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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1998)
English professor wins MLA prize for book Janies Crosswhite’s hook explores the ways in which people handle conflict and argument By Nicole Kristal Higher Education Reporter You’ve had them with family members. You’ve had them with your roommates. You’ve possibly had them with your co-workers. Most people, at one point or an other, have had an argument with someone in their lives. Associate Engl ish Professor James Crosswhite recently won the Mod ern Language Association of Ameri ca’s Mina P. Shaugnessy Prize for his book, which examines the nature of argumentation and conflict, titled “The Rhetoric of Reason: Writing and the Attractions of Argument.” “The core of the book is human beings have conflict,” Crosswhite said. He said people deal with con flict in many different ways, such as avoidance and violence. How ever, some people approach con flict with reason. “Arguing’s the best way to get your reasons out," he said. “The notion of argumentation is people argue when there’s a conflict, and they’re willing to change their minds.” The book is aimed at teachers of writing with the goal of encourag ing them to think for themselves about the definition of reason. He also hopes education policy makers will read his book and question what the core of a college education should be. “A liberal arts education should be an education in communica tion and reason," he said. According to Crosswhite, stu dents should graduate from college and be able to write and speak well. “Writing is the core of a liberal arts education,” he said, “and the core of a liberal arts education is argumentation and reasoning. I use rhetoric to do this.” He emphasized that rhetoric was the backbone of a liberal arts education until about 150 years ago. Since then, rhetoric hasn’t been taken as seriously. “The fact that the MhA gave this book a prize is in a way a sign that people in language and literature are taking rhetoric more serious ly,” he said. Crosswhite has a background in philosophy and received his bach elor’s degree in philosophy from UC Santa Cruz. He then went on to receive his doctorate in philoso phy at UC San Diego. Crosswhite said because of his predominately philosophical background, he was surprised to win the prize. “It was courageous for the MI.A to give this award to someone who’s trained in philosophy,” he said. Crosswhite said writing a book is a lot like putting a note into a bot tle and throwi ng it into the ocean. “When a group sits down and reads your book carefully and de cides it'sgoingtoget an award like this,you feel like, ‘Oh good, some one was listening,”’ he said. Local religious centers open parking lots to homeless Several churches ancl a synagogue are screening car campers with St. Vincent de Paul's help By Michael Burnham Community Reportei When the Eugene City Counci I re pealed an ordinance on Nov. 17 that limited the legal places homeless people could camp, it afforded reli gious communities the right to open their parking lots for over-night car camping until the end of June. Four churches and a synagogue are al ready practicing what they preach by al 1 owing car camping. The churches and synagogue cur rently allowing camping are using the services of the First Faith Family Center of St. Vincent de Paul to screen and approve potential car campers with a stamped parking in vitation on a nightly basis. According to Tim Rockwell, as sistant director of the First Faith Family Center, these religious or ganizations use the center as a middle man in screening car campers. Rockwell said the City Council chose the First Faith Fam ily Center to contact and solicit ad ditional religious organizations to open their lots to the homeless. About 130 religious organiza tions have been contacted, he said, but the center has encountered mixed feedback from some of those that have replied, Rockwell said some religious organizations have expressed a reluctance to allow car camping on their lots because they have encountered various prob lems with the homeless in the past. Many other religious organiza tions, he added, have expressed willingness to open their lots but have yet to formally consent. The number of churches expressing in terest is mounting. "By the end of January, I'm ex pecting 10 or 11 — maybe more,” he said. One church that has already opened its property to car camp ing is the St. Jude Catholic Church at 4330 Willamette St. According to Father Pete Roerig, the church takes in a single car camper every night. He said the process has run fairly smoothly and tJiat the church has received a lot of positive feedback from its campers. The church usually has a camper stay overnight in its lot, but he said there have been some nights when there were no campers. Roerig said the church is in an ideal situation forcar camping be cause of its remoteness; however, he said the practice does not re solve the homeless problem. "This is a stop-gap measure and not a solution to the problem," he said. The Council's decision to ex pand places where the homeless can camp came after urging from the Homeless Action Coalition and public testimony during the November meeting. Charles Gray of the Homeless Action Coalition said he is in favor of the Council’s decision to allow camping at the church parking lots. “It was a step that made it possi ble for religious organizations to expand their religious freedom and compassion for homeless families,” he said. However, Gray said he believes that allowing car camping at churches will not have a major im pact on Lane County’s estimated 3,000 homeless, and the coalition is waiting fora better solution from the council in the next few months. Campaign: Rent prices keep rising m. Continued from Page 1 University also enrolled fewer students this year, he said. The campaign doesn’t assume every landlord in the West University area exploits students, Paustian said. In fact, an ASUO Web page that asks for com ments on the campaign has already attracted a few pos itive stories. "Not all landlords are bad,” Paustian said. “But it seems to be a theme that a lot aren’t being all they can be.” The ASUO chose rental rights as its major cam paign because of its broad scope and the need for im provement, DePoe said. Most ASUO teams will help out on this cam paign. Students need to consid er where they live and what they get for the mon ey they pay, DePoe said. The ASUO plans to give them the information they need to make those deci sions, she said. “Landlords need to get their stuff in shape,” she said. “The students are ac tually caring about where they’re going to live and thinking twice about living in a slum.” ODE Serving 10,000 Daily @®©® msm Place your FREE WEDDING/ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT in the Bridal Guide Wed, Jan 14. Call 346-4343 or fill out this form and stop by Suite 300, EMU Deadline: January 12, 1 p.m. lOJeddingltnyayein en/ Zdnno un cem enis ~ for ODE use only. Name:___ Phone: ___ Address: __ Add $2.00 if you would like a photo included in your announcement. Payment: —_ Information to be printed in announcement Bride's Name:_ Bride’s Hometown: _ Bride’s Major:_ Groom's Name:_ Groom's Hometown: _ Groom's Major:_ Wedding date (if engagement.tentative wedding dale):_ Location of wedding:__ Additional info?___ If you would like to include a pholo, please write your name and phone number on the back of the photo and attach it to this form. You may pick up your photo after it runs on January M. Laura Kemp Free performance this Friday night. Singer songwriter Laura Kemp from Babes with Axes entertains you with her distinctive musical style in a FREE performance this Friday, January 9. Opening performance by Lael Alderman 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Collier House (on the corner of 13th and University) First Fridays are back! Start off the new year and winter term with coffee, dessert, friends and music! First Fridays. Now Students have an alternative. Sponsored by the UO’s Prevention Team. 346-1212
