With kitten and puppy season in full swing, many students are tempted with the idea of adopting a furry friend to call their own. However, when it comes to pets, most of us tackle the same problem: housing.

Many apartment complexes and student living facilities near the University of Oregon campus prohibit their tenants from owning a pet. Yet, a number of students try to keep their pets. How do they get away with that? The answers are simple: they either sneak the pets in or find creative ways to “legalize” residencies for their pets.

Ariel Puckett, a UO junior and owner of a black tuxedo cat named Zelda, needed to find a way for her landlord to approve of  her pet cat while living in a non-pet-friendly apartment complex.

Puckett said she talked to her doctor and explained how important the cat was to her emotional well-being. She didn’t have a medical condition that would benefit from a pet, so her doctor decided to write her a note for a companion pet.

“We do allow anyone that needs a pet through the doctor’s permission or for disabled people. Of course we can’t deny that,” said Hannah Baggal of Property Management Concepts.

However, there is usually an additional pet deposit required in these circumstances.

“A lot of doctors will prescribe an animal for anxiety or something like that. If the doctor actually sends us the note then we can totally allow that at any of the complexes,” Baggal said.

Generally speaking, homeowners often associate pets with damage to the property. A cat or dog’s claws can destroy a hard wood floor, they can leave stains on the carpet, attract fleas to the house and more. Baggal said the cost to repair such damages comes out of the pet and security deposits.

Alix Brewster, a leasing assistant for Campus Town Apartments, confirmed that none of the complexes they manage are pet-friendly. However, like PMC, Campus Town makes exceptions for those with verified proof of a medical condition that would benefit from a pet.

“You can get service animals for all sorts of things,” Brewster said. “You can get one because you have seizures, if you’re blind or deaf or have any sort of impairment. You can get emotional support animals if you’ve been undergoing treatment for depression. It has to be diagnosed by a doctor.”

She explained that usually a doctor will suggest therapy and/or medications before prescribing a pet.

Although Puckett does have a doctor’s note for a companion pet, her landlord has never asked to see it.

“I just did it and hoped that it would work out and it did. I didn’t even have to use the doctor’s note, I just got away with it,” Puckett said.

Student loan debt has nearly tripled since 2004 and has currently risen to $1.2 trillion, which is higher than auto loans or credit card debt in the United States, according to Sen. Jeff Merkley’s website.

In early May, Merkley and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts proposed the Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act. This bill would allow students to refinance older loans with high interest rates to a lower, fixed interest rate of 3.86 percent.

This interest rate was approved last summer under the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act.

Jim Brooks, the director of financial aid and scholarships at the University of Oregon, explained that nearly half of undergrads graduate with student debt.

“During the last school year we had just under 11,000 students who borrowed student loans,” Brooks said. “Our student loan debt at graduation is about $24,500 for students that borrow, but only about 49 percent of our undergraduate students graduate with debt.”

ASUO President Beatriz Gutierrez believes that this bill is a step in the right direction.

“This issue is just getting bigger and we need to begin to address it,” Gutierrez said. “This sounds like a good first step.”

According to Brooks, this bill would help make college a more plausible option for the those hoping to attend, but struggle with finances.

“There are a lot of students for whom student debt is really intimidating,” Brooks said. “They look at the numbers and it really scares them. But if this opens up more doors and makes those numbers more realistic, then I can certainly see it making college more accessible for a lot of people.”

Merkley agreed that students are trapped in high-interest loans that are causing them to accumulate debt faster than they can reasonably pay off.

One act Merkley supports is the Pay It Forward Guaranteed College Affordability Act. The act was passed in Oregon in July 2013. Oregon is currently the first and only state to pass the act.

This act will cover some or all of students expenses in a two or four year program through program funds. After graduation, students will contribute a portion of their income for a set amount of time back to the fund.

“Making college affordable is essential to creating a stronger middle class. We cannot let college become a luxury,” Merkley said in a press release.

This bill will be discussed at the senate floor debate on college affordability later this month.

“We cannot let fear of debt hold back our kids from pursuing their dreams,” Merkley said.

