The administration turned its ear to students today at the President’s Review Panel.

Jennifer Winters, the assistant director of presidential communications for the University of Oregon, shared that it was the panel’s hope that by “inviting students to campus, they would come and share their ideas with how the University of Oregon can prevent and respond to sexual assault.”

The panel included eight members of administration from around Oregon. This was the fourth time the panel has been on the UO campus to discuss the ongoing sexual assault-related issues. No more than 20 students were present at each hearing today.

Sofia Mackey, UO Organization Against Sexual Assault member, highlighted the importance of providing ESL students and special needs students immediate attention and communication in attempt to keep them safe, “because they do not have the same access.” She also believes international and transfer students must also be better informed of this issue.

Providing an inclusive education for everyone at the University of Oregon was a concern voiced by several students at the sessions. Thomas Forman, Delta Tau Delta Fraternity Member as well as UO Organization Against Sexual Assault member, suggested the implementation of “mandatory sexual assault education for all new Greek Life members.”

Forman recommends that fraternities previously placed on probation disclose the specifics of their probation.

Visit the President’s Review Panel website and fill out a web form to submit comments and suggestions on how the administration can achieve a safer campus community. This form can be anonymously submitted at any time.

Oregon’s Republican nominee for governor is making a pit stop on the University of Oregon campus on Monday. Dennis Richardson will face incumbent Gov. John Kitzhaber in November.

Richardson spent much of the morning on a “Freedom Ride,” giving stump speeches on stops in Roseburg and Springfield on his way to Eugene.

Read the full story here.

Chuck Lillis is the chairman for the University of Oregon’s new Board of Trustees. Lillis grew up in Kansas City and has his bachelors and masters degrees in business administration from the University of Washington, and went on to receive his doctorate from the UO. He has spent years in business academia as the former dean for Colorado’s three business schools. Lillis also ran a fortune one hundred company, Media One, which was a broadband provider to 22 countries. Recently, Lillis was asked to be a trustee by Governor John Kitzhaber and was appointed chair shortly afterward.

Q: How would you differentiate the responsibilities of the board from that of the president?

A: Well the president works at the pleasure of the board. One of the board’s responsibilities is hiring presidents, deciding how much to pay them, evaluating performance, all the normal things. It’s like a board or a corporate environment in that regard. Every board at every university has a unique relationship with their president and we’ve looked at a lot of what we would see as models. Our preference here as a board is that we’re very careful not to be seen running the university, we don’t think that’s the right approach at all. We think it’s much more appropriate for the president and the dean’s staff to run the university. We have retained as a board a document that describes what responsibilities the board will retain and which ones we will delegate to the president and beyond. That document basically would say that the board will involve itself in policy issues, deal with undergraduate resident tuition, manage and retain the president however we can, but we won’t run the university. So good example is the board is not involved in collective bargaining and negotiations, that’s the job of the people that run the university. None of us are really qualified to run the university, none of us on the board.

Q: Can you speak a little bit to the growing concern that the the University of Oregon will remain ostensibly a public university, but is appearing to be a little more private?

A: Well it’s a public university, both by history and by choice. Some people like to say that we are really just a private school, I would say financially we are really a private school that the state provides about $50 million of a roughly one billion dollar operating budget so, the rest of that has to come from tuition or grants or gifts or whatever. But I think if you think about how much money Oregon investors and taxpayers have put into this university over the last hundred plus years, you know they have committed major money, and I think it’s important that we not forget that, and that we remember we have some kind of unique and special responsibility to the residents of Oregon. But from a funding standpoint, we would look much more like a private school.

Q: What is tuition going to look like for students in the future?

A: Well we have the agreement as part of the change in governance model that created this board that we will not increase resident undergraduate tuition more than 5 percent a year, without getting approval from the legislator.

Q: What about non-resident?

A: We can do pretty much what we want to do in non-resident and we can pretty much in graduate. So the issue is very interesting. The better the school, the higher quality the university and the more you will receive in tuition payments and more importantly the more you will get to use as scholarship money.

Q: What are you looking for in terms of the new president?

A: When I think about what the most important attributes are of the president, having once been a faculty member, I think faculty work best if they are confident that the president of the university understands what it’s about to be a faculty member. That’s not true at Stanford, I’d say Stanford could go hire Jeff Immelt who’s the CEO of GE and probably everyone would say that’s a brilliant move, but I think for Oregon it should probably be somebody who has strong experience in the university administration system, who holds a Ph.D or something similar in terms of degree and someone who has superior communication skills.

