From your mudslinging editorial about Phil Knight and the WRC (“Hook, Line and Sinker,” ODE, Nov. 21), it sounds like the Emerald editorial staff is pandering to the interests of a small percentage of the student population (and the Eugene Weekly), which is the same sort of pandering of which you accuse University President Dave Frohnmayer.
If students were to take a few moments and think about your editorial, they could easily devise a conspiracy theory that involves ASUO President Jay Breslow, his vice president, Holly Magner, and one or two other students whose feelings are hurt because Frohnmayer isn’t under their collective thumb.
You all sound like a bunch of dilettantes. Get over yourselves. Which of the University’s reputations are you worried about? The “Most Activist Campus” reputation? That would be worth worrying about if more than a mere 8 percent of University students cared enough to vote in any given student election, including the last one, where the WRC was front and center. Thank the magazine Mother Jones for us, but 8 percent doesn’t sound like student activism.
Ultimately, I think Knight is only pulling the Athletic Department’s strings — it is their expansion project in jeopardy here. Unfortunately, this University’s budget is in serious trouble if we don’t rely on alumni donations. The state funds less than 20 percent of the University’s budget. And most people fail to recognize that Knight is not the only wealthy alumnus who has a vested interest in the University’s success.
I’ve met plenty of alumni who feel that their opinions about University policies are as important as students’. While many students may not believe so, alumni care as much about this University’s success as we do, and if they are providing money that the Legislature and taxpayers are unwilling to, logic has it that they do have a say in some University practices.
We also don’t have the luxury of land, air and sea grants like Oregon State University, whose facilities (other than athletic) are better than our own. The grants they get have strings, too.
Knight and the WRC are another issue altogether. Knight is as much a dilettante as anyone else in this situation. I don’t believe he has any desire to decide what gets taught at the University or to influence admissions policies or anything remotely similar to true University policy.
It’s clear at this point that Knight cares about two things in this matter: his precious Nike swoosh getting on TV, and the football team. Like it or not, more people with money — the state Legislature included — care about the success of our football program than care about the success of students academically.