Opposition

Some staff members were receptive to the action that was being initiated. Others, however, were quite dubious, and apparently fearful of what might evolve from free, critical discussion of the issues facing their departments. The difficulty of actually getting into some departments necessitated toning down some of the lectures.

If everyone is to be reached, a cordial atmosphere between staff and student must be maintained.

The actions of the Orientation Committee were bred out of the dissatisfaction and frustration which are rife on campus at the moment, and the belief that these feelings are unavoidable consequences of the way the university operates and what it operates for. Many students simply do not enjoy university life—university is seen as a sort of obstacle course, a suffering that one has to experience to achieve some distant but enticing future happiness. Students tend to view their problems as peculiar to themselves, not realising that the problems arise not from within, but from outside pressures.

Orientation lectures attempted to create this realisation. The solution of the problem is in a sense socialistic because the problem becomes not an individual one, but that of the group. The focus therefore is not on the individual but on collective participation and organisation.