For seasoned Eugenians, the downtown bar scene is synonymous with its namesake: The Barmuda Triangle. It’s a relatively small area that’s easy to get lost in and you’ll likely lose part of your evening as well.

The guide below should help you navigate the infamous area without trepidation.

Jameson’s Bar

The groovy ’70s flow that permeates Jameson’s Bar welcomes its normally talkative crowd. Colors in sharp medium-tones and a Las Vegas-chic carpet give this bar true personality. There is never a cover charge at Jameson’s and there is indoor and outdoor seating.

The Davis Restaurant & Bar

Fancy restaurant by day and a poppin’ club by night. Catering mainly to rap and hip-hop fans, there is always a cover charge on weekends. Davis doesn’t serve Long Island Iced Teas or AMFs, which can be popular among college students who are looking to get the most bang for their buck. Dancing is widely accepted and the dance floor is often packed with people eager to get down.

Cowfish

Cowfish – known not only as the most gay-friendly bar in downtown Eugene, but home to a number of electronic-centric DJs performing every weekend. It is typical to see a few drag queens there on a Friday night, as well. Cowfish has the biggest dance floor and the best hoochie drink in town.

Sidelines Grill & Sports Bar

Sports fans will feel more than at home at Sidelines. This bar offers numerous screens and several games for their customers, such as beer pong, darts, pool, foosball and shuffleboard. Sidelines is known to be filled with avid sports fans ready to party on game day.

HorseHead Bar

This bar could be described as the local watering-hole. There is ample outside seating and music that matches a typical Eugenian atmosphere. HorseHead offers several pool tables and without a doubt, the best bar grub in Eugene – especially their fried pickles or mac n’ cheese. They will also deliver to Jameson’s for a $2 delivery charge.

Luckey’s Club

Established in 1911, Luckey’s is one of the oldest businesses in downtown Eugene, as well as one of the oldest bars in Oregon. The venue provides an alternative vibe and often hosts local musicians from around Eugene. Luckey’s also became the home of GLAM night after John Henry’s closed down. Luckey’s often boasts an older crowd, and isn’t the typical place for the raging 21-years-olds.

Starlight Lounge

For many regular downtown bar patrons in Eugene, Starlight Lounge is the first stop. The $3 patron shots and $3 well drinks until midnight, are a hot commodity among customers, as well as leather couches and a sophisticated atmosphere. The patio in the back offers a breath of fresh air for partiers and space for the smoking crowd. Starlight also has a private room fully equipped with a pool table available to rent for birthday parties.

The College of Arts and Sciences is $10 million closer to having its own home. The university’s Around the O blog announced the donation from Eugene philanthropists Willie and Don Tykeson on Wednesday afternoon.

The college is responsible for 49 of the university’s undergraduate programs and nearly 60 percent of undergraduate degrees every year.

Don graduated from the UO in 1951 and is a trustee emeritus of the UO Foundation Board as well as the Lundquist College of Business Board of Advisors.

The College of Arts and Sciences is expected to be a part of the new College and Careers building, which will also be the home to the career center.

The 50,000-square-foot building is estimated to cost $34 million. Interim University of Oregon President Scott Coltrane plans to ask the public for $17 million in the 2015 legislative session.

Other projects the university is currently working on are the renovation of the Duck Store, Straub and Earl halls, the EMU and the Student Rec Center.

A bond from the Oregon legislature helped pay for these projects.

A Lane Country judge decided on Tuesday that the teenager accused of raping a 39-year-old woman near Autzen stadium will be tried as an adult.

Seventeen-year-old Jaime Tinoco has been charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, first degree sexual assault and second-degree assault.

Tinoco was part of a group that Washington County’s juvenile department brought to Eugene to attend the Oregon-Wyoming football game on Sept. 14. The teen reportedly snuck away after the end of the game and beat the survivor before raping her, authorities told The Register-Guard.

Shortly after Tinoco’s escape, the Eugene Police Department was contacted about the incident and a search began for the teen. Tinoco was located later that evening and put in custody with the Lane County Juvenile Department, according to a statement released by Washington County juvenile department director Lynne Schroeder after the event.

