Be Good. Be Orange.

Submitted by Chelsea Stilwell

Oregon State University promotes the campaign slogan “Be Orange” throughout the entire OSU campus. But what exactly does it mean to “Be Orange?” Many would say that the slogan is used in reference to OSU sporting events. When I first saw those words, for instance, I immediately pictured a stadium full of OSU students all wearing orange and cheering on our football team. Now I understand that the words “Be Orange” mean so much more. “Being Orange” is developing knowledge in several different areas of study.  This is revealed by the goals of the Baccalaureate Core here at Oregon State:

“Through the Baccalaureate Core at Oregon State University, students explore knowledge in many fields across the university and learn to think critically about significant issues–locally, nationally, and globally.  Students will learn how knowledge is made in fields from science and mathematics to the arts, geography and political science.  While courses in the major provide expertise in a specific field of study, courses in the Bacc Core offer students a broad sense of what it means to be an educated person and to be well equipped for the challenges of the workplace, citizenship, and constructing a life with meaning.”

This blog will explain the importance of the “Orange” value of knowledge and how it applies to the entire OSU community and gives special meaning to earning a degree from OSU.

All higher education institutions would support the value of knowledge; it is the ultimate reason for getting an education. Oregon State upholds a specific kind of knowledge, however, that many other universities do not. We value developing knowledge in multiple fields of study, or having a diverse intellect, rather than just focusing on the requirements of our majors. What kinds of knowledge? The kinds of knowledge the Bacc Core encourages are: foundational areas of education and writing clearly and convincingly, biological and physical sciences, literature and the arts, the social sciences, the humanities, addressing contemporary issues using a multi-disciplinary approach, and complexity of structures, systems, and ideologies that sustain discrimination and the unequal distribution of power. These are all clearly explained on the OSU Bacc Core Values website as well. These types of knowledge are important because in the process of learning different areas of study, we develop new perspectives and are able to consider other points of view. This is an extremely useful skill when it comes to developing ethical arguments. This critical skill allows one to consider and challenge possible opposing arguments before they are made, which will strengthen one’s argument. It is also important to acquire different perspectives so that you are able to better understand your own values and be able to coherently explain them to others.

Having a diverse intellect allows you to be competent in many disciples and provides more opportunities. A biology major, for example, may decide to take an ethics class simply to meet their Bacc Core requirement and realize that philosophy is much more interesting to them than biology. Any of the Bacc Core courses could also provide students with possible back-up plans if they do not get the job they wanted directly after college. I, for one, am a pre-medical student and know that chances of making it to medical school are slim thus, thanks to my Bacc Core classes, I have designed a variety of back-up plans B-Z that I would also enjoy, like becoming a scuba dive instructor in Hawai’i.

The Orange value of knowledge applies not only to OSU students, but also to anyone who directly contributes or contributed to the OSU learning experience. I included the term “directly” because, for example, I do not consider people who simply contribute funding to the school and have never even been to the campus as “Being Orange.” I don’t consider these people as “Orange” because they do not know/represent the values of Being Orange if they have never even been to the campus interacting with our community. The Orange community includes students, professors, graduate students, and alumni. In that case, do custodial staff members count as being Orange? The answer to this question depends on whether they actively support and demonstrate the values of Being Orange or not. Anyone who was “Orange” once will continue to be “Orange,” as long as they continue to live by the values of being orange; knowledge being a leading component.

To have a college degree means that you have demonstrated hard work, perseverance, and gained a profounder knowledge. To have a degree from OSU, however, means that you have elected to exceed the general requirements for your major and have broadened your knowledge through new, unfamiliar classes and experiences. When I go out into the world, I want potential employers to see my résumé and think, “Wow, OSU grad, she must really strive to expand her knowledge and develop new ideas about trying new things. She obviously goes above and beyond the call of duty; she would really improve our business!” I want an Oregon State degree to put me ahead of the curve; to make people recognize my comprehensive knowledge before they even meet me. Not only do I want my degree to put me ahead in my career, but also I want to continue my skills learned in the Bacc Core classes and continually improve them. These courses are so important to me because I never would have realized the deeper existence of ethical issues if I had not taken PHL 205. Now I am able to see ethical arguments in every single decision I make, as long as I really think about it. This skill will continually benefit myself-and others-as I bring it with me in the path to becoming an intellectually diversified ethical doctor.

Oregon State challenges and inspires its students to go above and beyond their original expectations by exploring knowledge in new subjects through personal experiences. Students are encouraged to find interests they never knew they had in subjects they knew nothing about, which creates new, previously unrealized opportunities. Being Orange is to develop a deeper knowledge in many disciplines in order to gain new perspectives, and therefore be able to better uncover and explain or argue ethics.

