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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1997)
▼ EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Laura Cadiz EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond editorials, letters, commentary and perspective m NEWSROOM: E (541)346-5511 ■ DISPLAY ADVERTISING: ■ (541)346-3712 " BUSINESS OFFICE: Sj (541)346-5512 * CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: Ml (541) 346-4343 .V,—« WSW-r-W K«SS?:-K*BC v'-fvv.V'<f*^fy'Ts>t»j.vw - iSWKSfSSS S8SSKS H^jSSSWKSJSt SCW«SW ' .* WWW WCWSCWKW *•» K Good jobs for grads come at high price ' ■ OUR OPINION: Despite a recent 1_ news report, employment for UO \x graduates is still difficult to find the May 27 Register-Guard said it so well. Graduates from the University, and across the country, are finding more jobs now than in recent years. A national study was cited that said employers plan to hire 17 percent more new college grad uates this year than last. And the story of Chris Mettner, a senior in computer science, was told. He landed a $40,000 job with Lockheed Martin Corp. in the company’s satellite division. He was offered the job earlieix this year after he headline was so promising. “Job outlook bright for UO’s grads” The article on the front page of only a 10-minute interview. Are we all really so fortunate? Are we all really snagging high-paying jobs after graduation, sometimes even before com mencement? We wish it were true. The Guard article, unfortunately, is ter ribly misleading. Despite such high hopes and increasing numbers. University grads are still having trouble finding jobs, espe cially good jobs. And we see no signs that this is changing. Sure, it’s easy to say things are getting better. But what’s really going on? The ar ticle was quick to point out that graduates in engineering, computers and business are in the highest demand. But what about the plethora of other majors? And the 1996 University questionnaire cited had only 401 respondents among graduates from that year. Out of those 401 grads, 80 percent said they had jobs six months af ter graduation; 67 percent of that number had jobs in Oregon and 10 percent were headed to graduate school. i First, that’s only I 401 people, and second, no dis tinction is made as to what kind of jobs those gradu ates had. Beth Swank, assistant director of the University Career Center, was quoted as saying a myth still exists that the pre dominant factor in a student’s career choice is their major. She said employers’ most common request is “any major.” But last we heard, students wanted to get jobs in their respective major, not just some general job in a large corporation like Nabisco (which is also mentioned in the article). Any college graduate can vie for those types of jobs; the key is to obtain employment in one’s area of expertise. This dream, we are sure, is not being re alized any more than in the past. This is because specialized jobs are so much more difficult to obtain than in our par ents’ college days. Now, graduates must involve themselves in extracurricular ac tivities and honor societies as well as get good grades. And most importantly, they must seek out and secure internships in their field. The University would no doubt like to think its graduates are succeeding. It would like to think it is arming its stu dents with the skills they need to succeed in a competitive job market. But the fact is a degree is not just a degree. Many of the skills students obtain in order to be hired for competitive jobs are found outside the University, in internships and other orga nizations. The Register-Guard article did give us hope. But it’s important to note that many students are still having trouble ~~ in their job search, and jobs in re spective majors are still extremely hard to come by. Standing by mis leading statistics and optimistic offi cials could make the search even more difficult. We can’t be lazy and must still i work hard, in and out of the Universi ty, in order to get the job of our dreams. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. LETTERS Canadian sympathy So, Nicole Kristal has no idea why Oregonians dislike Californi ans? One glance at the headline of her editorial (ODE, June 3) should give some indication. While I am not an Oregonian (I am not even American, rather I am Canadian), I do sympathize with natives of this state. Being an Oregonian is similar in many ways to being Canadian. We both live just north of a social and cultural behemoth that produces citizens who are self-absorbed and have little time for or understand ing of things outside their borders. In many ways the concerns voiced by Oregonians about the influence of Californians on their way of life is similar to the those of Canadians who fear American val ues will eat away at a distinct Canadian culture. I would suggest to Ms. Kristal that her defensiveness about being Californian is just one symptom of why Californians are disdained. Lewis Kaye Journalism State supremacy We would like to write to our kind Californians who have gra ciously invited themselves to the great state of Oregon. We are sorry that you think we are ignorant, for it is you who come to our state to vehemently complain about the weather, our attitudes and above all the way we say “pop” for soda drinks. However, why is it that our state and the people are so bad and your state is so awesome, and yet Cali fornians still pour into Oregon like people following Lewis and Clark on the Oregon Trail? We apologize if our state is not good enough for you, but nobody ever asked you to come here in the first place. However, we would like to thank all the Californians who do come to school here, for without you, we would have to pay a great deal more for our education. We will gladly accept all the com plaints for the five figure donation that you all pay every year to visit our state. And one more thing to all the lovely Californians: Have a nice day.. .somewhere else! Greg Nicklas & 3 cosigners Undeclared For shame Your story on the Broadway tree removal [ODE, June 2) was accu rate in most respects but gives the impression that Eugene police at tempted to push the crowd “away from where the trees were being cut.” They had already all been cut. The use of tear gas, mace and de structive force came at a pointless time and, I believe, was only for the purpose of asserting power and control. Many gentle citizens were hurt as a result. When I came here (yes, from Cal ifornia) the preservation struggle centered on buildings. The last of the magnificent original architec ture was being demolished — “Save the Armory, the Mayflower.” Over the years we’ve said good bye to hundreds of trees (to make room for those oh-so-essential cars), stretches of natural river front, pedestrian space (more cars!), three ofEugene’s four majes tic old theaters, a quaint village of shops and eateries (Sacred Heart parking)... the list goes on. Whose town is this now? Who are the police and our elected offi cials working for? People turned out to grieve these leafy ancestors as well as a psychotic development agenda. The power elite reacted with a Tienanmen hallucination. Those in charge now cater to the distorted dreams of strangers who have come into our midst, and — to find their comfort level — seek to replicate the metropolitan con sumer addiction hells they so re cently fled. I say: Go to the corpses of those stately trees. Pick up some of the pieces. Take the bones to City Hall. Let those who allowed this step over the carnage to get to work. Vip Short Eugene Hourly limits What follows is a message I have now received three times, de spite my requests to stop sending them to me. The gist of the mes sage is that students are now being harassed about their number of hours online per week. As a student who pays her inci dental fees, I find this restriction (or request, as they put it) to be an unworkable solution to the prob lem. The postmaster has set an un reasonable limit of 14 hours per week, or 2 hours per day, of online time. The University network feels this limit will reduce the busy sig nals encountered by students dial ing in from home. I find many problems with this “solution.” For one thing, the reason I my self encounter a busy signal is that frequently 2 of the 3 dial-up num bers cease functioning after about 8 pm. It’s no wonder it is often busy. The University has recently been voted one of Amoi'i/-a’r. “Most Wired Campuses.” This is due in large part to the efforts of the University to allow its stu dents to become dependent on the Internet. We are given a new web- A based interface for Janus and brand new Gateway computers on which to see it. Many students have classes in which a great deal of class and study material is now online, such as Image Reserve for the art history department. The solution is obvious. The University needs to do what any company would need to do in the same situation: Take steps to live up to the demand. Perhaps instead of spending money on some of the most expensive computers around, the Gateway 2000, for its new Janus terminals, we could set tle for a less glamorous PC, in or der to acquire more modems for the modem pool. Ariel K. Jones Classics Correction In the June 5 commentary by Chelsea Lincoln, the name of Monte Matthews, director of Uni versity Veterinary Services and Animal Care, was spelled incor rectly. The Emerald regrets the error.
