Authentic Orange

Submitted by: Kiana Dussin

“Be Orange” they said. Be orange but don’t let the color define you. I heard these words at orientation and I knew I had found my new home. When I decided to become an Oregon state beaver, I was positive I made the right choice. This was so, because I knew I could be my authentic self at Oregon State. The words “Be Orange” meant so much more to me than just a color. The college was telling me to find what I love to study and do what makes me happy. But there always can be obstacles trying to be your authentic self and becoming an individual at Oregon State.

To be authentic means “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character” (Merriam Webster). Being my authentic self is something I’ve always tried to be my whole life. I believe it’s best to stay true to yourself and never conform with others. Nietzsche states “by means of morality, individuals are led to be functions of the herd and to attribute value to themselves merely as functions” (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Pg.116). By this Nietzsche means that all people are drawn and want to be accepted by the herd (or a group of people), so we do things and act a certain way to be accepted.

At a large college like Oregon State, peer pressure can greatly impact one drifting from his/her authentic self. One usually has their own set of morals and values but when put in certain situations, he/she will go against them to fit in or seem “cool”. Going again who you are is “bad faith: I am both the liar and the deceived” (Lecture, 5/26/15). You are lying to people about who you truly are and are being deceived by the people that are lying as well to fit in like you. It can be a cycle that is hard to break. People fall into peer pressure because it’s a natural feeling to want to fit in and be liked by many people. Humans are on a “pursuit of identity and freedom”(Lecture, 5/7/15). But it’s most important to be yourself because if you are, you will eventually find people just like you. It just takes time and the right kind of people.

My tips for living authentically as an OSU student are: To always be yourself, get involved in something you love and stand up/stop the peer pressure. If you are always your authentic self and are comfortable with that self, then the conformity of others won’t drag you in. Being confident in yourself can change your perspective and outlook on many things. If you involve yourself in things that you love, maybe you’ll have a better chance connecting with people that are similar to your authentic self. Having friends that have similar morals and values to you will make it easier to stick to your authentic self. Finally stopping the peer pressure and feeling no need to conform will be the biggest obstacle to overcome in becoming an individual at Oregon State. Kierkegaard states that there is dedication to “that single individual” (Lecture, 5/5/15). There is usually one individual that starts the peer pressure and is the head of the group. It’s important to stand up for yourself and stop the growth of conformity. In the end it’s only up to you, “you become who you make yourself to be”(Lecture, 5/21/15).

Oregon States large community with many different degrees paths and organizations to join makes it easier for one to be his/her authentic self. But never underestimate the pressure you may go under to conform. “What you are is a result of your choices”(Lecture, 5/21/15). This meaning that its your choice what path you take and who you follow and don’t follow. Truly knowing your authentic self and being comfortable with that authentic self, is the key to non-conformity.

submitted by Lorena Colcer

At Oregon State University, “Be Orange” means a lot more than what appears on the surface. “Being Orange” requires people to examine themselves and determine what “living authentically” means for them.

As defined by Merriam-Webster, “authentic” means “true to one’s personality, spirit, or character.” Here are some tips on how a student at OSU can strive to authentically “Be Orange.”

Tip #1: Choose your major authentically – but don’t sweat it

Ultimately, a college education is the reason people choose to be students at OSU. Therefore, it is important to be choose an undergraduate major authentically.

Sartre’s advice to students when choosing something is that, “When we say that man chooses himself, we do mean that every one of us must choose himself; but by that we also mean that in choosing for himself he chooses for all men. For in effect, of all the actions a man may take in order to create himself as he wills to be, there is not one which is not creative, at the same time, of an image of man such as he believes he ought to be” (Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, pg. 5). Essentially, when one chooses something, they should choose something which they believe everybody should do. People should form not only their own lives with their choices, but also “an image of man such as he believes he ought to be.” This ensures that people make the choice which aligns with their beliefs – the most authentic one.

However, your undergraduate major does not define you. It is included in the definition of you, but it does not make up the entirety of someone – especially since there are many cases where people have careers in fields that are completely unrelated to their undergraduate major.

