Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted by Jaclyn Hill

Oregon State University has a new logo, a fierce beaver that is said to represent the key characteristics of Oregon State, as laid out by the athletics department: heritage, strong, victorious, united, innovative, tenacious, dedicated, integrity. As this rebranding was supported and funded by the athletic department, it may be assumed that this rebranding stands to represent the athletics department of the university alone. However, Director of Equipment Operations, Steve McCoy says, “This represents the whole school. Logos, color combos, everything. We don’t want the team to look good. We want the university to look good.” And it is clear that the university agrees, as the new logo proudly flies over the Memorial Union and is on the front page of the school website, among other places.
Furthermore, the school branding requirements say that a brand is, “A consistent visual identity supports a strong brand for Oregon State University by creating a unified look in print and electronic communications. People notice visuals before they’ve read a word. That’s why it’s so important for visuals to immediately identify our communications as coming from Oregon State.”
This generalized pairing of Oregon State and the new branding is problematic because the school assumes that its logo, designed by people other than the student body, stands to represent the qualities required to be a successful member of the Oregon State community. The new logo does not, however, adequately represent the values of Oregon State and what it means to be Orange. It is based heavily on the values associated with athletics—about winning at all costs, being fierce, fighting. Instead, however, the students at Oregon State stand in unity with one another to solve problems, both within the university and outside of it. The learning and growth that takes place at Oregon State is about the process, the acquirement of knowledge and morality—not about the win at the end of the game. Therefore, the school needs to step aside its interpretation of the logo and allow students to take the leading role in deciding what the branding says about the university. By doing this, the university will support compassion because it will recognize the individual human factors that establish what Oregon State and Being Orange means. Compassion is truly what it means to Be Orange.
To Be Orange is to be compassionate. Compassion involves promoting the well-being and happiness of yourself, others, and the environment. The university has echoes of this within their mission statement, promoting the health and well being of the self and the environment, but actually becoming Orange means much more. It requires true understanding of the moral value of compassion. This means that decisions made each day bear in mind the positive or negative response that they will have on the people and the environment. The environment is included as a necessary part of our world that needs compassion for multiple reasons. First, the environment allows the continuation of life for humans, including air to breath, animals and plants to eat, and space to live. Therefore, preserving the environment means allowing life for fellow humans to continue. In addition, however, the environment requires compassion as an entity all its own for the inherent positive qualities it possesses, regardless of what it “gives” to humankind.
In this way, morality is determined by the extent to which a person is compassionate in their actions in the Orange community. Oregon State University offers its own ecosystem of diverse people, surroundings, forms of knowledge, and behaviors. Therefore, practicing and becoming proficient at skills of compassion within the community of Oregon State offers the ability to act as an “Orange” person in areas outside the university, include careers. A degree from Oregon State University shows a person has acquired skills of compassion within the setting of the school, and is therefore able to perform compassion in a variety of situations after he or she graduates or departs from the physical Oregon State community. Because Being Orange is being compassionate, students at Oregon State can transfer their skills of compassion into other environments and when surrounded with people not associated with the Orange community.
Compassion includes a wide variety of thoughts and behaviors. First, it requires knowledge a range of information and skills of what is required to be compassionate. Knowledge is a range of information and skills learned over time, both formally and informally. Learning happens through processes and outcomes, in class, in social interactions, and in other daily activities that occur on campus each day. This knowledge means understanding which actions foster positive outcomes for yourself, others, and the environment. For the self, this may mean positive self-image and self-talk. For others, this may involve moral imagination—the ability to place yourself in another’s position in order to understand a situation from their perspective. For the environment, this requires knowledge of sustainability, a main component already present in the university’s mission statement.
Because Being Orange means to be compassionate, the Orange community is defined as any members contributing or interacting with the university—making them able to learn and display compassion while at Oregon State and in the world beyond. This means that students, faculty, alumni, and other associates can, and should, Be Orange. The “Be” element of this suggests that a person simply exists, or lives, as Orange upon membership of the community. Therefore, the university, when working to the full extent of its mission to create an Orange community, will foster a responsibility for students and others to be compassionate. Responsibility is the duty a person feels to act in accordance with the moral principles of his or her community. Being Orange means existing with the responsibility of compassion. The university would benefit greatly from allowing, and encouraging, the Orange community to define what its logo stands for, and what its values represent.

Tags: Community, compassion, orange
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Kyle Thornton

Be Responsible, Be Orange

Roughly four years ago, I decided I wanted to attend Oregon State University to pursue and undergraduate degree in health care management. Before selecting Oregon State, I looked at other universities around the state of Oregon. What OSU had to offer, couldn’t compare to other universities in the state. Oregon State is known for using the slogan “powered by orange”, but what does being orange really mean? I had never really thought about what it truly meant to be orange until we had to write this paper for Ethics 205. So what does it mean to be orange, and what will your degree represent?

I thought for many hours on what it meant to be orange. So many important values came to mind when I pondered what being orange meant. As I searched for quotes about values on the Internet, one really stuck with me. Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibly”.  To me, being orange means being responsible because OSU is shaping people for greatness.

I always knew what responsibility was but never really looked deeper into what it pertained to. OSU has taught me lots of responsibility throughout my four years here. First, it taught me how to be accountable for all my actions. If I didn’t study for a test or do the homework I was ultimately responsible for those actions. This eventually led to me learning how to be responsible with time management. Learning how to manage your time successful is extremely helpful in all aspects of life. Having to juggle studying, writing papers, and other homework assignments taught me how to prioritize my time in an efficient manner. This will further help me in my career. I know I will face multiple tasks throughout my day and knowing how to manage my time efficiently will help me accomplish these tasks. Another thing responsibility shows is that you take pride in yourself and what you do. OSU taught me to take pride in my schoolwork if I wanted to have a better life for myself. I was responsible for putting in the hard work to get good grades so I could graduate and find a job I want. Ultimately, being responsible is important because it challenges you to become great and shows what type of person you are.

