Letters to the Editor

By:

Posted: 5/14/08

Go Beavs

Still going for national championship

I'd like to give a special shout out to Paul Ortiz and the rest of the Beavers team for the single best baseball game I've ever seen! A grand slam in the eighth inning, which keeps us in the running for the national championship - that was so cool! Give them some front page, if you could!

BRIAN ZASTOUPIL

student

Sense of Scope

What about the engineering expo

On Friday, 1,000s of visitors arrived on campus. These visitors were students, interested public, companies, state representatives and faculty from many schools throughout Oregon. The event was the annual engineering expo located in the Kelley Engineering Center. Where was this in The Daily Barometer? The Monday, May 12, edition had articles about sports, mental health, Associated Press articles and the recent drag show - nowhere was there a mention of this event.

Let's get a sense of scope: the top graphic in one of the articles shows that students practiced for 2 months, had 425 attendees, 25 participants and no one slept the night before. For the engineering expo students worked for 9 months, 3000 people attended (not including students), 330 participated and no one slept for a week. I would think that such a large event involving so many of your own students and faculty would at least deserve a mention. Where is this mention? Of the nearly 19,000 students enrolled at OSU I would think that an event where 7 percent of your student body (over 1,300 students) visited would be better publicized.

DONALD HEER

Employee, faculty research assistant

Error repeated

Correct information is available

The May 9 article "Celebrating Pride" incorrectly reported how long the Rainbow Continuum student group has been on campus. Unfortunately, the same error was published in the 2006 book "The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students." In fact, the group's first public meeting announcement was published Nov. 4, 1976, in The Daily Barometer on page 15. Earlier LGBT groups existed, but none of them were officially recognized as a student group by OSU administrators.

For more details, the Oregon State University Valley Library Archives has a xerographic copy of my speech "History of OSU Gay Student Groups 1976-2006." An Internet accessible digital copy is available on the library's web page "Collections Pertaining to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People in Oregon." http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/archives/oma/glbt.html

THOMAS KRAEMER

Alumni, class of 1977

Response to Gwin

In regards to the WNBA

Each week I carefully read with interest the weekly forum "The way I see it." Often times I find some of the allegations made completely ludicrous, driven mostly from the mindset of extreme feminism, and don't even waste my time on a second thought. Today, reading Ms. Gwin's column, I was appalled at how much disdain she had for heroes of the feminist movement. "Maria Sharapova, Amanda Beard, ... DANICA PATRICK." These women are the best of the best in their respective sports. Danica Patrick became the first woman ever to win an Indy Car race. Let me assure you, she did not flaunt her sexuality to win a race where she started out in 17th or 18th position. Just because a woman is physically attractive does not give Ms. Gwin the right to subtract any accomplishment these women have worked so hard to gain. Women are becoming pioneers in various fields - be it athletics or astrophysics. I am just curious why the eternal feminist, Ms. Gwin, is so pessimistic about the successes of such women.

In regards to the WNBA, viewership is low because it is slow paced, and only two or three women can dunk; very little excitement is found in watching breakaway layup after breakaway layup. The WNBA has not developed a following because it is as horizontal as soccer, not because the women are attractive or unattractive.

It is Ms. Gwin and other radical feminists, not men, who try and pinpoint womanhood as "their sexual availability to men" or the "c" word as an attempt to reduce a woman to her genitals. It is Ms. Gwin - not men - who hate the success of an attractive female. It is Ms. Gwin - not men - who perpetuates societal norms that have long since been abandoned.

Or at least, that's the way I see it.

Kevin Schock

Freshman, political science