Students pass by maintenance workers, janitors and other employees every day without noticing. But today, they were very visible.

Members of the local 503 Service Employees International Union rallied in front of Johnson Hall on Friday. Classified employees from seven universities around Oregon are currently in a bargaining period with University Shared Services Enterprise while a contract is being renewed.

These employees include custodians, groundskeepers, housing employees, electricians and others that are all working for EOU, PSU, OIT, OSU, SOU, UO and WOU.

The rally focused on the creation of a contract that is inclusive of all seven universities rather than having seven separate contracts.

“We want all seven campuses to be treated fairly and equitably,” said Marc Nisenfeld, chair of the bargaining team.

Johnny Earl, custodial coordinator at UO and bargaining team member, said that this includes about 5,000 employees throughout Oregon. He said that about 1,250 make less than fifteen dollars an hour, which Nisenfeld said makes many of these workers qualified for food stamps.

Nisenfeld said that the bargaining team wants most of the current contract to stay the same, except for economic aspects.

One proposal to the new contract is to raise the lower paid workers’ wage to fifteen dollars an hour. Another proposal is adding a step to workers’ salary ranges so that the limit of how much income someone can earn is raised.

Earl said that changes to the contract would allow some workers to stop having to rely on public services.

“The rally was to remind people what we’re fighting for and give an update on bargaining proposals,” Earl said. “We’re all trying to get the same contract.”

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Jonathan Corona listens almost exclusively to music from another era.

Corona, a saxophonist and UO student, said that even outside of the world of practicing and performing, he’s constantly listening to jazz music. He listens to it more than most trending songs.

“In high school I got introduced to jazz and thought it was the coolest thing ever,” he said. “I like it for its sophistication, I guess, and jazz is all about improvisation. I think that’s the most creative thing ever.”

By auditioning for jazz combos fall term, students have the opportunity to practice, arrange and perform jazz music in a group of students with compatible skills. Although most students in combos are jazz studies majors, any student may audition.

Mike Denny, coordinator for the jazz combos, said that being in a combo group prepares students to become professional musicians. Members must interact with other musicians, memorize music and often compose original pieces.

“You know it’s a very creative outlet for them,” Denny said. “Each combo experience builds on itself so it’s a climate of growth.”

Keenan Dorn, a guitarist in a combo group, said that jazz is an especially tough category of music to learn since most people don’t grow up around it. People are no longer in the age where jazz was among the most popular music genres, even though it influenced the origins of styles like R&B and hip hop.

Regardless, Dorn enjoys the harmonic, rhythmic and theoretical challenges that face jazz musicians. He practices roughly two to four hours daily.

Dorn said one of the benefits of performing jazz is that it allows him to interact with band members and audiences through a unique artistic medium.

“I like expressing how or what I’m feeling with a shared language just like people like to tell stories and perform drama,” Dorn said. “Music is just another language.”

The performances that allow Dorn these connections occur a few times a term, each with different ensembles of about 4 or 5 people. There are roughly eight to 10 active groups at a time, either in the music hall or at the Jazz Station in Downtown Eugene.

In jazz combos, students don’t just improvise. They often compose music and arrange it for every instrument in a combo group, or transcribe written music for a specific instrument.

Dorn said that this can be difficult, but experience helps.

“I think anyone can achieve anything as long they put enough time, energy, and dedication into it,” he said.

He added that most people who come support the jazz combos at concerts are music majors, musicians supporting other musicians.

Dorn wishes more people knew about the jazz combos as well as other lesser-known programs that UO offers.

Denny said he’s had all good experiences with the UO jazz combos and anyone with a certain level of ability can audition.

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Fevean Siyoum didn’t know Lauren Jones, but she’s honoring her memory as if she had.

Siyoum is a co-director of the Black Women of Achievement at the University of Oregon, which held a vigil for Jones, a UO student-athlete who passed away last week after falling ill to meningococcemia, on Monday night in the EMU amphitheater.

Siyoum said that although she did not know Jones, she felt it important to show respect for those that did and honored Jones as a black woman on campus.

At the start of the ceremony, Pastor Fields from St. Mark Catholic Church led everyone in a prayer for Jones, her friends and her family. The circle then opened for anyone to speak about how Jones touched their life.

Alexis Lawrence, a UO student, spoke about briefly meeting Jones at a 7-Eleven four weeks ago. She didn’t know it would be the last time she saw her.

“Hearing all of these stories about how kind of a person she was really makes me sad that I did not get the opportunity to know her,” Lawrence said. “It’s crazy that I did not know Lauren; however, I still have tears in my eyes right now and heartbreak.”

People who knew Jones more spoke of her caring nature and her desire for everyone to feel happy.

Many of those that never met Jones spoke of their aspiration to live kindly as she did.