Being responsible requires many actions but the most important action is doing the right thing. By being a student here at OSU, you are put into a small community with thousands of people. If people weren’t doing the right things, the system has a whole would fail. This is why OSU labels people as being orange, so they will think about with it means to be orange and hopefully do the right things. One thing I noticed in my four years was people are willing to help you all the time. Classmates see your struggling and can help you understand the materials. If you’ve been responsible for four years, you should be able to walk out of OSU with life skills and a degree showing you worked hard and succeeded.

When I graduate from OSU, my degree won’t be just a piece of paper. My degree will represent several values. First and foremost, it will represent hard work and dedication. My degree will show people I work hard and I finish things I set out to do. It will also show success. Not everyone goes on to pursue a higher education. So graduating in four years with a bachelor degree will show people that I am a successful person who works hard. Lastly, my degree will represent I am a responsible person. I was responsible for knowing what classes to take, what term to take them, completing homework assignments, writing papers, and doing group projects. By choosing to get my undergraduate degree from OSU I was taught to be orange, be responsible.

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“Be Orange” is the concept of an always-evolving definition for what it means to have been, currently are, or will be involved at Oregon State University. What is more, an instrumental part of “Being Orange” is the emphasis placed on improving not only one’s own health and wellness, but also those in the community. “Health”, in this case, is best described as complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely just living in the absence of disease. A phenomenal aspect of this definition is that anybody is capable of being healthy. In other words, no matter what one’s current health status, we have the potential to be healthy if we are working to achieve complete physical, mental, and social well-being. What is more, being healthy is made much easier because a healthy lifestyle is fully supported at numerous levels of Oregon State University, including the University as a whole, certain colleges, and at the individual level.

Oregon State University as a whole rigorously supports health. In fact, in Oregon State’s mission it declares, “As a land grant institution committed to teaching, research, and outreach and engagement, Oregon State University promotes economic, social, cultural and environmental progress for the people of Oregon, the nation and the world. This mission is achieved by producing graduates competitive in the global economy, supporting a continuous search for new knowledge and solutions, and maintaining a rigorous focus on academic excellence, particularly in the three Signature Areas: Advancing the Science of Sustainable Earth Ecosystems; Improving Human Health and Wellness; and Promoting Economic Growth and Social Progress.”

With the goal of improving human health and wellness, Oregon State University offers specific colleges and areas of study that educate and provide the fundamental knowledge needed for future healthcare providers. The students who study healthcare at OSU are being trained to work in areas where they are capable of helping to provide methods to improve physical, social, and mental well-being. These colleges include, but are not limited to: the Dietetics graduate degree program, the college of Exercise and Sports Science, Psychology, and Public Health and Human Sciences. For example, the vision of the college of Public Health and Human Sciences is “to ensure lifelong health and well-being for every person, every family, every community.” What is more, this college is geared toward educating the “next generation of globally minded public health and human sciences professionals.” This college focuses more on the physical aspect of health and well-being and aims to “address the most challenging public health issues facing us today: chronic disease, health disparities, obesity, healthcare reform, youth development, health policy, physical activity and environmental health.”

Finally, regardless of the area of a study being perused by an individual, Oregon State University aims to help improve health and well-being on campus by targeting the individual through providing various resources. These resources include:

-Beaver stride: Program aimed to improve physical fitness, available to students, no matter what one’s current physical condition.

-Intramural athletics: Over 35 leagues and tournaments are offered during the academic year to play and compete with others on campus. Intramural Sports is a great outlet to socialize, de-stress, learn new sports and get physically fit.

-Anti-Smoking campaigns: Oregon State University’s prohibits smoking on campus.

-Required Academic Courses: HHS 231, Intro to health and wellness.

-Student Health Services: Health care facility and pharmacy available to students.

-Dixon Recreation Center: Workout facility including a weight room, an indoor track, basketball courts, racket ball courts, yoga/Pilates areas, volleyball courts, a swimming pool, and stationary exercise equipment.

-Counseling Services: provides psychological counseling, consultation, outreach and education to OSU students.

-The Mind Spa: The Mind Spa is a unique sanctuary targeted solely toward soothing one’s mind, body, and spirit.

-PAC classes: Hundreds of Physical Activity Courses designed to keep students active.

During my freshman year of college, spring of 2011, I took Biology 103. This class was an introduction to human physiology. After the very first class, I was hooked. In other words, I was completely captivated by the human body and my passion for learning how to keep the human body healthy continues to grow each day. The importance of health is by far the most irreplaceable value that I have formed while I have been a student at Oregon State. When I graduate with my Public Health and Human Sciences degree I want other employers to see my transcript and know that I come from an institution that is fundamentally based on the desire to improve “Human Health and Wellness”. With my Public Health background, I hope other institutions will know that I am wholeheartedly devoted to helping promote health, prevent disease, and prolong life.

Rather than students being expected to improve their health, Oregon State University is geared toward encouraging students to be healthy. Students are offered numerous resources to help them improve their physical, mental, and social well-being. Implementing healthy habits during one’s college years, when one is typically younger and healthier, will make these practices more routine. However, some students may not study in the health care fields or take advantage of the healthcare services offered here. These particular individuals are by no means excluded from the OSU community, but I believe that they will need to incorporate a healthier lifestyle at some point when their bodies becomes weaker, they gain unwanted weight, or if they experience various types of mental instability such as anxiety or depression.

The mission of Oregon State aims to produce graduates in order to advance the Science of Sustainable Earth Ecosystems; Improve Human Health and Wellness; and Promote Economic Growth and Social Progress. The task then, is to educate undergraduate and graduate students in the healthcare fields, who will then be able to devote their time and knowledge to improving human health and wellness. Therefore the scope of this mission is undergraduate and graduate students who are perusing a degree in healthcare or solely aiding students by providing healthcare resources.

The decision to be healthy is omnipresent. Decisions regarding what to eat, whether or not to exercise, how much sleep to get, and how to best care for oneself mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally are choices we face every day. The compilation of these choices can have an enormous effect on one’s health. It’s as if you are playing Jenga; poor choices here and there might not matter at first, but if you continue picking and choosing poor habits, one’s health will quickly come crashing down.

