NEWSROOM:
(541)346-5511
E-MAIL
odeCd'oregon. uoregon.edu
ON-LINE EDITION:
www.uoregon.edu/~ode
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Kameron Cole
Stefanie Knowlton
Faith falters on campus
Av college students, we're
losing our religion, but does
it need to be this way?
It’s so quiet, you can almost hear
a pin drop. Apartment com
plexes are silent, and the dorms
dormant as young families and
older couples make the trek in their
ties or frilly dresses. Forget Dead
Week. The real dead time on cam
pus is Sunday morning.
As we lay in bed, recovering from
hangovers or just catching up on
sleep, a large part of the city goes to
church. And throughout the week,
many religious organizations on
and around campus meet regularly,
eager for new members. Most stu
dents, on the other hand, are either
happily or tenuously oblivious.
In the collegiate world, where
(i \ the hottest bands are embraced,
the latest
i fashion
* con
i'1 sumed
and the
best books
read, reli
gion is
hopelessly
out of
style. Going to church is passe, wor
shipping anything is misguided.
And faith? That’s a phenomenon re
served for nuns and monks.
We, on the other hand, are col
lege students, steeped in knowl
edge, secure in the fact that believ
ing in anything unseen and living
by a set of values not our own is
purely delusional. It’s strange how
this works, though.
For so many of us, going to
church was part of our childhood.
Our parents dragged us, kicking
and screaming, to Sunday school,
Mass or Shabbat. We may have ac
tually enjoyed it, at times, and a
belief in a higher power was cer
tainly important to us.
Alter college, many ot us get
married, have kids, grow older and
start to question our own mortality
and that of our kids. Pretty soon,
we’re faithful attenders again, giv
ing money every month and going
to church picnics each summer.
It’s as if we never left.
But we do leave. We take a step
backward. But why? What is it
about college that makes us forget
our faith, or if we never went to
church, deny any thoughts of a
higher power?
Part of the cause, as alluded to
earlier, is any belief in the super
natural is scoffed at by professors
and staff. The academic world, at
least in Eugene, has no room for
silly notions of a god and, further,
any type of personal faith. We’re
conditioned, from the time we step
on campus, to seek knowledge
from the material realm and down
play anything that’s not of this
world.
Also, we have some societal
mountains to climb as young peo
ple. Everyone expects us to toe the
moral line, drinking heavily, en
gaging in rampant sex, while we
come to grips with our place in the
world. We’re supposed to be so
busy trying to find ourselves
that we surely would have no
time to follow any type of god.
And we joyously oblige both
stereotypes. Political correct
ness and faux tolerance become
our gods, and we relegate religion
to the shadows, going so far as to
give the few religious organiza
tions in the EMU microscopic
workspaces. And, of course, we
have no problem fitting the mold
of tormented collegians, forced to
drown our existential dilemmas in
alcohol and empty love.
But if we just put the can of Mil
waukee’s Best and our PC dictio
nary down for a minute, we could
see that college is the perfect place
to have religion. A college campus,
for one, should be a place for di
verse people with a wide range of
ideas. Religion could easily be tol
erated and made more available to
students.
More important,
Opinion
Ashley
Bach
college students are
searching for their
niche in greater so
ciety and wondering
about an uncertain
future. This part of
the stereotype is
true. But is it possi
ble, ever so slightly,
that religion pro
vides many of the
answers, that it’s ex
actly what per
plexed college stu
dents do need?
Our late teens and early 20s are
the dark ages of religion, no doubt,
and if that’s because we need to
make sense of a childhood inheri
tance, OK. But despite what so
many people say, there is value in
religion, and it needs to be evaluat
ed internally without the influ
ences of a world that can’t associ
ate college with faith.
In the end, some of us may
choose to go our own way in the
world. But in the meantime, we
should consider catching some
thing like that sunrise on a Sunday
morning; it’s seldom seen, but it
can be beautiful.
Ashley Bach is a columnist for the
Emerald. His views do not necessarily
represent those of the neivspaper.
Letters to the Editor
Campus cash warnings
Thank you for the editorial on “Going Cashless” (ODE
Dec. 1), which features the new debit system called Cam
pus Cash. The headline "Charge It” is somewhat mislead
ing because Campus Cash is not a charge card. Instead, the
cardholder prepays by making a deposit into the account,
then has the convenience of speedier service and reduces
the need to carry cash on campus. Many students have
mentioned that it could help them stay within their budgets
because it is not a buy-now-pay-later account. As your edi
torial correctly cautions, it is up to each person to manage
his/her money and make prudent choices. Campus Cash of
fers students a convenient way to budget their funds wisely.
Dusty Miller
Director, EMU
Book smarts
I am so sick of getting ripped off the by bookstore. 1 sell
my books back to them, and they only give me 40 percent
of what 1 paid for the book. Yet, they turn around and sell
my book for $20 more than they paid me for it. That’s why
I’m so excited for the book swap.
The book swap is an event that is sponsored by the
ASUO. It starts the week of finals and continues through the
first week of the second term. During the week of finals you
take your old books to the EMU Fishbowl and put a price
on your books that is cheaper than what the bookstore sells
them for. In return you will get more money by swapping
books with students rather than selling it back to the book
store. Also, it will cheaper for students to buy the books
they will need for the next term at the book swap rather
than at the bookstore. It is a definite win-win situation. I am
really looking forward to making money as well as helping
out my fellow students.
Jessica Giordani
Undeclared
Tolerance
I was struck that reporter Eric Mortenson seemed sur
prised that a homeless Hispanic man “moved off to the
right, making way like he thought he shouldn’t be standing
there” (“Side streets,” Register-Guard Nov.29). It’s a fact of
life on some of our streets that poor folks had better make
way or pay the price.
No-loitering signs have been posted on East 13th for over
a year. I have seen indigents ticketed for the crime of being
on a public sidewalk with no place to go. The worse crime:
They have no money to spend. Non-consuming riff-raff
simply isn’t good for business.
Though it was over a year ago when I overheard a city
councilperson s comments to an East 13th businessperson, I
remain as saddened over the council person’s words today as
then. She expressed how much “better things are now on East
13th and how unpleasant it was when she “sometimes had
to step out in the mud to get around those people.’’ How many
hundreds of people, those who can afford it the least, have
been given stiff loitering fines because this woman couldn’t
wend her way or couldn’t bear the sight of poor folks? I’ve
had no problem with other humans on E. 13th. If congested, a
simple, courteous, ‘Excuse me, may I pass,” never fails. But I
have a decided problem with the moneyed interests there
who have pressured city council to institute draconian puni
tive regulations against the poor and homeless.
, human beings making way for the gentry,
huddling wherever they can find shelter is simply a fact of
life for many in our town.
Merry Christmas.
Carol Berg
Eugene