“We heard nice things about her and wanted to honor her,” Shaniece Curry, internal director of BWA, said. “It’s heartbreaking to see someone so young from such a small community chasing her dreams go so soon.”

After everyone had a chance to speak, they were told to raise their candles high for Jones. There were whispers of “To Lauren,” just before each candle was blown out.

The 30th birthday celebration of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association is the biggest event they’ve thrown yet.

Rather than lasting one night, this years’ recognition of Chinese culture lasts the entire week of Feb. 16^th and culminates with a Chinese culture night on Feb. 20^th.

This week’s events ranged from Chinese movie showings, to Chinese art and traditional fashion showcasing. The biggest events, however, are the Chinese Street Fair which takes place today, Feb. 19th by the EMU, and China Night on Friday Feb. 20th in the EMU ballroom at 6:30 p.m., where the association anticipates more than 400 attendees.

“We don’t just want Chinese students to come to our event,” said CSSA President Xuewei Wang. “Sometimes its hard to find American student friends, so we want to use this time to come together.”

The goal of CSSA’s China Week, Wang said, is to teach students the significance of certain Chinese traditions.

One such tradition involves family gifts of red envelopes filled with money or candy given to children during the Chinese New Year. Since the holiday falls during China Week, those who attend China Night will receive a red envelope.

“Parents give this to their child to say good luck and ‘I hope you grow,’” said Wang.

She said the envelope is red, a color symbolizing luck and all things good.

China Night will feature traditional dancing and games, while authentic Chinese foods will be showcased at the street fair.

Yongcan Chen, President of HOSA International Commercial Group, said that sometimes there are misunderstandings about Chinese culture. He noted orange chicken as an example. He said it’s a misconception that the dish a popular food item in China.

“People may have heard something on a surface level, but they don’t know the deep Chinese culture,” Chen said. “China Week is an opportunity to express Chinese culture.”

He said that beyond enriching the UO community with Chinese culture, China Week can help international Chinese students cope with being away from home.

“Many people miss home and China Week holds Chinese students together and lets them feel the atmosphere of the environment that they miss,” Chen said said. “I can’t go back to China for Chinese New Year, but CSSA created this thing at UO to let Chinese people be happy during the Chinese New Year.”

Wang said she hopes students utilize China Week as an opportunity to immerse themselves in Chinese culture and interact with students from unfamiliar backgrounds.

“We want all UO students to know Chinese culture and talk to us and play with us,” she said. “We want a close connection and that’s our organization’s main idea.”

The Meet is being canceled during spring term due to construction in the EMU, and students like Pooria Manoochehri will feel its absence.

When Manoochehri first arrived at University of Oregon from Iran, he was filled with culture shock and loneliness.

When he came to The Meet, everything changed. The Meet is exactly what it sounds like: an event for students to meet up with people, familiar and unfamiliar, from any background. Every week 100-150 students come through from every culture represented at the UO.

“When I came to The Meet all of these perceptions changed,” he said. “I saw a lot of other people who are struggling with the stuff that I’m struggling with in my life and enjoying the same stuff that I’m enjoying.”

Manoochehri soon became The Meet’s Supervising Programing Manager.

The Meet is often punctuated by icebreakers. Megan Garland, a representative of UO Study Abroad programs, lead one related to languages and traveling to coincide with studying abroad where members of each group would teach everyone words in a different language.

Saba Moslehi was involved in an icebreaker like this, and in her circle, three girls were teaching Mandarin Chinese.

“One of their names was Shadgol, which means happy flower in Farsi,” she said. “She’s from a part of China that had roots in Persian language and that was very interesting to me.”

Garland said that this connection with other people and their culture is what makes The Meet so special.

When she went to The Meet, she spent a lot of time speaking with a girl from South America about the differences between education systems in the U.S. and Mexico.

“She grew up in a completely different culture than me,” Garland said, “but here we are in the same room talking about similar issues and worries.”

Aside from the opportunity to meet others, The Meet offers opportunities to learn about other groups on campus. Every week a different group is represented. Past representatives have been from the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence, The Women’s Center, and Study Abroad Programs.

Manoochehri emphasized that these opportunities to connect with others extends beyond The Meet itself. The Meet is a gateway to the Mills International Center, a space in the EMU where anyone is welcome to read, study, socialize, and so on as they’d like. It also offers many resources concerning different cultures.

Although The Meet may not happen for a few months, the Mills International Center has events planned to make up for it. One of these is a world poetry night happening in May, where students can read original, cultural poetry.

In the mean time, Manoochehri encourages students to come to The Meet when they can.

“I try to reach out and grab anyone who’s passing to come,” he said. “I really want others to enjoy the same feeling I had.”

The Meet will be hosted for the rest of winter term by the Mills International Center every Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the EMU Taylor Lounge.

Sweat gleams on students’ faces as they assemble roofs in a factory thousands of miles from the University of Oregon and wrestle with the question, “Am I really making a difference?”

