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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
OTHER VIEWS
The dangers of echo
chambers on campus
A
Winter a time for
good Samaritans
Some days weather makes for
nice small talk. Whether it’s hot,
cold, rainy, windy or just perfect, you
can always strike up a conversation
with an acquaintance or even a total
stranger. It’s a shared experience.
Other days, especially days
with snow, ice and sub-freezing
temperatures, weather must be a
shared experience. We must look out
for one another, and especially the
most vulnerable among us.
It starts on the roads, one of the
most dangerous places to be when
winter hits hardest. We always worry
about the “other guy” on the roads,
but remember you are the other guy to
other motorists — take it slow, signal
early and, as always, get rid of all
distractions while you’re behind the
wheel.
And when that “other guy” loses
control, or gets lost, or simply gets
stuck, it’s time to put on your good
Samaritan boots and help out. We’ve
seen many examples of this in the
past week, and know the kindness of
strangers is alive and well in Eastern
Oregon.
That’s the obvious, but we implore
our readers to consider the less
obvious as well. Check in on your
elderly or otherwise susceptible
neighbors, maybe with a plate of
cookies or thermos of hot chocolate.
It can be hard to ask for help, but if
a friendly face shows up to ask how
you’re doing you might be willing to
express a personal need, if only for
groceries, a shoveled sidewalk or an
extra blanket.
The power failure in Pendleton on
Sunday night was a reminder of how
reliant we are on electricity, as many
people were without heat.
It’s a good thing warming shelters
in Hermiston and Pendleton have
settled into new locations and are
able to accept homeless people
with nowhere else to go. They quite
literally are the difference between life
and death in weeks like this, and rely
on community support to stay open.
Buckle in, because this week is
going to get nasty, and remember
those around you.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
Poaching and justice
La Grande Observer, Dec. 5
T
hose of us who live in our great
corner of Oregon owe a big thanks
to the Oregon State Police in the
wake of the arrest of three individuals
charged with poaching in mid-November.
Most readers are probably aware
that in November two bull elk were
shot and killed under cover of the night.
The carcasses — left to rot — were
discovered off a county road near Elgin.
Three people are charged in the
poaching case — including one who is
apparently not in the state — and police
credited public assistance as a key reason
the investigation was successful.
The help from the public was so
key because many poaching cases go
unpunished. Finding the culprits of such
crimes — and that is what poaching is,
a crime — is an often long and difficult
process. The public helped make the
first step toward justice in the case much
easier than it could have been.
And while we can collectively pat
ourselves on the back for helping, OSP
should get a great deal of credit as well.
Sure, finding these types of criminals is
the job of the state’s biggest agency, but
that doesn’t take anything away from the
fact their tireless effort to find the culprits
in this crime deserves praise.
What is troubling is that such wasteful,
reckless and senseless acts continue.
Poaching bull elk is a crime and, really,
an attack, if you will, on one of Eastern
Oregon’s great institutions. Hunting is
part of our culture. This means abiding by
the rules should be a hallmark of how we,
as a collective group, conduct ourselves.
Fact is, the elk, deer and other game that
inhabit our area are a resource that must
be safeguarded.
When someone senselessly poaches
an animal, it is really a crime against
every law-abiding citizen who hunts in
Eastern Oregon. It sends the message that
all the time and effort — not to mention
money put down for items such as tags
— really doesn’t mean much.
Those of us who are law abiding
and follow game rules and regulations
understand that our ability to do what we
enjoy depends on ensuring that resource
remains viable. That is why there are
rules and laws.
Perhaps in the grand scheme of things
two dead bull elk may not seem like
a big deal. But for a rural area and for
thousands of hunters who follow the rules
to enjoy one of the great benefits of our
area, two elk killed by poachers is a big
deal.
Hats off to the OSP for running this
case down on the road to justice.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number.
The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
fter Donald Trump’s election,
Sunstein, a liberal and a
some universities echoed
Democrat who worked in the Obama
with primal howls. Faculty
administration, concluded that the
members canceled classes for
best judicial decisions arose from
divided panels, where judges had to
weeping, terrified students who
confront counterarguments.
asked: How could this possibly be
Yet universities are often
happening?
the equivalent of three-judge
I share apprehensions about
President-elect Trump, but I also
Nicholas liberal panels, and the traditional
fear the reaction was evidence
Kristof Democratic dominance has greatly
increased since the mid-1990s —
of how insular universities have
Comment
become. When students inhabit
apparently because of a combination
liberal bubbles, they’re not learning
of discrimination and self-selection.
much about their own country. To be fully
Half of academics in some fields said in
educated, students should encounter not
a survey that they would discriminate in
only Plato, but also Republicans.
hiring decisions against an evangelical.
