Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Tuesday
May 23,2000
Volume 101, Issue 158
Effierald
The first year of
college winds
down for one
freshman, and he
wonders if
normalcy will
overtake the
excitement of
college life
f~\ s the end of my fresh
/ A \ man year of college is
/ \ coming to a close, I am
^^™V_^astounded at how fast it
went. I hope some of you are
thinking the same. What puzzles
me the most, though, is the fact
that I will be returning here this
fall.
As crazy as it sounds, it never
clicked in my head that I would
be at college for more than one
year. I mean, I was going to get a
degree, but that was just going to
magically appear one day in my
mental schedule.
The real cause of my short
sightedness was that I couldn’t
see college becoming mundane,
routine. The whole K-12 educa
tional system points you straight
to college. With all the emphasis
put on it, college becomes an in
stitution of mythic proportions.
Your grandparents tell you, “It’ll
be the best time of your life.” Your
parents finally acknowledge your
independence ... at least, mine
kind of did. Do any of you have
parents stopping by your room to
see if you’ve cleaned up? That’s
normal, right?
So you finally get to college,
and it is the coolest thing ever.
You are sur
rounded by
people your
age. You
can set your
own sched
ule (we all
have had
those days
that don’t
start until
noon). You
get credit
Mason for taking
West classes
- such as
trampoline or mountain biking,
and you can’t walk five blocks
without passing a coffee shop.
This is heaven.
So everyone indulges — big
partying, on weekdays no less,
staying up late and skipping class
for the sole reason that you don’t
have to be there. This was the
point of all that previous educa
tion, right? So that I can pay mon
ey directly to do everything non
academic? Indeed it is. C’s get de
grees, man.
I’m just kidding. But college is
all about fun and wonder when
you first get there. The first time I
found out about Cinemark
Movies 12,1 thought that Eugene
was the greatest place on earth.
When I got pie and coffee for two
bucks at Marie Callender’s, I
swore I would never leave.
Since then I have rethought
that statement. The campus,
beautiful as it is, has become fa
miliar. I know how to get from
PLC to Columbia to Gerlinger.
Had I attempted such a feat at the
beginning of the year, I would
have been reported missing after
three days, and an extensive
search party would have found
me in the fetal position some
where near the EMU.
The incoherent jargon that
once left me in tears of frustration
is now perfectly distinguishable.
I know what it means if someone
is taking a “J” class or “CIS.” If
someone says “121” or “122,” I
know instinctually that it is Writ
ing 121 or 122. and I sigh sympa
thetically and talk about how
much the class sucks.
I am no longer impressed by
people who can grow beards. The
chief male accomplishment in
high school, one I failed to reach,
is now just as common as seeing
bleached hair. Just walk into any
physics class and look at the pro
fessor. I swear beards are required
to teach college physics.
I am now used to living inde
pendently. I vacuum. I VACUUM!
Wow, that still impresses me.
This year has been great. But
what is going to happen next
year? I mean, I’ll have to venture
into the uncharted regions of
cooking (expect to hear more
about that next year) but what
else? There will be different class
es in a building that I might not
have been in, new teachers and if
I’m lucky, some new video games
in the break. But the magic will be
gone. Sniffle.
I’m wondering what the upper
classmen are thinking. I’m won
dering if any of them have read
this far. But I’m interested in their
perspectives about how college
progresses. Maybe there should
be a seminar. We could call it
“When College Gets Common
place.” People would talk about
how they coped with the college
routine. Everyone would hug and
cry, and there would be free cof
fee and cookies. It would be great.
Well, I’ll be back next year like
most of you. To the graduating
seniors and grad students, I am in
awe of you. I hope to one day be
in your shoes. As for the rest of
us, we’ll just sit around laughing
at the new freshman. Maybe
that’s what keeps college exciting.
When they come to us asking if
we know where the University
Health Center is because they are
having an allergic reaction, we’ll
say, “Ha ha ha, silly freshman.”
But inside we’ll ache for the days
when the world contained so
much wonder.
Mason West is a columnist for the Ore
gon Daily Emerald. His views do not nec
essarily represent those of the Emerald.
He can be reached via e-mail at
mwest1@gladstone.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the editor
Support student parents
Child Care Block Grants are
awarded on the basis of need to
help low-income Oregonians at
tend Oregon’s non-profit institu
tions of higher education. Al
though the additional funding
requested for the Child Care Block
Grant will not assist all of the eligi
ble low-income students, it is esti
mated that the waiting list (now
more than one year) would drop
to half of that or more with $3.9
million.
The Oregon Student Associa
tion has launched a statewide let
ter-writing campaign to let Oregon
legislators know that we care
about the needs of student parents
and that we are going to fight our
hardest to secure funding for the
Child Care Block Grant this leg
islative session. The ASUO is part
of this letter-writing campaign,
and I encourage all of you to get
involved. On May 25 at 6 p.m. the
ASUO will sponsor a dinner with
legislators to discuss funding for
the Child Care Block Grant. This
will be a great opportunity to
voice concerns to our legislators.
For more information on the event
you can contact Kathleen Work
man at 346-0632 or stop by the
ASUO office.
Parents seeking a higher educa
tion or attending our fine commu
nity colleges, public and private
colleges and universities are ab
solutely key to Oregon’s future
economic vitality and growth. The
Child Care Block Grant program is
critically important in assuring
that low-income Oregonians in all
sectors are able to play a role in
shaping our future.
Melissa Unger
history
A hypocritical institution
Nike CEO Phil Knight argued
that the University was hypocriti
cal to join the Worker Rights Con
sortium while not treating its own
employees fairly. He should have
noted that the University cannot
comply with basic labor law.
The University is withholding
vital employment information
from the Graduate Teaching Fel
lows Federation (GTFF). Universi
ty counsel claims that it cannot
share this information without the
individual GTF’s consent under
the Family Education Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA).
Is the University committed to
FERPA? Well, how many students
have received mail and telephone
solicitations for a Discover Card?
The chorus of “yeses” is attributed
to the University providing Dis
cover Card with some students’
information. According to Univer
sity officials, the Freedom of Infor
mation Act (FOIA) requires the re
lease of this information. At the
same time, the University does not
fulfill its legal obligation to release
employee information to the
GTFF.
So, to sum up: the University is
the ideal forum of free inquiry and
critical thinking. The University
provides information to an organi
zation whose goal is to get stu
dents hooked on consumer debt.
The University fails to provide in
formation to an organization
whose aim is to get students
hooked on free inquiry and criti
cal thinking. If the University is
not concerned about the latter val
ues — and, consistent with labor
law, dealing fairly with employees
who promote these values — then
what is this University about?
Max Brown
GTF, political science