Occasionally there are hurdles students face that stands in the way of making choices to promote physical, mental, and social well-being. For instance, three of the main restaurants in the Memorial Union food court are Panda Express, ToGo’s, and Carl’s Jr. For the most part, these restaurants oppose the optimal diet of someone who is trying to improve their physical health. Another factor of opposition might be health care costs. Though many services are provided free to students, depending on the service desired there might be a fee. Finally, students often live such fast paced lives that all too often sleep is the first activity to go when time is short. Sleep is an enormous contributor to an individual’s mental, physical, and social well-being. In the scheme of things, these hurdles are combatable if one desires to live a healthy lifestyle. For instance, it takes the conscious effort to set aside enough time for sleep and choosing healthy eating habits.

Why does health matter? What is the significance of having complete physical, mental, and social well-being? I would argue that the state of one’s health has an enormous affect on happiness. An unhealthy body due to weakness or disease, unhealthy social interactions, and/or mental instability can tamper with the ability for someone to achieve happiness. Therefore, learning techniques of how to improve these aspects of one’s life has the ability to improve happiness. Aristotle believed that humans are always in search of “eudemonia” or “happiness and flourishing.” In fact, he believes that the Goal of Life is to find happiness. Thus, by improving human health and wellness one can potentially increase his/her happiness.

By Elisabeth Reed

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Submitted by Madison Miller

Be Driven. Be Orange.

The cost of college; a topic many of us dread. Price has been the focus of education in recent years, with discussions throughout the country about some of the highest tuition prices and debt amounts in the nations history. According to the College Board, the average cost of public college for the 2012-2013 academic year was $22,261. For private colleges, the average cost was $43,289. With tuition continuing to increase, it is scary to think how much an education may cost in 20 years. The issue of college prices is not going to go away. In a society based heavily on achievement and ranking, a college education is arguably expected from our generation. To justify these accumulating tuition bills and seemingly unending debt, our education must be invaluable in comparison. Our classes need to be about more than grades, but about developing drive, the motivation to take positive action in our lives.
At Oregon State University, being orange comes with a sense of pride. We are proud to call ourselves Beavers and be affiliated with the University, but we need more than pride to represent our University. To me, “Being Orange” means to be driven. To be a community of people who are dedicated to work together for a common goal and to create leaders in the community, classroom and beyond. Leaders are people who represent the good, honest way by considering other people in their actions. Leaders act as examples, making other people want to follow in their steps. Our place of education should be dedicated to helping us grow in wisdom so we can become better leaders. Wisdom is being able to apply what one learns through experience and knowledge, and act thoughtfully, rather than impulsively. When a University is committed to helping students not only find their purpose, but also grow and become confident in their abilities to carry it out, then the cost of the education becomes worth the price. An education becomes expensive when it is focused on achieving higher grades not higher wisdom. Education should be more than a letter on a transcript and more than the price we pay. We should be finding purpose through the wisdom we are gaining.
To “be” is to embody or identify with. We embody what it means to be orange; meaning our very lives represent being driven. Being orange is something everyone who is a part of Oregon State (students, staff, faculty, community members) is a part of. We can best represent our University by being a generation who is driven. It does not matter how small or how little recognition one gets from taking action, it is that they are taking action to begin with, demonstrating their desire to be someone who is engaged in the world around them by making a conscious decision to invest their time, money and lives in something they care about. We often associate making a difference with these huge world wide recognized achievements like being a CEO, starting a nonprofit or rising to the top ranks of your occupation. Our University needs to be invested in changing this way of thinking. An emphasis should be on action, not reward. We should work for the advancement of our communities, not advancement of self. What matters is that we are engaged, that we are committed to being a part of something bigger than ourselves. We should all be determined to constantly be moving, growing and thriving in our lives, careers, and relationships. As a society, we have lost the drive to take action in order to help our communities or work places, instead our drive has transformed into the desire to make money. Money is great and we are given the material things in this world to enjoy. But when our purpose is found in money and the possessions we own, we are not living up to our full potential. Every one of us is going to die, and when that time comes, we will lose everything we own. I have a feeling that on our death beds, we won’t be thinking about the money we made or did not make, but how we spent our time, what we did to make a difference.
Our university should be committed to making sure students have goals for their lives and teaching students they are worth more than the number on their paycheck. Part of doing this is helping students figure out what they are passionate about, what drives them. Passion is something we do for joy, something that we are willing to stand behind, fight for and boast about. Helping students to develop skills and an awareness of their interests is where passion begins. If they have the passion they have the ability. Students need to understand and believe they are capable!
Being driven is essential to life beyond the University. Life is not easy and we need to be equipped with the skills to press on when life gets hard. Continuously setting goals for ones self is a huge step in the right direction. As humans we are called to action. Even at the most basic level as babies, it is programmed in us to move. It is because of this need inside of us to take action that we walk. Education is more than taking classes and getting good grades, it’s about learning to takes risks and to go out and participate in ones community. Generation after generation, technology is advancing and it sometimes seems that each generation is getting lazier. But that is not going to be us; we are not going to be by standards, we are going to make things happen!
Being driven is so important for many reasons. It tells employers we will get the job done and are committed to improving the places we work for. It demonstrates a desire in us to be better friends and employers at things like demonstrating listening skills, the ability to see beyond our own opinions and being able work with other people. Drive demonstrates we are determined to make things work and for change to happen when it is needed. Drive is what is keeping alive the desire to cure cancer. Our baccalaureate credits have become something so mundane. They are intended to help us become well rounded students, but are they really accomplishing that? I want to get something out of the time I spend in a classroom. A class doesn’t mean there always needs to be sitting. A class like ethics 205 is more of what we should be seeing in our baccalaureate requirements. Classes where we can engage in meaningful matters like what we want for our lives and the type of people we want to be known as, classes where we are exposed to things going on in the community. In ethics 205, we went outside the classroom to see things like a dance mob and a petition event. Simply leaving the classroom is an example of taking action. We went out and we saw examples of people taking action behind something they were passionate about. What would it be like to have a class where students can go out and be an active member in the community, where they could find ways to be compassionate—to do things for other people out of a genuine desire to help. I think we also need to invest our time in better advising our students early on by giving them more information on majors and what certain careers actually entail. Oregon State needs to be a University that helps mold its students into a body of people that go out in the world and take action. I think most of us want to make a difference, sometimes we just don’t know how. We don’t get told enough that we are capable, and that leaves many of us paralyzed in terms of how we spend our lives. Our University needs to stop this trend. We need to go back and re-teach students that their lives and education are about more than a good grade point average or making money. As students, we need to believe that we can make a difference; that fear of failure is not enough to hold us back from taking action. We need to develop drive. I want us to leave Oregon State with more than a desired career path, but a real desire to take action whether that is in our workplace or our extended communities. How amazing would it be for us to be spread out across the country and even the world as we embody what it means to be people who are driven, who are committed to engaging with the people around them and their communities! For other people to see in our actions what it means to “Be Orange.”