According to an Oregon law called Measure 11, teens between ages 15 and 17 that commit violent felonies like rape, sodomy, manslaughter and murder and others must be prosecuted as an adult.

The Register Guard reports that the incident took place off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where the survivor was violently attacked by the suspect. She was treated at a hospital later that evening for injuries she suffered from the attack.

Tinoco was put on supervised probation in Washington County on July 28 for first degree burglary, possession of methamphetamine and harassment charges.

Tinoco is currently being detained in John Serbu Youth Campus — which is located across the street from Autzen Stadium — and is awaiting a second court appearance next week. The Washington County Juvenile department declined to comment further on the incident.

Follow Alex Cremer on Twitter: @alex_cremer92

The Sexual Assault Review Panel met for the second time this Tuesday in the Lillis Business Complex at 12:30 p.m., to hear public comment regarding solutions to sexual assault on campus.

Three speakers voiced plausible solutions to the issue, ranging from gaining support of the most influential men on campus to concerns with the mandatory reporting policy.

The first speaker, John Davies, a former psychology professional at the UO center for counseling and testing, spoke about his experience working with men on campus to prevent violence – specifically violence against women.

He addressed concerns subject to past walk-a-thons held to recruit men with strong beliefs about preventing sexual assault. Davies said during this annual event no university president, nor any male coaches were ever in attendance.

Davies also discussed a common practice to hold a two-hour information session regarding sexual assault. He voiced that these sessions aren’t enough to cover all of the issues intertwined with sexual assault.

Ultimately, Davies promoted the popular idea of requiring courses for students to understand rape culture and the causes of sexual assault, as well as the means of prevention.

The second speaker was Lynn Stephen, a professor of anthropology at the university, and a director for the center of Latino and Latin American studies at the UO.

Stephen began with a personal speech regarding her struggles with sexual assault as a adolescent and what she has learned from a personal standpoint. Her solution is in alignment with Davies, and believes the change lyes in the classroom.

“My proposal is that we in part deal with revealing, understanding and educating and changing this culture through courses that are required for students. We call on our faculty to be experts in them, and we also work with graduate students who are studying these kinds of issues,” Stephen said.

The third speaker was also in attendance and spoke at the first review panel, UO professor and chair in the philosophy department Bonnie Mann.

Mann discussed that if the university is looking for more headway in this topic from faculty it should be written in their job descriptions in order to hold individuals accountable. However the mandatory reporting policy was the main focus in Mann’s speech.

“Many of us are not happy about the sort of heavy handed way it’s being interpreted,” Mann said.

Mann is concerned that the policy can push victims away from reporting personal cases because of stringent protocol addressed in the policy, leaving students feeling less support and the university’s concern with liability.

Mann pointed to studies that show the most important impact for victims is whether or not they told someone, if they were believed and if they were blamed.

“Anything that we do to discourage our students or faculty members or members of the community from having that first conversation is a disservice to victims, and it’s again that example of the university being really concerned with its liability and not concerned enough with a victims centered approach to supporting folks who have experienced sexual assault or domestic violence,” Mann said.

After the public comment portion of the meeting the board asked the audience for any further questions. Some questions addressed mandatory courses and the mandatory reporting policy further.

Former University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson created the panel to review UO’s sexual assault policies, in the wake of allegations against three basketball players this last spring.

Mary Diets, the board chair was not in attendance of this meeting.

The meeting ran from approximately 30 minutes, and the board will meet again on October 7.

Every year, environmental enthusiasts flock to the city of Eugene eager to attend the oldest environmental law conference in the nation.

The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference celebrated its 32nd anniversary this year. With over 3,000 attendees, ranging from activists to attorneys, this conference is also the nation’s largest environmental law conference to date.

The conference consists of several panel discussions, keynote speakers and workshops.

The speakers alone represent over 50 countries worldwide. This year, the conference had presentations from the Papuan tribe members to speakers from Pakistan and China.

“I am most thankful for the people that came here from a long way away,” Nathaniel Gurol, one of the co-directors who coordinated this year’s conference. “I specifically had to coordinate with the Papuan tribal members, and they came all the way across the Pacific Ocean to come tell their story, so I thought that was really powerful and I thought it made PIELC that much stronger.”

Bruce Myers representing Washington DC, and Jay Austin of Portland, Oregon, both senior attorneys with the Environmental Law Institute, were among the speakers at the 2014 conference as well.

