Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 10/19/05 Section: Headlines

Discrimination is defined as any unfavorable or unfair treatment of a person or class of persons in comparison to others.

Students such as junior Jeri Wolff and others claim that this is happening to them, and not for the usual susceptible reasons such as race or gender.

Wolff said discrimination has been coming her way due to her age.

Wolff, who preferred to keep her age anonymous, claims that since she is one of the oldest students in her class, she receives ill treatment from younger students.

"We are looked at being old," Wolff said. "We are alienated because we don't live in your dorm rooms and we have our own lives and families to look after. Younger students feel it is a big deal if they have a zit while we have bigger problems to look after."

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) shows that adult students are the fastest-growing educational section in the country.

Figures from 1998 show that 41 percent of students aged 25 and older are now in college-a number that has increased 13 percent since 1970.

The number of students aged 35 and older grew from 823,000 nationwide in 1970 to 2.9 million in 2001. Also, NCES figures show that students aged 40 and older have increased by 235 percent from 1970 to 1993.

At Western, the average student age is 23 years. The average undergraduate age is 21.7 years and graduates have a normal age of 32. There are 231 undergraduate students currently at Western that are over the age of 30. Also, there are presently 3,951 undergraduates under 30. Further, there are 162 graduate students under the age of 30 and 151 over this age.

Sociology Professor Dr. Peter Callero can see why older students feel left out.

"I know that I center my lecture around the younger students, so it is not hard to see this happening. I, for one, have never witnessed it to my knowledge," Callero said.

Speech Communication Professor Dr. Frank Nevius feels that the older students get looked at differently by the younger ones due to the questions asked.

"Maybe the younger students feel threatened due to the older ones asking questions, looking to get fine detail. The younger students get frustrated by the older ones asking these questions and trying to find details out of the subject," Nevius said.

Senior Kellen Hendrickson, 22, claims that he has seen some of this type of discrimination happening around campus.

"I got yelled at by some freshman about the clothes I was wearing when I was walking through the Werner Center," he said. Hendrickson claims, however, that he supports older students coming back to school.

"I think that it is great if they want to learn or finish what they started before or hadn't started," he said. "My mom is one of those people. She worked really hard and I am proud of her."

Senior Robin Sprauer, 21, said that it depends upon the person whether the individual is thought well of.

"We, at times, do not take older students as serious; we tend to block them out," she said.

Another student, junior Tyler Martin, 21, feels that "older students do not need to be held any higher than other students."

Junior Kirsten Dixon, 26, claims that nobody messes with her.

"I do not get any bad messages. I like to be by myself so I wouldn't know it even if it was happening," she said.

Freshman Brian Terry has classes with older students but has not seen any occurrences of discrimination happening based on age, he said.

Al Cook, an older student, was surprised when he was told some older students feel discriminated against.

"Maybe they feel that they are not asserting themselves as much in class. I get along with younger students as good or better than professors," Cook said.

Wolff, however, feels the scope of this issue is too wide to address properly.

"This is a gray area, and is under so much personal perception that it is hard to describe it and look at it," Wolff said.

 

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