Tags: action, drive, passion
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Submitted by Madison Miller

Dan Gilbert makes key points about a topic too crucial to miss: our state of being. The widely known idea of the “American Dream,” is centered on the possibility of finding happiness. Gilbert is adamant that we are missing something of great value if we think happiness is only something that can be found. Instead he proposes happiness is something that can be synthesized. So often we see happiness only when it is natural, meaning when we get what it is we want. But synthetic happiness is possible! We can make something good and have happiness; even we don’t get what we want. Gilbert provides the example of a man who spent years wrongly imprisoned in jail and yet still describes those years as “glorious!” Gilbert advocates happiness as something we can create and that is not solely based on our circumstances and experiences. Happiness is an acceptance of things we cannot change.
Happiness requires ethics. As Gilbert demonstrates in multiple studies, we often don’t know what it is that makes us happy. We think happiness is only something we can find, undermining our capacity to create it. We mistakenly accept an imposter of happiness thinking it’s the real thing. If we live by the desire to find happiness, our ethical decisions will constantly be self-centered and result in impulse decisions we think will be the most satisfying. Ultimately those decisions lead to emptiness rather than happiness and our search only continues. If we don’t consider ethics in happiness, our desire for happiness will take priority over our ethics. If happiness is our end goal, we risk loosing our compassion for others. What we think will satisfy us ends up being all that matters and in the search of purpose we lose it.
If we don’t consider ethics in happiness then our decisions become based on what we think will make us happy. For example, if an A is what someone thinks will make them happy, then they will do everything to achieve an A. If ethics aren’t a part of achieving this happiness, then cheating to get an A is a plausible idea. If ethics are a part of happiness, then the student will probably not consider cheating and instead realize they need to work hard and study in order to get an A. Gilbert’s study on Harvard students using pictures demonstrates we are often blind to what will truly make us happy. In the study, students must choose between two pictures, one to keep and one to give away. One group had the option to swap the picture for up to four days if they changed their minds. The other group could never swap their picture; their first decision was their ultimate decision. He then asked them how happy they were with their decisions, showing those who couldn’t swap their pictures thought they’d be slightly happier than those who could. Weeks later it was found that the group who could swap their pictures for up to 4 days, did not like their picture at all and those who could never swap their pictures liked the ones they chosen a lot. They then chose another group of students, this time giving them the option to be in the reversible (could swap) group or the irreversible (couldn’t swap) group. 66% wanted to be in the reversible group, a choice that as proven earlier will ultimately lead them to be dissatisfied. This is a perfect example. We do not know what makes us happy! Gilbert makes a great point that when our ambition for happiness is not bound by ethics, we end up lying, stealing, cheating, being reckless; etc. at the hopes of finding our happiness. Happiness and ethics are intertwined. If we do not have an understanding of happiness and what it truly means to be happy, our search for happiness will be at the cost of our ethical decisions. The lyrics in Beautiful Eulogy’s song “Take It Easy” put things into perspective: “maybe you’re not finding it cause you’re not defining it right.” Too many of us search for happiness our entire lives, when it is right in front of us. I don’t want to look back and realize I spent my life on an endless search for the idea of happiness. When we put thought and other people into our ethical decisions; we will find more satisfaction and happiness in our lives than we will in a self-centered life spent searching for happiness in experiences. After all in Gilbert’s words, “we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity we are chasing after!”

Tags: gilbert, happiness, life
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Submitted by Laura Borgen

“Being Orange” represents many values, which vary from person to person depending on their experience and role in the OSU community.   I personally believe that one of the most important aspects of Being Orange is to be diverse and accept diversity, which Oregon State University also recognizes as one of its core institutional values.

There are many ways that Oregon State University is diverse. The University currently is home to students from all 50 states, in addition to 89 countries. It offers diverse learning opportunities as well, including a variety of study abroad programs and over 200 different graduate degree programs.

As stated in Oregon State University’s Administrative Leadership Strategic Plan – Phase II, “By building a diverse community rich and varied in its talents, OSU seeks to attain excellence and to enrich the human spirit in fields ranging from bioengineering to the visual and performing arts, while capitalizing on its world class engineering and science programs and its distinctive programs in education for entrepreneurship to responsibly address society’s most challenging problems.” It goes on to further explain, “OSU understands diversity is essential to excellence and therefore commits itself to integrating core institutional values of diversity, integrity, respect, social responsibility, and accountability into every dimension of the University’s life.”

But does this mean that it is a good value? I think the answer is yes. At OSU we have the opportunity to engage in a variety of learning environments and interact with people from many different backgrounds. These different backgrounds offer the potential for a wider range of ideas and discussions with more opportunities to practice compassion. As we’ve discussed during class, OSU is full of individuals and shouldn’t be treated as a “degree factory.” Each individual has unique things to contribute to the Orange community and these things should be valued.

