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Show Views&Opinion Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 Page 12 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com OurView I AboutUs Editor in Chief Patrick Oden The hole gets deeper n Tuesday’s State of the University Address, President Stan Albrecht addressed the dark financial times and pointed toward a brighter future. The university has passed through difficult budget cuts, faculty losses and tuition increases on its way to a more secure financial footing. Before that happens, however, the university will face $13 million dollars in further cuts this July. Albrecht said this will majorly affect, among other things, scholarship opportunities, faculty, tuition and department organization. For the USU employee, that means the same work spread across fewer positions, fragile departments and another mandatory furlough. For the USU student, that means higher costs, less hope of financial aid and diminished faculty support. Albrecht spoke of three rounds of budget cuts – ongoing and one-time reductions to an already shallow pool. For some hungry students, these three rounds will feel like three strikes as the everlooming threat of next year’s tuition has yet to show its face. Nationally, the stock and housing markets are showing signs of improvement but it is unlikely that when the trend reaches Logan the change in our paychecks will match the dues at the Registrar’s Office. It is no one’s fault and there is no one to blame. We merely find ourselves in a harsh economic reality and Albrecht and the rest of the administration are certainly trying their best to calm the storm. At the same time, it’s hard to tell that to the men and women who have lost their jobs or the students who are struggling to pay for their education. Countless faculty positions remain unfilled as departments scuttle to get by and provide the same level of academic value that befits USU, while students worry about their current and future income. Even so, USU moves on: enrollment is up, the Living and Learning Center 97 percent full, substantial construction projects are under way, there is talk of new colleges and departments and we will soon welcome the College of Eastern Utah into our big happy family. In many ways we should count ourselves lucky that we are part of an institution that believes in preserving what is good, even when there’s no clear means to do so. We believe Albrecht when he says that the university is committed to saving jobs and helping students, and we can only plead for that commitment to continue. The university is certainly preparing for a brighter future. Hopefully when it comes there will be someone left to see it. News Editor Rachel A. Christensen Assistant News Editor Catherine Meidell Features Editor Courtnie Packer Assistant Features Editor Greg Boyles Sports Editor Assistant Sports Editor Graham Terry Copy Editor Photo Editors Pete Smithsuth Tyler Larson his summer, a mildewed, cream-colored copy of a 45-year-old novel saved me from a whopping midcareer crisis. My decade of devotion to teaching high school literature – years that brought me an intense sense of professional reward, much more so than my previous 10 years as a college instructor – was in peril. But Bel Kaufman’s “Up the Down Staircase,” a 1964 portrait of a 20-something English teacher striving to bring literary passion to the students crowding her New York City public school classroom, came to the rescue like no professional development seminar I had ever attended. Staring at the red letters outlined in black on the book’s cover, I remembered the catchy title from my childhood, with no idea what it referred to. Although the book hit the best-seller list, was translated into 16 languages and became a movie starring Sandy Dennis, I missed it. I never heard, despite years of banter with colleagues about favorite books, that “Staircase” was the classic portrait of an Web Editor T English teacher’s struggles with school bureaucracy, with students up and down the axis of caring to couldn’t-care-less, and with her inner self as she strives to do a job that asks everything – oversee, organize, proctor, chaperone, coach – except the thing she’s there to do: teach. The novel poses the question that still haunts many an English teacher: Should I stay and fight on behalf of literature, or go earn money at a job with intellectual challenges, edible food, bathroom breaks and a blissful absence of school bells? This was the dilemma ruining my sleep. Even though as a private-school teacher I benefited from small class sizes, the multitasking high school grind was dragging me down. My daily rounds included five literature classes with roughly 10 minutes to review assigned books before class. That was all the time I had to prepare lessons and grade papers too. In between 250 minutes - See TEACHERS, page 13 www.aggietownsquare.com As a matter of faith M Mark Vuong The cure for teachers, Read on Leave your comments at ost issues concerning religion, be they theological, practical or otherwise, are pondered in the quiet halls of churches and academia. Men of profound faith, or none at all, sift through rooms of books and papers looking for answers to the questions burning in their souls. Much of this work is carried on and finished without much fanfare in the public eye. Some issues, however, come raging forth like an inferno, and plant themselves firmly in our social and cultural consciousness. One of those issues is sex. When I examine the sex debate at