Eight furry friends were brought to campus today for students and faculty to play with and to help destress before finals.

In collaboration with the University of Oregon Public Relations Student Society of America, Greenhill Humane Society hosted the biannual Ducks Love Dogs event in the Memorial Quad today.

Ducks Love Dogs allows students and faculty to “rent a pooch” for a small fee. Depending on how long play time is depends on the price. Dogs are available for 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour.

Katherine Holste, a UO student, said in the past she was always busy during the this event, so she is glad she could finally come to this one.

“This is the first time where I’ve just had a final, I’m done, and I can just come play with a puppy,” Holste said.

According to Rachel Woods, a volunteer at Greenhill, and mother to an adopted boxer mix named Axel, Greenhill tries to bring an assortment of dogs with different personalities to this event. Some people may want to spend time with a playful dog, while others prefer a relaxed and cuddly pooch.

Ducks Love Dogs is a promotional event that fundraises for both Greenhill Humane Society and UO PRSSA.

Greenhill uses this event as a way to raise awareness of how many pets are avaiable for adoption and to inform people about volunteer and foster opportunities.

Sasha Elliot, the communications and events manager at Greenhill, explaied that the selection of dogs depends on which dogs are available in the shelters, how well the dogs get along with others, and their reactivity to human contact. Several dogs that appeared today were owned by members of Greenhill staff.

“Our first priority is always safety,” Elliot said. “Today, we figured our best bet would be to rally some staff dogs.”

In addition to Ducks Love Dogs, Greenhill Humane Society hosts a number of other promotional events every year including Bark in the Park, the Kitten Shower, Pet First Aid and more.

Hundreds of students gathered this evening at the Erb Memorial Union amphitheater to participate in a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the University of California, Santa Barbara shooting that took place on Friday, May 23.

The event began with a brief speech from Paul Shang, Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students.

“Now is not the time for us to try and explain why that awful thing happened in Isla Vista. Instead, now is the time for us to reach out to who we know over there, and here as well, and send them an extra text message telling them we care about them,” Shang said.

The vigil was organized by two doctoral students, Kelsey South and Leakhena Heng. They are both studying counseling psychology. Heng has close ties to UCSB – her younger brother graduated from UCSB last year and her younger sister is currently a sophomore there. South also received her bachelor’s degree from UCSB.

“We wanted to come together as a community and show our support for the community of Santa Barbara-Isla Vista,” Heng said.

Celine Saladin spoke on behalf of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. She honored Katie Cooper and Veronika Weiss, two members of Delta Delta Delta at UCSB who were victims of the shooting.

UO Active Minds and the Zanta club of Eugene-Springfield donated a total of 900 candles combined that were distributed at the vigil.

Many students arrived wearing the UCSB colors of blue and yellow. A number of others wore UCSB t-shirts and sweatshirts to show their support.

Alyssa Golditch and Misa Smith provided biographical information for each of the six victims: Katie Cooper, Veronika Weiss, Weihan “David” Wang, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, George Chen, and James Cheng-Yuan Hong.

A Eugene citizen, Paul Fleck, volunteered to sing at the vigil after seeing the event advertised on Facebook. He performed “Amazing Grace” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Following Fleck’s performance, the audience participated in a moment of silence to honor the lives lost in the shooting.

“It’s hard to comprehend such a horrible tragedy. Something we can do is sympathize with our friends and grieve with them,” President Michael Gottfredson said. “I’m glad so many people came out and expressed their support.”

Shang encouraged students to talk to the UO counseling center or the Office of the Dean of Students if they need help during this difficult time.

The vigil concluded with a member of the audience starting to chant the UCSB fight song. The rest of the crowd joined in and sang along.

“Olé! Olé! Olé! Gauchos!”

Progress on the Student Recreation Center is going well. So well, in fact, that money from an emergency fund is now being used to construct a new bouldering circuit within the next year.

According to Bryan Haunert, the director of facilities, operations and services for the rec center and overseer of the rec center expansion project, the bouldering unit is now going to be a part of the larger Rec Center project.

When planning began for the rec center expansion, the bouldering unit was omitted from the reconstruction agenda due to a lack of funding —  not all of the programs could be included — bouldering, along with a few others, was cut.

