University should speak out against war
On Jan. 21, a forum was held at the University to discuss whether the University — as an institution — should speak out against war against Iraq at this time. University President David Frohnmayer argued that the University should not take a position on controversial issues and that “the state charter prohibits the school from making formal statements on ‘partisan activities’” (The Register-Guard, Jan. 23). While the charter restricts governance of the faculty of the University to “the immediate government and discipline of it and its students,” Frohnmayer missed two important points.
First, President Bush has announced that — even in the absence of a clear and present danger to the United States or of U.N. sponsorship — he is willing to invade Iraq, thereby violating the Constitution and the U.N. charter. How can a research University justify silence in the face of such an assault on our democracy, a key prerequisite to unfettered search for truth?
Second, given that the “immediate government” of the University would be directly affected by a drain on state and federal resources resulting from any war, should not the University as such try to prevent this as-yet-unjustified war?
Let us all, citizens and institutions alike, speak out against unprovoked aggression before it is too late.
Jette Foss
Institute of Molecular Biology
S&M a legitimate ‘playtime’ pursuit
Pat Payne’s comments in “Disrespect, Leather and the KKK” (ODE, Jan. 11) are what triggered this missive. I am into the S&M sexuality, and I agree with him completely: It was an invasion of a serious arms expert’s privacy. And Payne is right; spare us the word on Saddam Hussein’s no doubt many fetishes. Too bad he isn’t into S&M; he could take all his aggression and let it out in the bedroom, and maybe even have some fun!
There are 250 million pursuits of happiness out there in this fair land of ours. Some of them are ones some of us don’t like. Whatever our feelings on any given one, we must, as democratists, respect each other’s rights, as long as they don’t really hurt anyone. The type of S&M we practice may cause us to be called — and call ourselves — “sadists,” but we are not sadists like Heinrich Himmler, Genghis Khan or Heliogabalus. Rather we enjoy a shared exchange of heightened sensations, perhaps with some psychological play that may or may not accompany playtime.
As a child, I played “cowboys and Indians,” but that did not make me an Indian. Now I play S&M. That does not make me Torquemada (and I don’t have any idea how to spell Torque… , etc., but you already got the idea anyway).
P.S.: I just ran spell check. It came to “Saddam,” didn’t recognize it, and — no kidding — the word it suggested was sadism!
Robb Goldstein
Chatham, N.Y.
S&M enthusiasts form caring relationships
Pat Payne may as well nominate himself for one of those awards he so gratuitously handed out in “Disrespect, Leather and the KKK” (ODE, Jan. 11). To say that a person who finds themselves aroused by the thought of being completely dominated by another needs to “find help on pages 569-570 of the Yellow Pages, under psychologists” should put him foremost in the running for the “has no idea what he’s talking about” award.
To single out people and deride them for the ways in which they choose to express themselves to their partners behind closed doors shows extreme ignorance.
Perhaps “Captain Sensible” should do some research on this topic first. Those who engage in S&M behavior are extremely caring of their partners’ wants, desires and concerns, taking great pains to ensure that the activities they engage in will not harm either person. A relationship such as this requires trust beyond that which many spouses of any gender hold for each other.
The people who engage in these activities take much more care not to cause harm to the recipient of their attentions than a “normal” person having a one-night stand at a bar would.
Do your homework before sounding off on issues that you have no personal experience whatsoever with.
John Taylor
senior
biochemistry
Elena Jonas
sophomore
undeclared
Sex ed, legal abortion will save lives
Regarding our president’s Sanctity of Life Day last weekend, I have two points.
Each person should have the choice to decide what happens to his or her own body. If you do not believe in a woman’s right to have an abortion to terminate a pregnancy, don’t have one. Any woman who does wish to have this procedure deserves to be able to make her own decision on this issue.
Second, to those who support abstinence-only sex education for our children, please get your heads out of the sand. Our young people need the most medically-accurate information available to protect and educate themselves about life. They say “ignorance is bliss,” but in this case ignorance, or the lack of accurate information, will just lead to increased teenage pregnancy and the spread of AIDS and other STDs. AIDS still leads to death the last time I looked. Teenagers and adults will keep having sex and not just to procreate — let’s not keep anyone from information that may save their life.
Please keep abortion safe and legal and let’s all push for medically-accurate sex education in our schools.
Albert Kaufman
Portland