Thank a campus worker today
After reading a letter to the editor (“Janitors are human beings first,” ODE, April 26), I am quite appalled at how this campus treats its workers. Without the classified staff, this campus could not function for more than a day. Yet students and the administration still treat them with an incredible amount of disrespect.
The instance recounted in the letter, coupled with how the administration deals with them at the bargaining table, shows this quite clearly. This is classism, pure and simple. It seems everyone is quick to denounce sexism and racism on campus, yet nobody seems to be willing to look down their upturned noses and accept workers as people.
Make no mistake: Almost everyone on campus will be workers someday. Probably, you already are.
I personally think that everyone should try to thank at least one campus worker today. The Silent Action that the Oregon Public Employee’s Union is having on the steps of Johnson Hall today is a perfect opportunity.

Randy Newnham

senior


anthropology/linguistics

Ad supplement has its uses
I want to assure the staff of the Emerald, as well as the student body, that “lovematters.com” (an advertising supplement in the ODE, April 24) does in fact serve a purpose. I have placed it in my backpack just in case I’m ever in a public restroom and I run out of toilet paper.
Granted, the magazine won’t be as comfortable as regular toilet paper, but in the end it will end up in the right place: the Eugene sewer system.
lovematters.com needs to wake up. Publishing ridiculous propaganda won’t change minds. In fact, this reduces the “pro-life” movement to a proverbial mosquito, buzzing around the head of reason. What kind of rational person would believe that a woman pregnant with a male baby loses ownership of her own body? How can lovematters.com justify saying that a woman who is impregnated while being raped has a moral obligation to have the baby, even if she isn’t ready to be a mother? Should that child be submitted to a life with the knowledge that he or she was conceived as a result of sexual assault?
If these people want to change minds, can’t they do it with a little more logic? The only people who would read this magazine with any sense of seriousness are people who already hold “pro-life” beliefs.
Everybody else, as I witnessed Tuesday, is either laughing at the pure idiocy of it or tossing it.

Jan Montry

freshman


computer science


 

Mark Baker displayed

ignorance proudly
The depth of white privilege and complacency on this campus never ceases to embarrass me. Mark Baker’s self-serving linguistic tirade “correcting” Prof. Coleman’s objection to the use of the term “a coon’s age” last Friday (“Coon is short for ‘raccoon’,” ODE, April 20) is a prime example. Why would you consider it appropriate to mock someone for objecting to racial slurs?
If you were African-American, you would have known better. If you were ignorant, you could have appreciated the information. If you are deeply invested in your white privilege you might have said — as you did — “Oh, please.”
The future of this nation depends on our collective ability to end discrimination. Do not be so proud to be so ignorant.

Jane Robin

senior


English/ethnic studies


 

Thanks for a great campaign
I would like to thank everyone who helped my and Jeff Oliver’s campaign for ASUO Executive. Countless hours of volunteer help contributed to my campaign’s visibility and viability.
Two people who went well above and beyond the call of duty, however, are Jen Ames and Mindi Rice. These two amazing people did all that was asked of them and more on their own. And while Jen was already one of my best friends before, Mindi became one of my best friends over the course of the campaign. You two are simply wonderful.
Now, that’s not to say that everyone else who helped out with my campaign isn’t wonderful … they all are! I can never say “thanks” enough to everyone who helped me.
I would also like to thank a few other good friends of mine who helped with my campaign: David Christensen, Brandi Church and Curtis Buell. Much like Jen Ames and Mindi Rice, these three kind, wonderful people campaigned more than could/should be ever asked of someone. These five together, and everyone else who helped are the reasons why I can look back on my campaign with positive thoughts and memories despite the fact that we lost and had to go through some political strain.
I made a lot of friends, we all had some laughs and our campaign was one for positive change. Thanks to everyone and I’m sure I’ll say it again to all of you in person very soon.

Eric Bailey

sophomore


major


ASUO Senate vice president