Emerald should apologize
On March 1, Robin Weber wrote about women empowering themselves through a self-defense workshop at the University (“Empowerment through awareness”). It was in extremely poor taste that the first words of the article were the sexist slurs that women often encounter when going against the patriarchy. Yes, those slurs exist, I hear them myself, but to open an article with words of oppression? That completely undermines what the women were doing. It would be the same if you opened an article about MEChA, BSU or APASU by listing the racial slang or slurs used by bigots. That is not acceptable, nor is it OK to do that to the women who are doing something to protect themselves from the current and persistent crimes against them on campus.
I think Weber and the Emerald staff need to apologize to the women specifically at the program and to the women on campus for allowing that kind of prejudice to taint an otherwise good article. Women are working hard to break the silence around campus violence against women. Don’t let your paper be a tool for silencing them. Women are more than half of the student body on campus. Our issues are important, and we demand respect.

Melissa Baldwin

senior

women’s studies

The award for absurdity

goes to …
So let me get this straight. In “The world according to Jeff Oliver,” we public school students are less capable, less motivated, and in short, unnecessary financial burdens to the system. Congratulations to him for having written the most painfully absurd column I have read in perhaps months. I am a student at the University of Washington, Washington’s flagship public university. The UW has an enrollment of more than 25,000, (and is #45 in the U.S. News Top 50 that Oliver cites). I can assure Mr. Oliver that some of us are indeed working hard in public schools for “more than just receiving a piece of paper” at the end, regardless of what his experience is.
Oliver says that reduced enrollment due to increased tuition is “fine,” because “as the cost … goes up, so should admission standards.” His assumption that less wealthy means less qualified is classist and offensive. I suppose he also thinks that the state of Oregon should donate to the new “University, Inc.,” the hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, buildings and resources it has accrued developing its flagship university. The primary role of a public university is to provide quality education to its own state, not to deliver the best product to those who can afford it.
I would also add that established Eastern Oregon University graduates probably do not appreciate having their alma mater referred to as a “glorified community college.” Keep public schools public and let elitist snobs provide their own educations.

Matthew Echert

student

University of Washington

Cartoon found

not so humorous
As a Jewish student on this campus, I was extremely offended by the cartoon that ran March 6. It was distasteful and depicted ignorance by the artist. I am surprised that you allowed something so disgusting and untrue in your well-respected paper. There is violence in Israel, a lot of it, but it is nothing like what the cartoon shows. Israel does not shoot artillery into a populated refuge camp. If Mr. Baggs would read a newspaper instead of watching a few images flashed on CNN, he would understand the context of what is happening there. As journalists, you should know of the many different ways to depict incidents, and watching one source is not a basis for making an assumption about “Logic in Israel.”
Israel is retaliating to Palestinian suicide bombers, who run up to buses and attack clubs that college students like you and I would go to. I firmly believe that “violence is the last resort of the incompetent,” but when you have a population in your midst that is trying to literally kill you, action must be taken. I have lost a lot of respect in the journalistic credibility of the Emerald today.

Jason Stein

junior

psychology