EDITORIAL
Cluster requirement
should be dropped
With any luck, by this time tomorrow, getting a degree
from the University will be Just a little bit less of a
headache.
This afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in Room 150 Columbia, the
University Assembly will discuss (and hopefully approve)
a proposal from the University Senate to eliminate clus
ters from the list of requirements for graduation.
In order for a student to fulfill a cluster under the cur
rent system, that student has to take all three courses in
a year-long sequence, or, in some cases, throe interrelat
ed but non-sequential courses in a particular subject. The
requirements are outlined, albeit rather cryptically, in
each issue of tho schedule of classes.
The rationale behind the cluster system is this: In order
to gain a satisfactory understanding of a given field, a stu
dent must receive at least a year's worth of instruction in
that field. This is undoubtedly true in many cases, and it
is freouently. if not always, to a student’s advantage to
complete the entire sequence.
Even if this is the caso, however, thoro are serious doubts
about a system that forces students to fulfill such a require
ment. Whatever advantages that may have been gained
by the cluster requirement have been nullified by the con
fusion and inequities that tho system has created.
When the cluster requirement was implemented in
1981, the number of sequences that qualified as clus
ters was considerably loss. That system, while admittedly
rather inflexible, was at least easier to understand.
In the years that have followed, numerous clusters nave
been added, and now nearly every department on cam
pus offers at least one. while some of the larger depart
ments support half a dozen or more.
Most clusters consist of three courses of three credit
hours each, totaling nine credits, although there are some
clusters with only two courses of four credits each, total
ing eight, and others that consist of three courses of four
credits each, totaling 12.
Students who have completed a cluster at another
school sometimes are unable to apply that cluster hero,
for reasons that few can satisfactorily explain, much less
justify.
All this adds up to a nightmare of confusion for stu
dents and advisers, and misunderstandings have in some
cases led to delayed graduations. Each term, about 50 stu
dents petition for exemption from the policy.
Arguments in favor of continuing the cluster system all
hinge on one fundamental belief: without the system, stu
dents will not voluntarily choose to take year-long
sequences, and the quality of their education will be com
promised.
This misconception doesn't give the students very much
credit. Most students have a few favorite subjects and will
tako several courses in those subjects without boing
required to.
if the cluster requirement was ever worthwhile, it has
outlived its usefulness. The University Assembly has the
opportunity to put the last nails in the cluster require
ment's coffin. Let’s hope it has enough sense to pick up
the hammer.
Oregon Doily
Emerald
Managing Editor
Editorial EdMor
Graphic* Editor
Fraalanca Editor
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As Public Povicy —
OPINION
Economics balkanizing force in U.S.
Marii s Mki.and
fm> is spreading through
out the world It's burn
X X mg in India, in Russia, in
the former Yugoslavia, in Ger
many and in South Africa
And now it has spread to Cana
da as well.
At last, nationalism has
las onnt a forc e to reckon with on
the North American continent.
After Canada's parliamentary
elections last week, the second
largest party in Canada is more
than "Her Majesty's loyal Oppo
sition." Bloc Quebucois isn't only
opposed to the government; it is,
in fact, opposed to the very idea
of Canada.
The second-largest party in
Canada wants to destroy the
country.
Imagine, if you will, a situation
in which the minority party in
Congress, the Republicans, were
against the United States of
America. Imagine if Hob Dole
went on television and said. ''1
don't give a damn about health
care, abortion, foreign policy or
gays in the military. I couldn't
care less about the size of our
national debt and the increasing
crime rate in our inner cities Hut
as for the U.S., I'm definitely
against it.”
The last time the United States
experienced a situation such as
that was during the Civil War. It
took about five years, morn than
a million casualties, and an esti
mated $15 billion in property
damage to get over it. Those who
survived it promised themselves
that the United States would nev
er again experience a division so
deep and so destructive.
And Americans taught their
children to pledge allegiance to
the flag of the United States and
to "... one nation under God, indi
visible, with liberty and justice
for all."
For more than a century, the
United States has been a haven
in a world tom apart by racism,
nationalism and separatism.
While nations with fewer inhab
itants than Oregon have been
ripped apart, the United States,
with more than 260 million
inhabitants, has remained uni
fied and indivisible.
Why is the United States so
different from other countries?
Part of the answer is found in the
ingredients of the glue that keeps
this country together. Most
countries are cultural entities; the
lJnited States is a political entity.
Germany stays together
txM ause Germans speak the same
language, eat the same food and
dress in the same clothes. Amer
icans, on the other hand, stay
together because they slum* ideas
They believe in democracy, lib
erty-, justice and civil rights
Admittedly . these an- buzzwords
that could be construed to sig
nify anything and may tie more
impressive than substantive Hut
it doesn't change the fact that,
ultimately, there's still a broad
consensus about the values upon
which this country was founded
Meanwhile, the rest of tin
world continues to think that
nations should lie founded upon
cultural identity. If some people
in the nation don't conform to
this cultural identity, there must
be something wrong with them;
therefore, the reasoning goes, they
should Ire eliminated.
In Germany, neo-Nazis are
killing immigrants, and in the for
mer Yugoslavia, various govern
ments are practicing "ethnic
cleansing'' to create an ethnical
ly monolithic state. Of course,
this kind of reasoning knows no
end: There will never be a mono
lithic state because individuals
will always be different.
In the United Status, hitherto
spared from the nationalism and
separatism destroying nations
throughout the world. Americans
look at the ethnic conflicts with
shock and disbelief. To many
Americans, the fighting between
Bosnians and Serbs is no more
than a big-scale version of the
fighting between kindergarten
kids who can't stand each other
because they're wearing different
overalls.
But the problems that gave rise
to the term "balkanization" are
closer to home than many Amer
icans want to acknowledge. With
nationalism on our doorsteps
after the Canadian election, some
people have begun to question
whether the fabric of our society
is as strong as we may have
believed.
The fart is, the United States is
already a divided nation. Not
politically, ethnically or reli
giously But economically.
Decades after economists split
Americans into the "haves” and
tint "have- nots," this grim eco
nomic reality persists. In the past
21) years, the rich Americans got
richer, the middle class shrunk
considerably and the poor
retained their portion of the
aggregate income. According to
the Bureau of Census, the richest
20 percent now receive 47 per
cent of the aggregate income, as
opposed to 43 percent in 1970.
And the gap continues to
widen. latst year, a Washington.
DC., study documented an
increase in child poverty in 33
states during the 1980s. Karlier
this year, a Tufts University study
concluded that child poverty in
the United States will soar to a
record 28 percent by 2010.
The poor ar») the "other Amer
icans." They live on the streets,
commit crimes, use drugs and
join gangs. They can't read, don't
go to college, don't work and
don't have health insurance,
enhances are they’ll end their lives
with a syringe in their forearms
or a bullet in their heads. That is.
if the legal system doesn't save
their lives by locking them up for
good.
The “other Americans" art) not
prominent in our culture. Y'ou
won't find a sitcom about their
lives on television. And because
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