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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 1989)
Female silence in classroom deafening blow to education By Shawn Marie Boyne ■ The Daily troian U of Southern California After four year.-' in undergraduate classes listening to discussions partici gated in equally hy men and women I have been dismayed in my first year of law school to discover that a minority of women choose to participate m class Ms own participation has dropped precipitously Fills experience is not unique to the l of Southern f ahforma Law School, hut is duplicated at other prestigious law schools throughout the country Hy choosing not to speak liecause of fear of being cnt ici/ed or ridiculed sse participate in our own disempower nient As a result, classrooms often di solve into a monopoly of a minority of u lute men Some of my closest and most support ise friends fall into this category, hut their views do not reflect the reality of women's lives Through our silence sst alienate ourselves from our own legal education and deny ourselves a forum to educate men about our experiences However, the goal of increased partie ipation from women in the classroom is not meant to introduce a homogenous feminist voice Women, like men. are a heterogenous group • lust as the voices of men in the class room cannot reflect the real-life expert cnees of women the voices of a few women cannot accurately represent the diverse experience of American women today Faced with the stress of my first year of law school and pressure to conform I r have frit increasingly compelled to express myself like a lawyer th.it is. in a sterile, masculine, analytical Mine Hungry to mold my self into a profession al. I find mvself increasingly alienated from nn personal views I find t he image of lining a lawyer critic mg Phils when professors treat issues such as rape or battered women like abstract legal concepts I teel pressured to amputate my emotions about these subjects While I may lie conforming to an image of a successful lawyer. I con form at a cost to my feminine soul Ms concerns about tfie disrmpowcr merit and sterilization of women extend beyond the law school classroom Its choosing not speak out on political issues we abdicate out ability to infill once decisions that will have far reach mg consequence' for women For example the visible anti afxirtion protests bv Operation Rescue m l.os \ngeles were primarily orchestrated by men Regardless of what ones personal views on abortion are. if we choose not toexpress them theissiu will In-decided bv that sector of the population that is biologically incapable of (incoming prog mint I urge women to evaluate how they participate m their education I hope despite the fear the first year of law school creates more women will refuse to participate m their own disempower merit and will choose to express their opinions in the classroom I kiropmions are important and if law is to serve the interests of men and women in society more women must choose to use their voices to break the silence Responses to October U Poll In October we asHed read en, what should happen to students caught cheatinq'1 Mos' callers said cheaters should tail the assignment l52%) or tail the course i21%| Some callers said cheaters should he expelled (t1%i or suspended (7Ni Almost one ot every 10 callers (9%) said cheaters should not be puntshed STUDENT OPINION POLL 1-800-662-5511 Should residence hall staff have the authority to search a student s dorm room if there is a reasonable suspicion that the resident pos sesses illegal drugs? Tell us what you think. (See related story on page 3) BEMA/D 77/E SCENES Ai_L C'ftCU^b AHk rRy »vuA * I A.T a ^ :>ATE / |MT»y ft |HV*U0 ^ ..ASfc WLVIBW TMI iNtrlUiO'ON '•\ANuAl. AND TRX AfrArfN lATEW CLiCK Av I *U V J All fiO-Itt) rir ***:>• niai iiu *i<t r h 7 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON STAR REGISTRATION JY.TTVA A SHI PATRK till What, me worry about grades? E3y Christine Pocan ■ Mustang Daily Cal Poly State U . San Luis Obispo There I sal at im little wooden di'sk waiting lor class to lie-in I vs as nervous nn palms were sweating and my finger nails almost gone Today was the day we got hack our first (|lll/ The professor walked in and I could hear my pulse in my ears I had heen coaching mvself all morn mg on the virtues of learning and the importance of knowledge It was the experience ol taking the test that mat tered not the results I repeated “College is what you make of it" 10 times It was ol no use I le pulled the <|Ui//es out of his mamla envelope and all ol my philosophy went out the window All that really mattered was the grade My knees were so weak I couldn t even walk When my name was called I answered a faint “here" and reached out to grab my verdict I got a B Not an A, hut a B I fought hack tears Failure What kind of internship would I get now’’ I might as well have dropped out of col lege I thought of running to the nearest campus phone and dropping mv entire schedule Have all inv idealistic values of hie lieen crushed ’ Yes Will I take this \ ;et amount of knowl edge and talent and apply it to ms own personal gam’’ Prohahly Hut I am no longer a personality here at Cal I’ols. I am ms grade and social security numher, of course So mans times there has I wen a cause I have wanted to join, hut I had to get ms homework done first “.lust MX) more pages of reading and then I II commit. I'd reason to myself I have a class in svhich attendance is taken The other das the gus next tome ss.i' reading Sports Illustrated, and I svns so jealous lloss could he sit there reading that without feeling guilty'’ Didn’t he ssant to get an A’’ I ssanted to take him outside and explain to him boss college svorks I svanted to tell him that the most important class meeting ssas the one in svhich the professor explains his or her grading scale and it a curve will fie used Didn’t he understand that if he didn't get an A, he would lx- a complete flop at on-campus interviews, no graduate schools would accept him and worst of all, he couldn't expect to make more than $l,r>,(HX) a year? The nerve of some people thinking they can do what they enjoy At least I have my priorities straight Federal confidentiality policy guards perpetrators By Malissa Lambert ■ The Daily Mississippi U. ot Mississippi Once again, the U.ofMississippi is hid ing behind a cloak of secrecy. The university s refusal to release' the names of students against whom disci plinary action was taken recently for a fraternity incident is just the latest in a long history of refusals to release names of students disciplined for umvensity violations. The names of the victims are public record The names of the perpetrators are not This allows everyone to know the names of the victims, but the univer sity protects the perpetrators. Ole Miss officials are citing a federal law to keep the names secret The Buckley Amendment says no funds shall be made available under any appli cable program to any educational agen cy or institution which has a policy or practice of perm i tting the release of edu cational records ... of students without written consent First, one must question whether the university has a policy or practice of releasing students records Old Miss certainly does not TFius the university s reasoning for nondisclosure is weak ened Second, Old Miss must not be aware that not one university has been denied federal funds under this law for the 15 years the law has existed The Department of Education only looks into instances of unauthorized disclosure when a complaint is made And when it has investigated complaints, there have been no penalties because a policy or practice" did not exist. So, it is the uni versity who is protecting the students -- not the law. A couple of years ago it was the University Police Department s policy that even students criminal records were part of their school records. A reporter would be told that a student was arrested on campus, but no name would be released That policy has changed because the university now releases the names of students arrested on campus. If a student is arrested by the city police, the names are part of the public record under state law. So, if criminal charges were* filed against the students involved in the incident, we would know who they were. Sometimes the violations' are not criminal, but are violations of university rules and regulations. The violations equate to violations of university "laws. Hut according to the university, students who violate these laws are accorded secrecy. Institutions of higher education and legislators nets! to reassess what univer sity records should be confidential There should be no right of privacy' restricting access to a person s name il he or she has been judged guilty of vio lating a university regulation and expelled from the university. And in a situation like this one, a true benefit could come from publication o! the names and punishments of those judged guilty - future deterrence.