The students are in Guatemala, participating in an alternative spring break program through the Holden Center which allows them to partner with Stoveteam International.

Alex Burgdorfer, the trip leader, said he struggled with that question until the day he delivered a stove to a family inside their home.

“Seeing their reaction afterward was priceless,” he said. “The woman was overjoyed and began to cry a little bit. It was hard to comprehend prior to going down to Guatemala that a stove could make such a big impact.”

Stoveteam International is an organization founded by Eugene resident Nancy Hughes. It consists of factories that produce Ecocina stoves for families that would otherwise cook using open fires, a cooking process that causes four million deaths yearly.

“This is really valuable because it puts you in a position to help out and get involved in a foreign community and get involved in understanding global issues outside of the United States,” Burgdorfer said. “It’s a humbling experience to understand how privileged any of us are in the way that we live our lives.”

He said that one of these privileges is owning a fuel-efficient stove, something that many people in Guatemala don’t have.

Without one, women and children spend 20 hours each week gathering firewood, which prevents women from gaining economic status and children from focusing on education, Burgdorfer said. The smoke emitted from open fires also leads to respiratory illnesses.

Through the alternative break trip, students have the opportunity to either help build, transport and clean stoves, or help expand stove production factories.

“We really focus on this idea of being a change maker,” Eric Boggs, Assistant Director of Experiential Learning at the Holden Center, said. “It’s not just about trying to change the world. It’s also the realization that in order to make that change you will need to change yourself.”

Burgdorfer said that this change happens not only by working with Stoveteam International but by interacting with people from different cultures.

“You are working beside people from Guatemala who work that job every day and getting to know them and joking around with them,” he said. “At that point, you’re in the same position almost. You get to understand the people you’re with and they get to understand you in return.”

Nancy Hughes said the awareness of people’s lifestyle in the developing world is important.

“It’s important to understand what the situation is in the countries that are right next to ours,” she said. “On the last trip, one of the students said to me after the first day, I’ve never met anybody I wanted to help more.”

Burgdorfer said that his involvement in Guatemala wasn’t possible without the alternative break program.

“It makes you think about what you experience and how you can better yourself,” he said. “It’s really about exploring, giving back to the community and trying to understand your purpose and your place in society.”

For Tarik Richardson, co-director of the Black Student Union, the recognition of black history extends well beyond the month of February.

Groups on campus, such as the Black Student Union and Black Women of Achievement, are fostering this recognition by hosting events throughout the month to recognize black history.

Two of these events are the Black Night of Achievement and a women’s empowerment luncheon, in which students’ academic and extracurricular achievements will be commended. Allies will also be recognized, including professors who have contributed to African American organizations on campus.

The Black Student Union will also be hosting discussions about Black History Month at its weekly meetings, held each Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Mills International Center.

“Black history doesn’t follow the same stream that other history does,” said Richardson. “We all celebrate the Fourth of July. We have to remember that black folks didn’t get their independence on the Fourth of July, even though we’re all Americans.”

He said during Black History Month, he hopes individuals become familiar with different cultures and their histories.

For Fnan Berhe, vice president of the UO chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Black History Month is about acknowledgement.

“I hope everyone acknowledges Black History Month as a time to pay our respects to activists, artists and authors who’ve done so many amazing things in American history and acknowledging the way that they’ve transformed our history into the present,” Berhe said. “I think it’s about understanding that we wouldn’t be where we are without the historically significant people who have made our present possible.”

Beyond historical events and significant figures, members of the African American community on campus will also be addressing current events. One such topic is police brutality.

“I think the goal of Black History Month and different cultures’ history months is to make different cultures more normalized and less alien, so that when we do have tragedies or things are going on, we don’t fall back into our tropes,” Richardson said. “We start to actually think more logically and with more compassion about different groups.”

Fevean Siyoum, co-director of Black Women of Achievement, said that it’s important to be aware.

“I think the reason we talk about racism isn’t to dwell on it, but to recognize that racism still exists so we can move forward,” Siyoum said.

Berhe said that this year, groups on campus are ensuring that Black History Month is recognized, with strong organization and a variety of events being put on by groups on campus.

“This is a good way to recognize our significance in the world,” Berhe said. “We can recognize that there has been so much progress made because of activists and African Americans who’ve broken barriers and continued to do so much good in this world.”

More information concerning events being held during Black History Month can be found on the Black Student Union Facebook page.

Is there a gap between international and domestic students?

UO senior Anna Sanders believes sometimes there is. She said a reason for this is that students with different backgrounds sometimes don’t know how to approach each other.

“I’ve noticed with my classmates that if we have an assignment where we have to talk with international students, they’re not sure where to start,” she said. “Both sides don’t really know how to start a conversation.”

UO exchange student from Japan, Kenta Ishikawa, agrees. He said that cultural differences can make it difficult for people to make connections with each other.

