Be Good. Be Orange.

By: Tiffany Cicerchi

Be Orange Essay

For the past couple of years Oregon State University (OSU) has been adopting and implementing the phrase “Be Orange” to encourage people to support Oregon State. Aside from the new logo, the phrase says something different to me, and comes across more positive than the beaver logo. I personally see posters on campus with pictures of students; working in the lab, engaging in class discussions, cheering for athletics, working on campus, studying, and participating in clubs. While looking at these posters from a Be Orange stand point, it would mean being associated and involved with OSU in anyway. The value that I see the most is involvement, and I believe being orange can be students, professors, staff anywhere on campus, athletes, fans, alumni, online students, etc. When I look at the advertisements on campus for being orange I see a positive community that will support you in the event that you choose to be orange and be involved with OSU in some way. Another way of looking at being orange is understanding that it means to be connected to the school or people associated with the school.

It is hard for me to determine and assume how others define Orange as a value, so instead of assuming I asked some of my roommates what they thought. To them being orange means contains the value of unity. They see being orange as everyone associated with OSU learning to be united with one another, whether it is for academics, athletics, or clubs through the school.

Students practice being orange everyday once they step foot on campus or do assignments outside of class. OSU students are orange by being in class, learning at OSU, and engaging in class work. Similar to students, professors can practice being orange as well and it happens when they come to campus and teach the students, because they are actively engaging in the learning process and benefiting the students, in the hopes of gaining the title of an OSU degree.

Athletes are one of the largest components to being orange in my opinion just because sports are so widely broadcasted. I think that our athletes are orange because they are playing their sport to represent OSU. Individuals outside of our institution do not normally see students and staff members being orange, but they do see athletes being orange, because of the media surrounding the subject. Without fans, who knows what orange would look like. Fans are another huge component to showing yourself being orange. By supporting OSU you are taking part in the be orange campaign.

Now when I was looking at our new school beaver logo that was designed, I did not feel that it accurately represented my definition of what it meant to be orange. When I see the new logo the things that come to mind are; aggressive, winning is everything, football, sports, where the logo cause we look the best. I do not think that this is what it means to be orange, and I feel as though the logo is directed more at athletics and leaves out everyone else who is involved with OSU. When I where our logo I do not feel like I am being orange, but I feel like I am only allowed to be a sports fan with it. The logo does not want me to be engaged in class, or being involved with the school outside of sports.

Although my two definitions do not match up based on the new logo and the be orange campaign, I still believe that being orange is a more positive outcome and does not relate to the logo at all. Being orange as proved above, is being involved with OSU in anyway, including, students, staff, fans, in-class activities, etc. Being orange is positive and gives you a sense of community support for all to feel welcome. I hope that when I graduate from OSU that my education says “involved”, which in turn shows experience. I believe that if my education shows this value of being orange it will open up more doors and help prepare me more for the real world.

Posted in #begood, PHL 205 | 1 Comment »

“Be Adaptable, Be Orange”

By: Justin Archield

Oregon State! Fight! Fight! Fight! O-S-U home of the Beaver Nation located right here in cow-town or as we all know of it to be Corvallis, Oregon. Where the campus comes alive the first few weeks of Fall term then hits a dreadful depressing Winter, and jumps right into Spring term with the sun and the beaver community playing on the IM fields and trying to soak up as much sun as possible. Being reminded everyday as you step on campus that Orange and Black are our school colors, with banners along the roads asking us what our Orange moment is. What is our Orange experience? I never would have thought I would actually have to answer this question; I always just saw the banners with different people being represented and kept on pushing throughout my day. That is until I registered for this Philosophy class known to be Ethics 205 where Professor Jenkins has challenged us to define what does being Orange even mean? At first I thought hell I don’t know we simply go to Oregon State so that makes us Orange right? We study here, work here, hangout here, doesn’t that define what that means? When she later went on to unpack the assignment like she has been telling us to do all term “unpack this, explain in more detail what you mean.” She stated what does it mean to be Orange here and what do you want your degree to mean after you graduate? So that simply proposed the next initial thought in my head of well I guess I never really thought about what my degree wanted to mean you know. I always thought the degree was just a ticket into the real world saying you took the time out to learn about your profession and you got a certificate, saying that you successfully completed 4 years of college course work, now hurry up and get a job so you can pay off your school loans.

So later she told us to define a value that we think makes up this whole BeOrange concept and after she gave us a list of some of the values the class created and she separated them into groups the term being well-rounded caught my attention which was in the ‘Unusual values’ group. Myself being unique or liking to think I am wanted to make this my value but I changed that term to being adaptable simply because I feel like coming here to Oregon State through my experiences I have learned to adapt too many different situations college has thrown at me. Through horrible roommates, job responsibilities, course work, and learning to be independent while finally leaving home for the first time to be on my own. There were so many different opportunities and chances to gain knowledge coming my way that I had to learn to put on many different faces to be able to keep up with the many options being presented. So let me explain to you what I think being Orange is.

