EDITORIAL
Students deserve
money resolution
The University has an extra $337,000 in the bank,
and everybody has an idea of when* the money should
The existence of the account was reported i)e< ‘C
after whii h both the Incidental Fee Committee and the
University administration staked a claim to the money
The IFC belieses it is student money ai < umulated from
the interest of previous student fees. A studv from the
administration business office bat ks up this claim,
However, liased on recent revelations, nobody really
knows where the money < ante from
Vice Provost Gerard Moseley said some of the moo
ey may have come from a dist.retionarv account ion
trolled by the University president's office. Moseley
said he's planning to investigate the source <>f the
funds a prot ess that may take a while
When the University has a finished report in its
hands, it will dm ide what to do with the money
Certainly the University doesn't want to make a
rash, uninformed dec ision Most groups including
the IFC anil the administration i ouid probably find
good uses lor the $337,000. And if one group has a le
gitimale claim to the money over another, that group
should have priority.
Hut the University has already stalled enough.
Technic ally. th»* HMU business office discovered the
surplus in (tine .1 full seven months ago. In those
seven months, the University has accomplished little
more than angering the lit; The University has had
more than enough time to condui t a full investigation
Hv now, either the II C or the administration should he
enjoying a money windfall.
With tuition rising and budget c uts coming, both
groups could use the money The II I. c ould offset high
er student fees, or perhaps set up an emergent \ fund.
The administration could use it for scholarships,
which would also offset higher tuition for many stu
dents And the* sooner someone gets it. the easier next
year's budget will be to determine
The administration is putting itself in an awkward
position hv taking so long f irst, administrators could
wait until this year's II is out of office and then push
the money past newly elected members. Or people
could interpret the administration's apparent control of
the situation as an indication of where* the money will
eventually end up,
AM O President Hobby l ee suggested the IfO.
AM O and liMU Board form a committee to investigate
the* money's origins. At the* very least, that would sect
up .1 more democratic method of distributing the mon
ey. Unless the administration comes up with an indis
putable origin for the money , anything it derides by it
self will appear self-serving.
The money is there and students are waiting. The
last thing students need now is more stalling and quib
bling.
(hc^on Ihiilv
p O SOX 31 EUGENE. OREGON t7403
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COMMENTARY
University trains, doesn’t educate
By f tit Fta 1< jf
Id s p i red hx l hf ext .til lent
uimnii'iil.irv train Daniel
Frank ((>/>/ Jan ">) on tFi«*
quality at education (or l.u k
thereof) here .ii tlit' l 'niversttv, I
would like to i ontinue in the
same spirit While I readily ad
mit I hurt' arr many great in
structors at this universits
teat lung mam great courses,
there are also was too mam
mind-numbing ones
First of all are we lieing edu
t ated or are we lieing trained?
Education broadens the mind,
expands thinking and frees the
spirit laiui ation gives us the
tools bv which we can more
lulls uppret late the world l!
I rentes a framework for evaluat
ing and nnalv/ing complex re
lationships and interpreting di
verse perspei tixes It empowers
us hs developing our innate i a
pahilities
In contrast, "training' adapts
ns to lit into mk ml vs im rmotnic
roles We are trained to Imcome
citM tors, lawyers. bricklayers or
Inmisi a|K»rs We an* given the
net essurv information to per
form a designated ftim lion
Professors often refer to tins as
the "real world.” and we are
led to fielieve that our onlv le
gitmiale role in society is to he
come a i og in the wheel of the
great e< onomv
In in\ experience. the I'm
versify has largetv hot ome a
training institution As stu
dents. \se are simph fun mg
our wav to a higher station in
the economic system. We do
not t'\pe< t to hei ome better
people, nisi better paid
But even this advantage is
fading Where oik e our degrees
assured a position of some re
sponsibility. now they only as
sure us of heating out the less
educated job applicant And we
are happy to have any job at all
But lobs are a problem of sot it*
tv Back to the University
Many professors teach < lass
es using the wheelbarrow tech
nique They arrive in class with
a wheelbarrow full of facts and
proceed to dump this informa
tion on the students Students
are supposed to act like
sponges and soak up all the in
formation that professors have*
dumped It's a one-way pro
cess No interaction No inte
gration No analysis )ust a lug
swallow Gulp.
Our minds are treated like
computers We are taught to
dow nload vast amounts of data
We are encouraged to memo
rize. not to understand To ab
sorb tai ts. not analyze them.
We are taught there is one wav
There is one political system,
one economii system, one jus
tiie system, one nation under
God. and only one right answer
on the midterm
A i a d e niui thrives o n
redui tionism. differentiation
and i omportinentalizalion All
tile world tan lie divided into
convenient categories Sup
posedly. reducing countries
into either "developed" or "un
developed'' categories gives us
a greater understanding of the
way the world works Could
this instead dull our minds by
eliminating the true complex!
ties and nuances of various so
cial and political systems'
I rec entlv heard a professor
define life as an improbable
organization of nutter ' When
vs e red in e t lie definition of
"life" to its most basic ctiarai
lenstii s. are vse enlightened, or
e ndark med * The professor
vs e n t on to t a Ik ah o u t
phenotypic plasticity and
m u I t i - d i in « n s i o n a I
hvperspei iation This is one di
aled of the language called
sc lent e speak
There are as many languages
or dialects as there are ac adem
ic departments Words and
terms are used to differentiate
us from others Should words
ac t like harriers that tiloc k and
separate bodies of knowledge'
Aren’t words intended for c om
mimic ation'
Spec iali/ation is encouraged
Generalists are just lost souls
•.••••king tin* right field in which
to spet iali/e Interdisi iplinarv
programs are for academic
drifters We are taught any
overlap between sublet t areas
should be ardently ignored
While 1 might argue econom
it s is simply a branch of philos
ophy based on broad abstrac
turns, its proponents have built
an entire body ol knowledge on
tin* assertion that this is a
unique and independent are.i ol
academic pursuit. But hoys tan
y\e ignore the obvious ties ys'ith
politics, sociology , history and
othii s'
Academia has dearly accept
till the supreme* y of ob|et live
knowledge over subjective
knowledge Objective knowl
edge always has .i corret t an
syyer 1 here is no intuitive solu
tion.
SubjiH live knowledge has a 11
but been thrown in the waste
bin After all. hum.in beings .ire
I apabie of < omplete under
standing of the world through
systematic, objective analysis,
aren't we'
We are taught to lie prac tu al.
hie.distn pursuits are discour
aged W e are told dreaming and
wondering are a waste of time
instead we should get serious
and focus on that wluiii is
known and < an be proven
And finally, is our education
to he devoid of spirituality7
Must vs e divorce ourselves
from the unknown and un
knowable dimension of the
!'inverse'' We will never know
and understand every thing and
we will nev er lie able to answer
the really tug questions Let's
admit it We are humble crea
tures. and even with a I’h 1) .
we will never know the mean
ing of our existent r
I'twn Fodor is a graduate stu
dent i/i t’nvironmental studim
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