LET TERS
PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES
As a third year law student, I find the
University of Oregon response to Prof. Nan-
cy Shurtz’ blackface incident disgraceful.
According to the university, the dis-
ruption caused by the professor’s costume
“was so significant that it outweighed any
right that Shurtz has to free speech and
academic freedom.” It is patently offen-
sive for the university to assert the right
to selectively abide by the Constitution,
because state entities have no such ability.
Moreover, it is imperative to a well-
rounded education that students be ex-
posed to contrary views and opinions.
Instead, the university is attempting to
assure that nobody’s delicate sensibilities
are offended. This is humorous consider-
ing that many law students will be dealing
with murderers, rapists and (hopefully)
corrupt politicians in the near future.
Additionally, I am disgusted by the
cowardice of the professors who demand-
ed Shurtz’ resignation. It takes no courage
to pick up pitchforks and torches in the
midst of a mob mentality. However, de-
fending the rights of the vulnerable and
unpopular requires a spine.
Matthew Watkins
Eugene
and, although it is too much to hope for,
I wish that the law professors who signed
the petition asking her to resign would of-
fer a public apology.
Betty Taylor
Eugene
RIDICULOUS REACTION
I am glad that Prof. Nancy Schurtz has
decided to hire a lawyer — I hope not one
from the University of Oregon law school,
whose faculty members have been complicit
in persecuting her. The way this affair has
been handled by the university administra-
tion and the law school faculty is an embar-
rassment and, in my opinion, will lower the
esteem with which people regard the law
school and, by extension, the university.
I remember blackface, used to poke
fun at the stereotype of black character-
istics — similar to men wearing dresses
and ridiculing their stereotype of female
traits. This was nothing like a representa-
tion of a character in a book.
The reaction by the university is ridicu-
lous. I hope that Schurtz does not resign
HOT AIR SOCIETY
OVERPAID DOUBLESPEAK
“Lamentable response” — I’ll say.
I’d like to start by giving the University
of Oregon props on its response to a prof
wearing blackface. The idea that some
overpaid white lady could bring perspec-
tive to America’s race issues would be
laughable if it wasn’t f**king disgusting.
As for Shawn Boles' viewpoint [12/29],
I am much less impressed: “On Halloween
a respected scholar, in the privacy of her
own home, attempted to open a discourse
about white privilege using props consist-
ing of a blackened face, a stethoscope and
a white coat.”
This is doublespeak at its finest, as if he
uses enough obfuscation we won’t get he
picture. “A blackened face,” not blackface.
SCANDAL AND LEGISLATIVE APPOINTMENTS
epublicans Donald Trump and Dennis
Richardson do not lack chutzpah! Both
the recently elected president and the re-
cently elected Oregon secretary of state
were already making headlines prior to
their coronations.
Trump’s carnival of cabinet picks and the UN-Is-
raeli ruckus speak volumes about what we’re about to
hear under Republican control in Washington, D.C. for
the next two years. Breitbart News reports that Trump
now intends to appoint El Chapo as the next head of the
Drug Enforcement Agency.
Here at home, Dennis Richardson is demonstrating
why he is the first Republican elected to statewide of-
fice in Oregon since Abraham Lincoln, according to
Breitbart. I love fake news. Actually, the last Repub-
lican elected to statewide office in Oregon was U.S.
Senator Gordon Smith in 2002. But you have to go
back 36 years to Norma Paulus to find a Republican
secretary of state.
Richardson campaigned promising to restore ac-
countability and rid Salem of scandal. So what does
he do prior to being sworn in? First, he announces his
pick as deputy: a former state manager fired in a multi-
million-dollar nepotism scandal. Then he picks an elec-
tions director who was asked to resign from that same
job in 2013 by then-secretary of state, Kate Brown. As
reported in the Oregonian, Jim Moore, professor and
director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innova-
tion at Pacific University quipped: “Bringing in people
that have scandal attached to them is not what we ex-
pected.” Understatement of the damn year!
