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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1973)
— Commentary _ Women's studies will not be restricted Editor's Note: The foUowing com mentary was submitted by Arteen Hinga on behalf of community women, and cosigned by 1® other women. As women we have found our education inadequate and male-biased both in content and structure. In writing this position paper on Women’s Studies we are taking action against past discrimination and taking a step towards establishing die necessary control over our future. One purpose of education is to increase our knowledge of the reality in which we live, at the same time increasing our ability to improve and control our lives. Currently the education of women does not deal with the reality of women’s lives; therefore, a Women’s Study Program must alter the alienating education women are receiving and enable women to gain the self knowledge and awareness (knowing who we are, what we want, and how to get that) needed to improve and control our lives. The attainment of these goals is im portant far all rouen, therefore, the Women’s Studies Program will be fir all women—not restricted to University women. Therefore, we reject the elitism of the present higher education system and refuse to identify ourselves with the male power structure. We must provide real access to education for all women, and towards the removal of the separations which inhibit learning — faculty from students, learned from unlearned, academic from the non-academic com munity. Academic fields must be redefined to include these goals and eliminate sexism. Because education affects con sciousness, women must make the decisions about what is taught and by whom. Only we know what is most relevant to our lives. Access to all women’s classes for all women necessitates: A. Free or sliding scale tuition B. Night classes and other arrangements for women who cannot attend class on a regular basis C. The right of women to attend and receive credit for all regular University classes without being a regularly enrolled student or degree candidate D. Necessary child care facilities Gaining control of onr education necessitates: A. A Women’s Steering Committee representative of women faculty, students, staff and community women, selected by and from a larger group of all interested women. This committee would: 1. Determine the hiring and firing of Women’s Study faculty 2. Determine what courses are taught and what the most pressing needs for women’s courses and faculty are. B. New requirements for faculty: 1. The University must hire women in a number of departments to teach Women Study courses in those departments. 2. The Women’s Steering Committee shall retain the right to make judgments as to the adequacy of faculty credentials: for example, many experiences other than academic experience are qualifications for teaching. It is important that women of varying social and political backgrounds speak for themselves. 3. The Women’s Steering Committee shall retain the right to determine ap propriate salary levels. Onr education, in part, is obtained through courses. There must be additions and revisions of current coarse offerings. A. An interdisciplinary introductory course as a part of the regular curriculum must be established. B. All past women oriented courses must be retained. C. Coordination of all women’s courses, suggested in 2.B.1, must be achieved. D. There must be an end to sexism in all classes (jokes, biases, etc). E. Women’s courses must be financed equally with all other regular courses. The establishment of a women controlled grievance procedure for students, staff, and faculty. The establishment of a Women’s Study Center to facilitate all women’s educations with: A. Meeting space, library and research materials, and a women’s resource center. B. Feminist, academic supportive counselling for women. C. An equally paid staff, responsible to the Women’s Steering Committee, sharing director, librarian, secretarial, coor dinating and teaching functions. Staff would be responsible for coordinating the activities and fractions described in all the preceding sections. D. A teaching fraction including offering the inter-disciplinary introductory course to Women’s Studies and interdisciplinary seminars. To facilitate a non-sexist educational system we need to start here at the University with the programs outlined above. Letter— Philosophy Overlooked From studying the universe far over SO years Bucky is our biggest thinker about our relationship to the evolution of universe on earth, and the in dustrialization of Western civilization besides being the innovative designer of a new toilet, an automobile, cities and world map, domes and other shelters. Using the geodesic principles of nature based on the triangular patterns of nature he found in the 1920’s, which have been ignored by most scientists and all politicians. Fuller’s visit to our campus Tuesday brought over 4,000 people to hear his three . speeches at Architecture, Geography and Mac Court. His answers to questions were clear, detailed, comprehensive, very long and from his direct experience, typical far his talks. The Emerald’s coverage of them in Wednesday and Thursday editions made some mistakes that need to be corrected. In his rap at a news conference at the Eugene Hotel be said he’s been studying structures since WWI, not WWII as stated on Wednesday. In the same paragraph reporter Kenneth Mays wrote “that upon his return from the (WWII) war . . .” Fuller never went to war, however he did work for the U.S. during WWII on world resource problems like oil production. Also on the front page Mays paraphrased Fuller as “He stated his underlying philosophy was to exploit the highest capabilities of man, to do more with less.” Which makes him sound like a scientific tyrant. He cited Fuller as simplistic and intense which is accurate, but overlooked his basic desire that no one should benefit at the expense of another. In Thursday’s paper the article of Tuesday night’s talk at Mac Court the unnamed reporter said “Fuller attributes intelligence to the diet one receives.” That is absolutely absurd. I see his position bring that intelligence is determined by experiences with people. Student reporters must have made little preparation for Fuller, which is a common result from highly structured demanding class and assignment requirements in college. This is because each department has too much specialized material to be digested, and usually say their subject is the most important. Not surprising since teachers give their lives to that special area. Which leads to Fuller’s integrated ap proach and new ideas being ignored by most teachers because he calls for real changes toward making humanity a complete success in the environment. He suggests universities become world community-people-problem-solving stations where people who don’t or can’t “eam-a-living” be supported to go to learn, instead of fitting into obsolete jobs soon replaced by automation or computer or rejected as misfits by society. These and tons more of his ideas are available in his 10 books, many articles, dozen or so movies, “Inventory of World Resources Human Trends and Needs” and “World Game” documents, and in numerable video and audio tapes. The “Fuller minks Aloud” record is at the library Douglas listening room. Michael Sprague 837 Lincoln Eugene, Oregon \ * "Peace with Honor" or "Let's win this one for the Gipper."