This is an example of denying one’s transcendence, similar to the example of a waiter trying to convince someone that they are only a waiter and nothing but a waiter (Lecture 5/26/15). This is just silly – people are more than just their jobs or their major. So, if you’re having trouble deciding what you want to major in, that’s okay. Do what feels right, and seek opportunities that sound exciting – that way, you’ll start to get experience in what interests you.

Tip #2: Choose your illicit activities authentically (and responsibly!)

Okay, I personally don’t prefer illicit activities, but the typical college student will engage in them from time to time.

First of all – be safe in your illicit activities. Don’t let people drive while intoxicated, don’t leave your drink unattended, and stand up for people if someone is taking advantage of them.

Be mindful of your long-term goals. A way to help this is to think about Kierkegaard’s three spheres of life: the aesthetic, seeking immediate desires, the ethical, adhering to universal moral duties, and the religious, an individual relationship with the Christian God and religion. (Lecture 4/23/15) I’m not advocating that one is better than the other (in fact, I’m not even religious), but that you should spend time pondering which one you fit in currently and whether or not you think it is best for you.

Tip #3: Choose your licit activities authentically (and responsibly!)

Make sure to prioritize what needs to be prioritized – avoid procrastination. Turn off your phone and use a browser extension that does not let you access social media websites while you’re studying. It will help you focus on what needs to be done, along with help you staying authentic to yourself.

You might be thinking – “but, everyone procrastinates at some point, so why should I bother?” That example is one full of bad faith, or the denial of the facticity/transcendence duality of human existence. This is specifically denying transcendence, because it is denying your freedom to branch out from your peer group and be different (and responsible!). (Lecture 6/2/15) Do what you need to do. Your life will be much less stressful if you avoid living near the end of the deadline.

Ultimately, as Ortega would say, causa sui^2: you are self-caused and self-defining (Lecture 4/9/15). You accumulate being, and it is your choice for who you want to be and how you want to “Be Orange.” Take this advice and use it to be as successful and authentic as you can be. Go Beavs!

Submitted by Christopher Pavlovich

To be authentic is to act in good faith. The best way to describe this is to explain what it is not. Acting in bad faith is worst when the person does not even realize they are doing so. They are lying in their behavior by denying part of who they are, and at the same time deceiving themselves so they do not even realize it (Lecture, 6/2/2015).
We talked about two big things that make up humans. We have our facticity and our transcendence. Facticity is the part of us that we were born with: physical properties, some parts of our living situation, family, etc. Transcendence consists more of decisions, this is what we chose to be, the part of our existence we make for ourselves. Not being authentic, or acting in bad faith, would be denying either one of these parts of who we are (Lecture, 5/26/15). This is something that really should strike home to students at OSU. Looking at what college I wanted to go to, it came down to where I felt most comfortable. OSU seemed to be the most diverse, laid back, and even bizarre school I toured. Everyone was different and it made me feel at home. To authentically “Be Orange” means people stay true to themselves as well as the people around them, and a huge part of that is overcoming peer pressure.
One thing I found helpful in class was looking at example cases. One of which took a waiter at a restaurant and said he could be living in bad faith if he is hiding his personality to be what he considers a good waiter. In this example, the waiter is denying his transcendence, he is only looking at the fact that he is a waiter. An existential theme we learned about is freedom. This is what makes transcendence possible, it lets us choose who we want to be (Lecture, 5/21/15). Gift or curse, it is real and something we should use to our advantage. In school we can do the same thing as the waiter being students. Sometimes when the work loads get thick, we become absorbed in homework and spend days on end with little to no communication outside our school projects. Yes we are just doing what we need to, but are we denying a part of who we are by shutting ourselves out?
Similarly, students can have the opposite problem. Especially people just coming into college, it can be easy to feel the freedom in full force being away from our parents and feel like the rules no longer apply. In fact, a lot of them no longer do, but the consequences are more real than a grounding or losing your car keys for a week. When students take to partying too much, taking too many nights off school work, skipping too many classes, they are the opposite of the waiter. In this case, students deny their facticity. They ignore that they are in a situation that requires work and put off some things that simply can not be put off. “By means of this unconsciousness and forgetfulness he arrives at his sense of truth.” (Nietzsche, On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense, pg. 1). Through forgetting why we are here in college, as students we are coming to a sense of truth in bad faith as we are denying our situation.
In either of these cases, we are confronted with an obstacle. Whether our friends have perfect GPAs or do not do any of their homework, they are effecting us. Discussing the concept of “the crowd” in class we talked about how much responsibility is lost in our actions when it becomes something done as a group (Lecture, 5/5/15). This concept mixed with a college environment makes living in bad faith very easy. If it was one or two people partying, it would be uncommon. But because it becomes a norm in a group to blow off assignments, people feel much better about it because they are not alone in doing so. Not only do their peers direct their actions, but they lose the guilt that should be involved in doing the wrong thing. Authentically Being Orange is to stay clear of denying either our facticity in our situation or the transcendence through getting lost in the situation and denying who we are.

