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 ' ‘ «• V«*»> V V I •• r*.t ! ' 'j «•'' 1* I M • J* ” • ;* f * ‘..r» • -j ’T * ytm iV'-H I »#e«4i .*•• J Thu's*toy tt»e *u*nm#* by tf>* Or-> • f>.4 . f P..:■ *■* ng Co b 4? ?•'#* Urwv«*vty of 0«kjsw I Oregon T*# f "'*w.|#C3 * !*«■» UfVv#?3*?> *'* '*■ •**. rtt Sv 1«t AOC 0? lb# I '! W« i • 1 a •’ •*-'t** :• '.'•»• Aw* P-rvs lh# { "*■ ,m! % priyiiip {y.*p#fty 4*\. '»*^>Ov.V * . •.»• >1 { .jJWi ». ;* -.«• ' *{ r EtfctC* P l’ M.t k ' *k*mr% Editor J.m Editorial Editor M.V Graphic* Editor »«•« EntertJMnmaol E eft tor f -*•, li*'Q f >»NW P«$&> a Mom F reliance Editor M .TV.. Editorial Editor M • . rw Sports Editor .».*• v * .*-!■ *•.»,. Supplement* Ed'tor »•, A- . Night Editor . ' * < «• A»*ot £ (St tort' T»w •> v v • . ••••'*-: 4. ', • Lm u** /vf> Cc «**n Po'- g thfh&f f vA..«l&OT AiJrr».oi5/M*-or N#w* St»N i> »■*.*«•* A <• M i !, H.l , " M.i" Hf v- t.* ■ H * v >» : , .» ••- M*«; ; <•■ ■ ;' A- . A •• .»• r.i f »•- A. ... » e" r 'r >■■.., m ’• ' i t i M i >•— i M r.t !»V>** M • ’ •* M • t -.’.i V »• t «• !•• *'«•• t » • > • ».t M.i • M 1 ♦*'•* ?' . , V • A;. .»• A ■ v V.i'- tl4V Tc*Jd A ,i" -> s : •• •* .*» }v GttoefS! •» N »-1 Production Manager M • M Advrrtmng 1 l»*’ ■ • . -u M i •.».;•• • ia • »• • i ' • ..s! * »’*• , ’ M-I- V«r V t*. I ! •' A’ ;i CU»t/>/ 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 COMMENTARY POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes commen taries from the public concerning topics of interest to the University community. Commentaries should be between 750 and 1.000 words, legible and signed, and the identification of the writer must be verified upon submission. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for grammar, style and length if necessary.