4
January 5, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
RAMPANT HEALTH COSTS
This last year I saved up, juggled my
insurance of “allowable” procedures and
spent a boatload of cash to fill a gap in my
smile with a dental “implant.” It actually
took two years, as my insurance would
not pay for the complete procedure in one-
year’s coverage.
BY TON Y CORCOR A N
The Donald and
The Dennis do Oregon
R
This is an overpaid white person defend-
ing the rights of another overpaid white
person to do whatever they want while
people of color face discrimination in ev-
ery facet of life.
I agree that there is a difference be-
tween narrative and fact. Boles’ narrative
is that rich white people should be able to
do whatever they want. Luckily the ma-
jority of the UO staff agrees that this is at
least an unpopular narrative to voice aloud.
I’d leave a burning bag of shit on Boles’
porch, but since he is one, this would be
redundant.
Ian Blumberg-Enge
Eugene
Finally, most egregiously, Dennis invited his soul
mate, former Oregon Republican Party chairman Vance
Day as his special guest to his inauguration. You re-
member good old Vance, don’t you? The current Marion
County Judge is under indictment on felony weapons
and misdemeanor official misconduct charges. Day was
indicted by a Marion County grand jury last November
after the state alleged he knowingly aided and abetted
a felon in possessing a firearm, and separately used his
elected position as a judge for personal gain.
Day’s criminal charges are related to a separate eth-
ics case against him. Remember, he’s the judge that re-
fused to perform marriages for same-sex couples citing
his First Amendment rights to religion. The Commis-
sion on Judicial Fitness and Disability has unanimous-
ly recommended Day be removed from the bench.
Ironically, Day says that if he’s sanctioned he will
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. SCOTUS will prob-
ably have nine justices by the time this case would get
to them. The last one probably will have been appoint-
ed by the Donald. Damn!
As I warned you in a previous column, Dennis
Richardson is not for the faint of heart. The secretary of
state position is second in line to the governor and over-
sees audits of state government, elections and a registry
of businesses operating in Oregon. Stay healthy, Kate!
Speaking of carnival acts, Oregon’s 79th Legisla-
tive Assembly will convene on Jan. 9. Public Employ-
ees Retirement System (PERS) reform, a $1.7 billion
dollar hole in the state general fund, a state transporta-
tion infrastructure in need of help, and a frightening
federal landscape will greet our legislators.
During the “organizational days,” members-elect
are sworn in as legislators, bills are first-read on the
floors of the Senate and House and legislative com-
mittees are officially created. The assembly will re-
convene on Wednesday, Feb. 1 for the regular session.
Sorta like a Neil Young song: it starts out kinda slow,
then just trickles off altogether.
The Lane County delegation did well in the com-
mittee assignment process. Rep. Nancy Nathanson was
appointed co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means com-
mittee. Phil Barnhart will chair the critical House Rev-
enue committee. And Paul Holvey will serve as chair
of the House Business and Labor Committee, with
newly elected Julie Fahey on the committee. Paul was
also elected as speaker pro-tem by his caucus, a well-
deserved honor.
Floyd Prozanski will chair the Senate Judiciary
committee and he will be co-chair of the Joint (of
course) Committee on Marijuana Regulation. Lee
Beyer will chair the Senate Business and Transporta-
tion committee and co-chair the Joint Committee on
Transportation Preservation and Modernization,
a mouthful. And our newest sena-
tor, James Manning, will
serve on the Senate Ju-
diciary and Joint Ways
and Means committees,
and also will co-chair
the Joint Ways and Means
Subcommittee on General
Government.
Congratulations to all of
you. Now, get to work! And
don’t come back here without
some decent school funding,
adequate social services and
a transportation plan! We’ll
talk about PERS later. Stay
tuned.
Former Oregon state Sen. Tony Corco-
ran of Cottage Grove is a retired state
employee.