Submitted by Megan Marchand

Authenticity to me means not being fake, but being true to one self as well as others when it comes actions upon one’s morals and beliefs.

Now, I haven’t always been a Beaver Believer. In fact, up until my senior year of high school, I was always a Duck fan. It wasn’t until I received a scholarship that would pay for my tuition at any university in the state of Oregon that found myself considering becoming a Beaver. Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to become a high school teacher, I wanted to teach Agriculture to younger generations and education them on some of the most important subjects that pertain to continuing life on this earth. I just never knew how. It wasn’t until I was awarded the Ford Family Foundation scholarship that this dream of mine was put into perspective.

All of a sudden the stats, sports or games didn’t matter. I focused on the academics of schools all around Oregon and I found that Oregon State was known for its College of Agriculture as well as excelled academically in the eyes of the state. That’s when I applied and a few months later I was accepted. I started attending OSU in the Fall of 2013 and grew to love the community as well as the beautiful campus. Everyone here is so welcoming and accepting they became people too difficult to not like. They grew on me.

Today, I would consider myself authentically Orange. There is not school I rather attend or place I rather be than with my fellow classmates and peers here at this university. We may not be super great at football, but we have great sportsmanship.

This is a guide to becoming AUTHENTICALLY Orange for all those CURRENT Duck fans!

• Visit and fall in love with our campus!
• It’s not too big, but it’s not too small either
• See how welcoming, open minded and accepting our community is
• Apply and enroll at Oregon State University. You can visit the Admission’s Office page at http://oregonstate.edu/admissions/ to get more information.
• Buy a bunch of Beaver gear
• Admire how good you look in orange and black! What’s up good lookin’?
• Take classes that you’re interested in and contact your professors
• Realize how much the instructors on this campus care about the success of each and every one of their students.
• Sit in the student’s section at any one of our sporting events and feel the energy of our fan base
• Play intermural sports through Dixon Rec
• Get involved in Greek Life whether you join the community or you just participate in their philanthropies
• Live fully and authentically and enjoy every moment at this beautiful school

Alright, so there are a few things I’ve learned from my Philosophy class this past term. One of the things I’ve learned is how to live in the moment. I’ve learned that reality is ontologically ambiguous and that facticity and transcendence both play an important part in living day-to-day. This class has taught me to question everything! I mean everything. Is freedom actually free? What does it mean to be alive? What does it take to become “nothing”? Is there an afterlife? Is there a god? Most importantly though, this past term I’ve learned the importance of being true to myself. The importance of authenticity. Without being authentic I can’t successfully live with meaning. We are all in an existential situation where we are striving for eternal and infinite meaning. There are three spheres to existence: Aesthetic, Ethical and Religious.

People live that live in the Aesthetic sphere are thrill seekers. They seek to satisfy their desires immediately. In the Ethical sphere people constantly debate if situations and choices are good or bad. These people live with believing they have a universal moral duty to make responsible decisions that align with their idea of right. Lastly, in the Religious sphere these people live in Christian faith. They find meaning in both their church and their relationship with God.

Some people live in all three of these spheres actively. Some only one or two. However, typically one resonates most with them. Which do you live in?

Submitted by Geoffrey Bishop

Congrats! You graduated High School and are now on your way to Oregon State University. I can assure you that you have made the right choice of schools in the State of Oregon! Before you get Corvallis, I’d like to give you a few pointers on how to “Be Orange!” We want you to be as authentic as you can and this intro to OSU will help you do that!