My values that define being Orange are Adaptability, Accountability, and Diversity. Defining value as something that is important, based on a principle that has worth in pertaining to BeOrange

I say adaptability because having the ability to change environments quickly without being setback and changing your behavior to match that exact moment in time, and to be able to go with the flow is a strong value to have. This being my Junior year into college I have noticed that this is the strongest thing I hold value too, when first coming to Oregon State I had to learn to adapt to this new culture and way of life living in Corvallis. That I was on my own capable of making my own decisions and free to explore and challenge my thoughts and ideas, and Oregon State has done that for me so far. Simply because we all come from different backgrounds and then are dropped off in this Orange community that is already pr-determined before we get to know what it is. And we eventually acquire the skills quickly overtime needed to become one with the Orange community. We all have the ability to be put into a new setting and grow from that experience; we were all willing to be open not only to people but the new ideas and insights on what they may feel life is about or their point of view. We as freshman came in a with a blank slate ready to obtain information to help ourselves grow to not only on a personal level but to obtain social progress. Being Orange is part of us being adaptable to the Oregon State lifestyle, experiencing all of what the university has to offer and allowing you to be vulnerable to different cultures and people. This will all go on to affect our past, present, future, and lifetime growth. When you are adaptable you learn that you can evolve and see yourself in a different light or in a way you never thought was possible.

In being Orange you have to be accountable for your everyday actions, that everything you go about doing is a reflection of not only you but everyone that is a part of this Beaver Nation. That anything that makes the news or a headline we are represented as that. That one bad apple can make the rest of the tree look bad. Taking on a form of responsibility to the projects that you do and are getting yourself involved in. Not only being accountable for having responsibility to someone else but to you as well. Knowing when you should take the initiative on something and when you should step back to give sometime to yourself. We actually end up being more accountable for a lot of things in our daily lives than we think. In class we learned how we used Ethics in all we do and that everything we choose to do or choose not to do has some form of ethical response. I remember doing a lesson on ethics spotting and having to spot at least 100 things in a single day and it was much harder than I could imagine. Simply because it was hard to define it at first simply because what I may have spotted may have been different than the next person. I learned to be more accountable through my employment opportunities of getting a chance to work on campus as an event specialist for the MU. Learning that I am responsible for all the work I do and the outcomes people are supposed to obtain through the events. My boss is always saying that “we are accountable for everything that we do and put on; you have to take the initiative to move things forward.” It was something along those lines but I understand that now through being Orange we are accountable for the whole community it isn’t just an individual thing that we take on.

Going back for just a second I mentioned that Corvallis or Oregon State has a certain way of life. I am referring to the Oregon State lifestyle by being a part of the different traditions this university has to offer and putting forth your existence in the community by being and active citizen and being present in the moment by actively engaging. Whether that being meeting new people through school sponsored events, attending a workshop, which challenges your thinking, or going to Dixon and enjoying the different things that they have to offer. By getting a chance to step outside your comfort zone and getting to know people that are different from you and not restricting yourself to your clique of friends. Attending the many cultural nights that we have on campus every year to try new foods, see different styles of dances’ and traditions. The University may have brought us all here but it should be our duty as students and faculty to go beyond and meet the people; that in the end make up the University it is today. Or if you are interested in experiencing what the Greek life has to offer then go and put yourself out there don’t take into account the stereotypes without engaging it first. We have to open our minds up to these new things in order for us to be considered true citizens of the Orange community. What I mean by being citizens and community I mean being an active member of your town or city recognizing your rights and privileges others may not have a chance to get involved in. I’m taking community as a group of people who are living together in the same place under the same type of conditions with common characteristics. Bodies of people that are taking ownership of the BeOrange campaign and are living together with a basic line of similar interests.

Having the ability to be diverse I think plays a main role in what being Orange is all about in my opinion. Showing that you have a very well developed variety and different layers that make up not just your overall appearance, but that you are different in a way that a lot of people find to be unique. Being able to stand out from the crowd and having the ability to think on your own; it’s what makes you different from the person to the left or the right of you. I think that’s what the greatest part of being Orange is about we are all different and make up so many different aspects of this university. We all have our own compassion for things which helps enhance one another to be greater. I believe through diversity it can show that you have a high level of sympathy and awareness of the people around you.

