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Barometer The Daily
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013 • OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
DAILYBAROMETER.COM
OPINION: Robinson should go if OSU doesn’t make 2014 NCAA tournament
VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 103
courtesy of sean stevenson
Hannah Gustin
| CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
River, a whippet, enjoys some gentle petting at the Valley Library yesterday while students take a break from studying for their finals.
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
Bentley, a boarder collie, allows students to pet him as they enjoy a nice stress-reliever.
Canines comfort students during dead week Welcome Waggers, a local volunteer group, will bring therapy dogs into the Valley Library today for students
the surrounding Corvallis and Linn Benton community since 1991. While yesterday was the first time that the Welcome Waggers have been on a college campus in Oregon, they are active in the local community. Welcome Waggers volunteers each of the five By Kristy Wilkinson dogs in the Reading Education Assistance Dogs The Daily Barometer program, a program that allows elementary As dead week looms over our heads and stu- school students to read to the dogs within the dents see the black hole of finals in the oh-so program and improve their reading compredistant future, it can be hard to find a way to hension skills. de–stress. The Valley Library has a answer to Local nursing homes, hospice care facilities the problem: The Welcome Waggers. and mental health facilities are some of the The Welcome Waggers is a local volunteer many locations that the Welcome Waggers go therapy dog group that has been working with to provide support and therapy. n
Yesterday there were five therapy dogs in the commons room of the Valley Library. Each student was allotted 10 minutes to pet the dogs and see the tricks they have learned over their training. Andrea Wirth, an OSU librarian, is the reason Welcome Waggers came to the library. Wirth was inspired by a similar event that had happened at Rice University, in Houston. “The best, most important part of this was to alleviate stress for students,” Wirth said. Wirth said they will be having the Welcome Waggers back at least once per term during finals week, if not more often. The success of the program has happened
in a short period of time, Wirth said. “We definitely see a difference from when [students] walk in to when they walk out,” Wirth said. A line wrapped around to the outside of the Valley Library commons yesterday as students waited to meet the therapy dogs. Katie Schou, a senior in political science, said the chance to see the dogs was well worth the 10-minute wait in line. “It was a great break from studying and it reminded me that there is more to life that just exams,” Schou said. “You have to take a break See WAGGERS | page 8
New professor to connect OSU’s School of History, Philosophy, Religion ASOSU house Amy Koehlinger started the Religious Studies Club, hopes to spur academic conversation By Maddy Duthie
SPECIAL TO The Daily Barometer
New assistant professor Amy Koehlinger is the missing link in Oregon State University’s new School of History, Philosophy and Religion. Six months ago, Koehlinger and her husband traded the Florida sunshine for the drizzles and mists of the Willamette Valley to bridge the OSU history and philosophy departments with the new addition of religion, as she is the only professor specific to the field of religious studies. At OSU, Koehlinger said, religious studies has been under the umbrella major of philosophy for years, rather than being its own major. The School of History, Philosophy and Religion hopes to change that, and Koehlinger is taking initiative for this change as the primary faculty adviser of the new student club that invites students to join the academic conversation of religion. It’s called the Religious Studies Club, for the time being. “The hope is that the group will name itself,” Koehlinger said. She and her colleagues hope this club will give students a place to
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This is about creating a culture of inquiry among the students. Amy Koehlinger Assistant professor
expand their knowledge of religion and better understand the field of study. “This is about creating a culture of inquiry among the students,” Koehlinger said. Koehlinger’s resume includes teaching religious studies at Florida State University for 10 years; writing a book about American Catholic nuns, which has been nominated for five awards and has won one; earning three degrees and receiving an undergraduate teaching award from Florida State University. Koehlinger applied her interest in religious studies to extensive research on various American religious traditions, including the Catholic sisterhood. Koehlinger isn’t Catholic, but considers herself an agnostic Lutheran, “appreciative of the power of religion.” In her article, “Demythologizing Catholic Women Religious in the
1960s” for the Journal of Southern Religion, Koehlinger said due to the culture she was raised in, she was misinformed about the character and professions of Catholic nuns when she met one face to face at the age of age 21. “My first sustained encounter with a sister exploded everything I thought I knew about Catholic nuns, igniting a decade-long intellectual quest to discover exactly who these women really were,” Koehlinger wrote. As an undergraduate, she lived with a nun while taking a year off of college to volunteer for a Catholic HIV/AIDS service organization in Washington, D.C. Her experiences witnessing Catholic social justice in action served as a catalyst for her continuing academic pursuits. Although Corvallis is a long trip from Tallahassee, Fla., Koehlinger is not new to the area. She spent two years in
Eugene earning a Master of Arts in U.S. history from the University of Oregon before tackling her Ph.D. at Yale. She noted she had many great experiences with students at FSU, but students there tended to have strong religious commitments that sometimes made it difficult for them to learn the history of American religion. “Their traditions had given them a particular narrative about American religion that was often historically inaccurate, so it was hard for them to hear historians say otherwise,” Koehlinger said. Spring quarter, Koehlinger will teach a course on literature in American religion where students will examine five different novels from different historical time periods, and consider the religious content therein. One goal she shares with the School of History, Philosophy and Religion plans to create a major in religious studies at OSU. “In order to do that, the administration has to see that students want this,” Koehlinger said. “If students respond positively to the idea of a club and it has energy, that would be one really excellent way for the faculty to know and the administration to know that students are interested.” Maddy Duthie, new reporter news@dailybarometer.com
wraps up winter term n
House passes tuition equity, SafeRide funding, hears first reading for new committee structures By Ricky Zipp
The Daily Barometer
Last night, the Associated Students of Oregon State University house of representatives pushed through the “Tuition Equity Resolution” in order to show support before the state Senate’s vote on tuition equity this upcoming Tuesday. Aside from hearing the first readings of a package of legislation that will abolish and create new committees and structures within ASOSU, the members passed a bill to increase SafeRide’s funding. The “Tuition Equity Resolution” is a senate bill stating, “ASOSU supports the passage of Tuition Equity by the 2013 Oregon State Legislature” and that “ASOSU will be actively committee to supporting and advocating for See HOUSE | page 2