Be Good. Be Orange.

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.