‘Motivated’ students favored in Friendly Hall
By JOCK HATFIELD
Of the Emerald
From the grotto-like basement
of Friendly Hall operates a school
offering the “motivated student”
small, personal and honorary
classes in the liberal arts.
The school's very existence is
indicative of a University failure,
according to director Larry
Owens. “If the University worked
right we wouldn’t need an Honors
college,” he explains. “Every stu
dent should be afforded with this
kind of education.” But given that
this is an imoossibility, Owens be
lieves at least the "motivated”
minority should be afforded the
opportunity offered by honors
classes.
These classes, numbering ap
proximately 23 each quarter, act
as a substitute for general Univer
sity requirements. Instead of
struggling with University classes
in political science and literature
with student enrollments ranging
from 35 to 150, honors students fill
the requirements in classes num
bering from five students to
thirty-five. The college offers a
degree in honors, which can be
tacked on to nearty every major in
the school.
‘Opportunity is the key to Hon
ors College philosophy,” says
Owens. "It is a place where
academically-oriented students
can find themselves.'’
Honors students take about
one-third of their classes within
the college. Two sequences in his
tory of ideas and literature should
be finished by the sophomore
year.
Students are selected for the
college partly on the basis of high
school grades and S.A.T. scores.
Students with poor test scores,
but who impress honors college
administrators with their en
thusiasm for learning may also get
in.
“We look for motivation, per
ceptiveness, and enthusiasm,”
says Owens. The kind of en
thusiasm which gets a student to
read a book without being as
signed.” He says these traits often
come out in an essay every Hon
ors College applicant is required
to write: “Why I like school.”
Owens admits there are many
Center acts as clearinghouse
for study of women in society
By PAUL WALDSCHM1DT
Of the Emerald
The Center for the Sociological Study of Women
(CSSW) is primarily a resource center and informa
tion clearinghouse for University students, faculty
and community members interested in researching
the role of women in society, according to Joan
Acker, director.
We have four faculty members who are doing
research and can work with students and their re
search interests. We'd like to attract people from all
disciplines," says Acker. “We have the largest collec
tion of materials on women on campus. If we don't
have the resources you need, we may have ideas
about where you can find them."
Funding-for the center is administered by the
Sociology Department, but Acker describes the
center as “essentially independent of the Sociology
Department, even though we are structurally part of
it."
In addition to its resource and research function,
the center also serves as a focal point “for study,
teaming and communication regarding women."
In the past the center has co-sponsored speak
ers on campus and last Spring Term it was one of the
participants in "The Women’s Symposium.” Last fall
the center, using a $10,000 grant from the National
Science Foundation, conducted a workshop on
women in science.
The CSSW also maintains a working relation
ship with other women’s groups, such as the
Women’s Referral and Resource Center, an ASUO
sponsored group.
This fal the center will be concerned with de
veloping a series of ’’working papers" researched by
both students and faculty. An annotated bibliography
of the Equal Rights Amendment is also planned.
The center’s speakers' program is available to
interested community groups which want assistance
in locating speakers or discussion leaders for meet
ing and dealing with current women’s issues. The
center also holds informal noon lectures. Lecture
topics range from the question of a minimum wage
for baby sitters and women’s health to the new
phenomenon of men's consciousness raising
groups.
As a resource center, the CSSW maintains a
library that has about 350 volumes, ranging from
biographies and history to current investigations into
sex-role development and novels by women. The
center also maintains a growing article and reprint
file. The article index file presently lists more than
100 topics and with an average of 25 articles per
topic, the number of references is now over 2,500.
The center is located on campus on the sixth
floor of Prince Luden Campbell Hall in rooms 605
through 607, extension 5015. Acker’s office phone is
3516. The center invites those interested in looking
at the resource library or who would like to be on the
center’s mailing list to stop by and tafc with the staff.
students outside the Honors Col
lege who are qualified to enter, but
do not because of personal pre
ference or ignorance of the
college’s existence. Too, Owens
says the college turns away stu
dents each quarter. This quarter
some 300 students out of the
University’s 16,000 entered the
school.
To the charge that the Honors
College is elitist, Owens answers
that almost anyone with an en
thusiasm for learning can enter
the school. He also hopes to
spread knowledge of the college
throughout the campus. “The
honors college is not a select
minority,” he argues. “We want
more students to know, and ask
themselves whether they would
like to become a part of the prog
ram."
Owens, who assumed the di
rectorship only this summer, has
no definite plans as to how to carry
out this publicity campaign. He
also admits that the presently
permissive admission standards
of the school would have to be
tightened up and dosed if a large
influx of students entered the
Honors College.
The main advantage of the
Honors program, according to
Owens, lies in the classes them
selves. “In Honors classes there
is a personal contact between the
instructor and the student” says
Owens. “We have learned to ask
the question, ‘what are class
rooms for?”’
The answer to this question has
fostered a community, graham
cracker and lemonade atmos
phere in the college. Honors col
lege activities throughout the year
have included bike trips to
Spencers Butte, picnics, and trips
to the dunes.
“These activities offer students
a chance to get to know the faculty
and each other,” says Owens.
This quarter will be opened up
with the second annual “Sep
tember Fest,” in which all Honors
College members get together for
a weekend at St. Benedicts by the
McKenzie.
Classes in the college are
taught by five regular staff mem
bers, paid to teach only in the
Honors college, and numerous
professors in other departments,
who are paid to teach part-time in
the college. Honors college clas
ses offer a variety of topics, rang
ing from Eli Wiese! to ‘‘Plato in the
Wilderness.”
In the past the existence of the
Honors College on campus has
been tenuous. The first attempt to
establish an honors program at
Oregon was made by the faculty in
1896, but it was not until 1928, on
the third try, that legislation was
passed to institute a system of de
partmental honors. This college
averaged an enrollment of nine
students per year.
In 1960 a college recom
mended by Robert Clark, later to
become president of the Univer
sity, was instituted with an enroll
ment of 253 students. Five years
ago student sentiment almost
brought the end to the college.
“Students thought it was elitist,”
explains Owens. “It was a time of
unrest”
The career advantages of an
Honors College degree today are
dubious, according to Joy Poust,
an Honors College administrative
assistant.
"The main advantage comes
for students entering graduate
school,” she says. The University
Honors College, according to
Poust has a good name, at least
among other schools. “We get let
ters asking us advice from other
schools wanting to start an honors
program, addressed to us by
name. So I guess that at least our
names are getting around.”
Owens says Honors College
students are a varied lot and can
not be stereotyped. “We have
students in faculty governance,
we have students lobbying in the
Legislature, we have students
who don’t believe in the Honors
College.”
Students interested in joining
the college next quarter should
apply before finals week. Applica
tions for this quarter are dosed.
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