Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1966)
Oregon Daily Emerald Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the writer. PHIL SEMAS, Editor ANNETTE BUCHANAN Managing Editor LARRY LANGE News Editor WILBUR BISHOP JR. Business Manager CLIFF SANDERLIN Editorial Page Editor University of Oregon, Eugene, Tuesday, September 20, 1966 The Changing University This isn’t a bad place to go to school. At this University professors do not live in fear of being fired because of what they say in the classroom. At this University anyone, from U.S. Community Party leader Gus Hall to Alabama Governor George Wallace, can come and say what he wants. At this University anyone, from U.S. Communist Party perhaps more easily than faculty members and administra tors can. At this University students can conduct a march, a rally, or a prayer breakfast—all without reprisal from the Univer sity and often with University approval in campus facilities. At this University two students walk into each faculty meeting with full right to discuss issues that have a profound effect on students. But it’s not as good a University as it should be. That’s not really a very terrible thing to say. The Univer sity of California at Berkeley was rated as America’s “best balanced” university last year. Shortly after Berkeley won that rating a faculty committee came out with a series of recommendations for change. So there’s nothing wrong with saying that the University of Oregon isn’t as good as it should be and that we need to make some changes. What changes? Much of the education at this University seems to us irrelevant to the problems of our society. That’s one thing that needs to be changed. The fact that it is only two students and not every student who can walk into a faculty meeting is something else that needs changing. There are three forces within the University that can press for change. One is the administration. President Flemming is a man who definitely believes in change and progress. Under im petus given by him the University has embarked on an ex periment called the School of Community Services and Public Affairs, which could be of great benefit to both students and faculty. Under his impetus the University has a Student Conduct Code that is one of the most liberal in the country. Many others in the administration are also innovators and able men. But there are also those who would like to return to the “good old days” before the Code and before student government became as important as it has. The administration also lacks control over the area where the most basic changes can and should be made—the cur riculum. What really needs a long, hard re-examination is the kind of education students are getting at this University. The control over that curriculum and that education belongs by law to the faculty, not the administration. The faculty made some slight innovations last year. But nothing really basic has been done for many years. There are many faculty members who would like to see changes in the curriculum but there are also many who are products of the system as it has always been and who see no reason to change it. Thus much of the motivation for change will have to come from the students, who have not been brought up in the system, and who can be the source of some of the newest and freshest ideas for change. Students started down this road last year. But the changes they proposed were not really very new or very exciting. Removal of the required second language for Ph D. candidates and grading physical educa tion service courses pass-or-fail needed to be done, but they do not represent any kind of basic re-examination of the type and quality ot the education ottered by the University. We urge students to keep in mind that they can be major proposers of change. True, students have no legal power to change the curriculum. But they can make proposals. If those proposals are well thought out, we believe the faculty will listen to students. We especially urge new students not to get the idea that this is the way education at the University is and it cannot be changed. One of the important things about a university is the spirit of the right to question anything and everything. That spirit should include questioning the University itself. ... Suiuhrliu S'pcaks Out Counsel to the New Arrivals Editor's Note: CHIT Sunderlin is the edi torial page editor of the Emerald. He's also our answer to Art Buchwald, although he's not much of an answer. One warning: the Emerald will not be responsible for any thing that happens to a freshman who takes Mr. Sunderlin s advice By CLIFF SANDERI.IN Emerald Editorial Page Editor You are fortunate to have chosen the Uni versity for your place of learning. Many universities this size have the char acter of education factories. Not this one. Walking across the campus, you will pass droves of friendly, laughing people and you will feel warmth and tradition all around you as you pass among the ivy-covered buildings and through the soft, welcoming grass. You will be delighted at the personal con tact you will have with your instructors' De veloping a close relationship with instructors is encouraged by the faculty. Ask as many questions as possible before, during, and after class about as many different subjects as pos sible, especially when in room 150 Science. You will find concern and sincere interest from your professors. Treat them like mem bers of your own family, and bring apples and cigars. Drop in on them at home. You will be surprised. GETTING GOOD GRADES I recommend you get good grades. This prac tice used to be "square” or "out,” especially in high school. But it is considered in a differ ent light now. There is a faction on campus and an even larger one off-campus that will call this draft dodging. Ignore them. Plan your study time carefully on 8H x 11 inch yellow square-ruled paper with a picture of a tired duck on it. Post this where you will sec it Or even better post nine or ten of them in your room. Many students find relaxation in making these schedules and posting them in their rooms when they really should be study ing They feel they arc doing something worth while. Attendance is probably the key to getting the grade. Often the teacher will discuss things upon which he will quiz you later. Try to make it to the quizes anyway and especially the final. DRESS TO IMPRESS It's very important that freshmen dress as stylishly as possible for the first couple of months so the upperclassmen will tie impressed . . . with the fact they are freshmen. Nunn and Bush or Florscheim shoes; London Fog, Alligator, Rockingham. Make sure of the brand names. You may wonder why so many students carry umbrellas, especially when it's not rain ing. You may never have encountered this practice among people our age. Let me ussure you this is just a fad If it rains more this winter than last, they will be replaced by an ark CUTTING EXPENSES College costs plenty. Now is the time to start saving money. Make a budget and follow it. Many students save hy joining fraternities and sororities where they all work coopera tively and share expenses. Others save on !>ooks and supplies by picking them up in the student Co-op Store . . and carrying them out under their coats. Keep track of how much you spend Your parents will be impressed I welcome you to the University and urge you at this time to lay this Emerald aside and to rccheck your class schedule to sec how many final exams you will have "back to back.” I dare you. m in iiiiiiiiwh iimiiiiiiiwuiiiiii i iiiiiiimimmiiiiii nil mmimi im i—ii m n n i ■ — Freshman Orientation Means Fitting Students to the System Editor’s Note: Freshmen are going through orientation this week, much as they have gone through it for many years at the University. Freshman orien tations came in for heavy criti cism at the National Student Association Congress last sum mer. This column was written by Barry Kramer of the Colonial Journal of Harper College, a subdivision of the City Univer sity of New York. It first ap peared in the Liberal Bulletin, which is published during the NS A Congress by an associa tion of liberal groups such as Students for a Democratic So ciety and Americans for Demo cratic Action. By BARRY KRAMER Harper College Colonial Journal Each fall as a multitude of nervous and eager freshmen head for their first encounter with the various education fac tories across this fine land of ours, thousands of administra tors and upperclassmen fever ishly prepare to mold the new comers into well-adjusted mem bers of the existing society. “Be careful not to lose your heanies . . . this is the science building; the men's john is on the second floor . . . the stu dent government represents you . . .” The freshman now knows just where everything is and "how we do things around here.” He has also been to three Summer hill discussions, a lecture on Paul Goodman, and a seminar on the meaning of a liberal arts education (these were included in the program at the insistence of some student government pinko radicals). He is finally ready to go into the big world of classes, exams, papers, and homecomings. The upperclassmen can now v ' m ' Jr H£ M/\D£ IT. relax, comfortable in the knowl edge that the class of '70 will be just like all the others. The administrators can also rest easy; there will be no vigorous threat to the status quo for at least one more year. It is all a grand accomplish ment if the purpose of those first few days is to "orient" the freshmen. But if the goal is to improve the university, failure is complete and dcvestating. For years, students struggling to become part of the university decision-making machinery have realized that student apathy is often the greatest obstacle in their way. Yet every fall they systemati cally force apathy down the throats of their unknowing younger brethren. For, contrary to common lore, apathy is not the product of students who do not care about their environment; it is the product of students who are con vinced that they can not do any thing about an environment which they may detest. The tra ditional freshman orientation approach simply convinces the new students that college is just like any other bureaucracy they have faced in the past — im movable. By simply introducing fresh men to their new environment or helping them to dajust to it, freshman orientation insures a high percentage of alienated and hopeless people. “Students not only surrender the chance to an atmosphere that is freer and more condusive to their own development . . . but perpetuate a myth that then controls their passage through jobs in later life. If the Univer sity of Chicago, or even one’s own department itself, cannot be changed from below, how can one expect to change General Motors . . (David Riesman in The Atlantic Monthly, April, 19G1). If student activists are ever to break the self-d e f e a t i n g strangle-hold of majority apathy, they must develop an entirely new approach to freshman ori entation. And the foundation of this approach must be change. We must no longer want to strive to help the freshmen to adjust to their new environment at college. We must, instead, help them to examine their (Continued on page 15)
