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
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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