great depth and complexity, and even the most dedicated of students rarely even scratchs the surface. It is an admirable thing to retain artistic expression as your primary goal, but only if you are willing to learn the conventions that make that expression real.
