Letters______________
Opinion
2
WEdNEsdAy, M ay 24, 2000
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right to not publish any letter.
Shelter the children from the storm
the baby, but for the parents as
well. I couldn’t understand why
the father and mother would
A cry echoes through the al feel the only way out was
leyway. A dark, damp dumpster to abandon the child who
hugs the wall with a secret. It was part of them.
I don’t condone their ac
holds an infant, a child who has
tions, nor do I condemn
been abandoned.
Every day children are left them. I don’t know these
alone and helpless. They have people, nor do I know the
been thrown into a situation in circumstances behind their
which they have no control. Par actions. I don’t even pre
ents are careless in their concern tend to understand their ac
for their children. In recent aban tions. However, I do
donment cases, the parents have know we need an an
been no more than children them swer to the on
slaught of chil
selves.
Babies are found in bathrooms, dren who die
dumpsters and on railroad abandoned.
Finally, £
tracks. They have been left
alone because their parents are my prayers M
too young and naive to fully un were an-
y
derstand their actions, actions swered.
Recently
that alter their lives, and ulti
I heard that
mately destroy that of a child.
Recently, I was watching the answers to these problems are
news. It was reported that a 15 coming. I heard that a person
year-old girl had left her baby on could give up a child at a speci
railroad tracks. The baby was fied location, with the strictest
confidentiality and anonymity.
only a few weeks old.
I went through several emo The news report said that upon
tions. First, I experienced dis a child’s birth a parent has 30
gust; then revulsion, sadness, days to give it up for adoption
anger; and finally, heartache. without legal recriminations.
I think that is a good idea. In
These feelings were not only for
SALENA DE LA CRUZ
Opinion Editor
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the long run this will benefit the
children who suffer from ne
glect, or abandonment, be
cause their parents didn’t want
them or couldn’t deal with be
ing parents.
Hopefully, more children will
face love and comfort instead of
heartache and pain. I encourage
you, as citizens, as parents, to
help end the heartache. Per
suade the government to take
action and give children a safe
place to be left in caring hands.
End the abandonment of chil
dren to the elements and the
streets, where they may be hurt
or killed.
Questions or comments: ccc
print@clackamas.cc.or.us
'Academic freedom thrown around, but not discussed at the colloquium'
Although the word was thrown
around a lot, academic freedom was
not discussed at the colloquium on
academic freedom earlier this month.
Contrary to what some faculty and
counselors would have you think,
academic freedom and students’
rights are not contentious to one
another. Academic freedom is a
student’s right and this college, with
its current trade school mentality,
has shown that it is not capable of a
productive discussion on academic
freedom. I am grateful to Dr. Flow
ers for conducting discussions on
this matter in her history classes but
this issue needs to be confronted by
all students and instructors. Aca
demic freedom is the right of both
students and instructors to speak
freely without worrying about “of
fending” anyone or being persecuted
by our misguided school newspaper
or any other source of media. How
are students going to form opinions
of their own if tolerance for oppos
ing points of view is not practiced
in the classroom?
Some people are of the opinion
that words are dangerous. There is
no such thing as a dangerous com
ment, only dangerous actions. The
most dangerous action of all is cen
sorship, which is why freedom of
speech and religion are listed first in
our Bill of Rights. If there is such a
thing as- a dangerous comment we
should start our inquisition with The
Print.
The Print handled Dr. Epstein’s
story with reckless abandonment of
journalistic decorum. I am currently
attending Linda Vogt’s mass media
class, which has informed my con
clusion. Some current as well as
former members of The Print also
feel there was spurious journalism
involved but Linda Vogt, advisor to
The Print, used our “colloquium” to
defend The Print. The false analogy
she used regarding Antebellum Af
rican-Americans had nothing to do
with the Bible or academic freedom.
There is no recognized academic
work that can support racial inferi
ority. Dr. Epstein’s opinion of ho
mosexuality is well founded in fact
which is nothing more than a widely
accepted theory. I cannot think of
any book that is more widely ac
cepted than the Bible. Another fact
is that our “colloquium” concerned
who is right and who is wrong and
many people involved should be
ashamed for dragging the students
to this “colloquium” under false pre
tenses and for holding us hostage
while they rationalized their inad
equacies. This is just another dem
onstration of the lack of respect for
students at this college. Nothing was
solved ana those of you who think
that the students bought into this
farce should check your tokenism or
this issue will escalate as others have.
In addition, I believe the faculty
members who have attacked Dr.
Epstein owe him an apology. A dif
ference of opinion should not ne
gate what Dr. Epstein has done for
our community. I hope that all fac
ulty members who are guilty of
jumping to conclusions based on the
solecisms in our campus rag are
treated with more respect when it is
time for them to retire.
Glenn McCarthy.
Students for Democracy
Correction
In last week's issue, the "Graduations
set for June 8,9 in Randall Gym" story
contained the wrong information re
garding the Student's profile at gradu
ation. The correct information is as
follows: Irene L. Carillo, 30, Oregon
City, 3.5 GPA, (CCC employee) Cert,
of Completion, Office Assistant.
The Clackamas Print strives for accuracy
and completeness in all of its coverage. The
newspaper will correct significant errors of
fact that are brought to the attention of the
editors, if you see an error in the newspaper,
please contact the Editor-in-Chief at (503)
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