Haunert explained that for any large expansion project like this, emergency funds are set aside to prepare for a variety of unforeseen circumstances. Rec center construction is on track in terms of progress and so far no major problems have arisen.

“The project is now in a position to add back into the project design the expanded bouldering element,” Haunert said. “Physical Education & Recreation is currently working with our architects and construction manager general contractors to put together a budget for these improvements.”

As of right now, there are no solid plans for what the new bouldering unit will include. Within the next couple of weeks, a rock climbing company is expected to come to the UO and begin brainstorming ideas for the new wall, according to Haunert.

Alec Wright, a sophomore and frequent rock climber explained that students were originally frustrated by the rock wall not being included in the rec center expansion.

“I love the UO rock wall and I’m excited to see the new additions coming next year,” Wright said. “A lot of kids rock climb. It’s a good way to stay active and prepare yourself for outdoor climbing.”

Haunert said final decisions regarding the expansion of the bouldering unit will be announced within the next month.

It’s the middle of May and spring is in full effect. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the birds are chirping. As wonderful as spring may appear to be, there is one pesky problem that too many of us are facing: allergies.

The arrival of spring in Eugene is accompanied by an onset of seasonal allergens flooding the Willamette Valley. These allergens come primarily from grass pollen, but can also come from a variety of different tree species including alder, birch and oak trees.

Judy Moran, a registered nurse and research coordinator at Oregon Allergy Associates, explained that because Eugene is in a valley, allergens collect here and stay for a long time.

She said allergy season usually refers to May-July, but it varies every year.

“We always tell people that avoidance is number one,” Moran said. “Avoidance doesn’t exactly mean staying inside with the doors locked. It means using some good common sense as far as realizing that your total daily exposure is going to equal your total daily symptoms.”

Moran recommends to keep windows closed and to exercise indoors rather than outside.

Gregg Wendland is a registered pharmacist and is the pharmacy manager for the University of Oregon Health Center. He explained that this time of year the majority of students who come to the pharmacy are looking for allergy medications.

“There are an assortment of over-the-counter medications that can be used to treat allergy symptoms including Claritin and Zyrtec,” Wendland said. “For people wild mild-moderate allergy symptoms, a nasal spray may be the best option.”

According to Wendland, the symptoms for seasonal allergies are often similar to the symptoms for a common cold. Students frequently think that they are sick with a cold when it is really just allergies, or visa versa.

“Students who are not from the Eugene area may not have had seasonal allergies in their home towns, but that doesn’t mean they won’t experience it here,” Wendland said.

Certain times of the day there may be more or less pollen in the air. He suggests checking the pollen count online daily if you are prone to experience seasonal allergies.

UO junior Kali Mungovan explained that she battles seasonal allergies every year.

Mungovan is originally from Redondo Beach, California but lives in Eugene to attend UO. She said she suffers from allergies at home, as well, but it isn’t as bad as it is here.

“I’ve had allergies for as long as I can remember,” Mungovan said. “When the weather changes is when my allergies get the worst.”

She usually turns to over-the-counter allergy medications to treat the symptoms.

Wendland wants students to know that the University Health Center is a great resource for allergy concerns and other medical issues. For more information about allergies, Wendland created a self-care web page.

“We are here to help,” Wendland said.

For students who dream of owning a pet but can’t commit to the full-time responsibility, fostering a pet may be the perfect solution.

As kitten season approaches, Greenhill Humane Society is seeking more people to foster kittens. Kristi Chizacky, the foster care manager at Greenhill, explained that kitten season generally happens between the months of April and November when a higher number of kittens are born.

Fostering requires taking a litter of kittens into your home and caring for them medically and socially. Prior to kitten season, fosters are needed to care for kittens that are found as strays or are not old enough to be at the shelter yet.

“Giving them the care and love that they need is what fosters are for,” Chizacky said.

The purpose of fostering kittens is to help them recover from illnesses and to get socialized before becoming someone’s pet.

