Greater Oregon Program
No Budget, But Still Opportunity for St 'nice
It was with a good deal of regret that
we watched Greater Oregon, the Univer
sity’s program for recruiting outstanding
high school students, stricken from the
budget. We’re afraid that Greater Oregon
is only one of many budget cuts to come.
Another recent example was the decision
to discontinue the library journal Call
Number, published by the University Lib
rary. Greater Oregon was recently placed
under the regular University operating
budget and less than a week ago absolved
all ties with the ASUO Senate which or
iginally chartered the organization.
In a day when University enrollment is
increasing much faster than classroom
space and teachers, it is difficult to justify
Greater Oregon’s existence. Why do we
need an organization recruiting students?
Don’t we already have more students than
we can handle? The answers to both ques
tions obviously are in the affirmative, but
Greater Oregon’s objective is to attract out
standing high school students to the Uni
versity and to make them aware of pro
grams and opportunities, which are avail
able here. Greater Oregon’s real problem
is that it is impossible to gather any empir
ical data to justify its existence. Question
naires sent to students asking them if
Greater Oregon in any way influenced their
decision to come to the University really
doesn’t give an accurate assessment. There
is no way to find the correlation between
the outstanding student and the positive
questionnaire. There is no doubt, however,
that Greater Oregon has served the Uni
versity well in a public relations function.
We are particularly encouraged by Great
er Oregon Director Jim Lussier’s positive
outlook on the program’s future. Lussier
is still willing to organize high school vis
itations during the Christmas vacations. We
also believe that University Relations Di
rector Jim Shea is realistic in his appraisal
of next year’s anticipated enrollment. The
demise of the Greater Oregon program
probably will not have any impact on the
University’s enrollment, but of course the
organization's purpose was never to attract
great numbers of students.
One area on which the Greater Oregon
program could concentrate is recruiting a
wider variety of students who would be
willing to give a brief talk at their former
high school during vacations. Most of Great
er Oregon’s present participants are former
student body officers and individuals with
primarily, a social orientation. Perhaps it
would be possible to attract students of
chemistry, physics, anthropology, philos
ophy and other fields who are not inter
ested in committee work, but are interested
in promoting their department. This is an
area which merits some thought.
Greater Oregon should also be closely
involved in a re-evaluation of the present
orientation week for freshmen and present
some recommendations in this area. We
would like to see th? Duck Preview pro
gram continued as it was handled last
year. The concept of an academic day at
the campus without overnight accommo
dations and social emphasis was an impor
tant improvement. We were sorry to see
Greater Oregon's budget cut, but believe
that there are still some areas in which
the program could actively participate.
Footnote
That Oregon’s congressmen are concern
ed about the anti-government, anti-spend
ing attitude reflected in the results of the
October 15th referendum vote is common
knowledge. Our representatives have been
analyzing the election to learn which fac
tors were dominant in voting decisions.
Senator Morse, a liberal Democrat and
long-time supporter of our foreign aid pro
gram, raised opposition last week to the
majority Senate foreign aid budget, advo
cating cuts in the loan fund. We can only
speculate as to the reasons for our adroit
Senator’s change of policy, but we have a
strong suspicion that it was strongly in
fluenced by his analysis of “grassroots”
sentiment.
Herblock
Letters To the Editor
Search for Students
Emerald Editor:
One likes to feel that the
type of person admitted to a uni
versity of this calibre is both
responsible and trustworthy;
that there is a certain element
of probity among the student
population.
My faith in this matter will
be restored when the person
who “borrowed" my umbrella
outside 366 Prince Campbell
on a very damp day returns
same. 1 am hopeful that this
incident falls into the "prank'’
category, and accordingly no
questions will be asked.
Robert Dill,
Instructor In Ancient
History.
• • •
Defends Banquet
Emerald Editor:
There have been several com
ments about the Student Union
Awards Banquet in The Emer
ald these past two weeks. The
probable reason for choosing
this particular budget item is
the feeling that it would be
hard to justify. On the contrary,
there is no item in the Student
Union Board’s budget that the
board would have difficulty in
justifying, particularly this
budget item It is very seldom
that we feel compelled to jus
tify programs or administrative
costs, but it seems as if this
banquet needs clarifications,
The Student Union Board and
its program structure (Directo
rate and Recreation Council)
have approximately 300 stu
dents involved in the presen
tation of its programs These are
not students working for two
months before a big weekend,
but rather students working day
in and day out for the entire
year The Student Union has a
larger involvement than any
other student organization and
there is little or no glory in the
work. They do not win elec
tions or get their name in the
paper.
