-editorial
Centennial reflections
Oct. 16, Saturday, is the University’s centennial as far
as students are concerned. Ninety years and three
hundred-sixty-four days ago, the first students entered
what was to become the University of Oregon.
Everybody likes a good round number, so it is cus
tomary to celebrate and reflect when a calendrical circums
tance provides us with one. For students today, there is
much to reflect upon and little to celebrate.
The ostensible purpose of education is to prepare
students for the world and enable them to enjoy it. Educa
tion blends learning and training, and the place to learn the
most and train the best is supposed to be the universities.
But the learning and the training functions of the uni
versities are somehow out of balance. Those who receive
a good liberal education are often considered useless to
society, and those who receive good training are often
uneducated. What was once complimentary is now in con
flict
Part of the responsibility tor the sad state of education
lies with the students. Students are frightened by the condi
tion of the economy, especially the scarcity of jobs. Stu
dents are scrambling to qualify themselves for a niche in
the middle class. And they are demanding more relevant,
not better, education.
Curriculum planners perceive this fear, which man
ifests itself in the burgeoning enrollment in professional
colleges and schools. Rather than confront students’ in
securities bv structuring the curriculum to teach ways to
overcome tears and eradicate their source, courses are
designed to yield a short term benefit and education is
considered an investment measurable in dollars and
cents.
The world may be rushing headlong toward the
apocalypse and students are not at all prepared to deal
with it. Contradictions are deeper and problems are larger
than anything their training has equipped them to handle.
Students have wagered their futures on the continuation of
things as they are, and the universities have covered their
bet.
A centennial is the proper time for reflection on the
timeless qualities of education and the advantages an
educated person has in times of great change. It is time to
realise that training alone qualifies a person to perform a
task, while combined with education it enables one to learn
all tasks.
On the centennial of the day the first students entered
the University, students, faculty and administration alike
should dedicate themselves to the idea that a university
education should qualify people to to take control of events
rather than simply adapt to them.
V
--opinion
Nobody: the perfect President
At a time when the vast majority of the
American electorate seems to be Fording the
rivers of doubt or Cartering to wishful thinking
on its way to the voting booths, some of us out
here in the Wasteland are watching the elec
tion with some of the same feelings Rosemary
must have had toward the progress of her preg
nancy. We may not be all that sure of the
eventual outcome, but we do know that what
ever comes out will not be good.
As one of those who has been wondering
whether to cast a vote at all (and if so, whom to
cast it against), I feel that it is my prerogative to
present the public with an alternative to Tweed
ledee or Tweedledee with buck teeth. I have
found a candidate who really does stand out
from the rest of the field, who actually takes
definite stands on the major issues of the day,
and who is fully committed to implementing
some of the programs which so many of us
have been wishing for all these years. Who is
this person?
Nobody.
I support Nobody for President. There are
several logical reasons for doing so. Of all the
Presidential candidates, who takes definite
positions on important concerns? Nobody.
Who shows signs of being a truly humanitarian
President, one who could carry the spirit of our
Founding Fathers onward into this nation’s
Third Century? Nobody. Who among the can
didates clearly has the interests of the people
at heart? Nobody, obviously. Finally, consider
the following bit of logic, one which should
appeal to those carefully socialized competi
tive instincts we cherish so highly in this nation
of ours. Who really stands to win in this elec
tion? Nobody. So we might as well back a
winner.
Having dispensed with logic. I shall now turn
to the more time-honored conventions of polit
ical rhetoric. Consider the stands which No
body takes, and compare them against any of
the Presidential hopefuls. Nobody is commit
ted to establishing a truly equitable system of
taxation. Nobody has a workable plan to stop
inflation and reduce chronic unemployment.
Who is willing to commit large-scale funding to
the development of renewable energy
sources to meet the needs of the American
consumer industries and their economic pur
chasing units? Nobody. Nobody is firmly be
hind a policy of a cleaner environment, what
ever the economic costs. In the field of crime
and justice, Nobody intends to humanize the
institutions of law enforcement and corrections
in this nation. Of all the current Presidential
candidates, Nobody is working steadily
against those who wish to reinstate Capital
Punishment.
