Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www dailyetnerald.com
Fridayjanuary 18,2002
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Yesteryear’s Editorial
Development
ofpersonality
£ { ^ olleges, by reason of the present-day sys
I tem of education, turn out types rather
V^_Jthan personalities. Their graduates are
the product of large-scale production, a condition
which has arisen out of the attempt on the part of
educational institutions to absorb the heteroge
neous mass which yearly comes to them in in
creasing bulk for higher education.” This is the in
dictment against American colleges by a writer in
a recent issue of the Daily Iowan.
This is by no means the first expression of opin
ion that colleges and universities are failing to
turn out personalities. That
the student who comes to col
lege with a spark of genius is
soon molded into the conven
tional type has been the con
tention of a certain class of
writers for years.
Without a doubt the influ
ence is toward the subordina
tion of individuality, and
with the ever-growing pro
portion between the number
of instructors and the number
of students there seems to be little opportunity for
remedying the condition. There are other con
tributing factors, othdr than large classes, howev
er, which might continue to exist even if that con
dition were remedied.
University
of Oregon
125th
ANNIVERSARY
Originally
published on
January 18,1923
If the college student has aggressiveness he can
preserve his own personality. Although the sys
tem tends to develop him along conventional
lines, he will not be transformed into a “type” un
less he is passive.
Of all American institutions the college should
be the first to teach citizens to think. Yet there is
the same criticism against college students on this
score as against the mass of American people. It is
not unreasonable to think that Edison’s statement
that only two percent of the population ever really
thinks is not far amiss for those registered in col
leges and schools of higher learning.
If students will come to college with an air of
agreeable aggressiveness, institutions will be in a
better way to teach them to think. And when stu
dents learn to think, personalities rather than
types will be developed. Mental stagnation and
passiveness are the undoing of higher education
in America. Until students learn to fight their
own battles the contentions of the critics will
go unanswered.
Editor’s note: This editorial was taken from the
fan. 18, 1923 edition of the Oregon Daily Emerald.
Letters to the Editor and
Guest Commentaries Policy
Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are sncourapd.
Letters are limited io 250 words and guest commentaries to 550
words. Please include contact information. The Emerald reserves
the rightto edit tor space, grammar and style.
Iditorial Board Member
Jessica Blanchard
editor In chief
Jeremy Lang
managing editor
Goida Portillo
community representative
Julie Lauderbaugh
editorial editor
Jacquelyn Lewis
assistant eoitorial editor
Patricia Hachlen
community representative
LeonTovey
newsroom representative
Peter Utsey Emerald
The president’s J)VCtZCl logic
Last weekend, President George
W. Bush fainted and fell from a
couch after choking on a pretzel
while watching a football game. The
president reportedly cut his face and
bruised his lip when he fell to the
floor and now sports an inflamed
bruise on his left cheek. The Emerald
editorial board felt like being conspir
acy theorists this week, and created
the top five “real” causes behind the
pretzel debacle:
0 The President is seriously ill. In
August, Bush had three “sun-in
duced” lesions removed from his face
because they were potentially cancer
causing. Now Bush has another le
sion on his cheek. Is this a coinci
dence? We think not.
0 Buddy, the Clintons’ recently-de
ceased First Dog, has come back to
haunt the Bush family. Buddy was
killed by a car Jan. 2 in New York and
may have returned to the White
House to wreak havoc in his old
“haunting” grounds.
° Kenneth Lay, Enron Corp.’s chair
man, is upset about the way the com
pany’s scandal has been covered in
the media, and is out to divert atten
tion from himself by creating specula
tion about Bush’s health.
° Bush received “subliminable”
messages that said punching himself
would be good “strategery.”
° First Lady Laura Bush got mad
because he was watching football in
stead of paying attention to her, and
socked him.
Editor’s note: All of these conspira
cies were created in good humor and
are not meant to be taken seriously.
Letters to the editor
Erb Essentials is blowing smoke
Unlike the University Bookstore and Lane Com
munity College’s bookstore, some members of the
EMU Board of Directors appear indifferent to im
portant ethical issues associated with selling to
bacco. Instead, revenue was cited as reason enough
to continue selling tobacco in Erb Essentials.
Given that University Bookstore tobacco sales
were less than 1 percent of total annual sales, the
decision to discontinue was apparently less diffi
cult than the one before the EMU Board of Direc
tors. However, appearances can be deceptive.
Profits from the convenience store support EMU
programs, but the $30,000 generated last year in
profits from tobacco sales equates to a tiny percent
of total EMU income. In addition, with record stu
dent enrollment, the EMU should be benefiting
from increased consumption and incidental fees.
The University finds itself in an increasing mi
nority. The majority of Pacific-10 Conference
schools don’t sell tobacco, including the Universi
ty of Washington, which recently discontinued to
bacco sales in three campus outlets, even though
they faced losses similar to the University. Similar
events have taken place at other colleges.
Tobacco is responsible for more suffering and
death than all other legal and illegal substances
combined. A decision on campus tobacco sales
should’ve been about severing ties with an inhei
ently unethical industry and establishing an envi
ronment for students that discourages harmful
tobacco use.
It’s a shame the EMU Board chose to ignore stu
dent health in favor of a small share in tobacco in
dustry profits.
Julia Martin
Eugene
Puck you
I found Hank Hager's piece (“U.S. hockey team
hopes win will unite America,” ODE, 1/15) both
ridiculous and sexist.
Hager states that “the actions of September have
magnified what the men of the United States do in
February.” He didn’t mention that the United
States won the first ever gold medal in women’s
hockey in 1998. The U.S. men's hockey team, how
ever, has represented the absolute worst in sports
manship in past Olympics, through lack of team
work on the ice and poor conduct that created an
inaccurate representation of the American athlete.
Since when did the horrors of Sept. 11 become
the backdrop for someone's “Mighty Ducks” fan
tasy? The murder of thousands of American citi
zens created a wound on the soul of our country —
a wound that can't be healed with something as mi
nuscule as a sporting event victory.
I suggest Hager choose his words carefully, and
pick his sports heroes with even greater caution.
RaecheIM.Sims
junior
journalism, women’s studies
©the story ■ % j
about the
of the Indian
Subcontinent
("Conflict and
the art of
communication"
ODE, 1/17), the
caption that ran
with the photo ||
was incorrect.
The Students
of the Indian
Subcontinent
wifi not be
celebrating ^
Diwali on
Saturday in
Agate Hall.
The Emerald
regrets the error.