You might be asking yourself, “What does it mean to authentically Be Orange?” In a recent publication from Stanford, “The term ‘authentic’ is used… in a weaker sense of being ‘faithful to an original’ or a ‘reliable, accurate representation’” (Varga, Somogy. “Authenticity.”). So, the easiest way to be “authentic” is to be you. Oregon State is a great place to find out who you are by exploring the many options and experiences of this great University.

While we want you to be yourself, we also want you to have school spirit and follow in our motto, “Be Orange!” A few steps on how to “Be Orange” is as follows:

Step One: Wear orange! If you don’t already have some of our awesome Beaver gear, head on over to the OSU Bookstore to pick some up.

Step Two: Cheer for the Beavers! Some of the best memories in college are from sporting events. Standing in the rain, wind blowing in your face, drunken guy falling into you, all while watching your Beavers fight for another win! That’s the dream!

If you haven’t been to a sporting event yet, then you haven’t heard our student section and their many cheers! Learning those makes anyone a sports lover.

Step Three: Make new friends! Oregon State University is one of the friendliest places and everyone is just waiting to be your friend.

Some of the best ways to make new friends is by joining some of our clubs. We have everything from farming, to business, to music, to sports! There is a club for everyone here.

Step Four: Enjoy yourself! You may only be her for a couple of years and after those 4 years… 5 years… 6 years… (I hope you’re in your masters by now), you’ll remember what it meant to you to “Be Orange”!

Step Five: Go to class! Although you’re supposed to enjoy yourself, you need to attend class to be able to relax.

If you start skipping, soon all those missed assignments or clicker points will add up and so will your stress. The expression, “Work Hard, Play Hard” actually comes in handy. If you set a goal for yourself to effectively work for 2-4 hours and get something done, then go out for dinner or hang with friends, I guarantee you will enjoy yourself a lot more.

Looking back at the Five steps on “How to Be Orange”, you’ll notice they all circle around the idea of getting outside and meeting someone new at a sporting event or in class. Over the course of my time here, I learned that to “Be Orange” I just needed to be happy and smile on campus (For some others, “Be Orange” involves drinking. That’s their choice). One last piece of advice is to ask questions. Not only in class but also in life. School will teach you what you need to know for a career, but the people around you will teach you how to live and isn’t living what life is all about? Have Fun and Welcome to Beaver Nation!

Work Cited

Varga, Somogy. “Authenticity.” Stanford University. Stanford University, 11 Sept. 2014.

Submitted by Ryan Green

Being an authentic individual while identifying with a crowd that ranks, grades, and objectifies you as an individual can be quite difficult. “These assessments and rankings always express the needs of a community and herd: whatever profits it in the first place – and in the second and third – is also the supreme measure of value of all individuals” (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, pg 130).  If you were an individual in Germany during the Holocaust would your supreme measure of value be to rid your country of all the Jewish people?  Now that we have seen its effects, it is easy to give the answer, “No!”  However, many people fought for that just because they followed the herd instead of their own morals and beliefs.  Could our university be leading us into a tragedy right now?

Doubtful, but there is always a slight possibility.  If you recognized a tragedy forming in your community would you have the courage to stand up and try to lead the crowd into a new direction?   “The crowd is untruth.  There is therefore no one who has more contempt for what it is to be a human being than those who make it their profession to lead the crowd.  Let someone, some individual human being, certainly, approach such a person, what does he care about him; that is much too small a thing; he proudly sends him away; there must be at least a hundred” (Kierkegaard, The Crowd is Untruth, pg. 3).  Leadership sounds like quite a balancing act. Our community, our herd, our university is doing it’s best and what is best for it.  Oregon State University has made many great things possible, but what is best for it isn’t always best for the majority of individuals in the crowd.  A crowd always results in someone being overlooked in some regard, even if it is subtle or of seemingly little importance.  How can we have an affect on that as individuals?  Passively allowing it to happen in front of you doesn’t work. “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice” (Rush, Permanent Waves, Freewill).   Blaming the system, the it, initially feels like an effective response, but it doesn’t get you very far, either.