One could attend a school exclusive to a certain area of study, but this may also mean potentially limiting oneself socially and intellectually. By including the Baccalaureate Core to students’ educational plans, the University is requiring that students explore their possibilities and broaden their horizons.

I am a Fine Arts major, which associates me with the artistic community at OSU. This includes daily interaction with students pursuing degrees in Art and Graphic Design. Though it is not one of the University’s most accomplished areas of study, it is an important component to ensure that OSU is offering its students an experience rich in the arts as well as science and professional pursuits. My studio classes include a generous mix of non-major students who bring their varied interests and talents into the studio with them for others to learn from. With a patchwork of backgrounds, we are exposed to an enhanced experience as compared to a class of exclusively Art majors. The instructors bring their own backgrounds and styles into the mix, producing a richer education and a broader understanding of the concepts we are taught.

I received a Diversity Scholarship when I chose to attend Oregon State University.  By conventional definition, as a white female I don’t represent ethnic diversity. But as a white female art student from a remote, rural and economically depressed area of Oregon, Oregon State University encouraged me to Be Orange. We at OSU appreciate the value of many voices, many backgrounds, different aspirations and ideas. I could have attended a school exclusive to art study, but this would also mean potentially limiting myself socially and intellectually.

This term I was a student in the figure drawing class offered by the Art Department. This class, like other studio classes, is open to all majors and non-majors who have taken the prerequisite classes. The course objectives include understanding and rendering of human anatomy and gesture, to be learned mostly by live observation. There were multiple class periods spent in the cadaver lab located on campus. During this time we were encouraged to draw our subjects (the cadavers) from different angles and observe the elements of human anatomy that were otherwise hidden on our live models, such as bones, muscles, etc. The experience offered an in-depth and realistic understanding of what happens underneath our outer layers, which has proven to be very useful knowledge when rendering the human body. This kind of collaboration wouldn’t have been possible at an art institute. It is made possible by the fact that we belong to a varied community that thrives on diversity. It is also an example of the continuation of the long-standing relationship between art and science, from which both parties benefit.

Though my Orange experiences deal mostly with academic diversity, there is no denying the ethnic, religious, and overall cultural diversity that can be found throughout campus. Not only are there thousands of international students, but also people from a broad spectrum of religious backgrounds as well as intellectual and recreational interests.  In the two years that I’ve attended Oregon State, I’ve noticed the “Powered by Orange” banners around campus that feature people who have made particular accomplishments that exemplify the University’s “Orange” vision. These people are intentionally from a wide variety of disciplines, physical appearances, and stages in life, communicating the diversity on campus. Though it may seem cliché, the posters represent the things I see and hear about all the time – my fellow Beavers accomplishing great things. There is an incredible amount of realized and potential talent here at OSU, accompanied by an impressive array of skills and knowledge.

Such an environment not only allows casual interaction between people of different backgrounds, but it also encourages it. These interactions may cause you to re-examine your beliefs, which may solidify them or make you come to a new realization about yourself. I believe that one of the best ways to discover things about yourself is to practice compassion. By trying to understand others, we see how we are alike and different and the reasons why.

To Be Orange is not just recognizing and accepting the diversity at OSU, but taking that value and skill and applying it to the rest of your life. To hold it as a value you have to appreciate the opportunities it presents and be willing to open your mind to things you may not understand. With diversity comes collaboration, cooperation, and a more effective and productive environment, whether at the University or anywhere else in the World.

When I leave OSU with a degree in hand, I expect to be a skilled professional in my field. But I also want to feel like I have the proper tools to be successful and be prepared to enter the next stage in my life.  My experiences with the differences of individuals, learning communication with a goal of understanding, and practicing  compassion will go hand in hand with acquiring classroom knowledge and wisdom. When I tell someone that I earned my degree at Oregon State University, I want them to be able to appreciate my variety of experiences and knowledge as well as the degree I acquired. I think that these are the things that it means to Be Orange – to represent and champion strong values such as diversity.

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By Alexa Chappell

This ideal, Be Orange, isn’t just a color you call yourself, it’s a set of morals that students at Oregon State should want to take part in. These morals and ideals help our university to better itself and be shown in a positive light. When I think of Oregon State, I think of what it means to have pride. Proud of the obstacles you’ve cleared to get to OSU, the late nights you’ve stayed up studying in order to stay here and the degree you’ve earned in order to graduate. When I think of Oregon State and what it means to Be Orange, I think of the improvements this school has made on my life academically and socially, as well as accountability, and how it is a necessary contribution to a community like Oregon State. When graduation rounds the corner my senior year here, I will be waiting with open arms, proud of my accomplishments and improvements, ready to start the next chapter of my life.

It’s obvious that everyone is going to have their own ideas and perspectives of what it means to Be Orange and different views on what a degree should represent. A few of my friends said that when they thought about Be Orange, they thought of tradition and how their family and relatives are alumni of OSU. Another friend also said that when they think of Be Orange, they think of commitment and dedication, the drive it takes in order to makes things happen for yourself when you didn’t even know what you were working towards in the first place. I agree with both of these meanings for Be Orange; however they don’t fully apply to me. Everyone will have their own ideas of what it means to Be Orange because different people have different perspectives of what moral ideals they take part it.

At the beginning of PHL 205, I was unsure of what the outcome of the class was going to look like. Although, after putting in time and effort, I was able to accomplish what was needed to be done and soon began to grasp the concepts we had been learning in class. This in a way can be related to the accomplishments that can be made at Oregon State. A lot of the time, myself as an example, students come to college not knowing what they want to do with their future, but with a little time and effort put forth, you soon find out what areas fit your interests and how you can use those interests to make your future brighter than it was before.

