Jose State University SServing San Since 1934k131 WEDNESDAY PARTAN# AILY www.thespartandaily.com 11.14.01 BART may Vol.. 117, No. 54
re a offer SJSU axle. egg lily WEATHER alternate e to cl to PARTLY CLOUDY ;on commute the High: 68 By Moses Peraza Low: fer 48 COADY STAFF WRIFFFI Ind A new alternative for San nct Jose State University com- the muters could be put into affect of in the future with the expan- OPPOSING sion of the Bay Area Rapid Transportation system (BART) ler. VIEWS Andy Chow, a commute spe- rs, cialist for the Santa Clara Val- life ley Transportation Authority [ler- (VTA), said that SJSU wanted the BART underneath San Fer- er- nando Street to get people in ted and out of the area. ent Chow said that the VTA has ing not voted on the stations loca- tion, but the two streets being eir considered are San Fernando Street and Santa Clara Street. the "The expansion is expected et, to began in 2010," Chow said. be He also said that VTA would be paying the cost of the he expansion and would also over- di- seeing the construction of the BART rail system. led Chow said that the only tre Opposing Views takes on the thing BART has to offer in the Ltil question of whether a person has expansion is its services to the ;10 the right to take part in doctor- area. ul- assisted suicide. Trixie Johnson a research director for the Mineta Trans- portation Institute said the Page 2 expansion of BART would raise the visibility of the campus and make it easier for the com- munity to come to campus events. It ain't easy "I'm assuming that they will SPORTS call it the San Jose Station," Johnson said. "Or they might call it the Civic Center station since we are so close to down- town." Johnson said that the expansion could also increase enrollment. being green "We have students that come to school all day and stu- dents that have one class," The women's volleyball team has Johnson said. Above, Yingying Shim, left, and Trinh Nguyen take a break from their nutri- its season on the line as the Johnson said that the result tion and world hunger class to eat a piece of green tomato cake. The class har- was a huge amount of traffic, Spartans prepare to host the vested the green tomatoes from its garden last week. and the expansion of the BART Western Athletic Conference Tour Right, Sundeep Garg, left, and Robert Trade pour top soil in a garden area to the area would be a good nament this week. way to reduce the parking situ- next to the Central Classroom building to level it out. The nutrition and world ation on campus. hunger class, which meets every Tuesday, teaches students how to grow their own Page 4 Johnson said that building garden and fight hunger. garages is costly and by expanding a BART, SJSU could put money toward education. "BART could connect us to other systems," Johnson said Photoc hr David Ratan Daily Staff HEALTH see BART. Page 5 FITNESS San Jose City Council votes to change name of airport lh Moses Peraza and Santa Child streets. it the Civic Center station since "Like the light rail and Caltrain.- phcated bus schedules to follow," "The expansion is expected to we are so close to downtown.* Johnson said that SJSU was a she said. "Because BART has one Dthv SIAII WRIIIR began in 2010," Chow said. Johnson said the expansion huge entity that generated a lot main line that it runs on." A new alternative for San Jose He also said that VTA would could also increase enrollment. of traffic, and it makes good Gabrielle Nuhn said she State University commuters be paying the cost of the expan- "We have students that come sense to build a BART station in thought it would be easier to get could be put into effect in the sion and would be overseeing the to school all day and students this area. to San Francisco and to the air- future with the expansion of the construction of the BART rail that have one class," Johnson Phat To, a computer engineer- port too. Bay Area Rapid Transportation system.Chow said the only thing said. ing graduate student, also said "I would get caught in the Wind doesn't power all boats for system (BART). BART has to offer in the expan- Johnson said that the result the extension of BART was a traffic jams at the airport, or SJSU sailing professor Shirley Andy Chow, a commute spe- sion is its services to the area. was a huge amount of traffic, and good idea and good to have worry about parking," she said. Reekie, who rows competitively cialist for the Santa Clara Valley Trixie Johnson, a research the expansion of BART to the because the station would lower Some students who use public Transportation Authority (VTA), director for the Mineta Trans- area would be a good way to traffic congestion. transportation, such as Jenny with a Los Gatos club. said that SJSU wanted BART portation Institute, said the reduce the parking situation on "There would most likely be LoveJoy, a civil engineering underneath San Fernando Street expansion of BART would raise campus. more parking here on campus," graduate student who rides the 'Keeping to get people in and out of the the visibility of the campus and Johnson said that building he said. Highway 17 Express from Santa Pace can area. make it easier for the community garages is costly, and by expand- Liz Hergatt. a material engi- Cruz to school, said she wished be difficult Chow said the VTA has not to come to campus events. ing a BART, SJSU could put neering junior, said an extension BART would extend its services voted on the station's location, "I'm assuming that they will money toward education. would make public transporta- to Santa Cruz but was still when your but the two streets that are being call it the San Jose Station," "BART could connect us to tion better and easier to use. happy about the expansion to parents considered are San Fernando Johnson said. "Or they might call other systems," Johnson said "You won't have all those corn- San