We liberals are adept at pointing out the
The weakest argument against
hypocrisies of Trump, but we should also
intellectual diversity is that conservatives
address our own hypocrisy in terrain we
or evangelicals have nothing to add to the
govern, such as most universities: Too often, conversation. “The idea that conservative
we embrace diversity of all kinds except
ideas are dumb is so preposterous that you
for ideological. Repeated studies have
have to live in an echo chamber to think of
found that about 10 percent
it,” Sunstein told me.
of professors in the social
Of course, we shouldn’t
sciences or the humanities are
When students empower racists and
Republicans.
misogynists on campuses. But
inhabit liberal whatever some liberals think,
We champion tolerance,
except for conservatives and
and “bigot”
bubbles, they’re “conservative”
evangelical Christians. We
are not synonyms.
want to be inclusive of people
One of America’s most
not learning
who don’t look like us — so
eminent scientists is Francis
much about their Collins, an evangelical
long as they think like us.
I fear that liberal outrage
Christian who is director of
own country.
at Trump’s presidency will
the National Institutes of
exacerbate the problem of
Health. Few scholars had as
liberal echo chambers, by creating a more
much impact on modern thought as Gary
hostile environment for conservatives
Becker, the conservative University of
and evangelicals. Already, the lack of
Chicago economist. Condoleezza Rice,
ideological diversity on campuses is a
a secretary of state for George W. Bush,
disservice to the students and to liberalism
would add value to any campus.
itself, with liberalism collapsing on some
I’m not arguing for affirmative action
campuses into self-parody.
for conservatives — partly because
At Oberlin College soon after the
conservative academics say they don’t
election, students erupted in protests after a
want preferences. But I do think we
local bakery was accused of racial profiling
can try harder to recruit job applicants
of a black student in a shoplifting case.
who represent diverse views, to bring
The student senate endorsed a boycott of
conservative speakers to campuses and
the bakery, and demonstrators carried signs
to avoid a hostile work environment for
calling the owner a racist.
conservatives and evangelicals.
But allegations of a pattern of racist
We’re seeing an uptick in hate crimes
behavior were undermined by police records in society tied to Trump’s rise, and the last
showing the overwhelming share of people
thing we need on campuses is reciprocal
detained for shoplifting at the bakery were
illiberalism, this time led by liberals.
white. This may actually have been a case
As individuals, we can also follow smart
of liberal hysteria.
people on social media whom we disagree
Some of you are saying that it’s OK to
with. In my latest email newsletter, I suggest
be intolerant of intolerance, to discriminate
some conservatives to follow.
against bigots who acquiesce in Trump’s
I fear the damage a Trump administration
record of racism and misogyny. By all
will do, from health care to foreign policy.
means, stand up to the bigots. But do we
But this election also underscores that we
really want to caricature half of Americans,
were out of touch with much of America,
some of whom voted for President Barack
and we will fight back more effectively if
Obama twice, as racist bigots? Maybe if
we are less isolated.
we knew more Trump voters we’d be less
When universities are echo chambers,
inclined to stereotype them.
they become conservative punch lines, and
Whatever our politics, inhabiting a
liberal hand-wringing may be one reason
bubble makes us more shrill. Cass Sunstein, Trump’s popularity has jumped since his
a Harvard professor, conducted a fascinating election.
study of how groupthink shapes federal
It’s ineffably sad that today “that’s
judges when they are randomly assigned to
academic” often means “that’s irrelevant.”
three-judge panels.
One step to correcting that is for us liberals
When liberal judges happened to be
to embrace the diversity we supposedly
temporarily put on a panel with other
champion.
liberals, they usually swung leftward.
■
Conversely, conservative judges usually
Nicholas Kristof has been a columnist for
moved rightward when randomly grouped
The New York Times since 2001. He grew
with other conservatives.
up on a farm in Yamhill, Oregon, graduated
It’s the judicial equivalent of a mob
from Harvard, studied law at Oxford
mentality. And if this happens to judges,
University as a Rhodes Scholar, and then
imagine what happens to you and me.
studied Arabic in Cairo.