My Current Beef with OSU
Oregon State University has made me angry beyond a chance for reconciliation. Two things especially have driven me to the point of insanity. These two things are the new developments with cheerleading and the new bus routes. I hate the bureaucracy that cannot even see what the student who fund it really want. I am not one for a protest out in the streets that is run by ASOSU (the group of students voted on in a popularity contest to represent the student body to those in charge) which just seems to want its own extreme views to be taken in by those in charge without regard for what the majority of the student body thinks. I guess this is how things get done in our nation on all levels of government leaving the common member of the society powerless against those with extreme views.
The cheerleading incident is not as bad as people think but it has set back the status of cheerleaders which they have worked so hard for over the years. Every cheerleader I have ever known has only wanted respect for what they do. The difficulty, the training, and doing it all in a skirt provides them with pride as athletes. Nothing will be changing in the cheerleading program after next year other than the elimination of stunts. The uniforms will be the same and their will still be cheerleaders, but all they can do now is lead cheers. These girls have some skill that gave them the edge to be cheerleaders in a Division I college. Now the position of cheerleader can be filled with any pretty face a body that will make those little skirts look good. This change turns them into meat to be undressed by the eyes of every man in the audience. They no longer have a specialty that makes them more than eye-candy. The University says it is doing this for the safety of the student-athletes, but it is demoting them into just students in skimpy uniforms. I had given cheerleading the label of being a competition only after seeing the complexity, and with much begging from a friend to participate in the stunts themselves. This respect will all be lost They might as well just sit down in the Beaver Dam or grab a seat in Reeser because now all they do is cheer, and that is exactly what your average fan does at any of our sporting events. Sports are dangerous. Let these girls keep their dignity and respect they have earned.
The changes to the buses have now put me in a more horrible mood when I roll into class every morning. I do not have a fully functioning car, or a parking pass that is out of my financial range. I have to depend on the bus to get me to and from school, and sometimes to work and back on the weekends. I live fairly far off campus. I choose this location because I got a much better apartment for the money I disperse monthly, and because I could ride the bus, that ran every half hour to campus, right outside my apartment. Oregon State decided that they no longer wanted the traffic of the buses running through campus so they forced the city to bypass the campus. Seeing as most of the population of Corvallis has business has with the campus this seems quite odd. So now for me to get to school on time I have to walk four blocks to catch the bus that will now drop me off on the outskirts of campus making me walk another six blocks to get to class. The disruption to the routes has added difficulty to every part of my commuting. I used to be able to catch either of the two buses home from campus right outside the bookstore. One of them still does but the other is now about four blocks up and over off campus. This would not be a big problem other than the busses run at very inconsistent times, like all busses do, making it very hard not waste more of my day waiting for a bus that might take an hour or more to get me home. These two stops were very vital to many people around campus and always serviced many students who’s tuition goes to partially fund the buses. This is just another example of the University ignoring the needs of the students in order to remedy a problem that only the image conscious members of the highest circles of college management even recognize as disruptive.
This might just be what is grinding my gears but I think this is a real problem. I am sure the deeper I involve myself in investigating the stupidity the more agitated I will get. I will let it go now to save my sanity, but I am sure they will force something new to my attention that will prove even more that the administration is running a business rather than a place of learning and advancement of the students who attend it.