“If you look at the field of Public Interest Environmental Law, specifically the citizen groups and the lawyers who represent them, it is the oldest conference that focuses on that, and is the best established,” said Austin, who has been attending the conference since 1994.

Myers agrees.

“The conference bills itself, I think, as the premier annual gathering for environmentalists in the world, and I really haven’t seen anything that would make me disagree with that,” Myers said. “I don’t think there’s anything else quite like it.”

PIELC is put on by Land Air Water, a UO student law society that focuses on environmental issues and plots annual events. The conference is also entirely funded by the ASUO, which, according to co-director Cooper Brinson, has been extremely helpful over the years.

The festivities began with five co-directors, several LAW gurus and officers that were elected in April. These students collaborate throughout the year to host PIELC, which takes place in March.

Every other year, PIELC joins forces with the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, also known as ELAW, which represents the international spectrum of environmental consciousness.

This collaboration is valuable for all attendees, according to Brinson.

“You just have this massive awesome international presence,” Brinson said. “I think when the conference falls on those years it’s beneficial for everyone.”

One issue that the co-directors of the 2014 conference noted was capacity. The conference fills both the law school and the EMU with panels, speakers and guests, but LAW still seeks more space.

Myers however feels that this hurdle contributes to the success of the conference and is pleased with the fact that so many guests are keen to attend.

“I think you want as many people (in one room) as you can possibly fit there,” Myers said. “It kind of adds to, rather than detracts from what’s going on at the conference, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Graduation from law school is a milestone for everybody, but once you flip your tassel from student to graduate, what comes next?

For several students, it’s a smooth transition from law school to a career, but for others, it’s a more difficult task. According to 2014 law graduate Kelsey Fleharty, obtaining a job after graduation is becoming harder as the years fly by.

“This year it seems pretty difficult,” Fleharty said. “People have definitely looked a lot farther geographically this year in the job market.”

Fleharty is currently working as a nanny for an attorney, while awaiting her results of the bar exam she completed in July.

“In previous decades (finding a job) seemed to be a lot easier,” Fleharty said. “A lot more people use to find jobs before bar passage results.”

Several jobs that Fleharty is looking into require bar passage before she is an eligible applicant.

Rebekah Hanley, assistant dean of the University of Oregon school of law, said that not all jobs accepted by students stipulate the bar as a necessity.

“Our students find work in a variety of fields, with a variety of organizations, in a variety of places. And they go on to do a variety of things throughout their careers. Some practice law — others enjoy positions in which their JD (Juris Doctor) provides an advantage, but for which bar passage is not required,” Hanley said.

Hanley said that where the students take the bar exam, effects how long they will have to wait to receive their results.

“In Oregon, graduates learn the results of the July bar exam in September. In California, they don’t learn their bar results until late November,” Hanley said.

K.C. Safley, also a 2014 law graduate from the UO, received his undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Washington before attending law school at the UO.

Safley took advantage of several opportunities while attending law school — including an externship for the Oregon Supreme Court and being a part of the Sports and Entertainment Law Forum at the UO. According to Safley, there is something for everyone as a law student.

After graduation, Safley obtained a first year associate position with Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt. This firm was both his number one choice and most recent internship.

Come September, Safley will begin his ideal career with Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, and he partly owes his success to his dedication to school.

“The more you put into it — the harder you work, the more you’ll get out. It can be really really hard if you want it to be, and it can be not as hard. It can be a great time if you’re going to football games and hanging out and just kind of floating around, but if you work really really hard you’ll see the fruits of your labor,” Safley said.

When Andrew DeVigal began his career is journalism, he was certain that it was only temporary. But because of his love for the collaborative nature of a newsroom and the art of storytelling, he always found his way back.

DeVigal has made his way into the rainy city of Portland, Oregon to join forces with the UO and lead the new Center for Journalism Innovation and Civic Engagement.

The School of Journalism and Communication elected DeVigal as chair of Journalism innovation and civic engagement. His creativity, passion and drive to bring together communities and modernize the  field of journalism are the traits Julie Newton, interim Dean of the SOJC, believes will push the center to excel in the evolving world of Journalism.

DeVigal’s journalism career began at the Contra Costa Times. He worked as an editorial assistant while earning his degree in information systems from San Francisco State University.

After graduation, DeVigal accepted a full-time job working in the San Francisco Bay Area for a database programming company looking at real estate.