So much for the domestic scene. On the
international front, Nobody will take the real
initiatives toward world disarmament and
peace. Nobody will make the long-overdue
cuts in Defense Spending. Nobody Intends to
halt the B-1 Bomber Program for the sham it is
Who is committed to helping Americans adjust
to their new world-wide image as a second
rate overdeveloped banana republic? No
body, that's who.
Are you worried about corruption in Federal
Government? Or perhaps you just don't want
to hear about it anymore? Have no fear. Out of
all Presidential front-runners. Nobody will
never lie to the American public. Nobody is
above suspicion, believe me. Secrecy? No
body will tell all to the American public.
Angry over wasteful government spending?
Nobody will cut back on bureaucracy. Do you
wonder if the next president will put the foot
down on CIA under-the-table maneuvers?
Rest assured that what the CIA does domesti
cally or abroad is Nobody’s business.
It should be obvious by now that Nobody is
the People's Choice for the Presidency. As a
fellow member of the Great Unwatched, I ask
you to celebrate the Bicentennial by voting
Nobody for the President of the United States.
And let’s invite Max Frankel to be the
running-mate.
Michael Smithson
Graduate, Sociology
Letters
No smoking
This letter concerns the daily
smokers in the no-smoking area
to the left of the EMU cafeteria
cashiers.
Every day the same group of
men occupy a table between 9
and 10, smoking several pipes
and cigarettes apiece. When I
pointed out to them that this is a
designated no-smoking area they
looked at me like I was out of my
TROJAN
^NGERjfxAOIATION
Any benefits besides a burial site at Hanford, Washington?
mind — and went right on smok
ing!
I inquired of someone in the
kitchen offices why the men were
allowed to continue smoking in
that area and was told that EMU
does not have the staff to enforce
the no-smoking policy and that the
patrons have to enforce it them
selves.
Well, I could see how far I've
got with these men and I
wondered if they would have re
sponded the same way to one of
the cashiers or administrative
personnel if they had requested
that the men either move to one of
the smoking areas or put out their
cigarettes.
When policies depend on volun
tary co-operation they only will
work as long as there is some
basic respect for the rights of
others on both sides. And when
smokers think that their rights take
precedent over my rights when
compliance with policies is left to
their discretion then I begin feeling
very strongly about supporting
laws with which they will be forced
to comply.
I hope the men at that table
realize that this is the kind of situa
tion that changes moderates to
militants when it comes to passing
no-smoking laws.
Deane Watkins
Senior-Japanese
Story misleading
Jock Hatfield s article concern
ing Tuesday’s meeting of the
board of directors of the University
Bookstore (ODE, 10-12-76) was
somewhat misleading. The board
was not considering doing away
with the 10 per cent discount on
texts. The discount is an integral
part of the Bookstore’s policy of
service to the University commun
ity. As long as the Bookstore con
tinues to be a healthy and stable
business, the board sees no
reason for eliminating the dis
count.
Prices, however, will inevitably
go up. Retail book prices are set
by the publishers, not by the
Bookstore. When the publishers
raise their prices, and they surely
will, ail the Bookstore can do is to
soften the impact on the student
through the policy of discounting
texts.
Blaine Q. Gibson
3rd year Law
For the Board of Directors of
the University of Oregon
Bookstore, Inc.
Retain Burrows
Lane County C.O.P.E., com
posed of representatives from 46
Lane County unions and two dis
tnct trade councils, makes political
endorsements, in races involving
incumbents, primarily on the
incumbent s past voting record vis
a vis issues affecting our mem
bership.
Rep. Mary Burrows has re
ceived our endorsement in the
coming election for her excellent
voting record in support of working
people's issues (91 per cent 'right'
in the last session of the legisla
ture.)
I commend her candidacy to the
working people of Lane County,
and others concerned about is
sues that affect working people.
Irvin. H. Fletcher
Executive Secretary
Lane County COPE