“I name you three metamorphoses of the spirit: how the spirit shall become a camel, and the camel a lion, and the lion at last a child” (Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, pg. 54).  The camel passively bears the load of the system, the lion fights the system with all his might, and the child plays with it.  The child is innocent, creative, and fearless.  The child shows all how it feels and creates as much fun as it can out of what’s available.  There is nothing more authentic and genuine than the child.  Being Orange, we have a lot to play with. Let us all be as creative as children and each individually change the hue of orange, before orange changes the hue of the individual.

“A crowd is indeed made up of single individuals; it must therefore be in everyone’s power to become what he is, a single individual; no one is prevented from being a single individual, no one, unless he prevents himself by becoming many” (Kierkegaard, The Crowd is Untruth, pg. 6).

Submitted by Aaron Streblow

We live in rapidly changing culture. With the arrival of new technologies and ways to communicate information, human lives are becoming increasingly less and less private. As a result a new word has arisen out of the works and it plays a roll in the lives and decisions of countless people. This word is trendy. Being trendy, or in other words: up to date in the most popular styles and fads, is not intrinsically evil; however, when not taken lightly, this mode of being may become inauthentic. As aspiring OSU students in today’s culture, we find ourselves in the thick of all these pressures to keep up with what is trending, and anxieties to conform to predesigned molds. Our authenticity, that is, our complete embracement of our true and genuine selves, is on the line each and every moment of the day. Many, if not most, students would say that they wish to live their lives here at OSU authentically. The question is how? Here are a few guidelines derived from philosophers studied this year by students in PHL 150 that will assist all those striving to authentically “Be Orange”.

Some of the most important decisions a student will make over the course of college are what subject to study, and what activity(ies) to participate. At a school where about one fourth of the student body studies engineering according to the 2014 enrollment summary, and at a school where certain extracurricular activities such as Greek life are widely popular, it can be easy for students to follow the crowd and join what’s trendy. Friedrich Nietzsche would call this mode of action our herd instinct (Lecture, 5/5/15). We feel shame when we act out against what others value, whether that be our peers, or our parents, or our friends, and so we tend to act our lives according to those values and attempt to adopt them as our own. Similarly, Søren Kierkegaard explains that if individuals act according to the crowd, then individual passion and truth is lost because one gives up partial responsibility with their decisions. To yield to external pressures and not follow one’s own character is a problem that impedes one from living authentically. To truly become authentic, one must reflect deeply about one’s self and follow their own path for their studies and activities. To test whether one’s current mode of life is authentic, the Nietzsche’s universal morality test known as “Eternal Recurrence” can be applied (Lecture, 6/2/15). To pass the test and declare “Amor fati” and that one’s fate is a fate worth reliving forever confirms morality and authenticity. In the end, it is up to the individual to take the initiative towards a personally authentic path. However, this initiative can sometimes be an obstacle.

As a student striving to authentically “Be Orange” we are our own greatest hurdles towards authenticity. According to Jean-Paul Sartre, we are all “condemned to be free” (Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism). We are conscious beings; we are Being-For-itself; we are free to make our own choices but we are condemned to always bear the responsibility of the consequences of these choices. However, we do not always accept our freedom as truth and often times we lie to ourselves in order to escape the responsibilities of our freedom. Sartre calls this Bad Faith and it is what he considers inauthentic being (Lecture, 5/26/15). The most common way that we try to escape our responsibility, escape our freedom and deceive ourselves is through procrastination. Procrastination is about choice, and if we choose to procrastinate, then procrastination may begin to define our very being. This effort to escape immediate responsibilities is a futile attempt. No matter how small the task, procrastination leads to an inauthentic being. The key to solving procrastination is through taking responsibility for our lives and owning up to our choices. If we consciously choose to do one thing over another, it is not inherently good or bad. The key is to accept all consequences of the decision and not deceive one’s self about by continually putting duties off by lying about doing that thing later.

The last guideline to help OSU students authentically “Be Orange” is to live in the present moment and live it in relation to death. In order to truly live in the present moment, one must accept the duality of their being: nature and extra-nature. We must accept our own “throwness” into the world as well as the facticity of our past actions as things that are a part of who we are. We have to accept our essence just like how Sisyphus must accept his boulder; however, we must also accept our transcendence beyond it (Lecture, 4/9/15). We have the freedom to become whatever we choose. However, to be authentic with this freedom one must live in relationship to one’s own death. This means to embrace one’s own being-toward-death and accept responsibility for their lives.