Greenhill requires all fosters to be a minimum of 21 years old, to have landlord approval of pets if renting and for all other pets in the household to be vaccinated. These stipulations tend to make it difficult for the average college-aged student to be a foster.

Randi Golub, certified veterinarian technician at Cat Nurse on Call, believes that fostering requires a certain amount of maturity and dedication. For students who wish to have a pet or to foster but can’t, Golub recommends volunteering at a local shelter or rescue organization.

“At the shelter you can just sit there in the middle of the kitten room and have kittens run all over you,” Golub said. “It basically accomplishes the same thing, but it’s a much lower commitment on the students end.”

Kittens usually stay with fosters for 2-8 weeks and can return to the shelter once they are at least eight weeks old and weigh 1-2 pounds. Chizacky said that fostering allows kittens’ personalities to develop in a safe atmosphere.

“It is a great opportunity for students who cannot have a pet for a long period of time,” Chizacky said.

Although fostering a kitten may not be feasible for the average college student. Carly Smith, a graduate student at the UO, has been fostering kittens and cats for over two years.

Smith believes that with a love for animals, a pet-friendly housing arrangement and a lot of commitment, fostering could be a life-changing experience for a student.

She has two other cats and a Great Dane, so when she fosters kittens they tend to receive a lot of attention from other animals. It is easier to foster animals when you live with other people who are willing to help out, according to Smith.

“I think it could be a really cool thing for the right student to do,” Smith said. “It’s something I found really rewarding.”

With sexual assault on the rise across college campuses, UO Safe Ride and Duck Events Fund feel students need to be educated on how to talk about sexual assault and how to act as prevention advocates.

“Let’s Talk About It” was an event held today, May 9, for students and faculty members to hear from a panel of experienced personnel on how to handle sexual assault at the university level. This event was organized by Carolina Reid, the education coordinator for Safe Ride.

Martial arts and self defense Instructor from the Northwest Martial Arts Academy, Ryan Kelly, has been teaching women’s self defense classes at UO for seven years.

“It doesn’t matter what someone does or says prior to an assault, 100 percent of the blame goes to the person who did not receive enthusiastic consent and assaulted another person,” Kelly said.

He also provided tips for what to do in a dangerous situation. Setting boundaries ahead of time — even in a relationship — is crucial, according to Kelly. If someone is forcing themselves upon you, Kelly suggests using verbal commands such as, “No. This is rape.”

If none of these methods work, Kelly said to reach for the perpetrators eyes and/or groin.

He would like to see people incorporate self defense training into the prevention of sexual assault.

Colleen Jones has been a gynecological nurse practitioner at the University Health Center for over 20 years. She wants survivors to know that there are services available here at the UO to help them.

If an assault occurs in the state of Oregon, survivors can receive free examinations, testing and other services within seven days due to the Sexual Assault Emergency Fund, according to Jones.

Jones said she has seen far too many assaults during her time as a nurse. “Each and every time it shakes me and its difficult,” Jones said.

The first panel speaker at the event was Caitlin Corona, the sexual violence prevention and education coordinator for the ASUO Women’s Center. Corona explained that part of her job includes organizing the “Red Zone Campaign” every fall.

The red zone refers to the first four weeks of the school year when students are believed to be at the highest risk for sexual assault. This campaign honors survivors of sexual assault by putting up red flags around campus. It also addresses the issue of blame by distributing posters to bars that illustrate the perpetrator is the person to blame — not the survivor.

“Just because of the clothes you wear, doesn’t make you a target for sexual violence,” Corona said. “You shouldn’t assault people — period.”

Corona believes students may not understand exactly what rape culture is.

“Rape culture is an environment where rape is normalized,” Corona said.

The event also hosted Kelly McIver of the UO Police Department, Kris Martes of the Eugene Police Department, Brooks Morse of the University Counseling and Testing Center and Renae DeSautel from the Office of the Dean of Students.

After each panel member spoke, the discussion broke into an open dialogue for students to ask questions and converse with one another about these issues.

To help combat the rise of sexual assault on college campuses, numerous apps for smart phones have been designed to raise awareness, help in an emergency situation and to educate people on preventing sexual violence.

