Letters
Ego boost
As a member of the history fac
ulty who has not written (and
does not plan to write) a textbook,
I should like to clarify a few issues
regarding the professorial use of
one's own book.
The notion of faculty members
fattening themselves on the
hard-earned dollars of students or
their parents as reported in
Tuesday's paper is vastly over
drawn. Allow me to point out cer
tain facts.
All courses use textbooks or
supplementary reading material,
and if a professor likes his own
better than that of someone else,
is that really to be wondered at?
After all, a text is nothing more
than an essay which draws to
gether a vast range of materials
from a particular perspective. As
an undergraduate I frequently
found it helpful to use the
instructor’s text, because it al
lowed me to clarify some of his
ideas prior to an examination, or
because — in the case of a
geologist who was a horrible lec
turer — to skip his class altogether
and spend my time studying his
text (I got an A in geology).
Also, many students don’t buy
books assigned in a course re
gardless of who writes them.
Maybe they don’t have the money
— an all too frequent situation
here at Oregon. Perhaps they bor
row from a friend or the library.
Some have the money but don’t
buy the books because, quite
simply, they know they aren’t
going to read them anyway. .
As a matter of fact, very few pro
fessors make much money on
their textbooks, although there are
a handful of spectacular excep
tions we frequently read about;
Paul Samuelson’s book on
economics made him a mil
lionaire. In my own field, however,
the leading text has sold 100,000
copies over the last twenty-five
years, which at an average sale
price of $10 would give the author
about $15,000 (before income
taxes). This is an ill-gotten gain
only if one believes that profes
sors should take an oath of pov
erty along with their degree.
And if, as one of ihe students
quoted in Tuesday’s article sug
gests, the sale of one’s own book
to one’s own student is an ego
boost, what crime is there in that?
Everybody can use an ego boost
once in awhile — even a professor
who seems so self-assured to his
students. It costs no more, you
know.
Mark Falcoff
Ass’t. Prof., history
Decision arrogant
Pres. Boyd has said “no” to
public access to faculty evalua
tions. He claims to have based
this decision on the faculty’s rejec
tion of the proposal at a December
meeting and support by the Fa
culty Advisory Council for that
vote. Later it comes to light that
the faculty present at that meeting
had not voted against public ac
cess, but rather against the estab
lishment of a whole new evalua
tion form designed specifically for
publication. Even that vote did not
represent the majority of the fa
culty. Boyd’s decision is arrogant
at best. Clearly extensive input
from all parties concerned should
have been solicited and evaluated
before a decision was reached.
Hopefully, in view of ASUO
Pres. Jim Bemau’s plan to appeal
Boyd's decision, the issue is not
a _a
dead yet, and so I would like to
contribute some of my own unsol
icited input. Talk of open faculty
evaluations often brings retorts
like “won't that make teaching into
a popularity contest" or “what will
happen to standards'?" As both a
teacher and student I find both
these attitudes ridiculous. We are
all individuals with different learn
ing and teaching styles, different
strengths and weaknesses. One
student’s Prof. Perfect may com
pletely “turn off" another. Ideally
the classroom is a place where
students and teachers cooperate
to achieve some goal. This could
be greatly facilitated if students
had an idea what would be in store
before signing up for classes. For
this to happen, we need well
designed and thoughtfully filled
out course and faculty evaluations
which are accessible to all stu
dents. Comparison shopping is
generally encouraged in the “real
world." Why not on campus?
Marsha Novak
GTF, Romance Languages
Options pleaded
Regarding the reinstatement of
the “D” grade, I would like to point
out several implications that have
gone heretofore relatively unmen
tioned: the coincident reinstate
ment of the GPA and the signifi
cant loss of pass-no pass
privileges. The main proponent of
the “D” grade, William Lamon,
suggests that the GPA “helps” all
students. The meaning of this
statement might be that it helps
the students in that it motivates
them to produce and participate in
“better” academics. I question,
however, the validity of continued
promotion of “hoop-jumping" as
the right motivation. That is, in
what way does the pressure to get
a “decent" grade — in order to get
into med school, law school, grad
study, or, perhaps most elusively,
the job market — encourage good
academics, i.e. the pursuance of
knowledge in its own right and for
its own sake?
Lamon may argue that, for the
interested students in the class, it
is “useful" to have all the mem
bers tied into a stake in the class.
Is this correct, or is it more plausi
ble to suggest that, on an indi
vidual level, it is more “useful” to
concentrate one’s efforts in one or
a few areas at the expense of
others without the pressure of an
artificial standard? In any case,
Lamon, however, can’t be using
seriously this first meaning, since,
he insists, the “D” grade “should
not be considered distasteful or
below standard.” In other words,
we are to assume some configura
tion such that an F=failure, a
D=satisfactory (or average?), a
C=above standard (whatever that
means), a B=outstanding, and
A=incredibly wonderfui. Thus, the
students are asked to give up a
whopping 54 pass/no pass credit
options in return for a nonsensical
standard which, I don’t doubt, will
have the effect of introducing un
necessary pressure (for we stu
dents do have — if nothing else —
a marvelous hoop-jumping talent,
no matter what the size or shape
of the hoop).
Probably, my questions aren’t
answerable in less than vague
terms, and I find it incredible that
Lamon claims to have hard and
fast “evidence” for the support of
the “D” grade. Finally, this is a
plea for the retention of the 90
pass/no pass credit options if the
“D” grade is reinstated. If the stu
dents are to be subjected to this
bizarre standards system, it
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should be their choice, beyond the
“choice" of getting a "D.”
Joan Boisclair
Pol. Sc., soph.
Not counted
Well, what do you know. The
UO has its own token group of
demonstrators who pride them
selves in counting the crowds they
claim to draw.
