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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1981)
Emerald Vol. 82, No. 138 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, April 22, 1981 student study shows me-ism By GABRIEL BOEHMER Of the Emerald To cure today's college students of their "me genera tion” attitudes, Arthur Levine prescribes a complete overhaul of higher education. Levine interviewed students — including several from the University — at 26 colleges and universities in 1979 for a Carnegie Foundation study. The results were published in Levine’s book, “When Dreams and Heroes Died.” "The post-1960s college generation is in serious need of education with at least four dis tinctive qualities,” Levine con cludes. Levine says these needs in clude: • Education that teaches the three Rs, problem solving and life-long learning, "crap detection (identifying the drivel, exaggerations and untruths that we hear each day).” • Education that emphasizes “our common humanity," our common problems and "the way that we together can solve them.” • Education that stresses “issues of value and questions of ethics.” • Education that “enlarges the vocational preparation this generation so desperately seeks." When Levine asked students what historical and political events had most influenced their lives, 28 percent cited the draft and Vietnam. Another 24 percent named Watergate, and 15 percent tagged civil rights. Assassinations garnered 11 percent while events registering less than 10 percent included 1960s protests, parents, the women’s movement, conflicts in the Mideast and the energy cri sis. Altruism on campus “has been replaced by an ethic of ‘looking out for number one’ and almost a single-minded concern for material success,” Levine says. When Levine asked student newspaper editors and student government leaders what the most powerful campus groups are, 60 percent cited student government. Another 37 per cent said black student groups, 33 percent named the student newspaper, and 26 percent tagged fraternities and sorori ties. Women’s groups were named by 11 percent, while athletes and minority groups were cited by seven percent. Levine concludes that poli tical groups, both conservative and leftist, are losing their in fluence on campuses. “These groups are being replaced, at a fast pace, by a very different style of political organization, one which is more compatible with the current student mood,’’ Levine says. "These are self-interest or me oriented groups concerned with protecting or improving the lot of a single class of people, be they blacks, women, Latins, gays, Iranians, or New Yorkers." An article tomorrow will give the reactions of University faculty members and students to Levine's conclusions. Photo by Steve Dykes I tot I taw a puddytat This cat is built for speed. And it likes people too. Khayam, a cheetah born at a wildlife refuge in Winston, Ore. and now the fea tured cat of an ABC documentary, made a rare guest appearance at the University Tuesday. Wildlife Safari, Khayam’s birthplace, breeds cheetahs and other big cats in an effort to save them from extinction. There are an estimated 5,000 cheetahs in the world today. Khayam is one of 45 cheetahs that have been born at the refuge, which boasts the third largest number of cheetah born in captivity. Lauri Marker, the cat’s trainer and “mother” said it sprints a quarter mile at 70 mph, reaching top speed in just 20 seconds. Marker, who reared Khayam, took the cheetah to Africa where she taught Khayam to hunt and then returned her to the Wildlife Safari. ' The ABC film chronicles Khayam’s African experiences. Khayam made her appearance as part of the Survival Center’s Earth Week AuCoin raps Watt for environmental stands By JEFF BAKER Of the Emerald Pres. Ronald Reagan's budget cuts are being used as an excuse for radical changes in public policy, Rep. Les AuCoin, D-Ore , told a law class Tuesday. AuCoin was paraphrasing interior secretary James Watt, who made the statement in what AuCoin called a "macho speech” to national park concessionaires Watt told the concessionaires that if they had a problem with a park department policy or staff member, they could complain directly to Watt’s office and the problem would be remedied, according to AuCoin. Watt apparently was unaware that the Sierra Club recorded his remarks on tape, AuCoin said. AuCoin characterized Watt as someone who "sees himself as a servant of the Lord" and who believes in implementing the ideas of Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell. "He believes resources are to be developed for mankind s advantage," AuCoin said. One example of Watt's philosophy that could affect Oregon — Lease Sale 53 — involves off shore oil drilling in northern California Former interior secretary Cecil Andrus decided to open only one of five ocean basins to drilling — the basin that holds 80 percent of the potential oil. Watt, however, recently announced that all five would be opened for leasing. His action brought howls of protest from a coalition of California congressmen that united political opposites such as Rep. Ron Dellums, D-Calif., and Rep. Barry Goldwater, Jr., R-Calif. Aucoin said any spills could move up to Oregon and decimate the fishing industry. An interior official told him that any oil spill would wash against the California coast, sparing Oregon, he added. However, Watt did send a warning letter to Gov Vic Atiyeh. Atiyeh has not protested the decision, AuCoin said AuCoin said he believes "politics in Washing-, ton is going to be a battle of the budget" for the next few years. AuCoin put himself in the thick of the battle by gaining a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, a position that required he relinquish six years of seniority on the banking committee. With Democrats fighting to change Reagan’s budget recommendations and Republicans ‘‘marching shoulder to shoulder” with the administration, Congress will be the site of a "political dogfight of a proportion not seen since the early 1930s,” AuCoin predicted Photo by Steve Dykes Les AuCoin