It’s hard to decipher who all Be Orange can apply to. I think that it can be applied to anyone who has ever been a student or employee of Oregon State University. This includes current students, alumni, professors, advisors, coaches and even the janitorial staff. Anyone who has put time, energy and effort into Oregon State University should be able to consider themselves Orange. I could see where some people might consider themselves Orange if they grew up around Oregon State, whether that means locally living in Corvallis or constantly being surrounded by relatives and family members who raise you to Be Orange and encourage you to attend this college when you’re of age. It’s an honor to call yourself Orange and anyone who chooses to use this as their title should do it with pride. I believe that if someone wants to Be Orange and show their pride for Oregon State in a positive light, they should be able to do that regardless of where/if they’re in college or how much time they put in to this school.  Those who take on the title of “Orange” should show their pride and represent Oregon State University with responsibility and a sense of community. Beaver Nation should be meant for everyone who represents OSU to come together as one and show pride and support for everything this school has to offer; not only in athletics, but in academics and the community as well.

Being a member of Oregon State has shown me what accountability means and how without it, there would be no improvements made. If there were no improvements being made, it would be difficult to be proud of any accomplishments. Being Orange helps show students and others at Oregon State what building blocks are needed in order to succeed. These building blocks are not the same for each person who steps foot on this campus. Being Orange can be altered to mean whatever it takes for you to become a better person and help yourself, and also the university, grow as a whole. If we all were living an Orange lifestyle, we would be able to create the strongest Beaver Nation that Oregon has ever seen. Take pride in everything you’ve gained so far at Oregon State University. Be Proud. Be Orange.

Tags: #begood, accountability, proud
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Gabriella Nanson

To be orange means to be responsible.  Being responsible is taking care of yourself and others and taking responsibility for your education, your friendships, and your role in the community.  To attain a degree from OSU is responsibility at its finest.  To graduate with my degree from OSU, installs in me pride, in knowing I can do anything I set my mind to, but also to go forth and share my knowledge of what it means to be responsible, whether that be with coworkers, friends, or family.  Taking responsibility is to only be responsible for actions that have positive outcomes, not actions that have negative effects.  Each year we grow older and more mature, we have a new and improved sense of what responsibility is and what we should be doing to fulfill that duty.  Just like this class, as we grew and became more open to ideas, we are constantly learning what it means to be responsible, and how over time our perceptions can change for the better as long as we are open to change.  We all have different meanings of what it means to be orange.  That’s what is unique about ethics is that there is never one right answer, just like there is no right answer to what it means to be orange, but I think we all have a good idea of what it means to ourselves.

Anyone who attends Oregon State University, as an undergrad, or a graduate can be orange, as well as faculty members.  Being responsible also is to demonstrate skills that a student has learned in his or her major and minor, and any extra skill or concept one may have learned while acting and participating in extra curricula’s on campus such as a club, sport, job, or volunteer activity.  Taking skills learned in classes and applying them to various situations while having a basic understanding of knowledge to share ones own morals is to be orange.

To help others succeed and be responsible is also being orange.  To go beyond the call of duty when not called upon to help and to just be there for others when they need it is demonstrating responsibility.  Sacrificing what one might want to help another in ones community demonstrates being orange.  This could be shown as going out to frozen yogurt when a friend who is having a bad day after finding out they failed their midterm, when you in fact need to be studying for your own midterm.  Giving of oneself to others in a time of need, and also when not in time of need, out of the kindness of ones heart is to be orange.  The professor student relationship is the definition of orange, as they are constantly pushing each other to be better, yet helping one another succeed every day.

I have an idea of what it means to be responsible, but what do others think about responsibility?  Dictionary.com “believes responsibility is the ability or authority to act or decide on one’s own, without supervision.”  I agree with this definition, to an extent.  We as humans do have choices in life that we alone have to make, whether it be to give the money back to the person who dropped in it line ahead of you at the supermarket who did not know they dropped it, to wait another two minutes at the red light at three in the morning, or to even go to class.  We have lots of choices, and we make them based on what our morals and values are.  Actions that are prohibited under the definitions of what it means to be responsible include taking responsibility for something such as mass murder.  Being responsible is to take responsibility for good deeds that have positive outcomes, for yourself and for the community.  So committing crimes and then taking responsibility for them is not what I mean by being responsible, since that does not have positive outcomes by committing a crime.  We have rules and laws for a reason, and we are responsible for following them, and making sure our neighbors follow them too.

We don’t have mom and dad to hold our hand throughout life, so we have to rely on the values we have been taught growing up to be able to make those educated decisions.  Educated decisions are those decisions that we make based on our set of knowledge and how much we know about a certain subject, and our experiences that we learn from here at OSU.  Values are what we live by each day, that help us chose right from wrong.  Choosing decisions that are considered ‘right’ will lead us in the direction we want to head in life and choosing decisions that are ‘wrong’ are those that will hinder us in a way we do not want to head.  With the global warming that is happening, we cannot say that one specific human being is responsible for causing it.  We all are responsible for causing it.  Even people who recycle, ride their bike instead of driving a car, and take quicker showers, they all have the responsibility to tell their neighbor how to be more environmentally conscious.  When discussing issues of responsibility, we all have a part to play, as long as that part has a positive outcome and we are helping.  Responsibility cannot and should not hurt, or else that is not being responsible, in my eyes.

Being a responsible student is taking matters into your own hands and learning as much as you can to get good grades and that diploma.  Being a good student in the university is sharing your ideas with other students and growing off each other.  Being a good student in the community is to give back your time to those who need it.  If we are orange, that means we have made it a lot farther than others in this world, and we have a responsibility to give back to the community, and make sure it is a better place.  We take our knowledge we have acquired over the years and use it for the better, tell others, and do good deeds with it.  We are responsible and do good deeds because those actions have positive outcomes and help others, and in return helps ourselves feel good about ourselves because we enjoy doing good for others.

The goal of responsibility is for everyone to take charge of their life and realize that no one else is going to do it for them.  We all have to grow up at some point, and take responsibility for our actions, and learn from our mistakes.  We are constantly growing and learning as human beings, and finding out our responsibilities, in which OSU and being orange helps us find.           