Jose. taught you to clean your plate. Event educates students about Raindrops a-fallin'. . . Page 6 Muslim practice of Ramadan By Kemberly Gong She said that she would like all stu- dents to come away with a better DAIIN SIAFF Ft understanding of Islamic issues. Students had the opportunity Tues- "Recently, the demand for Muslim INSIDE day to learn about the Muslim practice teach-ins has been so high," she said, of Ramadan, a month-long period of that the club has been trying increase Letters Pg. 2 fasting. outreach to students. The teach-in, held by the Muslim More than 20 students showed up to Opposing Views Pg. 2 Student Association in the Student the event, listening to Anwar speak, Sparta Guide Pg. 3 Union, featured Tahir Anwar, religious and asking questions in a period at the director of the South Bay Islamic Asso- end of the event. Sports Pg. 4 ciation, as the main speaker. Pat Miller, a student in the linguis- The event was to promote education tics department, said she had been Classifieds Pg. 5 of Islamic issue, said Rimi Khan a coming to the teach-ins because of the member of the Muslim Student Associ- Crossword Pg. 5 current events of the United States ation. and Afghanistan. Health & Fitness Pg. 6 "My goal is to, by the end of the "I thought it was wonderful to learn semester, reach all of the teachings (of about the religion," she said. the five pillars of Islam) and go into Hanieh Bazargan, a member of the some detail, so people get an idea of association, said the teach-in was to the basic teachings of Islam," she said. inform people about the religion of She said the group has always had programs such as these in the past "The reason why we decided to that were usually targeted toward have the teach-in is because (of) the .1aShortg King Daily Staff members, but since mid-September, media, they get wrong information With umbrellas over their shoulders, San Jose State University students walk by the they have been highly publicized to see RAMADAN, Page 5 between the Old Cafeteria building and Music buildings during Monday's rair the campus. fountain PINIC01 T SPARTAN DAIL 1 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14. 2001 SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY PPOSI Is ( )regon's doctor-assisted suicide measure morally correct? VIEW State law should not put doctors in the Terminally-ill patients should have choice position to help patients commit suicide to end their lives on their own terms
in the his- physician-assisted suicide puts a burden in the hands of doctors to pre- regon's Death with Dignity Act is probably one of the greatest acts to ever pass scribe death. To those who believe in a higher power, in almost every tory of the United States of America. Haven't you ever had or seen a loved one on the verge organized religion, suicide is believed to go against the foundations. 0 of death who just wanted to leave earth, but still remained alive, because he or she didn't To those who are atheist, there are reasons beyond religious ethics that have a choice but to live? prove this act to be unconstitutional. Well, Oregon's Death with Dignity Act provides just that. On June 26, 1997, the U.S. Supreme The law is specific and has certain require- Court turned down the previous Circuit ments for doctors who prescribe lethal Court decisions and upheld the laws of drugs to assist an individual to commit New York and Washington that made it suicide. a crime for doctors to provide the drugs For those who may not be aware of to mentally competent, but terminally ill the Death with Dignity Act, the mea- patients in order to assist them in suicide. sure was placed on the ballot in 1994 Doctor-assisted suicide used to be an and passed with 51 percent of the underground practice until Oregon votes. However, the act never went voters legally adopted it in 1997. into effect because of legal opposi- Oregon is the only state in the Unit- tion. ed States to implement the harshest In 1997 the act was put on the approach to euthanasia, using doctor- ballot a second time around and assisted suicide passed with 60 percent of the vote. When translated in Greek, euthanasia means "good death." I support doctor-assisted suicide, because the Death with Dignity Swallowing pills to end your life may seem peaceful, but solving your chronic Act has certain requirements one must fulfill to request doctor- pain through an unnatural process is not a "good death." assisted suicide. When people are unable to commit suicide, why should it be legal for a doctor to The Death with Dignity Act annual report states that the mea- bear the burden of guilt for them? sure allows terminally-ill Oregon residents to obtain approval The American Medical Association disagrees with the position doctors are put in from their physicians to self-administer lethal medications. when being involved with suicides. After all, their job is to preserve life, not destroy it. Through lethal medication, one can take his or her life and A medical association policy statement on the subject says, no longer suffer or even "Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally inconsistent with the have to think that he or she When people physician's professional role." has only six months to Assisted suicide - Oregon and the Netherlands are the only places to have a law that live. are unable to protects this act. They could leave this is great for A recent controversy in Oregon arose after U.S. Attorney General earth peacefully and commit suicide, John Ashcroft put a halt to a state law allowing physician-assisted without spending someone who has suicide, which passed twice, once in 1994 and again in 1997. months being miser- why should it The state law allows physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of bar- able with diseases suffered long biturates to terminally ill patients. A patient