its core, I feel like I’m watching a PETA luncheon at Famous Dave’s BBQ. One side wants to claim that sex is merely a natural instinct and people are just going to do it. The other side seems to want sex only within the strict confines of marriage. Otherwise it is a vice of the flesh that will banish mortals from the good graces of their respective faiths. These two sides appear more polarized in debate than Congress, and it’s only gotten worse since the Pope’s remarks on birth control a year ago. Something keeps digging at me though. Aren’t they essentially saying the same thing? The arguments from both the reli- Tim Olsen gious and secular aisles seem to suggest that sex is just a physical matter. Whether they are condemning or embracing, it is irrelevant. Sex is apparently grounded in physical pleasures and animal instincts and religion should have no part in it. The only consequence for the secular side is pregnancy or disease, while various religions add hellfire for emphasis. I guess there is some truth to this line of reasoning. After all what is gang graffiti but a human attempt at smearing crap on an object to say, We were here? Neither side seems to make a good case for itself though. Flowery words from the pulpit about chastity fall dead in the light of Charles Brinton or Father Stefanoni. The hellish situation in Africa condemns both sides quickly, from the animalistic gang rapes of the Janjaweed to correctional sexual assault of lesbians in South Africa. The rhetoric of liberation and condemnation is empty noise in the face of tragedy committed on both ends. I’ve watched this almost surreal battle of futility go on my whole life. Each side blames the other for the problems while making the same point. Mainstream media seems content to fill every newsstand with the extremities instead of real dialog. It’s really more of a psychosis than anything else. I wondered for years about whom to believe, and watched friends grow up in depravity or confusion. None of us knew what to trust, and some fell deep into despair. After much reflection and personal experience, I finally decided to stop chasing the ghost. Such division of sex and faith has led to great suffering. Couldn’t there be something more? Indeed there is, and it comes from seeing religion and sex for what they are. Religion isn’t just a way to explain scientific phenomena, and sex isn’t merely swapping fluids under hormonal duress. They are both about the complexity of human relationships, with the divine and with each other. They are forms of deep connectivity with what is outside of ourselves, both individuals and mortal beings in general. Sexual relationships, as I’ve experienced, are no different than relationships with the divine. They are ones of inquiry, mystery, discovery and profound intimacy. Many religious cultures around the world have embraced this coalition of sex and divinity through their ritual and philosophy. The late Pope John Paul II wrote an incredibly prosex book called “Man and Woman, He Created Them: A Theology of the Body.” He described sex as a gift between lovers that should be cherished and enjoyed. The Vikings viewed the fertility of women as the cup of life and creation, not simply reproduction. Various shamanic faiths, including some forms of Hinduism, consider sexual and spiritual energy to be much the same and just as powerful as each other. Even the humor and absurdity of sexual experience is seen in millennia old consummation ceremonies – what Islam sometimes calls the “Ruhksati” or “Dukhul” – where the newlyweds’ freshly stained bedsheets were paraded around town for a jubilant crowd to behold. Sex and religion hold enormous value in our lives for the same reasons, and sadly they are both misunderstood and used for evil. But my experiences, some being lessons hard learned, have shown me the truth of this issue. Sex is a bodily function but like religion it is still a matter of the heart and soul. Will Holloway is a senior majoring in philosophy. His column will appear every other Wednesday. Comments can be sent to will.r.h@ aggiemail. usu.edu Karlie Brand About letters • Letters should be limited to 400 words. • All letters may be shortened, edited or rejected for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume of similar letters. • Letters must be topic oriented. They may not be directed toward individuals. Any letter directed to a specific individual may be edited or not printed. • No anonymous letters will be published. Writers must sign all letters and include a phone number or email address as well as a student identification number (none of which is published). Letters will not be printed without this verification. • Letters representing groups – or more than one individual – must have a singular representative clearly stated, with all necessary identification information. • Writers must wait 21 days before submitting successive letters – no exceptions. • Letters can be hand delivered or mailed to The Statesman in the TSC, Room 105, or can be e-mailed to statesman@aggiemail. usu.edu, or click on www.aggietownsquare.com for more letter guidelines and a box to submit letters. (Link: About Us.) Online poll Budget cuts loom on the horizon for Utah State University once again and threaten to affect tuition rates for students. Would you rather? • Pay more tuition and keep classes and professors that have been cut • Pay the same tuition but loose classes and professors • Compromise somewhere in between Visit us on the Web at www.aggietownsquare. com to cast your vote. |