Following their first few months of college, University of Oregon freshmen have gotten a glimpse of life on campus during their first term.

The Daily Emerald asked first-year students their opinions on the quality of life while some were living in the residence halls.

What is your residence hall missing?

Brendyn Andrews, a freshman who lives in Hamilton Hall, spent his first term with a torn ACL, which he said proved to him how not disability-friendly Hamilton is.

“I would like elevators (in Hamilton). We don’t have elevators,we have stairs,” Andrews said. “I had an ACL injury so I had to walk up the stairs every single time, so it’s definitely not disability-friendly.”

Alexa Godoy, who lives in LLC South, said that she hopes for there to be more common rooms or open areas for people to relax in.  

“I wish there were more lounges or more spaces for the community,” Godoy said.  

Hadley Smith, a freshman who previously lived in LLC before moving into Unthank Hall, said she really enjoyed her experience at LLC because the rooms were “much bigger.” 

“I think LLC is probably the nicest,” Smith said. “The rooms are much bigger, and there’s still good food options as well as a good location on campus.”

Paige McFeeters-Krone, a freshman, who lives in a triple in New Residence Hall, said the hall is very “uniform” and doesn’t feel as “homey” as the other halls on campus feel. 

“The uniformity has got to be my least favorite part of the New Residence (Hall),” McFeeters-Krone said. “I found going to other dorm halls, it feels more like a home rather than a hotel which New Residence (Hall) often feels like with its bright-white lighting and very boring colors.”

What has been your least favorite thing about freshman dorms?

Nika Wuppermann, a freshman who lives in Earl Hall, said that she has bumped into a couple of issues with her dorm that made dorm life more complicated, specifically citing the thin walls. 

“My least favorite thing (about Earl Hall) is probably the thin walls,” Wuppermann said. “Sometimes it is ridiculously difficult to focus when I can hear everything happening next door, outside and upstairs.”

Kate James, a freshman who lives in Living Learning Center, said that her least favorite part about living in LLC is the loud nights.

“LLC has that stigma for being a pretty big party dorm,” James said. “I’d say it’s kind of true. I think it is kind of bad and does get really loud at night. Quiet hours don’t really exist there.”

What are some perks that your dorm has that others should consider having?

Living in Justice Bean Hall, Andy Herrara said that “it’s really nice” to have a private bathroom compared to having a communal bathroom like some residences. 

“A private bathroom, it’s really nice. I would rather have that than a communal bathroom,” Herrera said. 

Anisha Srinivasan, who lives in a single room in Global Scholars Hall, said that she found GSH isn’t much of a “party dorm” compared to other residence halls.  

“It’s (GSH) quiet and not much of a party dorm which is good because you can go to a party and come back home to a peaceful place for the most part,” Srinivasan said. 

Srinivasan also described a distaste for some of the other halls, including Justice Bean, Barnhart and Riley Hall.

“I’ve been to (Justice) Bean (Hall) and it’s loud as f—,” Srinivasan said. “I’ve also been to Barnhart (Hall) and it’s spooky over there like some weird, dystopian energy. Riley (Hall) feels like a prison because the hallways are narrow and are brick.”

What has been your favorite thing about the dormitory that you’re living in this year?

Mallory Larsen, who lives in Earl Hall, described her experience in the hall as “fun” because she said it’s “cool” to be able to say that she lives in one of the oldest buildings on campus. 

“Earl (Hall) is probably one of the oldest on-campus dorms, so it’s kind of fun to be able to say that,” Larsen said. “It  is a lot of fun there in general … when you think of a freshman dorm in movies, Earl (Hall) is kind of the spitting image.”

Cate Thoden, who lives in Justice Bean Hall, said that living in the hall has been “very good” at helping people to be social. 

“(The best part about Justice Bean Hall) is how social it is because even though it is a small room, it gets me out of my dorm and people are always in the hallway or the common room,” Thoden said. “It’s a very social place.” 

Jolene Ku, who lives in Hamilton Hall, said that one of the main aspects she likes about the hall is the natural light. 

“I really like the huge window and the amount of natural light we get in,” Ku said. “I like the room itself and I think we have a really great RA (Residence Assistant).” 

Gigi Roddick, a freshman who lives in New Residence Hall, said her favorite parts about the hall are the communal kitchen and the “welcoming”  environment.

“New Residence (Hall) has a kitchen, which I really think improves student community and quality of life,” Roddick said. “I’ve made lots of friends by hanging out there and sharing meals with people.”

Throughout the fall term, University of Oregon students and community members received nearly 14 UO Crime Alerts from the UO Police Department via email. The university is required to disclose campus crime activities because of the Clery Act.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act is a federal law requiring colleges and universities in the United States to disclose campus crime statistics and security information. 

The Clery Act was enacted after a young woman named Jeanne Clery was sexually assaulted and murdered in her dorm room in 1986. Following her death, Clery’s parents lobbied with the United States Congress to require universities to disclose any safety and criminal activity to prevent similar crimes from happening on a university campus. 

According to UO Clery Coordinator Shelly Clark, she has worked at the university for nearly four years and holds the responsibility of touching base with students to understand their comfortability levels while living in the residence halls.  