Bacc Core Goals & Values webpage: http://oregonstate.edu/main/baccalaureate-core/goals-and-values

Submitted by Devon Renard

“Be Successful. Be Orange”

            To be “Orange,” you must strive for success in the ventures you undertake on a daily basis which promote the well being of the Oregon State University community. One must engage in activities and follow through with decisions that ultimately uplift beaver nation. Being successful, in my eyes, is the basis of what it means to be “Orange.” In order to strive for greatness and achieve my life goals through the receiving of my OSU degree, I must prove to be a successful person. Whether that be advancing my physical activity from collegiate athlete to playing for the Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association such as Jared Cunningham, leading a group of my peers to rally for a tuition freeze like Dan Cushing, or simply following my own dream towards success of working for a well known contracting firm, building a firm network through my time at OSU, and gaining internship experience with local companies. My degree here at OSU symbolizes the long road of learning I have gone through and the credentials I have gained that are necessary to professionally present myself in the business world. This degree exemplifies the understanding I have gained of how a community can come together, supporting one another and give back where aid can be given, as well as my educational cap off of knowledge gained through sitting in a classroom receiving instruction from a single professor per course.

The value of success is expectant to be used by every single person in the world and it is our goal as Oregon State graduates to implement this knowledge into the minds of those who personally did not receive this degree or who did not take part in the construction of the student’s knowledge base to receive this degree. Each and every participant in the OSU community, students, faculty, and scholarship granters, all have a job to spread the word of striving for success across the world. This applies to the victims of the tsunami that hit Alaska in 1964, as natural disasters such as these are being studied by students and faculty at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at OSU. The success of the world may also apply to Oregon Health and Science Universities Doernbecher Children’s Hospital who provide pediatric healthcare for kids suffering from bone and joint damage, cancer and blood disorders, cardio and neurological problems, and the OSU community generates thousands of dollars to aid in their world wide supportive health providing care, which saves the lives of countless children each day. (Doernbecher Children’s Hospital) With the aim of success, as the slogan “Be Orange” expresses, the OSU community is able to help others grow in their successfulness and promote itself for future endeavors to come.

Being orange may not only entail the sole value of success, but rather a new angle of promotion. “During the reveal, Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis declared the rebrand as being about three things: ‘Recruiting, recruiting, and recruiting.’”(Berkes, Peter [De Carolis, Bob]) In an interview with SB Nation the Oregon State athletic director clearly labels the mantra of what it means to be orange and new school logo as a means for recruitment towards student-athletes. This creates an immense drive for better athletes to want to come to OSU, ultimately producing a greater fan base and bringing in more revenue for the school. Athletics on the OSU campus are one of the top revenue earners for the school, but is recruitment the only way being orange can be defined? In class, communicating with my group members, a value they all believed was the best for defining what it means to “Be Orange” was diversity. To them this was cultivating the beliefs and ideas of people with different temperaments, talents, and convictions and spreading diversity across campus, through the community, and to the world. This would generate an endless amount of knowledge and creative thinking, but will this value advance OSU in a direction to advance the world?  I believe the success of both recruitment and diversity among the OSU campus are a part of what it means to “Be Orange,” but lack in the opportunities in knowledge growth and the education that Oregon State has to provide for its students and community.

Success is an important value and holds the sole aim of accomplishment. Being orange is doing just that. To “Be Orange,” one must simply accomplish the task at hand and promote the community, nation, or world around them. This value requires you as an individual or together with others, to determine a common goal or idea, building off of the knowledge and ideals of others, without the actions of procrastination, with the notion that no idea is a bad one, diving into the moral values you hold and to come up with a solution that has in some way advanced you, the community, nation, or world around you in a fulfilling manner. This applies to everyday individual choices made such as being polite through conversation, picking up garbage off the street, brushing your teeth in the morning, or spending time at a retirement home. Success may also be applied towards larger actions and moral decisions such as driving on the correct side of the road, aiding other countries by donating food and money, or building skyscrapers downtown. Being successful excludes anyone aiming to deter from the advancing successfulness of what being orange has to offer. This may include terrorists, people who perform bomb threats towards communities, or sexual assaulters on the Oregon State Campus. These people who perform these acts suppress the advancing successes of OSU and the positive movements Oregon State makes for the community, the nation, and the world.

Being “Orange” is being successful in your everyday life and is necessary for the modernization, economic growth and well being of Oregon State University, the community which surrounds it, the nation and the world which we live in. Being successful when referring to being orange is not just a belief some students have that it might be defined as, but rather a way of life people take on and define themselves by when they come to Oregon State University and agree to take part in what this institution has to offer. Be successful. Be Orange.

Sources Cited

1. Berkes, Peter [De Carolis, Bob]. “SB Nation.” March 4, 2013. March 17, 2013. <http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/3/4/4063318/new-oregon-state-logo-uniforms>
2. “Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.” Oregon Health and Student University. 2013. March 17, 2013. <http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/doernbecher/>
3. “O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory.” Oregon State University. 2013. March 17, 2013. <http://wave.oregonstate.edu/>
4. “Tsunami Research Center.” University of Southern California. 2005. March 17, 2013. <http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/alaska/1964/webpages/index.html>
5. “Wear The Square.” 2013. March 17, 2013. <http://www.wearthesquare.com>