Changes detract
from education
Less is exported of students on campus those days, as
far as course and credit requirements are concerned.
Unfortunately, the intentions of the University mean that
students are getting loss in return.
First came the elimination of the so-called “duster”
requirement, in which students were required to take a
certain number of credits in related classes. Then the
total number of credits needed to graduate was cut from
186 to 180. In the latest move, many classes worth three
credits last year am now worth four, with no discernible
increase in difficulty or work.
The looser requirements may help the University
move students through their college career more rapid
ly, but the University will only put students at a disad
vantage.
While these changes may help students leave college
in the shod term, they will hurt students in the long run
The changes may have been made to make It easier for
students to graduate in four years, but the ever-decreas
ing requirements for a degree at the University reduce
uiq vniuo mai in
the job market. Students
may not set adequate
training for trio future sim
ply by counting credits
and leaving in four years.
Reducing the require
ments expected of stu
dents may allow more
flexibility tor focused stu
dents sot on a particular
major. However, for those
While these
changes may
help students leave
college in the short
term, they will hurt
students in the long
run.
unsure 01 wnat tney want to study in college, the lack
of requirements may not provide a strong enough frame
work for students to follow to graduation.
On a broader scale, the looser requirements represent
a "dumbing down" of the education needed to get a
degree. With stricter requirements, students leaving the
University could justifiably toll a prospective employer
that they worked hard. One day. will a student be able to
come to the University, write a check, and leave with a
degree that had no requirements attached?
Budget reductions will affect the delivery of education
at the University. Regardless, the University must not be
allowed to Increase productivity of the institution at the
expense of the quality of education for students.
The University should realize that reduced credit and
class requirements do help students leave school "on
time." but are of no assistance in helping the student
succeed in later life. Employers don't count the days that
a prospective applicant spent in college, but check the
quality of an education that they received. This educa
tion is being compromised by the new requirements.
Some may worry about leaving college in four years.
While many would like to leave college as soon as pos
sible. University students should realize that the goal of
attending the University is to get an education, no mat
ter how easy it the University makes it.
Oregon Daily
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■ OPINION
Pro-lifers don’t agree with murders
Brian Womack
Dr Ralph Robinson fears
going to work
In l<* 1. ho puts on a bulletproof
vest each morning before he
leaves for his job in Birmingham,
Ala
Robinson is a doctor who does
abortions
With continuing death threats
and recent escalations in dead
ly attack* on those who do abor
tions. he finds this a very viable
option.
Men like Michael Griffin and
John C Salvi 111, who share three
abortion clinic personnel mur
ders between them, have
brought these unnecessary fears
to those who do abortions across
the nation.
Continued justifications from
some in the pro-life community
make the doctors and the rest of
the nation wonder who's next
This i* wrong
As someone who has been
pro-life for as long as 1 can
remember, I find these threats
and justifications appalling
To be taking the law into
one's own hands and destroying
another life is not going to win
the argument for pro-lifers It
will only damage it as polls are
beginning to show It is wrong
and should bo slopped immedi
ately.
Yet something else should be
stopped immediately: those in
the abortion-rights camp who
an- trying to take these travesties
and use them as wide brush on
the entire pro-life community.
Many of them are attempting
to characterise these actions as
part of the mainstream of the
pro-life community.
Liberal Eleanor Clift of
Newsweek implied that more
than just the fringe of the pro
life community are supporting
the killings, but these ideas are
encroaching into the main
stream of the pro-life communi
ty
Interestingly, often when a
report is done relating to the sto
ries of the shootings, the fringe
anti-abortionist explaining why
kilting off doctors is fine will be
given two paragraphs or two
sound bites.
Yet. the mainstream of the
pro-life community, such as the
National Right to Life, will he
mentioned in passing as con
demning the attains
Some groups that call them
selves pro-life may sound like
they're representing the main
stream but are doing anything
but that
Advocates for Life, for
instance, which is hased in Port
land. has a history of condoning
violence at abortion clinics
The Oregonian has been very
thorough in making sure this
group gets its Fifteen minutes of
fame every time someone like
Salvi gets active
But these kinds of groups
have tittle respect among pro-lif
ers and are written off as more
ly those way out on the edge
I can see why some in the pro
choice camp would like to char
acterize the typical pro-lifer as
a gun-wielding whacko bout on
killing off anybody who does
abortions.
This would help c haracterize
pro-choicers as the rational, lev
el-headed thinkers whose oppo
nents are placing reservations at
the state mental institution.
But this is about as fair as por
traying the civil rights move
ment as nothing but a bunch of
Black Panthers or saying every
environmentalist has the same
ideas as someone from Karth
First'
Fringe elements of society
exist in every group.
Some feminists believe all sex
is rape
Some parties have David
Dukes.
Some in the peace movement
have committed crimes that are
anything hut peaceful.
Despite the accusations, pro
lifers are and remain people who
are simply concerned about the
plight of the most defenseless
members of our society.
A good example of this would
be a recent story out of Chicago.
Gloria Sosa, a Chicagoan, was
walking to a store when she
heard something crying.
She explained. “When t got
closer. 1 saw it was a baby My
heart just went down to the pit of
my stomach."
The baby had been born to a
18-year-old unwed mother who
had thrown the baby out the
window of her apartment The
baby was found naked in the hit
ter cold behind the building
while the mother was at school
Those who take care of her at
the hospital named her Z.oe,
which is Greek for "life "
The mother has been charged
with aggravated battery to a child.
This tragic story exposes an
irony we have here in Ainerit a
A baby is thrown away to die
and. rightly so, we turn our heads
in shock and disgust
Yet moments before her short
journey down the birth < anal she
could nave lawn legally aborted
The medical community has
never defined exai tly when life
does start We in the pro-life com
rnunity believe that hoping it
doesn't start until birth is irre
sponsible at best.
Those ideas are what the pro
life community espouse, not mur
der.
If more whacked-out people
who call themselves pro-life go
off on a killing spree again, 1 will
shudder for the doctors as I do for
the unborn.
But don't label me or anyone
else in the pro-life community as
a condoner and supporter of mur
der We don't
We believe in what Zoe's name
means.
That is all.
Brian Womack is a columnist for
the Emerald.