To conclude, striving to authentically “Be Orange” comes with its own challenges. It requires us to take courage and allow ourselves to be vulnerable by acting upon our own values. We must accept who we are and what we want to be despite outside pressures to follow what’s trendy.

Live Authentically at OSU

Living authentically is difficult in most walks of life, especially in those that seek to mold and form young minds. In many school environments it is difficult for a person to be their authentic self, but in the Oregon State University environment it is not as difficult to be one’s authentic self. At many different institutions of learning, the mere idea of being authentic can be lost by the individual who may be lead to believe that the only way to be truly happy, is to be a part of the herd. Nietzsche believed that the herd mentality, the following of others just because you believe that it will allow you to fit in, is a sickness (lecture 5 May 2015), that you are giving in to peer pressure and in a sense refusing to think for yourself. This is how many students who begin their long and arduous college journey feel, as if they have merely joined a herd of loud and outspoken sheep, being swept away into the abyss.

Oregon State students, however, are able to step away from the herd, because of the thousands of opportunities, people, and interest groups that are available to every student on the campus. When I began at Oregon State, I was terrified of swept up by the crowd. I believe, as Heidegger did, that social life and social relationships are a necessity (lecture, 5 May 2015), that being around others and being social has a positive impact on one’s lifespan, but coming to a school with 25000 students on campus, each one more enthusiastic about their school than the last, I was afraid of just blending in. Within my first few days here I found that there is not one person on this campus who merely “blends in”, instead there are 25,000 students with unique and authentic lives. Each student exemplified the balance that Heidegger talks about in his book Being And Time (p. 227), in this Heidegger talks about the “they-self” and how people can be caught up in the “they” when absorbed in activity, but this does not detract from their ability to be authentic, rather is strengthens their ability to connect with others and express themselves fully which is essential to authenticity. Being able to be authentic to yourself as well as a part of a group is a unique thing, and something that is not often seen in today’s world where everyone and everything seems to be categorized, numbered, and given a label of some kind. Students at Oregon State are able to be authentic by exploring the things that they love through the thousands of opportunities that are available in every department of the school. If someone always loved animals they can join the Goad Club, if they love theater they are able to audition for plays, if they love staying up until 2:00 in the morning playing Super Smash Brothers they are able to find friends and acceptance in a group of people who love doing the same thing. Being able to pursue every interest that a student has allows students to exercise their true freedom in life, not feeling condemned to be free, but instead free to do what they love and not be held back by limitations (lecture, 26 May 2015). This allows students of OSU to live in good faith, choosing what is desirable to them, what makes them happiest, and living a life that reflects who they truly are (lecture 2 June 2015). Thus I contend that one is, in fact, able to be authentic and an OSU student, exemplifying what it means to be authentically orange.

Submitted by Abdulrahman Alkharashi

Authenticity is variably defined, it is defined differently and has different meanings based on the person’s view to the world, values and what constitutes being one’s self. Being oneself is to make choices and live life without being affected by external influence (i.e. society, community, etc.) nor affected by guidelines and standards that were set by others (Lecture 05/21/2015). To be authentic is to be looking for truth, really be yourself, and to live life with own values with a choice of what constitutes morals and standards. Being yourself includes but not limited to making decisions, choices and interacting with the world. Being authentic is also being distinguished and unique which relates to “Be Orange” because they both mean being oneself and unique.

One obstacle to become an individual or “authentic” within the community is the baseline that already underlines the morals and standards set by the community and society. The society follows set of rules or norms that are followed and obeyed by the great majority because they are “standards”, even though those standards might not align with many people’s values. However, those people don’t take the time to evaluate these norms and standards to compare and see if they match their values and standards as individuals. For example, what constitutes a good student? Is it GPA? Publications? Attendance? Or involvement with student clubs? The answer is “there isn’t a single answer”, we as students decide what make us good students from our point of view and make us satisfied about ourselves Lecture 05/07/2015). Becoming an individual doesn’t necessary suggest doing everything against society norms, but to do what is believed to be representative of one’s self that is not an interruption to others (Lecture 05/19/2015). As a college community of an educational institution, to “Be Orange” students must make their own decisions in their academic career and make their decisions and experience based on self-interest, not to be driven by the decisions or ideas of others (Lecture 04/02/2015).

