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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1963)
Homecoming and the Alumni Herbiock What the Alumnus Sees On His Return to Oregon “Nothing has really changed. The stu dents are much the same as they were when I graduated in 1935. We hear a lot about Gus Hall, that new discipline code and all those eastern fuzzy intellectuals on the faculty, but nothing has really changed. It’s good to see the old values preserved. It’s good to be back and see that my uni versity really hasn’t changed.” We overheard a tall, balding man make this remark last November. He was an Oregon alumnus and he had returned for Homecoming. “Homecoming,” he said, “is a time for fun and I’m damned glad the kids haven’t outgrown fun. I keep hearing all this talk about change, but its good to come back and see that things are pretty well the way they’ve always been.” We’re sure that a lot of other alums would concur with this viewpoint. We've heard a lot of grumbling lately about higher education and grassroots communication. “They don’t understand us out there in Hermiston. We aren’t communicating,” a University official remarked recently. There is no more vivid documentation for this statement than the overwhelming NO vote on Ballot Measure No. 1 October 15. Is the campus really changing? Are there import ant underlying changes, subtle changes, changes more important than the new humanities building? A lot of alums ask these questions. Ideal ly, Homecoming ought to be a time when those questions are answered. Homecoming should be a time for alums to come back to the campus, have a good time and go home with a general assessment about what is going on. Most alums, we realize, come down on Saturday morning for the foot ball game and aren’t really much interested in anything else. But suppose an alum came to the campus this year for Homecoming on Tuesday instead of Saturday. Suppose he’s interested in student life and the campus in general. What does he see? On Tuesday of Homecoming week he would see the class presidents scrub the seal, later he’d see the decorating of the senior bench. Near the end of the week the activity really picks up. The Kangaroo Court holds a session in front of the Stu dent Union. The enlightened freshmen par ticipate in a keg hunt and a keg hunt ball. Everybody is chattering hello on Hello Walk. On Friday there is a rally parade to the good old bonfire. Afterwards there is a rock ’n roll dance in McArthur Court. Things take a little different twist on Sat urday morning when there is an alumni faculty coffee hour. We’re told that this is an interesting session, but not too many people come. The weekend continues with a football game, concert, dance and finally on Sunday the University Singers add the last note. Now it seems to us that the alum is get ting a distorted picture of the University. We think the University is more than kan garoo courts and scrubbing the seal. The student Senate’s action last week re-estab lishing the court pretty well documents the case made last year by the Oregon State University Barometer when it maintained that Oregon students are just as concerned with trivia as OSU students. But in spite of what the alum sees during homecoming there are important student activities and programs concerned with migratory labor, civil rights and other topics. Homecoming would be an ideal time to impress the changing state of the University upon the alumni. Talks or optional programs. Tours of new areas of the University physical plant. Live programs involving students and other proposals are in order. We are not telling our story to the alumni and there is no better time than Homecoming. This opportunity ought to be utilized to re flect the trends of a changing campus and a changing student body. Teaching Appraisal Forms The Academic and Cultural Committee of the ASUO Senate will hold an open meeting today to consider recommenda tions on the revised teaching appraisal form. The form to be filled out by students at the request of their instructor consists of seven questions on classroom procedure, three on examinations and six open-end questions that give an indication of the stu dent’s reactions to the course and his in terest in the subject matter. While trudging through the midterm mill, students are likely to experience a vin dictive delight at the chance of being able to reverse roles with their instructors and appraise their instructor’s performance. As a marginal benefit, the vindictive pleasures are of little significance and could be detri mental to the purposes of the rating forms. In the instructions to the student filling out the form, it is pointed out that “To be of effective use to the instructor in evaluating his teaching methods this rating form must be considered seriously.” Teaching appraisal forms are not new to this campus. A form was accepted by the ASUO Senate last year, but primarily be cause of a lack of time, was never consid ered by the Faculty Advisory Council. The form is still a long way from widespread classroom use. The ASUO Senate must ac cept the form, then it must be recommend ed to the president by his faculty advisors and finally it must be taken to the heads of the departments and the instructors to seek their approval. Despite the delays that are bound to oc cur with this drawn out acceptance pro cedure, the chances of success are good. The form itself is well constructed, and em phasizes instructor utility rather than stu dent complaint. Some faculty members have objected that student evaluation of their courses is an infringement on their authority to run their classroom as they please. This seems to be a very short-sighted objection. The form is not an injunction; it is a source of additional data which at the discretion