Being orange also takes place in the form of nonverbal communication.  Certainly one of the most important skills one will learn is how to communicate effectively, but we are also taught how to communicate nonverbally.  With the recent change in Oregon State’s logo, we as a community are showing the rest of the nation what it means to be orange.  By changing our logo sends a message that it is time for a change and to revamp what we already have going.  Now, we don’t all necessarily need to love the new logo, but we all have a responsibility to live up to the values that it represents, which are fierce, unstoppable, and headstrong.

The new beaver logo shows a the value of headstrong, as it keeps fighting and never gives up just like the athletes never give up when competing, and as students never give up in the classroom.  When students develop new ideas or show bravery each day, they show this by going to practice and to class.  When students or athletes fail, they get back up and try again, showing bravery.  Students at OSU don’t give up, we keep pushing ourselves to be better and strive for the best.  When we fail, we know we can keep trying, as our classmates and professors want to help us succeed.  Our professors give us the tools to be confident in our studies, just as our coaches prep our athletes to strive for the best and have confidence.  Students show fearlessness in their studies, extra curricula’s, and work on campus and off, just as athletes show fearlessness at practice, while competing, and in their studies as well.  The logo represents many of OSU students and professors values such as responsibility, just as it should.  As an outsider looking to come to OSU, and become ‘orange’ they can see what the school has to offer scholastically and athletically just by looking at the logo.  I am a proud student wearing the new logo and showing everyone I know and the rest of the student body I am fearless, headstrong, and brave.

Responsibility is an important value because the world runs on expecting everyone to be responsible and without it, there would be no order in life.  We assume that as human beings we all trust one another to be a responsible person.  Without responsible people, nothing would get done.  We would have no laws, no rights, no freedom, and much more.  What comes with responsibility are experiences and failure.  We know we are responsible when we fail, then we try again to be better next time, so we can prove we are responsible, such as doing better on the next midterm.  Being responsible applies to small and big actions, moral decisions, and everyday individual choices we make here at OSU and outside of school.  This is where everyone is forced to choose whether or not to go beyond the call of just being responsible.  We all have choices to make each day, and we base those off what we think it means to be responsible.  Everyone that is orange has a duty to tell others what it means to be orange, and within that what it means to be responsible.

Tags: #begood
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Lauren McCutcheon

  Being Orange symbolizes an assortment of qualities and values for different people.  Whether it be solely for the name of “being a beaver” versus being a duck or some other college mascot.  It could be from a competition aspect for those people; they want to be a part of a sports team community.  Being orange embodies victory, and intimidation; we beat other teams and therefore we are stronger and more elite than people from other schools.  For other people it’s a part of tradition; their siblings and parents went to OSU, and they happen to be next in line.  Then you have the students who come because it’s a party school, and the whole idea is to party hard and see how far you can make it by only meeting the bare minimum for everything you do.  There are people who actually go because of the programs, or because OSU has their major and it’s thought of to be a good school.  For those groups, the value that OSU holds for them is being a success.  Success is a broad term if you don’t explain what it stands for.  Earning your Bachelors’ or Masters’ degree is a vision of achievement for some.  For others, it’s a step beyond that.  It’s the hope of being in the career of your dreams because of your degree, and with other journeys you’ve been through along the way.

Then you have the values and characteristics that OSU wants its students, administrators and other faculty to have and take away when their experience at Oregon State comes to an end.  They put these goals and core values on their website and on other places where the community inside and outside of OSU can view them.  They tell you why going to OSU is deemed a better choice than going to U of O, or WOU or some other school. But if you dig deeper, below the bait they propose to lure people in to either support Oregon State or enroll, what do you get? What do you get out of the school that makes it a better decision than others? One of the core values listed on OSU’s missions, goals and values webpage, is ‘respect’, saying that it means to “…treat each other with civility, dignity, and respect.” Following that is social responsibility; “we contribute to society’s intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and economic progress and well-being to the maximum possible extent.”  Then you ask what “being orange” means for me, and I tell you the two biggest values that I think of: being open-minded and portraying respect alongside being open-minded.   Sure, the two values I say could line up with the goals OSU already bestows upon me, but I would not say that they’re the same.  In fact, the reasoning and substance between “my” respect and what OSU believes to be is respect may be similar in some areas, but there is definitely a different objective behind each one.

During this class, I’ve changed the way I look at the surface of things. In the beginning of the course, I’ll admit, I was definitely hesitant about staying in the class; I approached the beginning discussions like they were a joke.  I didn’t get the objective behind the subjects.  I had accepted that there had been problems with the way the university has been run for a long time, but I didn’t quite understand how this particular “Ethics 205” class would put a dent in the pattern that everyone was used to.

After going through the first few weeks, I started to understand why we were doing what we were doing.  I started to get how as students, in this Ethics class, we could change the way we think and potentially change the minds of the other students around us, and then, if we were lucky, that tidal wave of thinking could reach up into the higher faculty of OSU and beyond.

Being Orange resembles me being a sponge; I absorb the knowledge that will help me, or help me grow in a certain area, and I expel the parts that are unnecessary.  Being open minded is one of the most significant values a person can accomplish.  I now consciously focus on the things that make up the whole picture, and then the picture last.  The values that Oregon State conveys to me are being able to hear ideas that are not your own, and information you haven’t heard before, and being able to engage in understanding what it is you’re learning.   This could also mean retrieving previous information or thoughts that are buried in your brain and mixing it with the new to create something that is your own.

When I said that I think that respect weaves itself into being open minded, it’s because it does.  The amount of respect that you exhibit when communicating with someone else speaks volumes into how much you will learn and how much they will learn.  You can be as intelligent as you desire, but if you don’t have respect for yourself or others, your knowledge is of waste.  People won’t take you seriously because you may come off as not being ethically engaged to what’s important to them, and you won’t take yourself seriously after a while because you won’t care about how the information affects you.

Many people forget that the most powerful weapon that they can use sometimes can be them selves. But our selves can also be dangerous if we aren’t certain of who we are, what we want or what we are afraid to admit.  Being open minded isn’t correlated with being absent of a backbone.  It isn’t about taking everything you hear or read and believing it as sound information.  It’s having the ability to be teachable; to be humble; to realize that more often than not, you’re wrong and someone else is right.  It’s being able to learn and build upon the knowledge you have, and then going out into society and taking action, whether it means inhibiting it, observing it or pushing it forward.