So in the end what would I want my degree to mean as I progress through life? That I put in all the work that I needed to get to where I am today. That my degree is more than the major that I have chosen to seek a professional job in while here. I have encountered plenty of life experiences and work criteria to help me strive through college and use what I have learned to have the ability to apply it later in life. That I have worked with different cultural groups from across the globe with my employment opportunities, which will stay in my memory for the rest of my life. It’s a learning experience that I have enjoyed and sometimes you don’t get these chances anywhere else but a university. That my degree is beyond the athletic department, the party school, and the Greek community. Even though being a current member in a fraternity I know that my growth and membership won’t stop after I leave there that I take into account the values my fraternity is based on of truth, honor, and personal integrity. Chi Phi shout out! That everything is still a learning process and I have gone through so much in college and have a lot of real world experience that a lot of people have yet to encounter. That even though I have my degree I couldn’t tell you right now what my life goal is because I like to live in the moment and take things day by day but I know there is a greater purpose after college. Graduating with a degree from OSU shows that the institution is still pushing forward thousands of kids that are looking to pursue a career, and is growing to attract more students from all over the globe. I want it to mean more than a piece of paper I put high value on, I want it to open doors for me to be successful and to say I qualify and have the credentials to be placed where I need to be.

In the end of it all I don’t want to limit being Orange to just students. Faculty embraces this campaign just as much as students do. They are here accountable for the university and our learning and they too have the opportunity to engage with what the University is offering. In particular I am glad I have gotten a chance to take this Philosophy class with Professor Jenkins. She was able to challenge my ideas that I presented through assignments with philosophical feedback. So Orange is a community. Orange is a value. Orange is your experience. Orange is whatever you think makes this university unique to you in a sense that applies and challenges your morals and behavior. Being orange will forever go beyond our time here at this university! So ask yourself now what makes up your orange moment?

#Boss

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To “Be Orange.” What does it mean? Well, lets simply break down the phrase to the definition of the words. To “Be,” as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary, means to “exist.” So lets rephrase this slogan and turn it into “Exist Orange.” This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Jack London, “The function of man is to live, not exist.” What am I trying to point out? Well, the phrase “be” is simply existing, to be something means that you just are that something, no effort needed. I think “being orange”should take more of an effort, almost to “live” Orange. The aura of Orange shouldn’t be something that someone is, but something someone strives for. To “Live Orange” takes a conscious effort, it takes applying mindfulness in everyday actions. For the sake of how I define “Orange” I will define “being” as “living.”

So then, Orange… what does that mean? One might appreciate that it is frankly asking us to get Dorito Chip tans, eat carrots and drink orange juice all day, but I think there is a more significant depth in the word “Orange” that applies to Oregon State University. Who exactly is apart of Oregon State University? I think that would be anyone and everyone even partially involved with Oregon State University. I think that would include fans, students, alumni, staff and faculty, sponsors, future students, and anyone who represents Oregon State University.

So now we have a huge number of people “living orange.” That fact in itself illustrates one of the values around being orange. This value is a sense of unitedness. A huge number of people, even if they barely know each other, all have at least one thing in common, they are apart of Oregon State University. They are apart of this community regardless or not if the want to be. It’s not about people fulfilling a certain characteristic that Oregon State wants, but rather what other people, not involved in this community, see. As members of Oregon State University, it is our responsibility to represent what we want to be known for. It’s a good idea that we all should agree on what to be known for and that’s where we choose to be apart of the community in the first place. I think we can all agree that the first value would be being “United,” the definition of which I take to mean “everyone involved, affected and taken to achieve.” Having everyone in the community involved, affected and taken to achieve by this value thus proves the relevance and importance of this value.

Being united implies another value. This value is something an individual has to choose to do. There is, however, a certain but subtle agreement one makes when they join the community in the sense that they agree to uphold this value; engagement. In order to be united, you need to try to be united, which is in this case, being engaged. Engagement is the kind of value that is lived as opposed to simply existing with. Engagement is the kind of thing that you choose to do or give to a community. What does being engaged look like? It’s an extra step outside of one’s normal routine to give something of themselves to the greater community. When I say “greater community” I mean a cause bigger than themselves, which is in this case Oregon State University. Personally I think it would be fantastic if the majority of the community were engaged in the community, and I don’t just mean physically involved in the matters of Oregon State University. I mean mentally too. If everyone engaged their minds then people wouldn’t see engagement as required but rather, desired. Those who engage their minds more gain more from simply experiences. An engaged mind is thoughtful and mindful. It thinks outside the curriculum and extends beyond the syllabus. It recognizes ability, and attempts to become better than that. Automatically engaged minds are excellent students, and it’s not because they care or over obsess about success, but because they allow themselves to wonder, question and understand the ideas a world has to offer and in so doing, develop an intense interest and desire to find more information about any given topic.

So now we have united and engaged minds at Oregon State University. This creates an excellent image of students and teachers dressed in drapes and sprawled across the marble steps of the Memorial Union, much like Raphael’s painting “the School of Athens.” There is more, however, to this school specifically than simply being an environment to nurture minds. Oregon State University is the kind of community that studies, researches, and thinks, but then they take action. That reveals my last value; action. This then circles back around to my first statement; that “Being Orange” is a form of “Living Orange.” To take action means to take knowledge and understanding gained from engaging minds and develops a plan to create, move, or do something according to those properties gained. These plans to create, move or do is what I call “living” in relationship to the phrase “Live Orange” or rather, “Be Orange.” Creating, moving or doing things is the part of Oregon State University a retiree or alumnus takes with them when they leave. It’s what shows up in a resume, in an expression, or in an idea. Action is taking from Oregon State University what it offers and applying it in their everyday life. That is Living Orange.

