Be Good. Be Orange.

In the world of Oregon State University, those in charge convey a certain message of what being a member of Oregon State University (OSU) means. Plastered around the campus, brochures, and the webpage are the values that are advertised to be those of the entire OSU population. The people in charge of our education tell us what to learn by setting certain requirements for a degree and how we should be by the advertised values that encourage us to “Be Orange.” But, what does being orange really mean? If you were looking at OSU from the outside you would think that it takes the form of the university’s core values of accountability, diversity, integrity, respect, and social responsibility along with other values advertised of discovery, innovation, problem solving, and sustainability (Oregon State University). This all sounds great and I’m sure that many people in the OSU community have some of these values, but the problem comes when it is expected that all members of the OSU community have all these values at all times.
First, they are values that have been handed down from previous members and can therefore run the risk of not feeling like our own. Second, it can feel like just another thing you’re being told to be which can make some members rebel even if they agree with the values. In other words, issues arise when others define a value for another. One must wonder if it is even ethical for OSU to tell you and others what your values are. Imagine if instead of defining what our values are OSU taught and encouraged us to be ethical, independent, and compassionate. If OSU did this then I’m sure that many of us would choose the values that they advertise on our own and would therefore be more likely to act on them.
While I share these values advertised by OSU, I do not think that they are all equally important which is how it seems from the advertising of these values by OSU. There is the same emphasis of each value. There is the same visibility of each value. You can see the paths at OSU covered in banners saying, “We care for all,” and “You define innovation.” The seemingly most common banner states the, “We are the nation. Beaver nation,” and these banners tell us what to be and what we are while simultaneously not giving us much of a choice. I feel like some of the values that have been separated from another can actually be encompassed by another value, such as integrity encompassing accountability. This is because I would say that to be accountable you must have integrity because a crucial part of integrity is honesty and to be accountable you must be honest with yourself about a situation to determine if you are or are not accountable for the situation.
I would want “Orange” to mean what is advertised, but that is a vision and not an attainable goal. The reality is that people are fallible and no one is perfect, but it is always a good thing to strive to be something better than you are. It speaks to the reality that if no one thought they could change anything, then no one would try and the world would go downhill fast. An example of this is sustainability. If people only thought about the fact that even if they recycled everything recyclable in their life time it would not even make a dent in pollution, then no one would recycle and the world would be destroyed much sooner than if people still recycled anyway.
A person must decide their own values. The previous statement might seem intuitive, but as you look around OSU and what it means to “Be Orange” you can see that somewhere in the midst of the system this statement has not been addressed. So, the question that should be asked instead of what does it mean to “Be Orange” is why is it defined for us? Why can’t we as students, the greatest population of the OSU community, decide for ourselves what it means to be orange? Why are we constantly told what to be and how to be it? It is time for things to change and students must be encouraged to be ethical, independent, and compassionate or the values that OSU expects of us will never really represent OSU.

“Oregon State University.” About. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.