When we went out on our field trip to the Gay-Marriage petition signing, it was good practice for taking considerable notice into what others are involved in.  This includes the evidence they have to support their cause and more importantly, the way they communicate to those who are unaware.   Seeing people fight for what they want personally or empathetically towards someone else is an important reminder that our humanity isn’t failing and we shouldn’t give up on it.  The Gay-marriage event was of good cause, but a major ingredient that lacked in the overall potency of the event was the evidence supporting it.  If the hosts’ of the event had come up to me and told me their story, and why I should sign their petition, I would have maybe signed it, or at least had a change of heart.  But for the hosts’ to prematurely assume that it’s visitors would just sign the paper because “it was the right thing to do”, exemplifies their lack of moral imagination.

A growing issue in our present society is not being ethically engaged or interested in what happens outside of our bubble, or even a bigger issue for some; being ignorant of our inner most selves.  Oregon State represents a foundation for students, administrators, faculty and alumni, to obtain the knowledge they need for their degree or their personal lives, and then use it.  I used to not enjoy Bacc core classes or even find them necessary; why should I be forced to take classes that I don’t want to take, especially when they don’t have anything to do with my major or what I want my specialty to be?  But I think I have philosophically figured out what they hold for those who want to take something away from them.  They provide people with the opportunity to be thoroughly developed in a range of ideas and perspectives.

OSU wants it’s students to be able to be accountable to their ignorance, and absorb the information they will perhaps need eventually.  Taking a speech class may seem obnoxious during the time you are involved in it, but being able to communicate effectively and support yourself when people ask why they should sign your Gay-Marriage petition definitely makes it worthwhile in the end.  Or being able to write to the OSU President and explain why you don’t think tuition should be raised can be a lot more beneficial and operational if you’ve previously learned how to write a good argument in a past Writing 121 class.

Being able to grow in the areas of being open minded and displaying respect can heap respect and relativity from others towards yourself.  And that’s what we’ve been learning in this class during the whole term; how to learn something and be able to show others how to think about it more ethically, and in turn enlarging the spectrum of the cycle.  That being done as students at OSU. That’s how people will know that we are different from other schools.  Being orange envisions that we are open to change, we are open to “different”, and more importantly we are open to growth.  And if someone doesn’t agree with us along the way, then we will show them respect, because sometimes all humanity needs to remember is that respect exists. And sometimes, respect is the very thing that prompts people to grow because they remember that it is possible.

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By Monica Farrar

As a twenty year old, first time acquaintances ask me where I go to college to which I respond “None other than Oregon State University.”  A moment of recognition crosses their face as they form an opinion about who I am, what I know, and where I am headed with my life.  A couple sociology classes into this four year adventure have taught me that each person’s interpretation of my response is different.  To be fair, that is how it should be, but more importantly, I want one value to be self-evident when someone hears that I am an OSU Beaver.  I want them to know that I have enormous potential.

When I think of the slogan Be Orange, I think of it as a challenge that has been put forth to me by the university.  This idea of Being Orange encourages me to put my all into every piece of work I ever submit, every sporting event that I attend, every rally that I take part in, and every memory that I hope to make during my short amount of time here.  Being Orange serves as a reminder that the people I meet at OSU and the moments that I am a part of are forever changed because I made it so.  My favorite artist once wrote:

“You’ll meet people whose paths intersect
But you don’t know how long you’ll walk with them,
Cause’ the truth is, and it’s so hard, but you’ll never know
How long we’ll continue with our loved ones down this rugged road.”

These words preach to me that each and every person that makes up the ideal of Orange (students, professors, staff, administrators, alumni) also has a role to play in my life.  Each individual will become my teacher, my supporter, my inspiration, my entertainer, or my influencer.  As a total composition, they will provide me with the skills I need to succeed and be happy in this life.  This journey is not one I can fly solo, but rather blesses me with the people that sit in the same chair as me, just as hungry for knowledge and experience as I am.  Through these people, I have slowly discovered that Being Orange is not about being the best student, winning every game, or even getting an “A” in every course.  Being Orange means learning from the lives and actions of others, applying those lessons, and unleashing the true potential that is YOU.

When I say potential, I am talking about our deepest fear on a human level.  Author Marianne Williamson says it best:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? … Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do… It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This quote fully encapsulates my definition of potential as a description of what it means to Be Orange because it is true that we all try to conform to what should be “normal” or “acceptable.”  Newsflash: No one who is simply normal or just acceptable ever made history.  From my own perspective, my potential to do what no one else can makes me special.  It is time that Oregon State starts capitalizing on what makes each student unique rather than put our tuition dollars into a cookie cutter system that molds us to be identical. For me, Being Orange is about being someone that others do not expect you to be.  Being Orange is about being a forewarning of what is to come.  Being Orange is about proving that my biggest contribution is still in the making and that OSU was my supplier of necessary tools towards greatness.  When someone hears that I have a degree from Oregon State University two years from now, I want them to grab a seat so they can witness what will happen next.

On the classroom level, my peers and I have already demonstrated that we have the potential to surprise our Ethics professor.  We worked together as a group to put a puzzle together much faster than she anticipated and we improved drastically over the course of a few weeks in skills that make us effective ethicists.  If we can shock one, imagine the multitude we could astonish.

Having potential extends far beyond the realm of the OSU campus.  It is the most important value I can hold once I go out onto the job market, because it will be obvious to employers of what I have done in the past and what I am capable of.  These employers will want to know “what can she do next?”  As a person with potential, I will never stop growing, and therefore I will never stop bettering myself: this is what makes me truly happy.  I want new acquaintances to recognize a member of the Oregon State community, shake my hand when they meet me, and ask me “what’s next for you?”  Likewise, I want every OSU Beaver to experience the same encounter, and I want the world to know that we are the symbol of potential.

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