“There’s the people part of University Housing which is everyone living in the halls, and you’re kind of figuring out who they are and how they get along with their roommate and what kind of events they want to go to,” Clark said.  

UOPD Chief Jason Wade said the UO Crime Alerts are specified based on the location and severity of the threat on campus.  

Wade also said that this alert system is updated as often as possible but there sometimes could be “delays” with communicating information to the public.

“That (sending out UO Crime Alerts) process still takes someone to either open up their computer, turn on their computer, type out the message and hit the send button,” Wade said. “So there’s a bit of (a) delay that can sometimes occur between when they (UOPD) get the information to when they can send it out.”

These alerts have been a part of UO campus since 1991, around a year after the Clery Act was passed and when UO made the bulk of their changes to their systems in order to accommodate the Clery Act.

“UO has been sending crime alerts and information directly to campus community members via email since 1991, when the Clery Act was put into practice here. Notification methods have evolved with the tools available to send them.” Eric Howald said.

UO student Edan Resendiz said that she’s had a positive experience with UO Crime Alerts, mostly experiencing the extent of these alerts by email. 

But Resendiz also said she feels that it may be easier and more efficient to send the alerts as a DUO Push notification, a security feature of the DUO Mobile application. 

“To my current knowledge, our school sends them (UO Crime Alerts) out in an email form. I think them being a push notification and/or something that can be quicker to access would be more beneficial,” Resendiz said. 

Resendiz said she sometimes felt the information in the alerts were lacking specific details or important information. 

“I don’t remember getting any kind of information about the druggings happening at the frat (houses)…, just hearing it from multiple different people,” Resendiz said. 

Similar to Resendiz, UO student Ivan Biskis said the alerts were not very accessible and occurred once a situation had worsened, which left many students who had to walk or drive to campus stuck unaware of the alerts until they opened their email. 

“I don’t think the (UO Crime) Alerts really help keep people safe because they are rarely released on time and people rarely talk about them,” Biskis said.

The University of Oregon has over 400 clubs, ranging from sports to business-oriented organizations. 

In interviews with the Daily Emerald, several campus club members shared their perspectives on what it’s like to run a club and the struggles of their clubs. 

UO Taekwondo Club

In early 2024, a group of students started the UO Taekwondo Club after a decade of hiatus.

According to Cole de Zoeten, event coordinator of the UO Taekwondo Club, after a 14-year break, the club received clearance to become a UO club sport in September. 

According to Ben Prahl, program director of UO Club Sports, the UO Taekwondo Club was forced into retirement 14 years ago from the UO Club Sports Office because it didn’t have anyone willing to take over for the executive team after the previous team graduated.

However, the new executive team has levied for taekwondo to return to UO as one of its listed athletic clubs. 

“We lost one club last year that was disk golf, they [executive team] moved on to graduate with no one to take over… so we kind of saw it as an opportunity to say we [UO Club Sports] can let Taekwondo in.”

De Zoeten described Taekwondo as a “niche” sport.  

“We’re the Taekwondo club and that’s a super niche sport,” De Zoeten said. “Nobody has been exposed to it [Taekwondo]… [and] not really prevalent in a lot of the things that anybody does.” 

The Taekwondo Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. and holds an open mat room from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

UO Powerlifting Club

UO Powerlifting Club is a 40-member organization that was started in 2021. 

Similarly to the Taekwondo Club, Damian Doan, president of the UO Powerlifting Club, described powerlifting as a “niche sport.” 

“Many of the people who are interested in or know really anything about the sport were introduced to it in high school,” Doan said. “If they [club members] didn’t start in high school then it can feel really intimidating for many people, especially women to start lifting once they’ve started college. “

According to Doan, it is difficult to retain female lifters because powerlifting is considered an “intimidating sport.”

“In powerlifting, it’s especially difficult to retain new girls because it’s a bit of an intimidating sport,” Doan said. “From my experience… The girl members who come out of high school powerlifting already are more prone to join the club than people who have never been introduced to powerlifting before.” 

UO Presents

UO Presents meets every week to watch movies together. 

Each week, a member of the club selects a movie that they want to introduce to the group and after the movie is over, they discuss why they liked it. They then follow that up with discussions about the film with the group as a whole.

In an email statement to the Emerald, Annika Segesta, president of the UO Presents Club, said that while UO Presents is a very “interesting” and “enjoyable” experience, it can sometimes be hard to maintain its members.

“[The hardest part is] getting people to get more invested in many movies they haven’t heard of,” Segesta said. “Some movies on our schedule are definitely more popular than others.”

UO Swim Club

UO Swim Club’s social chair, Sara Swinson, said that the organization has been around since 2014. 

This year, the UO Swim Club has more lowerclassmen than upperclassmen, as Swinson has observed that lowerclassmen seem to have more time to dedicate to doing club sports.

“The most nerve-racking part of joining a new club is always the first day. You never know what to expect or what ‘normal’ looks like, so anxiety is always high, but we try to combat that by providing a lot of information beforehand and reminding everyone to give themselves and everyone else some grace as we get into the swing of things each year,” Swinson said.

