Quacks: To students who protested the sale of Westmoreland Apartments. This show of support for retaining the diversity and cost-effectiveness of the complex might not have influenced University administrators, but it proved that the community knows how to rally together for a cause. It may yet influence members of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.
Smacks: To former Student Senate President Stephanie Erickson for instructing Emerald reporter Nicholas Wilbur to dig through the trash when he requested the tally of a secret vote. Oregon Public Meetings Law states that secret ballots are prohibited, and our reporter was well within his rights to request the details of who voted for whom.
Quacks: To former Dean of the Planning, Public Policy and Management Department Jean Stockard, who advocated for South Korean students when it appeared to her that the University had mishandled their funds. The students were brought to the University through an experimental program that was canceled after its participants repeatedly complained that they were not provided with proper financial documentation.
Smacks: To the slate of students recently elected to the Student Senate. One of this group’s first moves was to support bringing Afro-Latin band Ozomatli to campus next fall – a decision that will cost $16,000 in student fees for a single concert. This concert was in no way an “emergency.”
Quacks: To Connor and Woolley for backing off their plan to redevelop downtown Eugene. University students and city residents in general prefer the presence of local bars and businesses to a soulless multiplex.
Smacks: To the federal Family Planning Expansion Project and The Register-Guard for having policies that constitute discrimination against the gay community. The FPEP program provides STI screening to people who seek “contraceptive management,” often excluding gay students who are not willing to lie about their homosexuality. The Register-Guard obstinately prints birth announcements listing the names of biological parents only, excluding same-sex couples.
Quacks: To the University Senate for finally approving a diversity plan. Now individual schools, colleges and administrative units need to get busy on their
diversity initiatives.
Smacks: To the Genocide Awareness Project and traveling “confrontational evangelists” Jeremiah Baldwin and Jed Smock. Extremists who stand in the EMU with the sole purpose of angering students are furthering neither their own causes nor the respectful educational environment of the University.
Quacks: To John Shelby Spong, retired bishop, who spoke at the University this May. Unlike Baldwin and Smock, Spong discussed the problem of intolerance in the right-wing religious movement and emphasized God’s commandment to love all people.
Smacks: To Bill O’Reilly the Students of Faith and members of student government who advocated shutting down The Insurgent after it published cartoons depicting Jesus in a manner that offended many Christians. Regardless of religious beliefs or affiliations, we should all be able to agree on the value of free speech and maintaining a marketplace of ideas at this University.