Practice what you preach
Attending the University for four years has taught me many things, one of which is apparent on the steps of Johnson Hall. First, if you cannot convince the public at large of an idea, then protest management, the establishment or the closest authority figure, whatever works.
From my limited understanding of the election results trumpeted by the protesters, 75 percent of the voting public wants the Worker Rights Consortium. Sounds great, but what was the actual turnout for the election? Historical precedent puts that number in the 10-15 percent range. Where is the other 85 percent of voters? I submit that they are indifferent as to where their $100 shoes are made.
Countries have for centuries exported jobs that the domestic economy either would not support or refused to work for. That which we should concern ourselves with is if the workers are slaves or not. If they make the decision to go to work each day, then it should be our business to back out of their country’s internal affairs.
I support their constitutional right to protest but not their misuse of statistical information. I ask those of you up there shouting slogans this: How much of what you are wearing right now was produced in a foreign country, and have you absolute certainty that it wasn’t produced with child labor?
If this is really a big deal, then stop buying the products that these suppliers supply. We as a consumer-based public haven’t taken the stance that we are willing to pay more for clothes that are “injustice free.”

Moses Messenger

economics

Why protest?
As a member of both the Licensing Code of Conduct Committee and the University Senate, I would like to recognize with gratitude University President Dave Frohnmayer’s support of mutual governance in the question of a code of conduct and the Worker Rights Consortium.
The committee has worked for several months toward the consensus we articulated to Frohnmayer on April 4 (before the student protests) — that is, that the University should join the WRC to monitor compliance with our code of conduct. Students on the committee were extremely well-informed and articulate — I was very impressed by their contributions.
I look forward to the senate reception of the committee report. It seems very important to me that this decision is being discussed according to the processes of governance that we have been struggling to make stronger this year. I frankly do not understand why students are protesting.
The demand of protesters for immediate action would eliminate faculty, staff AND student input into this decision at the senate. So ironically — even though I believe faculty and staff will support the WRC — students are in effect protesting against waiting until the University Senate has a chance to be heard on this subject.
These protests seem to be based on a lack of understanding about how students can participate in governance via committees and the senate, according to democratic processes.
Frohnmayer’s insistence on following the processes of consultation with the committee and senate is particularly laudable — even courageous — in the face of such protests, which demand more rapid executive decision.

Suzanne Clark

English professor

Actions result of students
I would strongly urge the Emerald to refrain from further printing any material that credits University President Dave Frohnmayer’s movement toward a corporate code of conduct as anything other than reactionary to the student movement. It was the students who brought this issue out of hiding. And the president’s actions have been made only according to the demands of those students.
Since students began organizing on this issue a year and a half ago, Frohnmayer’s actions have been purely bureaucratic and have successfully stalled the making of any solid decisions. By promising the formation of a committee (which holds no decision-making weight) last spring and the committee not meeting until fall — one of many examples — the president has revealed his true stance on this issue.
A point of interest: If this University is funded by student tuition, how is it that students occupying University property are justifiably arrested? When the laws make little sense, that is when we must defy them.

Nicholas Vaughan

jazz studies

Props to the president
During the last week, many of the students and faculty at the University have seen the signs reminding all of us how many fateful days are left until University President Dave Frohnmayer must sign on the Worker Rights Consortium or see the consequences. In a countdown not unlike that of Y2k, one could not look very far on this campus without seeing a Dixie plate hammered into the grass with the reminder and question, “Four days left … Will Frohnmayer sign?”
Well, those four days have come and gone, and as evidence by the protest and arrests on April 4, Frohnmayer did not meet the deadline imposed on him, and suddenly, one gets the impression from reading the April 5 issue of the Emerald or walking by the administration building that we now have the anti-Christ in charge of the University.
In a time where very few people can make the claim that their actions match their words, I feel very fortunate to have such a person as Frohnmayer as president of the University. True character in a leader is a rarity here in Eugene, and to those who feel the need to sling mud at Frohnmayer’s name because he didn’t comply to some date set by some group, I say grow up and open your eyes. One would think that a cause such as the WRC on a campus such as the University would draw a huge crowd to protest. But it didn’t.
Frohnmayer, on behalf of the 99 percent of the campus that isn’t camped outside your office right now, may I express to you our heartfelt thanks for your work and effort as president.

John Condie

senior