The hard part of my take on Oregon State’s values is the issue if getting people to be engaged. How do you teach individuals to engage their minds willingly? How can you guarantee that the involvement of the individuals in a community is good involvement? How can you make sure that everyone who attends this school wants to be engaged? Licensed teachers aren’t the only ones who teach. A community, I would argue, teaches more than an individual person holding a degree in a specific topic. Communities nurture their members. If we want good citizens, we have to be good citizens. If we want someone to walk off campus representing Oregon State University with a good value and moral system, then we have to have good value and moral systems ourselves. Only then we might be able to build a good environment.

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Be a Leader. Be Orange.

By James Thomas

To Be Orange is to be a leader of yourself so that you can help lead your community and be an active citizen. Being Orange is being a part of the Oregon State University (OSU) community; the OSU community includes students, faculty and staff, and alumni. To be orange requires the OSU students to understand the value of community and subsequently the value of leadership. Throughout this post I will explore the link of the values of community and leadership and how these values represent being orange. I will also define what my degree will mean to me and I hypothesize that the degree from OSU should represent an individual with a global awareness, the ability to think critically, perform research, and be a leader.  Leadership development opportunities for students is immense at OSU and I will propose that we continue to illuminate opportunities for leadership development to the students.

The values that represent being orange include community, compassion, leadership, health, and sustainability. I will focus on leadership and community and will guide my thoughts on community based on the following definition: community includes a group of individuals who seek to achieve a common goal. In this case, one goal is to be a leader. In order to be an active part of the community and practice citizenship, one must have compassion for the other members of the community and must also be a leader of their self and promote active self-care. To be a leader of yourself, practice self care, and to have compassion for your community is leadership; being an active leader to promote citizenship across your community is being orange. OSU seeks to be a sustainable community with major focus on human health and wellness and sustainable ecosystems. As part of this community at OSU, we are all being Orange and must strive to lead our community to sustainable growth and development.

The value of leadership can be broken up into two parts: leadership of one’s self (knowledge of self identity, and core values) , and leading others (either through a direct leadership position such a director, or through emergent leadership). In order to be a leader, one must have a solid understanding of their personal goals and virtues, and should be able to identify their own place in the world. Once an individual has reflected on their self-identity, they are ready to help their community through leadership and through a compassion for others in their community. I have spent a lot of time as an undergraduate student on exploring my own values, learning how I work with others, and learning about the needs of other college students; these components make up my leadership development and I hope that every student at OSU has the same opportunity.

Leadership can be taught in the classroom, however as like most lessons, applied leadership experience is necessary to “learn” leadership. Leadership is a very important value as it requires people to explore their self-identity and virtues, and then impact their own community through social change and compassion. When I leave Oregon State University I anticipate that I will have broad perspective of knowledge of the world through my bach-core classes, and that I will be an ethical leader well in tune with my personal values and aware of the needs of the community I live in. To be orange is to be prepared to lead your community and in turn, an active citizen. Emergent leadership does not require you hold a position of power but suggests that you can inspire positive change for those around you by your actions; this is the type of leadership I believe being orange represents and than an education at OSU will teach.

When I leave Oregon State University I will still “Be Orange” and I hope to bring my ethical awareness to the world in which I live. Through my leadership development here at OSU I have learned how to work with a variety of individuals that come from diverse backgrounds and I have obtained a sense of compassion for the community I am a part of. Being orange is to be a leader of yourself and a leader in your community to promote active citizenship and engagement. During my education at OSU I have had the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research, and explore student leadership and involvement in both applied and academic fashions. I have been a part of student clubs (Student Dietetic Association – SDA, Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences –  OSUMANRRS, The College of Business Management Club), and I have helped organized events such as the Leadership Fair and Art of Leadership Conference while working at the Center for Leadership Development. I am working on a Minor in Leadership here at OSU which allows me to study leadership theories and apply what I have learned in class and from textbooks to my work with student clubs, student involvement, and leadership development.

I have learned that leadership requires a check in with your personal values from time to time, and identification of your purpose in life. Once you are in tune with your own self, it is then time to inspire others and work with your community to help one another achieve your goals; this concept is compassion, and it follows the social change model of leadership. This value of leadership leads people to be an active member of their community and practice active citizenship by seeking to take care of their own self and be a positive contribution to society and their community; this value of leadership is what it takes to be orange.