I certainly hope that when they
were taking their head count, mine
was not one of those counted. You
see, I was just on my way to class.
Besides, guerilla theatres don't in
terest me. I wonder if anyone else
in the courtyard that day was just
passing through? That's not
what’s important though.
In Monday’s Emerald opinion
column the banner screamed,
“Fight the tuition hike." The Re
volutionary Student Brigade and
The Committee to Fight for the
Right to an Education charged the
Emerald with not making much
sense of “what the event was
like.” After all, wouldn't a wide
angle crowd shot of their Feb. 2
rally have been more effective?
Come now. Is it the tuition hike,
or the publicity you’re concerned
about?
Now, I agree with your state
ment that students “...damn well
do care about what's going on in
the world." Vet, your groups are
the only ones I know of that coin
students as being "apathetic
clods."
And, what is the matter with
“knuckling under, hitting the
books and getting ahead; or
streaking, swallowing goldfish
and voting?” Aren’t the first three
what college is about? Studying.
Improving one's life style. But, in
your “opinion" you say "Nothing
could be farther from the truth.”
Now, I’ll admit that neither
streaking nor swallowing goldfish
are my idea of having a good time,
but I care enough about “what's
going on in the world" to vote.
Instead of making slanderous
remarks about the members of the
State Board of Education, why not
direct your energies to working out
alternatives to the tuition prob
lem?
The Legislation Advisory Board
and the ASUO are considering
long-range plans to minimize tui
tion and to improve the educa
tional opportunities at the UO
Why not help them?
Before we all go caravaning off
to the State Board’s Finance
Committee, as you suggest, why
not engage our minds; think about
the problem and formulate
reasonable alternatives. Then in
stead of a full frontal assault on the
committee, present something
constructive.
I say, ‘ No Way!" to the Re
volutionary Student Brigade and
the Committee to Fight for the
Right to an Education. I'll stick with
the ASUO.
You see, I want someone to
rep resent me who uses common
sense and is working towards sol
ving problems, not producing rank
guerilla theatre presentations.
Like I said earlier, “guerilla
theatres don t interest me."
Greg Walden
Journalism, soph.
Sound spoils
Like any other student who has
attended any of the campus (or
whoever) sponsored movies, I
realize that at the very reasonable
price of a buck per head you must
expect to make some conces
sions. And I can put up with the
somewhat cramped classroom
converted theatres; the typically
uncomfortable, overheated temp
erature conditions of these rooms;
and the absence or inconveni
ence of certain necessary
facilities.
However, the sound quality of
most of these films has been so
incredibly bad that, at this point,
the line must be drawn. I was ap
palled at how bad the sound was
at the Beatles Let It Be movie
last weekend. The dialogue be
tween members of the group was
almost completely unintelligible,
and the music came out sounding
tinny, fuzzy and totally inferior in
comparison to how good it
sounded when I saw the movie in
the theatre.
Past movies shown on campus
have been no exception. I found
myself straining to hear most of
the dialogue in “Lady Sings the
Blues, while struggling to endure
the smouldering heat of the EMU
Ballroom. In my opinion, "The
Sting' would have made an excel
lent silent flick—I couldn’t hear
anything anybody was saying dur
ing the film anyway.
Is better sound equipment
available at the University for use
in these movies? If so, I wish this
equipment could be put into use at
the earliest possible opportunity. If
such equipment is available, it
is my sincere hope that it could be
put into use at the earliest possible
opportunity. If such equipment is
not available, it is my sincere hope
that it could somehow be pur
chased soon to prevent any future
campus movies from being
spoiled by poor sound quality.
With all the other drawbacks pre
sent, we should at least be able to
expect decent sound at campus
flicks.
Jon Meine
Pre-journalism, freshman
Xo checks please
In Wednesday's paper (Feb 4,
1976) you printed three large arti
cles from the CPS. (College Press
Service?). Do you actually pay for
those things? If so, it should be
pointed out that you are getting
ripped off But of course you know
this and have asked for your
money back, right?
Well, maybe you were too
busy to read the articles (writing
objective' editorials I suppose)
So maybe I ought to let you in on
the quality of material you were
printing The most enjoyable arti
cle was the one labeled
"analysis.” The unnamed author
(probably due to shame) told us
the doleful story of the failure of
Ford's amnesty program and the
equally pitiful story of the plight of
the 450,000 veterans who re
ceived dishonorable discharges
for such anti-war' activities as
refusing to load ammunition As
the story developed, I found out
that the amnesty program at
tracted only 22,000 out of the
117,000 eligible The article indi
cated that the 22,000 represented
only two per cent of the 117,000
Hah! I could get better analysis
from a grasshopper!
The story went on to present an
impressive number of facts and
figures obviously obtained from a
fortune cookie The capstone of
the article was, of course, the
450,000. Let s face it, the author
was obviously including everyone
as far back as maybe the Second
Punic War 'refusing to load
spears?). The author certainly
couldn't have been referring to the
dishonorable discharges from the
U S. military during the Vietnam
era since there were only 3,500 of
those These innocents, of
course, were kicked out for such
"anti-war" activities as rape,
grand larceny and sodomy with
small furry animals.
Well, let's face it, either you are
deliberately spreading low grade
propaganda because you want to
or because you don t know any
better If the latter I have a wonder
ful bargain for you No checks,
please. Cash and in small bills
Michael R. Noble
Law
Crave letters
All people crave companion
ship; some form of friendship We
seek communication through dis
tant conversation. So break out
y our pens and pencils or any other
writing utensils.
Leonard C. Nall #86969
Jack M. Rasor #86938
Robert E. Kelly #87783
Okla. State Penitentiary
P.O. Box 97
McAlester, Okla. 74501