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been replaced by an ethic of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