An education at OSU should train people to be excellent citizens in their community by working with the students to ensure the students see how they fit in the world, see their strengths, can identify their values, and so the students then feel empowered to help others to the same. I would encourage every student at OSU to get involved on campus in some way, and to explore what it means for them to “be a leader, to be orange”.

Additional Information:

To identify how other students at OSU define “Being Orange” I reached out to the Facebook community; all of the responses indicated or implied the value of community and were from OSU students.  Here is the Facebook post:

(the names and photos have been blurred, but the post is also public so feel free to view online)

Works Cited:

 –http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/strategicplan/

-Our Class Text Book: Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues, by Lewis Vaughn

Tags: #begood, Community, Leadership, phl 205
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I watched a video by Dan Gilbert on the “science” of happiness.In this talk he gives evidence that lead to his claim of human’s ability to synthesize their own happiness which is just as effective (if not more) at gaining joy as getting what you want.
This introduces the idea of happiness as a feeling, and perhaps a little as a chemical phenomenon in the brain. Happiness as a feeling is when an individual experiences a subconscious drive towards a positive attitude surrounding a particular situation.
Happiness as a chemical phenomenon, from what I know, is a strong flow of serotonin to it’s receptors. (I am afraid I don’t know enough of that topic to be effective)
I would argue that this kind of happiness most definitely requires ethics, at least to the meaning that I understand of ethics.
Like Dan Gilbert said, someone who became paralyzed for the rest of his life would be just as happy as a man who won the lottery a year after the incident. If we have such abilities to synthesize our own happiness and make ANY situation a “joyful” experience, then whose to say we couldn’t make more controversial situations more joyful? For example, someone could have the power over their minds to force themselves into thinking that murder is joyful. But that is psychotic. The idea is revolting, yes?
Why?
Because we WANT to believe that is wrong. We fear our own abilities to manipulate ourselves into thinking the unfathomable will make us happier. That we would like such things.
That’s where ethics comes in. We have to decided what we believe to be wrong/destructive/evil/bad/negative and what we believe to be right/constructive/holy/good/positive and create lifestyles according to those beliefs.
What is okay and what is not?
That’s really for YOU to decide. Take ethics 205 😉
But ask yourself the question – does this kind of synthetic happiness come from MY suffering, or the suffering of others? Does this happiness only effect me? What does it mean when my ambition causes others to be effected? Is that a problem?
WHY?

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1dgn_C0AU

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Being Orange, Joe Jaeger Style

Being orange can have many different meanings. At the beginning of the term I may have had a different answer for what being orange meant. But after learning more about philosophy and myself I have learned what being orange means to me. Being orange to me has several different meanings. Respect, accountability, and responsibility are what being orange means to me.

When I first enrolled for this class I was immature towards opening up and thinking about my own personal values and morals. Over this course I was taught how to be able and distinguish between what I thought was truly right and wrong. In our groups we would argue and discuss between values and why things were moral or immoral. This helped mold my interpretation of what being orange meant.

Responsibility is being orange because in order to be part of the orange community one has to be a past, present, or future Oregon State University student or professor or faculty staff. Students are orange because they make up most of the orange population. Professors are orange because they’re part of OSU and teach the students. The Faculty is orange because they’re part of the orange experience and are in charge of making the University the best place it can be. To me responsibility is orange because all of the orange community is responsible for the image of this university and everything it embodies. As being orange we’re responsible for ourselves but for the other orange community members. Just like our last names are important to us and has real value and meaning, so should being part of the orange community; Reputation. Our reputation is important and is one of the main issues of responsibility. When anyone orange succeeds we all succeed. When anyone orange makes bad choices and creates a bad image, it affects all of us orange Responsibility to me is being orange because being orange is bigger than one person.

Throughout my time here at OSU, this is my third year, I have matured a lot. I used to think that being orange was just an individual thing or maybe a thing between a group of a few. After taking this class and writing in my self-care journal I learned that being orange is a community not a person. Being orange is a past, present, and future community and not a present one. I learned through myself that being orange is always evolving and growing. Being orange continues to grow every year. My being orange value is centered around people and not just a person. The values being orange means to me are those that affect others and oneself. Values to me are impactful choices one makes that influence others. An example of this value definition is someone choosing to drive drunk through campus and kills several students on the way with their car. This affects the students who were killed, their friends, their family, the other students on campus, the professors and really anyone who is orange. We would all hurt. That is what being orange is all about. Being a community and choosing to be good in order to be responsible for those who are also orange.

Respect is also what being orange is. I want being orange to be respected. I want those who are not orange to respect those who are orange so much that they learn from us and give respect to everyone. Being orange can be a role model and an example to others. It can teach others what respect is, which is a goal of mine. I would love to have others, who are not orange, see how being orange is such a positive thing and follow my being orange examples of respect, accountability, and responsibility.

