I live in southern California. Over the last six years my wife and I have been drawn back to the Ducks, largely by its football team combined with the fun of weekend road trips to watch them play some of their away games. We even made it up to Eugene twice. My wife and I have enjoyed those trips immensely. However, with The Insurgent hate speech issue being brought to the attention of the nation I started to read the Daily Emerald online. The impression I get is that the University hasn’t a clue where it is going.
The campus is as beautiful as when I left it in 1963. But the academic standards have deteriorated. When I attended Oregon it was ranked among the top 40 Universities in the country. Not anymore. And, the University now has a president who can’t tell the difference between hate speech and merely offensive speech. Maybe he needs to be reminded of Germany in the late 1930s when Jews were depicted in cartoons with rat-like features; followed by Crystal Night when the windows to Jewish business were shattered all over Germany; followed by the Nazi death camps for Jews.
Those Insurgent cartoons: Hate speech, President Frohnmayer, or merely offensive speech furthering a free exchange of ideas?
Earle Richmond
Class of 1963, Irvine, CA