At the age of 51 — a room of her own
To write fiction, said Virginia Woolf, a woman must have
money and a room of her own.
University sophomore Sue Roberts is halfway there. The
bubbly creative writing major from Alaska may not be rich,
but she does have a “single” at the University's nicest dor
mitory, the University Inn.
Not so strange, you say. So do many other
undergraduates.
But unlike most Ul residents, Roberts turns 51 Wednes
day. She is the happily married mother of four grown
children. And fudging from some of the stares and remarks
she's received from her younger neighbors, she is the oldest
Ul resident.
Yet, as for most of her dorm mates, college represents
to Roberts a new, stimulating world which will open doors
to other worlds, other opportunities.
Roberts felt isolated from the outside world in her tiny
hometown of Anchor Point, Alaska. Her children had long
since left the family nest. Her husband and she had built
their dream home. What was there left for her to do there,
she asked herself?
"I was at the end of a rope in a very provincial area,"
Roberts explains in her cheery seventh floor room that of
fers a splendid view of the Coburg Hills. Roberts has strip
ped the window of curtains to let sunlight — and the world
— into her room. The action symbolizes her openness for
learning, she says.
“There was a lack of stimulation, a lack of challenge (in
Alaska). There were no juices raising my consciousness. I
felt that I was really stagnating."
So after many discussions with her husband of 30 years,
Roberts and he decided it was best if she pursued her
dream of becoming a full-fledged writer. After being ac
cepted to the University, Roberts sold her motorcycle, pack
ed her much-used sewing machine but not her teddy bears,
and headed south to Oregon.
“I need to have a give-and-take, student-teacher relation
ship," Roberts says. "I need to have someone help me (with
writing) because it's been so long. Even though I feel like
I've been doing good writing, I need to find out that a) I'm a
good writer who needs help, or, b) I ought to take up in
terior decorating," says the curly-haired woman with her
typical, unaccented humor.
"You put your whole self out there," she says of college.
"It's like an audition. Here I am doing the best I can — and
is it good enough? Is the competition too great?"
And there is one other question Roberts asks herself —
can her marriage survive a nine month, 4,OCX) mile separa
tion. "A huge bond of love" kept Roberts and her husband
from even considering a permanent separation.
"I definitely want to come back (to the University) but
there is one thing that is a great problem — my relationship
with my husband. I'm going home for Christmas, but them
we go into a six month separation and I don't want to make
him comfortable without me."
Yet Roberts admits she's fallen head over heels for
Eugene and the University.
"I'd like to be here forever. But if I'm blocked into this
nine month time frame, I can deal with that."
Being on campus is like a country hick seeing city
skyscrapers for the first time, she says. "You walk among
the buildings and just keep looking upward." She admits
the attitude sounds sophomoric, but after all, "I'm a
sophomore so it fits me perfectly."
Yet her desire to learn still doesn't explain why a mature
woman would want to live with sometimes childish, unruly,
not to mention crude, teenagers.
After all, it's not like she's never cooked a meal, cleaned
a house or paid the utility bills. But maybe that is precisely
why dorm living appeals so much to her.
"I don't have to cook a meal. Everything in my life that I
ever needed is taken care of for me. Someone handles my
mail. I have a telephone. And once a week someone comes
into this room and cleans the bathroom, vacuums the rug
and leaves me clean sheets. And all I have to do is go to
class and do the homework. I have Virginia Woolf's room of
one's own.' "
But occasionally the habit of cleaning up after people, a
habit indelibly etched into her psyche after years of raising
her brood, overtakes Roberts.
"I'm very tempted to go out and sweep the street
sometimes," she says. "And when I see someone drop a
piece of paper in the hall, I even want to go over and say
Hey, pick it up.' "
But Roberts doesn't want to be the resident "mother." A
college friend suggested she place a sign outside her door,
"Mom's Counseling Services." Yet that is exactly what she
doesn't want to do. Because she likes people so much,
Roberts fears being put in a vulnerable position if she opens
her arms to every young adult who confides their problems
to her. So the counseling sign remains down, she says.
Still, many Ul residents automatically assume Roberts is
someone's mother and not a fellow neighbor. Just as she
was about to sign her dorm contract, a young, attractive
man named Jeff politely informed her it would be best if her
daughter signed her own contract. Well, Roberts wouldn't
be outdone.
"I said 'My daughter is at Stanford. I'm the one who is
staying in this room. And he just about turned inside out
when I said 'Co to your room, Jeff.' "
Then there are the stares. Some are pleasant stares,
Roberts says, from people who probably have healthy rela
tionships with their own mothers. These people ''smile on
the elevator when they see me," Roberts says.