The last part of my being orange belief is accountability. In ethics we learn how to more or less choose between good and bad morals. We learn that ethics are a big part of life and something we use every day even when we’re not aware of it. In class we did an activity called ethic spotting. Ethics spotting is when you sit back and watch people and see what choices they make on everyday tasks. Tasks like saying thank you to someone or throwing away your trash when done eating or even just holding the door open for someone. After taking ethics class we were taught certain things, now how do we apply them after class is over and how accountable will we be. We now are more aware of our actions and need to respond to what we learned. Accountability is being orange because it shows we learned something and were able to incorporate it into everyday life. Accountability is tough because usually no one is watching and it is up to the individual to be accountable. Morally are we going to make the correct choice? Are we going to hold ourselves and others accountable for choices and decisions made that affect the whole orange community? This also involves respect and responsibility. These three ideas I have about being orange go hand in hand with each other and mesh pretty well. One can’t really be used without the other ones. I believe being orange is not an individual thing, rather it is an ethical relationship we all share.

Everyone has different ideas of what they believe in ethically and morally, but that’s what’s great about being orange. Being orange isn’t just one person’s ideas or beliefs or even choice sometimes, but it is a life style. Our university is very diverse and has many types of people and personalities and styles. That is what makes being orange so special. We’re not a one size fits all, we’re a complex, constantly evolving community who are called orange. I believe radical and insane ideas are what make being orange unique. Being orange is limitless, it is infinite. We’re a school full of dreams and ideas, so why not succeed and accomplish those dreams and ideas as an orange community. We’re a school full of dreams and ideas, so why not succeed and accomplish those dreams and ideas as an orange community?

What makes ethics different than a lot of classes is the fact that there is never a correct answer. There is choices made by individuals that can are believed to be correct or incorrect, but since there is no true answer for everyone we will never be perfect. Not being perfect is one of the best things because it allows us to grow and become what we want to become. Philosophy is an opportunity more than anything because it holds us to standards, but those standards are judged by the ones who are doing the thinking or decision making. We make the standards. We don’t have a book to check and say ok I am wrong. We have ideas and beliefs that we feel are valid, and that is how we live our moral lives. We set our moral boundaries and vulnerability. We go as deep into our minds as we want, not someone else, but ourselves. Philosophy allows us to be in charge and to feel the control. That is what being orange is. Everyone has a different answer or idea about what being orange means. Sweet! Creativity and uniqueness are the best part of an individual. Being orange to me is a community, but within that community there are individuals and within those individuals there are ideas. Ideas are the source of all existence. Existence is what we perceive in our own image and thought. Being orange is everyone’s own personal existence and what it means to them. Being orange to me is responsibility, respect, and accountability, but that’s just the beginning. Being orange is never ending.

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What skills do you want associated with your degree?  Here is a recent article addressing the problems of test-oriented education:

“Teaching to the test overshadows (if not supplants) teaching critical thinking, higher-order reasoning, and the development of creative-writing skills. As Bernstein emphasizes, contemporary teaching or teaching to the test does not “require proper grammar, usage, syntax, and structure.” In fact, those skills may be perceived as unimportant in this modern age—as many of the tests taken by K-12 students employ multiple choice, and those that require essays grade on a rubric that pays little if any attention to the quality of writing.”

Instead of killing creativity, nourish it.

Tags: creativity, education, skills
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Submitted by Reed Oxsen

To be orange to me means that you complete a degree at Oregon State University and any level. This shows responsibility because there is a lot of time and sacrifices that have to be made to complete a degree at Oregon State. This is also a value that I want people to associate with when I get my degree.

Responsibility is to be accountable for something within ones power. This value reflects being orange because if you conduct yourself and act in a responsible manner people are going to be positively affected. Does just the pure fact that you act in a responsible way make you orange? Not for my definition. Responsibility is a characteristic that goes along with being orange, but being responsible does not make you orange. This is important to discuss because then everyone who does a responsible act would be considered orange and that is not the case. In completing a degree from OSU, responsibility looks like this. Good time management, completing assignments on time, going to class, interacting and communicating with others respectfully and putting in the effort to complete the degree. I would not include professors at OSU in my definition of being orange unless they graduated from OSU because even though you work for the university the experience that was gained by the professor is from another institution, so they are not truly orange because they did not go through the OSU system.

Oregon State has expressed the importance of community as a part of being orange, but I don’t think they do a good job at bringing the sense of community to OSU. A recent example of this would be with the unveiling of the new logo. Majority of the students were not so thrilled with the look of the beaver. If Oregon State wanted to show community they could have offered several different designs that students could have voted for, that way OSU as a community would feel like we have more of a say in what we identify ourselves with. Oregon State stated that the reason why the university chose the logo was to further the athletic program in recruiting. Athletes make up a small portion of the OSU student body, so to make a logo with the intention to cater to them does not promote the value of community that the university markets to us. By OSU saying they promote community and then endorse something that does the exact opposite is unethical and shows a lack of responsibility, which is a value that I identify with being orange.

