Expose the night, Emerald
I would like to respond to your recent editorial regarding sexual assault and the upcoming event, “Take Back the Night” (ODE, May 12). I appreciate your intent to address the issue but question your solution. Rather than create a slick new anti-rape campaign, why not take a look at the advertising that already exists? Take, for example, the Scandal’s ad with the spiked heel and the heading, “Weekend Warrior.” Or the recent Playboy bunny ad reading, “You must have done something right. She’s coming again.” Ads like these perpetuate the myths of woman as a sexual commodity and relationships as a battleground and a conquest.
One way to change the rape culture is to take responsibility for the role we play in preserving the myths that support it. You can choose to run ads that respect the intrinsic worth of all human beings or you can maintain the status quo. The Emerald already has the power and the resources to promote healthy relationships. Why not use it?
As for the suggestion that we develop a program that gets attention like the Genocide Awareness Project, no cause warrants the manipulation and lack of compassion that characterized that event. There are better ways to create social change. There are empowering, community-building ways to change our world. The “Take Back the Night” march is one of them.
If you are truly passionate about this issue, we hope you will join us May 18 as we march through the streets of Eugene, honoring survivors and demanding an end to violence.

Lori Brown

ASUO Women’s Center

WRC choices charged campus
I experienced renewed optimism and pride in my community as I recently watched students, University President Dave Frohnmayer and all involved in the decision to join the Worker Rights Consortium.
In one fell swoop, Frohnmayer and other University officials did more to invigorate the educational climate at the University than they can imagine. They delivered the message that the end doesn’t justify the means, and they put actions to the rhetoric.
This is what I want youth to learn. I want them to know that the adults around them value principles and moral choices; that the adults around them value principles and morals over money; that we understand on some level why many youths today are angry.
Nike CEO Phil Knight has been generous to the University in the past, but he showed his true colors in withdrawing funds. He appears to be only interested in contributing to educational opportunities for students so long as the University’s politics match his own. This is not the sort of price tag that an educational institution should ever accept.
I am pleased with the clear focus Knight and other financial “benefactors” have provided for the long-standing issue of academic freedom and private donations to universities.
Unlike supporters typically portrayed in local media, I am a professional woman working in this community. I pay taxes willingly and live a mainstream lifestyle. I am also one of many people in Eugene who support active, political discourse and public demonstrations, as well as University presidents and officials saying no to donations with strings attached.

Karin Thompson

Eugene resident