Templeton is an inexcusably nasty building

Bon Appetit is not just an obsession after all

Women need to learn how to take a compliment

OSPIRG makes valuable contributions to LC and the community

Letters to the Editor

College Outdoors needs to rent out its gear Soon, with any luck, I will be joining the ranks of the illustrious LC alumni, amazed that my four years here ended so quickly. I have realized, however, that there is one urgent issue that needs to be raised before I leave here. I love this school, and I want to see it flourish and grow. I have been involved with College Outdoors, the Lewis & Clark outdoor program, in the past. Though I am not presently involved in it, I have many friends who have continued their involvement in College Outdoors while I have pursued other, sometimes parallel interests. One of the reasons I came to LC was for its top-flight outdoor program, and its access to some of the most beautiful public lands this country has to offer. While I had high hopes for College Outdoors and my involvement in it, my hopes were quickly dashed as I realized the misguided manner in which College Outdoors is run. The operations of College Outdoors are exemplified by absurd equipment policies, which do not allow students to use their own gear. College Outdoors, in addition to being a cheap guide service, should be a rental program, where people in the LC community could come to check out gear to use on their own personal trips. I know that well over $100,000 worth of gear sits in McAfee House, gathering dust on a weekly basis, as many of my friends, all of them LC students, lament that they would participate more in all kinds of outdoor activities if they "had the gear." That gear is sitting, locked away and useless, in McAfee House, usable only and exclusively by College Outdoors trip leaders, demi-gods that they are. One wonders what right these individuals (I was one of them) have to use the gear secretly while others have to make trips to REI every weekend to rent equipment. Joe Yuska, Director of College Outdoors, offers special favors to certain individuals whom he feels comfortable with using the gear, while others are left out in the cold, often for reasons that are unclear. I know for a fact that this type of favoritism has gone on. I know, because I was there. Now, you may ask, what right do we, as the LC community, have to use the gear in their storage facility? We have every right, because we purchased it. It is there because we allocated money for it through ASLC funding, so it should be our right to use it. I think I am going to calculate what percentage of it belongs to me, as a full-paying LC student (with loans, etc.), and go liberate it from McAfee House. This would be true justice. I urge, implore and beg you, the LC community, every last one of you, to demand your right to use the gear in McAfee House for your own trips. Rekindle your own interest in the outdoors, and do it with your gear. You will be repulsed with arguments that the college would lose money due to gear loss and breakage. Those who want to use the gear should be tested as to whether they can use it properly. On Thursday and Friday afternoons, an outdoor program volunteer or employee should check out gear and verify that those checking it out know how to use it. This would be a simple process and would ensure that the gear gets used for its intended purpose, and does not sit, sequestered, as if contraband at some customs station. These and other issues are raised in a more comprehensive article discussing College Outdoors and its operations. This article will be posted around campus in conspicuous locations. Please check it out and assess the arguments it makes. It is up to each individual in the campus community to call for change within College Outdoors. The issue expressed in this article is only one of many. Think on it, and let your voice be heard. Lee Jennings