Another motto that OSU has is that we are Beaver Nation. What does this mean? I looked up what the university defined this as and all I could find was information about the success of the athletic program and the athletes that are excelling in the classroom as well. When I think of Beaver Nation I think of the past and present students of OSU. The definition of nation according to Merriam-Webster is as follows, “A large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.” Only having information about the athletic program does not fit this definition because the athletic program is not something that everyone at OSU is united in common. Many students don’t even go to athletic events, so to have that as the focus does not fit the definition of Beaver Nation. It should be of the education OSU provides because athlete or not everyone has to take classes.

When I graduate I want my degree to show that I am a responsible person who knows how to complete something that they start. I don’t want my degree to looked upon as something that was given to me, but something that I worked hard for and earned because then people are more likely to take what I say as something that is important and credible. If my degree means something that is viewed in a positive way by others then not only do I benefit, but the University does as well.

Tags: Beaver Nation, Community, Responsibility
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Submitted by: Hannah Filicky

Oregon State University, OSU, Oregon State, and O State are all names for the place where growth and learning happen.  Experience, courses, and involvement all lend themselves as part of the process of education and personal development.  Oregon State University is a public, higher learning institution that is devoted to research, education, and community impact.  It is made up of students, alumni, staff, and faculty.

At Oregon State, the campaign “Be Orange” stands to hold and envelope the values that the school holds.  “Be” is to exist, individually or part of a group.  Additionally it can be used to explain behaviors or a beliefs regarding a specific group, ideas, or beliefs, in this case the ideals of OSU.  “Orange”, in the case of OSU, does not simply stand for color or a food, but a set of ideals and people.  Orange is a descriptor for people who attend or work at the learning institution, or those that have been a part of OSU in one of these ways in the past. Each of these people must be contributing to the betterment of the community goals and persons.  One of things that OSU values, and I value about those at OSU, is hard work.  Those who are “Orange” contribute by working hard.  Hard work is the process by which a person puts all of their effort into a task to receive the best possible outcome.  It could also include putting a lot of thought, time, or money into any specific action, thought, or behavior.

Hard work at Oregon State manifests itself in many everyday life situations.  Those may be individual or community based.  Individually based, hard work creates personal growth.  As personal growth happens, people become more aware, compassionate, inspired, and willing to create change.  This process helps a person become more aware how they impact their community.  For the community at OSU, it impacts community goals and people.  It affects how OSU reaches outside itself to influence economics, health, and sustainability- as defined as part of the vision for OSU.  One thing these all have in common is that they are complex social problems.  These are of concern to OSU, because we have the opportunity to influence these and make the world better by improving human wellness, contributing to the field of sustainability, and advocate and aid in creating social progress and economic improvement.  Each of these are not only an outcome of hard work, but are also a reason hard work should be continuously happening on the individual, community, local, national, and world scales.

Since OSU’s community is concerned with bettering the world, it is important to understand how our goals interact with the world. Improving human wellness is important because if we as humans are healthy and promoting healthy decision making, we can accomplish the other goals.  Impacting sustainability, social wellness, and the economy are only going to be changed by having humans who are clear thinking, physically and mentally well, and socially connected.  Those who have worked hard to gain social connections and skills can communicate with others to collaborate and change the complex social problems.  Those that can think critically and are healthy will have more energy and ability to appropriately create change.

Contributing to the field of sustainability is equally important as human health, because it impacts our quality of life and the earth which supplies all we need to live.  By each of us pitching in, we can not only sustain our lives but keep in mind that the earth is an important implementation in our ecosystem.

Advocate and aid in creating social progress and economic improvement be addressed by producing the other goals.  If considered, human wellness is mental, social, physical, and spiritual.  Each of these parts are interconnected and impact each other.  When emphasizes that these are important for individuals, we understand that there is a group impact as compassion and moral imagination work in between individuals. Therefore if we can address the issues related to those and empower individuals, that can work together, we will create social progress.  As social progress is created, economic improvements will follow.  Creating more sustainable living and address the needs of human life, we can start to flourish economically.

These goals can be reached by putting emphasis on the elements of hard work.  Since these are multi-faceted problems it takes a community of people to impact them in any way.  The community at OSU works hard to accomplish these by fostering the personal growth of individuals.  This is fostered at Oregon State by creating a community that collaborates, has diversity, encourages excellence and ambition, offers opportunities, and supports by being inclusive. It is a rigorous process to learn how to work hard for your passions and change.  At OSU, having a diverse community that includes people with many different backgrounds, cultures, skill sets, and traits allows for all to learn from new opportunities and personal experiences.  The individual is interconnected with the community because as they grow personally, they contribute to the community to help others grow.  The community then improves through individual’s passions, critical thinking skills, independence, empowerment, engagement, and learning experiences.  This interplay is essential in creating an environment that focuses on solving complex social problems, as well as preparing students to be able to contribute after earning their degrees.