of the instructor’s judgment may or may not be used. What is important and what the teaching appraisal facilitates is that the data at least be considered. Letters to the Editor IllllWUlliJJlUUlUillilllliilUJIlliiUUliillllilU Resents Sen. Pearson Emerald Editor: After reading some of Sena tor Walter Pearson’s views about teachers in Monday’s Em erald, I feel inclined to voice my resentment at such threats to our faculty members. If Pearson believes people are “sick and tired of paying high salaries in the administration of higher education,” then in ac cordance, he must also believe that good teachers should be classified along with salaried positions in less important oc cupations. I strongly object. I feel that we have some excellent profes sors on this campus, as well as on other Oregon campuses, who are contributing to the develop ment of some good potential leaders; now among the throng of education seekers on campus today. Should strict control of (Continued on pcuje 3) . v “Hold It, Fellows-There’s A Slight Delay” Letters To the Editor Coaching Re-evaluation Emerald Editor: That’s it! The Oregon loss to Texas last year was somewhat excusable. The Longhorns’ had a superior football team as well as a super ior coaching staff. The Wash ington tie of the same year was less excusable. Sure Oregon clobbered Washington in the fourth quarter. So what? Why didn’t the Ducks pass sooner and score more? Did it lake the Oregon coaching stafT forty-five minutes of the ball game to rea lize that the Washington second ary was susceptible to penetra tion via the pass? Then there was Ohio State A ‘determined’ Duck football team was completely outclassed Sure Bob Furgeson was great. The Ducks, however, had two tackles last year who have both started as rookies in the N.F.L. this year. They also had a linebacker who has played considerably with still another N.F.L. ball club and also one of the finest guards ever to play for Oregon. Yet these ball players were com pletely incapable of containing the fjhio State offense. True, Woody Hayes is a great coach. But could it be that our coach ing staff leaves something to be desired? Corvallis, Oregon, 1962, Ore gon vs. O.S.U. What did the coaching staff tell their ball club at half time? Should the second half and the final score be in dicative of whether the coach ing staff told them the right thing or not? It has been quite some time since an Oregon team beat the Beaver Varsity in foot ball. Of late have the Beavers that consistently had better ball clubs? Or just a better coaching staff? 1963 started just as 1962 end ed—only a little worse. The Penn State game was the most obvious example of the Oregon ball club being out-coached. Penn State opened the ball game with an offensive formation which almost completely incapa citated the defenses that the Oregon coaching staff had de vised. The staff had to start from scratch. The final score showed how well they scratched. I admit the Ducks scored points the next four games—lots of them. But against who? Ida ho? Why can’t the Ducks win a Brief Deadline Students are reminded that the deadline for placing campus briefs is 4 p.m. on the day before they are to appear in the Emer ald. big’ ball game? Might it be the coaching staff? Does anyone remember the score of the Frosh-Washington Pup football game four years ago? It was 51-6, Oregon. Have the ball players and the junior college transfers of the two clubs changed that much in four years or was it just the differ ence in the two schools' varsity coaching staffs. Oregon had some unfortunate injuries in the Washington ball game a week ago. They still lost. Even before the ‘key’ injuries they had not fared too well. This weeks ball game—well. THAT’S IT! No, the Ducks weren't out-coached ‘this’ time. They just coached themselves out of a ball game. Yes, San Jose could hardly gain a yard from scrimmage. They didn’t have to. They could score while on defense Oregon could hard ly score on offense. han Jose naa me nan lor some eight plays from scrim mage in the first half and, yet, Oregon with complete ‘hall con trol’ completely lacked control. Of course—Oregon had some in jured ball players. I can see not using them if the coaching staff did not have to. But they had to! Why did the coaching stafT have to wait until the last possible chance to win the hall game to use one of the ‘injured’? Is this another example of the coaching staff’s inadequacy? Oregon’s head coach is one of the finest men an individual could meet off the football field. On the football field if you were an opposing coach it would be nice to meet him there too! John Bassett 2nd Year Law OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald ia published twice in September and five day* a week during the academic year, except during ex amination and vacation period* by the Stu dent Publication* Hoard of the University of Oregon. Entered an second el*** matter at the poat office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscrip tion rates 95 per year; 92 per term. Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not pre tend to reprcuent the opinion of the ASUO or the University. EVERETTE DENNIS. Editor LARRY WILLIAMS, Buaineta Manager JANET GOETZE, Managing Editor JIM SPEER, Advertining Manager RON COWAN, New* Editor DOUG RAGEN, Editorial Page Editor CATHY NEVILLE, Academic Affaira Editor DICK RICHARDSON, Associate Editor JIM FHAKE, Aihintant Managing Editor RAY MAST, Sport* Editor JOE HEKGER, A**iatant New* Editor GEORGE BIGHAM, Photo Editor CHUCK BEGGS. PHYLLIS EI.VING, STEVE GREEN, A»*ociat<; New* Editor* Editorial Board : Everette Dennis, Ron Cow an, Janet Goetxe, Doug Ragen, Dick Richard son, Dave Saml», Jerry Utti, Ray Maul, Pam PuHhkowaki, Cathy Neville, Pat Holt, Simeon Crowther, Doug Comb*, Joe Berger, Jim Frake.
