Marijuana convictions not minor
Thank you for printing the well-written article about ASUO Legal Services
(“ASUO gives guidance for legal problems,” ODE, 9/17). There is one item I
should correct about state and federal drug convictions involving less than an
ounce of marijuana. Possession of less than an ounce is a non-criminal
violation in Oregon, not a (criminal) misdemeanor.
The point I tried to make is that many students view getting caught with less than
an ounce as a minor event because the penalty usually only involves a fine; yet
conviction for possession of even a small amount of marijuana now includes the
stiffer penalty of the loss of federally funded financial aid for at least one year.
We at ASUO Legal Services hope students who rely on financial aid will accept
this warning and not risk their education for drugs, even a small amount of
marijuana.

Ilona Koleszar

director

ASUO Legal Services

Answer to terrorism is justice, not capitalism
You can always count on a capitalist to try to cash in on pain and suffering. On
Oct. 17, Bret Jacobson had a guest commentary (“Solution to terrorism is
industrialization,” ODE) touting that the solution to the problems in Afghanistan
was to open it up for foreign investment, assuming that their problems could be
solved if we ‘let’ them make widgets for us.
Simple, right? A few industrialists build factories to cash in on cheap labor
(remember, their industrial base has been obliterated), and everybody’s happy.
We get more cheap plastic crap and sports apparel, they get a dollar for every
sixteen-hour workday. Everybody benefits, right? Has anybody ever considered
that U.S. economic imperialism might be part of the problem?
Here’s an idea: What if the U.S. government stopped financing death squads
and dictators and stopped training terrorists? What if the U.S. shut down the
infamous School of the Americas, where it trains foreign soldiers and
paramilitaries in counterinsurgency and torture? What if the U.S. stopped
military aid to genocidal governments? What if we let these people control their
own destiny, and stopped treating less developed countries as a supply of
cheap labor and resources? The fact is that we will have no peace unless the
rest of the world has justice.

Randy Newnham

senior

anthropology and linguistics

Saferide should stay women-only
I feel that the issue of women’s safety on campus, while generally talked about
and verbally supported, is sorely lacking in heart. Many people talk about how
they want their female relations and friends to be safe, yet it seems when it
comes down to it, it’s only talk. Saferide, an organization truly committed to the
safety of women, both physically and emotionally, has taken the initiative to
bring about safety in a way that keeps women from having to walk alone at
night.
It deeply saddens me that there are people on this campus who feel the need to
threaten the safety of their female relations and acquaintances because they
cannot abide by the fact that Saferide is not a coed shuttle service. Saferide was
created with women’s safety in mind.
It has been statistically proven over and over again that it is men who direct the
majority of sexual assaults at women. That is not to say that men cannot be
assaulted, and I fully support men who choose to create an organization geared
toward the sexual safety of men. However, as those who are concerned about
the sexual safety of women should agree, combining such a shuttle service
would defeat the purpose of both Saferide and a male equivalent.
If the goal is to make the said person feel safe and not threatened in any way,
then the goal of said organization should be to remove the threatening factors —
in this case, the opposite gender.

Andrea Pietruszka

junior

cultural anthropology