They take tickets at movies,
(Continued on ptvjt 3)
Alumni-land View—A Guest Editorial
Adventures In Two Worlds
Ken Metzler is the editor of the University’s alumni
magazine, Old Oregon. We asked Mr. Metzler to write
an article about the present climate in alumni-land. In
recent months Metzler has been the target of caustic
criticism from the good citizens of Lakeview who dis
liked his article “Can Education Save Lakeview.” It
was after this article that he was referred to as a “love
thwarted adolescent” by one of his readers.—Ed.
By KEN METZLER
Editor, Old Oregon
Some students think of the world of alumni as a kind
of “Great Beyond,” thinly veiled by a curtain. Occa
sionally the curtain is drawn aside, revealing brief
glimpses of the world beyond; students occasionally
come back to tell “what it’s like out there,” but by and
large the student lives in his own world of classes and
dates and dormitories and frosh snowballs. The world
of the alumni is thought to be “out there” somewhere,
and, like death, it is inevitable that the student shall
eventually pass beyond the curtain.
From the other side, that is, from the viewpoint of
the alumnus, the curtain also exists to screen some of
the enigmatic activities of the student world. As alumni
editor, it is my job to occasionally try to interpret the
student world to the alumni. This Emerald “Guest
Editorial Chair,” then, offers an exciting challenge to
throw the whole journalistic machinery into reverse.
We alumni editors get together from time to time to
discuss the problems of communicating with alumni.
Often our discussion settles on a curious phenomenon.
From the alumni side, the curtain is heavier—heavy
enough, in fact, to be called a kind of communications
wall.
For years you, as students, have engaged in exciting,
stimulating discussions with your professors. Your
minds are grappling with the most abstract and intri
cate of problems.
Your professors are taking you on a tour that winds
deep into the uncertain world of national and interna
tional tensions, of history, literature, changing socio
logical conditions. Often you trek unafraid through
such stormy areas as international communism and
nationalistic john birchism. Many of you are exploring
this world on your own, though others of you, intellec
tually more timid, are sticking pretty close to the pro
fessors for fear of getting lost in the often-unmapped
world of ideas.
And soon you will cross the commencement plat
from, into the Great Beyond. What then?
A communications wall goes up, according to some
of my fellow alumni editors. The person who only
weeks before grappled with complex—even dangerous
—ideas (ideas by their very nature are often danger
ous), is now expected to settle back to a bland diet of
football, class notes, tedious details of administration
(affirmative details only, never controversial), and pla
titudinous essays by professors and administrators
about the advantages of, and the need for support of,
higher education.
As it turns out, this is not so much what the new
alumnus wants as what his Alma Mater says he must
have in the name of public relations and avoidance of
controversy. Fortunately, the University of Oregon ad
ministration has usually held a much more enlightened
attitude about the role of the alumni, enabling us to
present a more realistic editorial diet.
So the above comments illustrate not so much the
alumni as the administrative attitude on far too many
campuses toward alumni. What about the alumni them
selves?
For the answer, let’s move back to student status. In
my mind’s eye, I have pictured the student as boating
down an intellectual river, working some with the oars,
but mostly drifting with the mainstream of current. If
the intellectual current runs fast, so does the student.
Of course, the current varies considerably: placid pools
interspersed with roaring, foaming rapids which require
a spirit of adventure, and some skill, to navigate. There
is always danger of spilling in the rapids or getting hung
up on some of the pragmatic rocks, but that’s the
chance you have to take.
Graduation approaches. The current slackens, runs
deeper. The water tastes a little bit salty. Up ahead,
the student hears an ominous roar The sea. Life. The
Great Beyond. The natural habitat of alumni.
For a time, even after he has reached the edge of
this sea, the new graduate is carried along by the river’s
momentum. There is still a semblance of sweetness left
in the water as the intellectual current of the river
pushes miles to sea. But now the point approaches
where the young graduate can no longer rely on the
intellectual current of the river to move him along. He
must start rowing for himself.
Some will not bother. These are alumni who, upon
graduation, have already read 95 per cent of the books
they will ever read during their lives. They will drift
like flotsam, and perhaps wash ashore to lie forever
dormant like driftwood piled up on the beaches.
But most will be caught by other currents and they
will use the rowing techniques they picked up on the
rivers to guide them along these currents. These are
social, political and economic currents. For most alum
ni, livelihood depends on steering oneself along some
kind of course amid such sometimes-conflicting currents.
But unlike the rigidly confined rivers, the currents of
the sea are broad and imprecise. Within the context
of the social and economic mainstreams, for example,
there remains plenty of room for intellectual diversion
ary tacks if the alumnus is willing to work the oars a
little on his own initiative. Unfortunately for too many
alumni, such diversions lead to stormy and uncharted
seas where life can be lonely and bitter. Far better,
they will say, to stay in the comfortable mainstream,
and not stray too far.
Too often the student sees only the worst side of the
(Continued on page 3)