OSPIRG defies trend in campus-wide apathy OSPIRG seems to be the target of the moment for attacks that range from vicious Trail Room diatribes intent on smearing OSPIRG's activities and the character of its members to long-winded, tiresome "commentaries" in the Pioneer Log aimed at a more rational refutation of the organization's activities. Frankly, these attacks disgust me. I'm no big OSPIRG fan—honestly, I probably only recycle every fourth beer can and worry more about acne than global warming—but I am deeply concerned about the apathetic nature of the LC student body. Pathetic student attendance at most social actionÐoriented lectures and forums (the dubious "Sides for a Solution" debate stands as a single exception), the paucity of students involved in any sort of formal collective with a cause, and the laughable degree of campus-wide involvement in ASLC painfully evidence and underscore this apathy. Our campus is full of pot-head Trustafarians—it's difficult enough to entice them away from the bong and into the classroom, let alone get them to lift a finger for some sort of positive cause. Triple OSPIRG's funding, for all I care, just don't axe a group that injects this lifeless campus with some small amount of vim and vigor. Andy Holder Teach for America offers rewarding experience When school began last fall I was no longer a carefree LC student, responsible only for myself; I was a Teach For America teacher in a high school English classroom in Houston, Texas. It felt like a nightmare I've had, in which I forget all my lines while the whole world watched; but it was far worse, because I never even imagined the lines I would need to respond to the student who swore at me while the whole class laughed, or to fully explain the concept of irony. I've had so much to learn, and ours is not an easy atmosphere for learning, for me or for my students. My ninth graders' reading levels range from kindergarten to post-high school level. 1300 ninth graders enter the school each year and only 300 seniors graduate. Gang activities grow more and more divisive and violent. But I am deeply inspired to learn because my students show me daily what intellectual and creative potential they possess. I cannot conceive of a more real and fulfilling application of my English degree, though some days last fall I did wish I were working as a waitress in a cafe in Portland! As graduation looms nearer for the seniors at LC, I urge you to consider Teach For America. As you may know, it is the national teacher corps of outstanding recent college graduates from diverse backgrounds and all academic majors who commit two years to teach in under-resourced urban and rural public schools. Since 1990, Teach For America has trained nearly 4,000 teachers and placed them in classrooms across the country. Corps members are hired and paid as full-time salaried employees by their school districts. During any given school year, close to 1,000 corps members are in their first or second year of teaching and reach more than 100,000 students in 13 geographic areas. While all corps members must have a bachelor's degree, no previous education coursework is required. Teach For America makes a particular effort to recruit people of color, bilingual speakers, and math, science, and engineering majors. Teach For America draws its strength from the diverse backgrounds and experiences of its members, and these are also the areas for which school districts have expressed the greatest need. Teach For America's first application deadline is in January of each year but the program will accept, on a rolling basis, applications that are postmarked on or before the beginning of March. For more information or to request an application, go to Career Services, call 1-800-TFA-1230 or log on to our website at http://www.teachforamerica.org. Ariana Chandler

Story on OSPIRG misrepresented facts Last week's Forum article by David Severson, "OSPIRG and Student Groups," misrepresents a few points on the budget and the budgeting process. Severson compares OSPIRG's funding to that of the chartered student groups. This ignores the other student groups that are funded by ASLC, i.e., Pioneer Log, KLC, SOFA, Literary Review, etc. Severson did say that OSPIRG is part of the Programming Board, which is true. In that case it makes more sense to compare the OSPIRG budget against the Programming Board's budget, instead of chartered groups. The Programming Board received $105,450 this year. OSPIRG's budget is about twelve percent of this total. I also take issue with Severson's pie chart. The title of the chart implies that OSPIRG gets three-quarters of all the student group funding. It is true that OSPIRG does get about three-quarters of the money that goes to groups that are primarily activist in nature. However, a pie chart implies 100 percent of funding allocated. A bar graph would have been a better representation. It is also important to note that ASLC is not SCoP's only source of funding. SCoP also gets money from the College, similar to groups like the International Affairs Symposium. The worst characterization in Severson's article is of the budgeting process. Severson states, "Student organizations compete with each other over funding. Each time a new chartered group requests money, other student groups see a loss in funding." This is not true. There is no set total at which ASLC will stop allocating money to chartered groups. The Charter and Budget Commission does aim to keep the total funding within an estimate, but can exceed it. New student groups do not necessarily mean that old student groups suffer. Each student group needs to demonstrate its need. Also, total ASLC funds are not limited to the same total each year. ASLC Council has made provisions for yearly budget increases. Describing the budgeting process as a competition feeds the inflation of proposed budgets and makes the job much harder for Shannon Benfield-Blankenship, the VP of Student Organizations. Severson does have good points; however, his characterization of the budget is flawed. I wish that he had spoken to me first, and I could have helped him to describe the budget and budgeting process correctly. Accurate information could have made Severson's case much clearer. Colin J. Beck Vice President of Budget and Finance ASLC

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