S.O.U. LETTER TO EDITOR

"IN PRAISE OF SOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY"

Palms and pines dwell side by side and though there is no ocean tide, this is a port of call for scholarly ships from all around the globe: a bustling market not for razors, blackberries and bathrobes, but for theories and facts, music, comraderie and art.
S.O.U. is a piece of America not ignorant, decadent, and in decline but learned, ascendant, and strangely innocent. It is modern and cosmopolitan yet long a scholar's mecca, a school where professors gave envious grace to the thousands of students who protested the first day of the 2nd Iraq War, where classes are small and personal but vision and compassion are global.

It's a school not as prestigious as it is respected, not as blindly rigorous as it is methodical and innovative: a fortress of liberal learning open to both the banker's and the logger's child, steeped in tradition yet cutting-edge today. It's an educational port where those who come with talent, intelligence or passion usually sail away far better for their stay.