Oregon Daily
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 4, 1993
Assembly votes to remove cluster requirements
□ Decision effective immediately; no
courses will be added or eliminated
By Julie S wen sen
Oregon DMy i r net aid
In a move that likely will clear up confusion, the Uni
versity Assembly voted Wednesday to eliminate t luster
requirements for undergraduates.
Instead, students now must take lf> credits in group
satisfying courses in each of the sciences, s<m iat scienc es,
and arts and letters categories In each of the three areas,
courses must he completed in at least two subjects, and
tit least two courses must Ik’ completed in one subject No
more than three courses in any one subject may lie counted
toward meeting the total 48-credit requirement
No courses have been added or eliminated, and only
the duster language has been removed Full implemen
tation will come in the fall of and the changes will
be reflected in the General Bulletin, said John Nicols, a
history professor who proposed the resolution
The former < luster system required the completion of
a cluster in each of the three categories Students hail to
take either a sequence of three courses for nine i redds,
two courses for eight ( redds or flirts* courses for 12 i redds
The former cluster system has caused many problems.
Nu ols said tiofore the University Assembly
"The cluster system, always diffii tilt, has become
impossibly complex." he said, saying that most students
haven't understood what is expe< ted of them
Since some cluster courses aren't offerer! every term,
some transfer students, or students who haven't been
enrolled every term, have found that the classes they ve
needed to take to satisfy a ( luster were offered v\ hen they
were gone. (ftlier students have i la lined they ve Imsmi mis
advised about what constituted <i cluster, In* s,m!
The Academic Requirements Committee reviewed an
estimated rot) student petitions last sear The committee
has had to meet every two to three weeks to review stu
dents petitions of cluster requirements, he said
"It's lieen an almost impossible system to monitor, giv
en our resources," he said.
I lave Soper, president of the University Senate wliii h
unanimously passed the motion last month, said the sen
ators were aware of some cons the new s\stem imposes
such as the fat t that students now > an take a si altered
group of courses instead of having ill-depth study in one
field
Hut. since tile new system eases confusion and helps
students plan their i urrli ilium. tie- pros outweigh the
tains," hi1 said
Native architecture class a unique study
□ University is one of only
two in the Northwest to
offer the American Indian
course
By Jennifer Cosgrove
fey ine Oregon Daily Emerald
The University is one of only two col
leges in the Pacific Northwest offering a
course surveying the history of American
Indian architecture, says the University's
art history departmental head.
The class, which was initially taught for
the first time last spring by Professor
Leland Roth, the department head, features
not only the scope of building undertaken
by American Indians in all regions of the
North American continent, but also a
unique study of many American Indian
cultures and their lifestyles reflected
through the period of time American Indi
an built structures. Course studies span
from the earliest remains so far discovered
up to the IftOOs.
"The course objectives are designed for
the students to learn about how American
Indian cultures contain a rich ceremoni
al lifestyle and intimate relationship with
the earth and its natural resources, and
how this aspect is scarcely present today
in anv modern architecture, particularly
western civilizations, Roth said.
"All American Indian buildings physi
lallv reveal individual and original expres
sions of religious, cosmological and
philosophical feeling, differing from one
another due to so many types of American
Indian tribes and their heritages, natural
materials and resource* available, climate
conditions, the period of time and area
in which construction took place," he said.
Several students who took the course
last spring observed how traditional Amer
ican Indian lifestyles were and still are dif
ferent and opposite to the values that
govern Western/American culture.
Many students commented after taking
the course that they began to notice that
American culture has traditionally con
veyed Native American cultural heritages
in a dated, fragmented and prejudicial
manner.
■‘There is a real lack of awareness that
American Indian cultures still live very in
tune with many of their traditions today,
and that American Indians are still sub
jected to discrimination by westom civi
lization biases." Roth said.
To date, about 25 colleges nationwide
offer courses involved with surveying
Native American architecture and indi
vidual variations of tribal housing, said
Turn to NATIVE, Page 6
The Klckapoo Indian's
(above), wlklup (winter
house) was made from
tulea, reads, hackberry,
Montezuma bald cypress
and sycamore. Professor
Leland Both (left) uses
the King Island house
model to recreate the
architecture of the UkJuok
Islanders.
Architects cut
from Amazon
housing plan
by University
j Contract's termination
shouldn't affect scheduled
demolition in spring 1994
By Rivers Janssen
Oregon
University of fit i.«K terminated their ion
trai t Wednesday with the an hilts tur.il firm
si hedulod to plan the rebuilding of tile
Amazon family holts
I*N*S*I*D*E
^ An analysis
of Christopher
Alexander's
background
^ Reaction to
the firing from
residents of
Amazon
mu projei I. i illii)4 11
Ini k of under standing
fret ween die 1 hlivnrsi
t\ mil (he design team
.is reasons lor the ills
missal
1 )an Williams, vii e
president tor adminis
(ration, said the i on
trai t contained an
option lor the I hover
sity to i iini lode its
agreement with
CKS/TM\ provided
I lull it settle dll < us!-, for work Inal's tieen
completed Thu IJniv*»rs11v will exercise
(lull option, liit -..ml
The University will not. however, t hange
its schedule on tin’ Am.iron project.
Williams said. It ‘.till plans to tiegiu demo
lition and site preparation in the spring,
followed by construction and student is i u
pancy of the first phase of the new Ama
zon units by fall lOfTi
Williams said that in lieu of hiring a new
architect and Imginnmg the entire prm ess
anew, the University w ill instead use an
approai h known as design-build, which
allows the l Jniversity to ui cept a proposed
design and then accept hills from contrac
tors for the construction of that design.
The dismissal comes on the heels of
months of difficulties between the head
designer of the projis t, (Ihrislophor Alexan
der. and University offu nils. Alexander's
Berkeley, Calif. - based Center for Envi
ronmental Structure joined with the Eugene
architecture firm of Thai Ion and Kdrington
for the sole purpose of designing the Agate
family housing complex and redesigning
the Amazon housing facility The Univer
sity claims that Agate was going over bud
get and contained several unapproved
changes by the architects
That was the first major problem between
the two sides that led to the termination of
Turn to AMAZON. Page 4