To overcome the obstacle, students should take a look at the big picture which includes the norms and baselines set by the community in addition to their values and interest. Next is to compare these norms with our own values to see the “royalty” we get when we use our own values and be ourselves in addition to align them to the norms and standards. Overcoming the obstacle also aligns with concept of freedom “If I regard a certain course of action as good, it is only I who choose to say that it is good and not bad” (Reading, Jean-Paul Sarte, Existentialism is a Humanism, 12th paragraph). To overcome the obstacle, we should ask ourselves, are we really doing what we want or is our conduct and what we are doing regulated by other humans? Realizing our authenticity and our uniqueness is what make us get to where we want and become the person we want to be. “Be Orange”, is to be one’s self and unique, which adds value to our college community and make each individual add their own contributions and represent themselves.

Submitted by Dennis Eash

I faced a hard decision when deciding to really go for it in college. There was two ways I saw to go. One was to study things I truly loved: music, maybe film, maybe acting. Something along those lines. The other way to go was to study something I liked but had a lot more security, which was chemical engineering. This isn’t a problem unique to me, it is shared by a great number of students at Oregon State. This is a problem that forces to choose how we live our lives – do we live authentically or not authentically? However, unlike seemingly clear-cut examples that Sartre gives us, I would argue that living authentically exists somewhere on a continuum, and that we can never truly be completely authentic to ourselves as college students. Instead, all we can do is try our best and make the most well thought out and honest decisions. This is how I think we can live authentically as OSU students.

The first, and what seems to be the most important, factor in living authentically as a student is deciding what to study. I chose to go into chemical engineering. Clearly there were other things that I loved more, but I also wanted security in my future. So I sold off my drum set, and stopped singing. Does the fact that I gave up studying what I love the most mean that I live inauthentically? Sartre could say so (Lecture 26 May), he could say I deny my transcendence. This idea extends to other students – many of us have given up on something we truly love for the knowledge that we can be financially secure in the future, and that isn’t an inauthentic way to live. It’s a realistic way to live. Perhaps this could allow us to get other things we want in the future, like a family. This is the continuum – the decision to study what we do is somewhere between passion and logic. We have to satisfy both parts of our nature to live authentically. This first decision is the biggest in a series of decisions we make in college that determine our authenticity to ourselves.

Living authentically in college, then, is a balance between making decisions that are born of passion and making decisions that are born of logic. The goal here is to find oneself. One’s true self could be found in many different places – extracurricular activities, studying, partying, or anything else. The concerns of others is of minor importance here – if we find ourselves following a stereotypical lifestyle of partying and very little studying (or the opposite), that doesn’t matter. A specific problem to consider here is one we’re all very familiar with – procrastination (Lecture 26 May). The act of procrastinating, as well as doing work early, can both be authentic things. It’s the difference between what we want in the moment and what we want in the long term, a very similar choice to make when deciding what major to study.

What you want to do, what is important to you, is your authentic self. The caveat here is to not fall into a way of living in college simply because of the pressure of those around us. Trying to live authentically is a failure if we fall into the trap of following The Herd, as Nietzsche would put it (Lecture 5 May). Don’t fear being “condemned ‘to being individual,’” as people have been in the past (Nietzche, The Gay Science, Pg. 130). It is in our individuality that we can discover living authentically, though it may seem scary at times. We must make each decision for ourselves, not for the expectations others may have of us.

Outside of making decisions, there is an existential theme that agrees very strongly with us as OSU students. That theme is humanism. The idea of humanism is philosophy that is focused on the individual (Lecture 07 May). To live authentically as an OSU student is to pursue finding our own identity. We’re here to figure out who we are decision by decision. We’re here finding the freedom in our life when society and family pressures may steer us towards a more Herd-like mentality. These would then be my parting words: don’t follow the herd. Embrace the humanistic perspective in life as an OSU student. Live authentically by making decisions that balance the moment-to-moment and ultimate life goals in a way that keeps life authentic, but not unrealistic.