has to be stable enough such as cancer. enough in his or be legal for a to make the decision and be expected to die in a period of six months. Death is something doctor to bear This Oregon law to protect doctor-assisted suicide was a young nobody likes to think her life and who measure that included the option to control one's death, and only 23 about, but it is a reality. the burden of people took advantage, if you will, of their option. Of these 23 people It makes sense that a judge only has a short in a four-year period, six people never took their pills and died a nat- has temporarily blocked a federal guilt for them? ural death. order to stop the Death with period to live. However, the Netherlands is a more mature example of enter- Dignity Act. The order is effec- taining the option of doctor-assisted suicide. In the 70's and early tive until Nov. 20, according to 80's a series of court cases came up with a compromise from the legal the New York Times. and medical fields that no doctor would be prosecuted for assisting a patient to die under the guide- Assisted suicide is great for someone who has suffered long lines that the patient was a terminally ill and mentally competent person. enough in his or her life and who only has a short period to A U.S. study has shown their abuse of this idea. live. Dr. Stephen R. Katz, a member of the Committee on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the Con- Humans should have the right to do what they want and necticut State Medical Society who studied the Netherlands's approach to euthanasia, con- have control over their lives if they want to end it. cluded that more than 1,000 deaths were due to the terminally ill patient not consenting to If a person is terminally ill and has six months left to end his or her life. Katz found that in these cases, the doctor decided the patients "quality of live, why shouldn't they be able to end their misery, if that life was too poor to justify further medical expense." is what they want. You might say that this could never happen in the United States. The act requires two doctors to assist an Oregon resi- Then tell me why is it that Sen. Hillary Clinton is not directly opposing doctor-assisted suicide. dent who is 18 or older, mentally capable of making the In a speech delivered at Princeton University, she addressed ways a government-sponsored child decision on their own and has less than six months to live. care program would be possible. Who is one to prevent the death of someone who is already "For example, just look at all the money that is wasted in the Medicare program on the last six terminally ill? months of life," Clinton said. Why not let the doctor assist the suicide in a painless way, In fact, in 1993 President Bill Clinton and Sen. Clinton publicly supported advance directives, because if a person really wants to die, they will find a way to which sign a person's medical decisions over to someone else if he or she is incapable of making the end their lives. decisions. They both signed living wills as a reaction to the death of Hillary's father, Hugh Rod- I The Oregon Health Division reports that in 1998, the Health ham. Division received information about 23 people who received pre- To those who are concerned with suffering during a terminal illness, medical technology has the scriptions for lethal medications under the act. Fifteen died after ability to put you at ease. taking the lethal medication and accounted for only five of every Dr. Gregory Hamilton, who practices medicine in Oregon, said assisted suicide is unnecessary 10,000 deaths in Oregon in 1998. because of readily available pain treatments. Only 23 people actually wanted to be prescribed for the lethal If the U.S. Attorney General takes a step to federally ban a measure that passed in Oregon medication and 15 died. allowing doctor-assisted suicide, then his decision shows federal rulings outweigh state legisla- It shows that even with this measure, not everyone ends up ture. wanting to use and take advantage of legal safeguards. Ashcroft based his decision on a Supreme Court ruling on May 14, that stated there was no Why should they even care if very few people are going exception in the federal drug law for the medical use of marijuana, and that federal law may through with the process? not be overridden by the legislative decisions of individual states. If you only had six months left to live, wouldn't you Resorting to suicide for any reason is wrong. rather leave the world earlier and pain free, instead of If people believe that the addition of doctor-assisted to suicide sugar coats the act in a waiting and having loved ones feel sorry for you as way that makes it right, then no law will stop them from committing this criminal and death slowly creeps around the corner? pitiful act.
Karlie Reiss is a Spartan Daily Staff Writer. Todd Hendry is a Spartan Daily Staff Writer. Illustration by Dawn Bozack TALKING HEADS Should terminally-ill patients have the right to seek doctor-assisted suicide?
"Yes, I just feel (individuals) "If they choose to they can, "If they are able to speak and "I think if they are terminally- "I don't think they should. "Yes, because it's their life. need to be able to make choic- but they should ask their loved comprehend the question, if they ill are suffering, they have With the rate that medicine is They lived it, and if they want es for themselves. It's been ones for an opinion first." think they are, then they can the right to decide. I think other advancing, the term terminal- to end it, they should have clear to me, when all is said decide whether they want to die. people don't have the right to IyOill will not be for certain." that choice." and done it's (their) choice. I But no one else should be able to decide for them, though." would want that choice." make that decision for them."