And there are the stares of threatened residents who
secretly fear Roberts may be an informant hired by their
parents to spy on their every move. Those who fall into this
group are rendered speechless by the sight of an older
woman on their home turf. "And the look is What the hell
are you doing here?' One girl said, 'Well, are you just here
for fun?' And I just wanted to go into a long dissertation
about how this is anything but fun, yet it is that, too," she
says.
In a typical pose, Roberts gazes out her window at
couples chatting among themselves, oblivious to their un
seen observer. When she is not sleeping or studying,
Roberts says she sits in front of her window with feet pro
pped against the sill, green eyes intently watching a small
segment of the world. Much of her writing evolves out of
her window perch sessions.
"Since I've been here my mind has been a constant tape
recorder. . I'm always writing. And in the three weeks since
I've been here, I think I could have written 20 stories.”
W'ho knows. Maybe one of those stories will become the
elusive "Great American Novel," Roberts jokes. And maybe
not.
"Looking into the future I would like to go back to An
chor Point and still have this enthusiasm, this stimulation,
this gee-whiz-wow feeling. The juices are flowing.
"And maybe nobody will ever hear of me again. So
maybe the transcripts will go in the attic and I will leave
them for my daughters and son, and for their daughters and
sons. I can even live with that — but sure. I'd love to be a
Virginia Woolf."
Stories by Joan Herman
Photo by Dave Kao
Women in Transition offers help to older women
Much of the University's charm lies in its diverse stu
dent body. With students from all over the United States
and the world, “education" becomes more than something
acquired in a typical classroom.
Yet, when it comes to age, this University's population
leans heavily toward the younger set. In fact, the average
age of University students is a youthful 23 years-old.
But among the clean-scrubbed, smooth-skinned
younger generation, walk an older — and perhaps wiser —
group of students who bring a wealth of personal and pro
fessional experiences to the classroom.
“You'd be surprised how many older students there are
at any University," says Anne Wyatt, who directs Women In
Transition, a support group for older women students
entering the University after a long absence.
WIT was created in 1979 by a group of older women
students at the University who found the existing services
catered mostly to younger students and therefore were in
adequate for older students' needs.
, Adult learners — especially women — now comprise the
fastest growing student population, Wyatt says, and though
their visibiity may be low, their motivation level is “much
higher" than that of most younger students.
Although only 29, Wyatt says she still feels "odd woman
out" In a classroom of 18 and 19 year-olds. And unlike many
younger, undirected students, the older student is there for
a different reason, Wyatt says.
"I see school as a serious sort of thing.J'm not willing to
pay a lot of tuition without being serious.'’ Unlike many of
her younger counterparts, Wyatt says she is "not a cup to be
filled, but can pick and choose new ideas."
The recent trend toward older women returning to col
lege is due in part to several reasons, Wyatt says. Un
doubtedly, there are more options open to women today
than there were 30 years ago. Many middle-aged women
may have wanted to continue college when they were 20
years old, but dropped out to marry and raise a family,
Wyatt says. Unlike men, women could not marry, have
children and a career. So most opted for the traditional
route.
Yet the desire to finish college has "always been in their
hearts," Wyatt says. Once their children are grown, these
women are "suddenly free and there is the validation of the
world (to return to school). After a life of doing things for
their husband and children, "they find they can't fulfill
themselves through another human being. You learn that
you've got to do what you've got to do tor yourself."
For women who fit society's traditional feminine rote,
the adjustment from housewife and mother to college stu
dent and professional women is a radical one, Wyatt says.
"It's a major step," hence the need for services that
cater to the "mature" student.
The WIT door in Room 336 EMU is almost always open,
and inside, freshly brewed coffee and some friendly words
can be found. WIT also holds brown-bag lunches every
Monday at 11:30 a.m. at the Faculty Club (in the Collier
House at the corner of 13th Avenue and University Street).
The office also acts as a clearinghouse of job information
and financial aid.
Besides the primarily social bent of services offered by
WIT, the University's Lifelong learning Services office has
academic assistance for the older student returning to col
lege after a lengthy hiatus. The LLS office assists older
students in exploring career options, designing an
academic program, recommending faculty advisors,
assisting in registration and clarifying long- and short-range
goals. For more information about the LIS office, call
686-3211 or drop by Room 164 Oregon Hall.
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Because she felt she was "stagnating " in Anchor Point, Alaska, writer Sue Roberts decided to go back to col
lege — at the age of 51.
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