Quacks to Oregon University System officials for suggesting cuts to the Chancellor’s Office. If the proposal is accepted, the fiduciary blow that Measure 30’s failure dealt to the University would be softened to less than $1 million.
Smacks to the Eugene Police Department (and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission) for using undercover officers to break up weekend parties and hand out minor in possession citations. While their tactics may be legal and their actions well-intentioned, their actions are more complicated (and thus probably more expensive) than necessary.
Quacks to ASUO President Maddy Melton for complying with the ASUO Constitution Court’s demand to appoint students to the previously empty seats on the court by the Feb. 24 deadline. Filling the vacancies may have been long overdue, but a full court can only mean more efficient justice for the student body.
Smacks to President Bush for backing a constitutional amendment that would prevent homosexual marriage. Regardless of how you feel about the contentious issue, the Constitution isn’t the place for social policy. Fortunately, the founding document is especially difficult to amend for a reason.
Quacks to the University for halting plans to build a replacement basketball arena. While this change of plan means the school will probably end up spending more money on the project years down the road, the cessation is the fiscally prudent thing to do.
Smacks to Green-turned-independent candidate Ralph Nader. While more choices aren’t usually bad for democracy, they can present an unfortunate dilemma for voters. Nader voters looking to get a realistic candidate into office, in swing states at least, showed in 2000 that it’s easy to make a poor choice — from a strategic standpoint, anyway.
Quacks to students who use the valuable option of online classes. If students can relieve classroom resources while studying in their own space, all the better.
Smacks to the caller who phoned in a bomb threat to the Knight Library. Irresponsible pranks of this sort waste taxpayer dollars, precious police resources and countless man-hours of much-needed student studying. Enough said.
Quacks to the City’s Neighborwoods program for making the University a greener and more pleasant area, one sapling at a time.
Smacks to officials at Belpre, Ohio’s, Belpre Middle School for suspending sixth-grader Justin Reyes. Justin was punished by school officials for bringing a copy of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue to school. Among the rules he violated: “nonverbal harassment.” Certainly people who run a junior high populated by hundreds of hormonal teens have more important things to worry about than sixth-grade males bringing already widely available pictures of scantily clad women to a school.
Quacks to the six recently arrived Iraqi Fulbright Scholars. Exchange students from the embattled nation will help further open dialogues about American-Iraqi relations and cultural relations in general.