Feeling unsatisfied about the lack of engagement in the community, DeVigal realized programming wasn’t for him.

It had only been a month or so that he had been working toward what he thought would be his career. He went back to the drawing board to search for his next endeavor.

A one-year fellowship with The Chicago Tribune was his ticket back into the world of journalism. DeVigal’s fellowship quickly turned into a full-time position as a graphic artist, and later he was the first web designer to bring the Chicago Tribune in the digital realm of the Internet.

“The Chicago Tribune was one of the very first news websites that came out, and I felt like we really broke a lot of ground around interactive story telling,” DeVigal said.

DeVigal spoke of one of the first databases released from the digital version of the Tribune that his team helped create, which took a look at crime in Chicago. This database was instrumental in engaging the public and created an outlet for citizens to type in a given zip code, which would show an assessment of the current crime in that area.

This database was created before Adobe Flash or even Google Maps.

“It was just the beginning to me about how to leverage both information and action, to provide meaningful information to the audience and for your community,” DeVigal said.

The Tribune introduced DeVigal to Steve Duenes, who was the new intern filling DeVigal’s former position. The two collaborated at the Tribune, but the duo would meet again – this time in New York. They worked on separate desks at the New York Times: DeVigal as the multi-media editor, Duenes in the graphics department.

As far as Duenes was concerned, DeVigal’s desk took on and conquered a new way of thinking for digital news.

“They were an innovative group,” Duenes said. “With innovation coming from a few groups at the Times during that period, Andrew was an important one of those groups.”

Duenes believes that DeVigal brings an uncommon experience to the field of journalism, combining research, reporting, as well as story telling and he knows how to piece the puzzles together.

“(DeVigal is) a sort of a disciplined kind of collector of interesting things that he sees in the digital realm,” Duenes said. “He takes these things that he is surveying, and takes different kind of pieces where they make sense and makes something new because something new is called for in the problem that he is trying to solve.”

DeVigal spent close to seven years at the New York Times. His big break after the Times came while he was viewing a panel where he met Brad Johnson, who is a co-founder of Second Story Interactive Studios, based in Portland.

DeVigal was on the panel partly based on the work he had done involving the Chicago crime maps at the Chicago Tribune.

“When I saw what (Johnson) presented during that panel I was blown away,” DeVigal said. “This guy is really, really on the cutting edge.”

His presentation revolved around interactive story telling, and he and DeVigal followed each other’s senses.

It wasn’t long before DeVigal moved from the Big Apple to Portland’s budding interactive news scene to join the Second Story team.

In time, DeVigal realized that building interactives with Second Story wasn’t feeding his creative side, and at the beginning of 2014, DeVigal decided to re-evaluate which path his career would take and left Second Story.

DeVigal decided to join forces with his wife, Laura Lo Forti, and created a new company – A Fourth Act.

A Fourth Act combines Lo Forti’s background in participatory media, DeVigal’s background in forming collectives and his drive to have the community not just be in the works of storytelling – but to actually be a part of the process.

“A Fourth Act takes on the mission of social issue-based media and community engagement. The knowledge gained through our projects will help inform his work around journalism innovation and civic engagement,” Lo Forti says.

In March, DeVigal learned of the chair position at UO’s George S. Turnbull Portland Center. After a couple of months of interviews and meetings, DeVigal was finally offered the position.

“Since we’ve launched A Fourth Act, we’ve worked together on projects with strong community engagement components. I can see him adopting the same thoughtfulness and intentionality in how he will bring people to the table,” Lo Forti said.

DeVigal said he felt right at home.

“I think it was a perfect fit, ironically the goals of A Fourth Act greatly mirrors, if not is a strong blending, in a Venn diagram of our missions,” DeVigal said. “It’s really about connecting communities and really thinking about how do we not just build an audience with the stories that we do, but how do we connect a community.”

Julie Newton, Dean of the SOJC, hopes that the  innovation center will become an “epicenter of hope, for journalism of communication, throughout the world.”

She believes that DeVigal will pull people together at the center to create innovative ideas as he did at the New York Times – but this time with faculty, students and outside partners.

“I am so excited about the future and the roles this journalism and communications school is going to have in the future, and a key to that is the innovation center, and a key to the innovation center is Andrew DeVigal,” Newton says.

Update: A previous version of this story misspelled the Center for Journalism Innovation and Civic Engagement and the George S. Turnbull Portland Center.