Be Good. Be Orange.

BE ONE. BE ORANGE.

Oregon State University as an institution set up a “Strategic Plan” comprised of goals for the university in the coming century. The reasoning behind this is to earn high status (top ten) in the ranks of colleges across the nation. The main objective stated by OSU is to continue the “tradition of excellence” at the university. Some of the goals include improving student learning and experience, research activity, interdisciplinary approaches, sustainability, and promoting human health. While I agree that these areas are all very important to earning a college degree, I know the university has a much bigger impact on the people involved with it. These goals focus solely on education and research, which makes sense for the university, but maybe they don’t understand the full scope of influence OSU has.

Oregon State University’s strategic plan for OSU is important to the goals of the university. However, I believe that being a member of Oregon State has more meaning than just earning grades, graduating (or dropping out), and being sent off for the next part of life. Oregon State is a community, whether the administration realizes it or not, and I think that is a very important idea to recognize. Being a student, faculty, or even a fan of Oregon State University means something, something more than just learning and getting a job later in life. The goals presented in the strategic plan are crucial for the university in that things must be done, but I believe that knowing what it means to “Be Orange” is a much more important experience.

Being Orange represents a certain character and atmosphere that the university represents across the campus, the city of Corvallis, the state, and even the country. Being orange is participating in OSU. The values I think OSU should symbolize are community, responsibility, and opportunity.

The first value that should describe Oregon State University is community. Whether or not people realize it, being a part of OSU is being part of a community. It is built by its members, not just a place. Community is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a unified body of individuals; people with common interests; an interacting population of various kinds of individuals,” which I believe defines Oregon State. We are a population, a group of people who are brought together by the institution. There are many different people: students, staff, administrators, athletes, engineers, mathematicians, etc. but we all come together to represent OSU. As a community, I think we should represent unity and citizenship. All members of the community should be united and work together. We are united by the fact that we are affiliated with the university, but also by an effort to represent the school with these values that bring the members to become one. Citizenship follows the same lines—it is the membership of being in a community, AND the quality of that. How much are you involved? How can you contribute? These values of citizenship and unity are vital because they make up the community and the members must take ownership of them before they can be established. I think that the members must realize that they are part of something bigger than themselves before they will be able to contribute to the community as an orange citizen. An example of this type of community is what you may see on a fall Saturday at Reser Stadium. Thousands of people from the OSU community come together, wear orange, and cheer for their football team to show their support. This is an example of a community and the unity and citizenship that is being displayed through it.

The second value that describes what it means to be orange at OSU is responsibility. This is a responsibility, for yourself and for the community. As a citizen, you are accountable for what you do as a student, professor, administration, staff, etc. by doing what you are supposed to do when you are supposed to do it—principally, doing your job and doing it to your best ability. A student is responsible for doing their own homework, studying, and taking tests. Professors are responsible for making a lesson plan, teaching their students, and deciding grades. However, on top of this, each person has a responsibility to the community in the way of service.  Service indicates the contribution to the welfare of others. Being part of a community entails the responsibility to serve one another. This can be simple actions such as holding the door open for the next person or giving up a computer in the library or even picking up trash on campus. Though these seem simple and trivial, kindness and compassion can go a long way, and as citizens of the same community, we owe it to each other. In addition, how awesome would it be for other universities and states to look at OSU and recognize this quality of service for one another? It’s truly the responsibility of us as members of the orange community to serve each other.

The third orange quality is opportunity. This value describes the way we engage in our community as citizens. The university provides many opportunities for its members, beyond the service we owe to each other. It’s important for us to participate in the OSU community, especially while we are students because we have a great opportunity to graduate as well-rounded individuals, which I believe many people look for in others. Being broadly developed means that you were open and engaged in the community around you. By participating in every possibly opportunity at Oregon State, you will become a person with important experience and knowledge that others will not understand. I think it is a combination of the university’s duty to provide these kinds of opportunities, such as organized clubs, research programs, and study abroad connections. But I also believe that it is the students’ obligation to reach out and find opportunities too. They could volunteer for an organization, join a club, or reach out to freshman students. All of this engagement with each other is important for the uniting of the community, and is truly the responsibility of its members. I think these values should be lived out each day by the members of OSU to represent being orange.

People who are “orange” could be anyone that is affiliated with Oregon State University. People such as the administration, professors, office employees, counselors, students, and even fans are members of this community. These values are something that members of the orange community demonstrate at Oregon State or OSU events, but there is no paper to sign off that makes it law. I believe it is the obligation of the citizens to live out the values though. People with no connection to Oregon State are excluded from these values when related to being orange. In addition, the person’s status at OSU does not change the orange meaning or make the value more or less valuable. Everyone at Oregon State is old enough to understand the values of community, responsibility, and opportunity and commit to them when joining OSU. However, I realize that it is a personal choice for each individual to actually perform the values.

My values of community, responsibility, and opportunity are very important because they define what people think about Oregon State University. As an institution, the members make up the community and we represent Oregon State by what we do—our everyday actions. People actually notice if we say hello to them or hold the door, and we are judged by simple things like that.  I think it is important to be a community that is recognized for working together through responsibility and opportunity. Also, as an orange member, I want to be in this type of environment where I feel connected to others through community, where I take responsibility and better the lives of others, and where I have opportunities to discover the world—and I think many people do too. Being orange is important for the members inside the community but also for those outside of it, and even for people who may want to join in on being orange!

The goal of my value is not to persuade you that I am right about what it means to be orange because I know there could be many different values that describe an orange person. Instead, my goal is to open up your idea of an orange community and the university. There is much more to college than being a fish in the sea where you go through at least four years of classes, work for a grade, and getting spit back out onto the sand with a degree. Earning a diploma is the main goal, but there is so much more. Imagine the countless chances you have to try something new, help some out, or experience something that you don’t have anywhere else. Being part of a community, owning your responsibilities and taking advantage of opportunities while you are an orange member will mean so much more than a piece of paper.

To further illustrate the meaning of being orange, I designed a logo. The purpose of the logo is to give the members of orange a symbol or picture to remember what it means to be orange. I wanted to create a new brand through this artistic medium to project my values in an interesting and attractive way. On the logo, the “O” contains community, the “S” has responsibility, and the “U” holds opportunity. I think that creating an image will help people of the orange community to recognize and remember the values of being orange.