“My roommate likes music especially from the 80’s but I don’t know anything about those songs,” he said. “He also likes American TV games but I don’t know American TV games. He tried to teach me it but he used more deeper American words so it’s hard.”

Sanders said that even with the current cultural divides, the potential for the gap to close is growing.

“I mean there’s so much opportunity now for people to cross that gap,” she said. “All it takes is for them to reach out and try.”

One group trying to facilitate its close is the International Student Association, a group that aside from helping international students adjust to life in the U.S., aims to foster healthy relationships between different groups of people.

For over 20 years, they’ve been hosting an event, Coffee Hour, where any student or member of the community is welcome to meet for food, drinks and socializing. It used to take place in the Mills International Center, but students now meet in the Ford Alumni Center every other Friday from 4 to 6 as the popularity of the event is growing. The first Coffee Hour of winter term broke a record with over 450 attendees.

“We really want to connect people together,” ISA co-president Ina Song said. “Not only international and domestic students, but different nationalities as well.”

This collaboration comes in the form of co-sponsors of Coffee Hour from different student groups on campus. In winter term, the Chinese Student Association and Arab Student Union co-sponsored.

ISA Outreach Executive Joe Zhao said that a variety of cultures are represented at Coffee Hour, students’ home countries ranging from France, Sweden, China and numerous other places.

“Our purpose is to bridge the gap between international students and domestic students,” he said. “And that’s mainly why we host these events.”

Ishikawa said that at Coffee Hour people can exchange cultures and understand each other’s worries.

Sanders said that Coffee Hour is a lot about catching up with friends, too, Ishikawa being one of them.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a huge gap as of now,” Song said, adding that Coffee Hour helps people understand the importance of diversity.

“I feel like at the end of the day people are just people,” Zhao said. “If you put yourself out there, people will come together and treat everyone the same. It’s true that we have differences but we’re all students here at the University of Oregon and we can all come together here as a big family.”

When University of Oregon’s mock trial team qualified for championships, the whole team “stood up and screamed like maniacs,” UO junior Gregory Mina said.

On January 24 and 25, 10 members, including Mina, will participate in the Winston Thomas Memorial Invitational at UC Berkley where they will compete against mock trial members from other universities through a series of four rounds. Scoring is based on factors such as presentation, speaking, preparation, professionalism and knowledge.

Ever since the idea of a career became tangible to Mina, he wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. He wanted to be a lawyer.

“My grandfather was a lawyer, and I always thought that the stories he would tell me were inspirational–all the cool things he did,” Mina said.

He said from the beginning of his participation in mock trial in high school, his grandfather was supportive and interested in everything Mina was doing. He would look over cases with him, help him choose what questions to ask and ask how mock trial was going.

“It was clearly something that he thinks is worth it and valuable,” Mina said.

When Mina started school at the University of Oregon, he joined the UO Mock Trial team, where students act as lawyers and witnesses in fake trials.

Since then, its members have tripled from 10 to 30, with mock trial at UO gaining more national relevance.

They now compete in tournaments in Oregon and around the country. Last year, the UO Mock Trial team qualified for their first Opening Round Championship Series, which features the highest-ranking teams from regional tournaments.

UO Forensics Director Trond Jacobsen said that Mina’s been a large factor in mock trial’s growth and success at UO.

“He’s played a critical role in working with the staff for forensics, in recruiting and improving the quality of experience for mock trial students,” Jacobsen said.

Mina said that in high school he would never make it to first place in his tournaments.

“That’s been my biggest challenge–getting over the hump of always getting second,” he said.

At the Emerald City Open held in December, Mina became UO’s first 20-rank competitor. This means that he was ranked as the best competitor out of four people for every round he participated in.

Mina said his strategies for getting higher rankings are staying calm in trial and having confidence, while his fascination with legal texts makes preparing for competitions easier. He also said his teammates’ participation and the people he’s worked with in the past have helped contribute to his achievements.

“I came into this program at the right time, to be lucky enough to kind of become the face of it,” he said. “But it definitely does not mean that I’m the only one putting in the work.”

One of the students attending is Mina’s good friend, Phillip Kriegel, who joined UO’s mock trial team after Mina convinced him.

He said that Mina is one of the smartest people he’s ever met.

“He’s also really goofy, really funny, and a great friend,” he said.

Mina encourages anyone who is interested in mock trial to contact him at gmina@uoregon.edu.

“When you actually get in a trial, the adrenaline and the performance is hard to replicate anywhere else,” Mina said.

Students living in some University of Oregon residence halls and select units in Spencer View apartments experienced Internet outages over the weekend.

Those affected received an email stating that wired Internet service went down at 5 p.m. on Sunday and that it was restored at 9 a.m. Monday. Although wireless should work for most residents, ResNet is working to fix the problem.

More to come.