Nancy Schwartzman is a survivor of sexual assault. Schwartzman — along with two others — designed an app called Circle of 6.

Circle of 6 won the 2011 White House “Apps Against Abuse” Technology Challenge. It allows you to add 6 of your friends to your circle of emergency contacts. If you find yourself in any type of uncomfortable situation, these friends are just a few taps away from being sent a pre-programmed text message alerting them of your exact location.

“What we are doing now with the app is customizing it for colleges,” Schwartzman said. “We would work with the administrators at your school to embed safety numbers, hotlines and resources that are specific to your school.”

In addition to Circle of 6, there are many other apps to help educate and raise awareness about sexual assault including OnWatch (free 30-day subscription, $19.99 for full version), PrevCon, bMOREsafe, Shatter the Silence and R.I.S.E.

PrevCon is an app that was designed by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Its purpose is to educate people on the issues surrounding sexual assault on college campuses.

Chad Sniffen is the Information Technology, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist for the coalition and helped create the PrevCon app. He believes that no matter how prepared someone is, the risk of sexual assault still exists on college campuses.

“We think of prevention mostly as an educational activity. The Prevent Connect app does that in the sense that it helps people who educate get different ideas,” Sniffen said.

Unlike Circle of 6 which has specific situational functions, PrevCon serves to educate people as a form of prevention.

All of these apps are free to download off of the iTunes app store. Most are available for both iPhones and Android smart phones.

Claire Aubin, a UO sophomore and ASUO Women’s Center public relations coordinator, feels that these apps are a great idea, but not enough people know about the apps for them to truly help lower the number of sexual assaults on college campuses.

“I think the fact that they exist and people don’t use them a lot could be due to either there not being enough publicity around them or that in a lot of situations if you are having sexual violence perpetrated against you, you probably don’t have time to get out your phone use an app,” Aubin said.

After a number of delays and setbacks, Lane County veterans are looking forward to the VA Eugene Healthcare Center being completed next year.

Ground-breaking construction for the new clinic began on April 21 and is anticipated to open during the summer of 2015.

The existing clinic, located on River Avenue, can accommodate a maximum of 10,000 patients. With nearly 35,000 veterans in Lane County, this clinic no longer seems feasible.

Carrie Boothe, the VA Affairs Specialist for the Roseburg healthcare system, said that the number of veterans in Eugene is expected to continue to rise.

“The current clinic is two buildings, they total 25,000 square feet. The new clinic will consolidate to one location with more than 100,000 square feet of usable space.”

The current Eugene VA Clinic is also lacking services that many veterans could benefit from. Due to the clinic’s small size, a number of Lane County veterans find themselves traveling to Portland, Roseburg and Bend to receive medical care in a timely manner.

According to Ed Ortega, the assistant director of the Veterans and Family Student Association at the University of Oregon, because of the hassle to get into the Eugene Clinic, a lot of veterans will refrain from going to the doctor when they are sick; consequently, becoming more sick in the long-run.

“It is common to have to wait to get into a clinic,” Ortega said. “It will serve as another option that hopefully more veterans will use.”

In addition to having a larger capacity for patients, the new healthcare center will provide a variety of services that the old clinic does not have. Some of these services include dental, podiatry, laboratory, surgery and a dispensing pharmacy.

Chris Taylor, a U.S. Army veteran and UO junior, thinks the clinic will be very convenient for student veterans.

“I think with them adding in the new facilities it increases their ability to give better care,” Taylor said. “If you have the flu or something like that, you don’t want to have to drive an hour to go to the doctor.”

UO offers a number of services to student veterans and their families, but free healthcare is not one of them. Therefore, going to the UO Health Center is not a viable option.

“For anyone who is deployed, you get five full years of medical coverage right when you get out at any VA location,” Taylor said.

Due to the Eugene VA Clinic being so overcrowded, student veterans often have trouble getting medical care when they need it. Taylor said a lot of student veterans do not have cars, so traveling to other cities to go to a VA Clinic is very inconvenient.

The new VA Eugene Healthcare Clinic is expected to alleviate veterans of these difficulties and provide medical care closer to home.