The ways in which the community and the individuals that make it up are interdependent on one another’s hard work is what makes OSU a university that is advancing not only individuals but creating change for complex social problems.  This is what makes us, the individuals that make up OSU, “Orange.”

Tags: Community, Hard Work, http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/strategicplan/, Personal Growth
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The Future is Orange: The Campaign for Inner Growth by Alex Hoffer

By working at or attending Oregon State University, an individual is subscribing to a community. The idea of a community of individuals who represent Oregon State is certainly abstract. After all, how can you include every age and background in a single group? To encompass all of those who identify as Beavers, OSU’s administration has provided us with a simple, concise phrase that not only clumps all Beavers into a tidy category, but also gives us an idea of what it truly means to be a Beaver. That phrase (“Be Orange”) has some weight to it, however. What does it mean? It says “Be Orange” everywhere- on campus, on signs, on shirts. It is an idea that offers up many interpretations. But to Be Orange, it says something about a person. OSU’s “Be Orange” motto is a conclusive statement that means to be a Beaver, you must accept that you desire to grow in maturity.

First, we must ask the fundamental question of “what is maturity?” in relation to Being Orange. When we’re young, we hear the word incessantly. We would hear it when we were acting young for our age. We’d hear it when we sprouted a chest hair. But these definitions of maturity must be abandoned for a more inclusive interpretation, one which is more abstract, certainly, but also arguably more rewarding. To be in pursuit of maturity means that you know that you have a foundation of knowledge and experiences, but you recognize that you can certainly grow in those areas, and grow as a person in general. Nobody attends college without the desire to grow in intellectual maturity; simply by attending college an individual is suggesting that they would like to learn more about a subject or subjects of their choosing. In order to Be Orange, a person must identify that they could develop mentally and emotionally by attending Oregon State University, an institution that provides ample opportunity to succeed in those pursuits through various degree programs and a qualified teaching staff.

The rewards of this development in maturity are vast and very much up to the person who acquires them. The rewards are, in many cases, what attract an individual to the pursuit to begin with. Sure, some have an interest in school, and will take courses without any intention of graduating simply out of the lust for knowledge, but many college students join in on the Orange experiment so they can reap its benefits. They see OSU graduates go on to do great things, such as making advances in medicine, or opening their own veterinary practice. As a result, they enroll in the university. What they’re looking at in these success stories is a level of maturity that was in development at the time of the first class. Take my friend’s father Mark, who graduated from OSU with a Business degree and became a successful banker. Mark was molded by not only his academic experiences here, but also his social ones. He met a girl at OSU. He married her while he was a student. OSU gave him not only a degree but a social immersion that granted him a woman he loves.

OSU offers academia that will grant an individual knowledge that they can apply to a number of situations, but, perhaps what’s more profound is, it allows a breeding ground of different views and backgrounds that, simply by exposure, causes a person’s mind to open and his character to mature.

A person can receive the inner growth and maturity that OSU offers by not attending the school, surely. But what the Be Orange campaign suggests is that this maturity will come to the student in a way that is unique to OSU. And, while you don’t need school to become well-rounded, it is evident that the years you spend here force you to mature in a caring environment at a steady pace. Naturally, Be Orange is merely a motto, not a mandatory rule. Some can come and go from the institution without gaining any of the maturity OSU offers if you accept it. To Be Orange is also to accept that OSU has the capability of providing you with great things- whether these things be the tools to solving the problems of the world, or simply the problems of your life. Being Orange is not for those who have no interest in growing internally, and it never will be. To Be Orange, you need to have a designated level of ethic and interest that permits you to grow with the help of OSU.

The idea of inner growth and maturity is not exclusive to the students of OSU. Everybody who involves themselves with OSU has the opportunity to Be Orange. To Be Orange, one must have the desire to grow and be granted the experience to do so. For a professor, Being Orange is going into a class as a teacher and realizing that they could also be a student, learning from the knowledge of their students and shaping their future ability to teach. For a janitor, Being Orange could mean being inspired by the quality of their job to go back to school. No matter what, Oregon State offers experiences, and whether you choose to use those experiences and truly Be Orange falls upon the passion and drive of the individual.

To leave OSU unshaped is not a flaw of the school itself- rather, it is the flaw of the person who endured their time there. Like all life experiences, there is something to learn at Oregon State University. OSU is distinctly special from other life events because it offers countless experiences at your convenience; experiences at OSU are literally a walk away. And what you take from those experiences- whether it be a further sense of responsibility, an enhanced work ethic, the ability to look at things through different lenses to gain perspective- determine whether you truly were Orange or not. If you want to Be Orange, if you want to go through the task of maturity, Oregon State has it waiting for you on a silver platter. But if you take that offer, and you do become Orange, you will find that at the end of the tunnel there is indeed a better life ahead.

Tags: philosophicool
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