By James Fallon-Cote, Patrick Mannhard, Jane Strugatsky and Maria Rukavina.
Bell tower objection
I am not in favor of this bell tower; I see no value in it. Maybe the value would be enhancing the university's status among incoming or potential freshman and among the community. But what hollow status is the university hoping to achieve with the construction? A perception of a high monetary worth?
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was taught in my Biblical Traditions class that one's status in the eyes of God is not achieved through wealth, but through actions.
Thus, if the University is trying to find a way to appreciate the spirituality of the University as a whole, shouldn't the money be used the money to reach out to the community - to use the wealth of knowledge the University has to offer and help the people with it through a variety of faith-based programs?
The purpose of this bell tower is to provide an iconic symbol for the expression of the Catholic faith that this university possess. However, the bell tower will be constructed at the expense of several long-standing trees at the side of St. Mary's, I fail to see how replacing part of God's natural creation with one of man's expresses this faith. In fact, if I may be so bold, I would argue that this perspective is contradictory to the faith the University upholds.
The trees have been in that place, undisturbed for more than 25 years, slowly and intricately attaching themselves to the microscopic network of fungi and bacteria that links all plants into one divine ecosystem, sustained by the elaborate nature of God's creation. Any partial destruction of such an ecosystem has a profound impact on that of the whole system.
The removal of a single tree is the removal of an individual. There is no replacing an individual - the role that this tree fulfills in its daily life cannot be substituted by another tree, or even fifty other trees.
This university is becoming known as one of sustainability. Then how can we justify enlarging our carbon footprint, our impact on our gift from God, with the only result being an inflated campus ego? A new bell tower will be costly, and unnecessary.
Let the trees develop to their full potential, and in 50 years they will grow to overshadow any deluded grandeur that a bell tower might impose. Let these trees be an expression of the Universities faith in God's creation, just as they are currently doing. I respectfully beseech you to reconsider the construction.
No ridiculous bell tower!
This is a ridiculous reply, to the ridiculous article, about the ridiculous plans for building a ridiculous bell tower.
The University of Portland has embarked on a construction rampage as of late; the new engineering building, new dorms, new library, and renovating Shipstad. The University must stop before they do something stupid like building a giant bell tower. Rapunzel does not go to this university.
Please think about what would promote good education through teaching, faith and service. I don't know what purpose the tower would serve any of those aspects. I believe that one can have faith and learn without hearing 1,400 lb bells during class.
The university totes LEED certification for its construction projects, but not all are sustainable.
The construction of a bell tower is a perfect example of unsustainable construction plans that would involve wasting natural resources, burning fossil fuels and cutting down precious blossoming cherry trees.
I urge the University to uphold its promise with the President's Climate Commitment. The construction of a bell tower serves no educational purpose or any purpose at all.
If we have too much money to know what to do with, I would start by paying our faculty more or feeding the hungry.
Please take back the construction plans. It is not too late. We could pretend it was a joke that the administration wanted to erect a giant ringing phallus on the center of campus. What's next? Is it the installation of trampolines across the quad or archways over the main entrance?
I would be embarrassed if that's the only thing downtown Portland can see of our campus. If the donating family wants a great honor in helping the school, they should have sent out a vote on what really needs to be accomplished (from the student body).
Instead of inventing new, unwanted and useless structures please consider the current construction needs on campus, Corrado needs a new foundation, and Howard hall is decomposing.
In praise of eat local day
The Ecology Club and SLUG would like to say "Thank You" to Kirk at Bon Appétit for the eat local day in the commons.
Here is our response to the angry napkin notes. Here are our voices combined with a resounding call for less carbon in our diets, for a better connection with our food, and for sustainability in our daily lives! Here are some quotes for you to ponder:
"I love local food. Its value transcends its glorious taste; into a moral responsibility that each of us must take when we decide how to live with the natural world. Eating local connects us to the land around us, helping us to act as a contributing member to the ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest."
"I ask that we please continue to learn about eating local; sustainable food is part of a just and responsible life style. Local food day is an example of humans trying to live within an ecosystem. It helps us to understand how our actions affect other components of the ecosystem. Our effects on water cycles from irrigation, our effects of fertilizers on dead zones in the ocean, the effects of deforestation in the tropics."
"I can no longer enjoy the flavor of non-local food. It tastes bad because I taste the acid rain from coal power plants, I taste the destruction of the rainforest, I smell diesel fumes in my nostrils, I smell the hog farm, my taste buds are burned with the nitrogen and phosphates eroding onto our rivers, the sandiness of desertification turns my tongue to grit, I taste the death of an ecosystem. Eating local has helped get that bad taste out of my mouth. Restoring it with the taste of the soils of the Willamette Valley, the splash of rain from Mt. hood national forest, the smell of blossoming orchards from Hood River."
"Eating local is a great teaching tool."
"Amidst a culture obsessed with globalized consumption, Bon Appétit's continuing commitment to locally sourced food and environmental consciousness is an inspiring example of sustainability from the business sector. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! With local food everyone wins."
"The local farmers benefit, the whole community benefits, fossil fuels are reduced, the earth smiles, the food is more fresh, and healthy."
"Delicious! I want to eat locally all the time."
"We look forward to many more local food days."
"I am proud to eat at the commons knowing that our food is fresh, fair and local. Thanks for serving local food at The Commons."