The UO Swim Club and all other clubs can be found at all student club events, like sports fairs and flock parties. 

After nearly a month of demonstrations, the University of Oregon Palestine Coalition encampment came to an end in late May after an agreement was reached between the Coalition and UO administration. 

Six months later, the university has “engaged in a concerted effort to meet the expectations of the decampment agreement,” according to UO spokesperson Eric Howald. 

According to Howald, since June, there have been seven meetings with the coalition and seven more with Jewish faculty and students. 

“There have been seven meetings since June with the UO Palestine Coalition to discuss the academic elements of [the] agreement and seven meetings with Jewish faculty and students concerned with the agreement,” Howald said. 

According to the agreement, an “Ethical, Investment, Purchasing & Contracting” group will be formed with the primary goals to “facilitate open communication,” “engage diverse perspectives” and “education and action.”  

Howald also said that the UO Senate Task Force on Ethical, Investment, Purchasing & Contracting has met three times to “understand how the principles of [Environmental, Social, Governance] inform investment and business decisions made by the Oregon Foundation and UO Purchasing & Contracting Services,” Howald said.

Diego Duarte, a member of UO Jewish Voice for Peace and Young Democratic Socialists of America, confirmed that the coalition has met with the task force. 

“[We have] been meeting regularly since [the task force] started this term and [the coalition] has had conversations with the head of UO Purchasing and Contracting Service, Greg Schaum, and has a meeting planned with Paul Weinhold, the head of the UO Foundation for early December,” Duarte said.

The agreement also said that the eight-member faculty committee that manages the Global Justice Program would be asked to commit $50,000 each year for the next three years to bring scholars who can “offer courses and enhance programming on Palestine/Israel” to UO. 

According to Howald, the Global Justice Program Committee set up a Special Initiative on Constructively Engaging the Conflict and the Pursuit of Peace in Palestine/Israel. 

“The committee has approved proposals for visiting scholars who will speak about the current crisis,” Howald said. “There will be a second round of applicants, with another $25,000 in proposals, in January.” 

UO is also in communication with Birzeit University in the West Bank “regarding a student exchange program and enrollment in online courses offered there,” according to Howald. 

Howald said UO Provost Chris Long has worked with academic units to expand UO’s offerings in Middle East Studies and that the university has been working to ensure that students admitted under the new program for International Students Displaced by Crisis will join UO during the winter term. 

According to Dean and Vice Provost of the Division of Global Engagement Dennis Galvan, the university has invited guest speakers over Zoom to speak in classes regarding their specialties and the Israel-Hamas War.

Howald said that the university is “investigating the possibilities for hosting refugee scholars on campus.”

Duarte said that he is “excited by the progress that’s been made on the scholarships [exchange program] for Gazan students.”

“UO in collaboration with Mercy Corps, which is an outside NGO [non-governmental organization], and ourselves have identified several students from Gaza — refugees — some who have escaped to Egypt and some who are still in Gaza who will be coming to the UO and are in the Visa process as we speak,” Duarte said. “We expect them to be here in January.” 

In the 1950s, the University of Oregon introduced the “carillon system,” which are the “electronic chimes” that can be heard every 15 minutes within listening distance of the Erb Memorial Union.

In 1995, the university recruited Barbara Baird, a UO School of Music and Dance organ and harpsichord instructor, to replace the pre-programmed songs of the system with recordings of three UO songs and an extended series of “Pomp and Circumstance” for commencement. 

Wade Young-Jelinek said that the songs are on a weekly schedule, occurring twice  a day at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m., switching which songs play based off of the day and time and maintaining the same pattern every week. 

“There’s a collection [of songs] that plays at noon and six, and that appears to be pretty consistent. It’s not always the same song but switches between the four,” Young-Jelinek said. 

In 2019, Baird was asked once again to “re-record” songs for the newly modified carillon system.

“I researched and collected the music of school-related songs, which I chose to record. These include the UO fight song [Mighty Oregon], UO Pledge Song and others, mostly written in the early to mid-20th century.”

Baird said the songs were recorded on a keyboard.

“With technical help from the guy responsible for operating the electronic carillon, I did all the playing of the music, which created sound files, which could be played by the carillon [system]” she said. 

UO student Katie Jaspar compared hearing the bells this year to past years when she would chat with her friends. 

“It’s kind of funny because I talk about the bells all the time with my friends,” Jaspar said. “I remember last year I would talk about how often they go off and people wouldn’t believe me, but now, I live in New Residence [Hall] and I hear it all the time.”

UO student Victoria Mowder said the “Mighty Oregon” and “UO Fight Song” resonated with her. 

“The songs remind me of this one very specific toy my little brother used to have when he was a baby,” Mowder said. “It’s just what I think about when I hear them.”

The post Chime in: UO bell songs of campus appeared first on Daily Emerald.

From sushi to burritos, the Erb Memorial Union is home to a variety of meal shops.

This past summer, the EMU introduced a new restaurant, Chicken Bonz, nearly a year after Little Big Burger left due to financial difficulties, which resulted in the “temporary pop-up” Crumbl Cookie operating in its space.  

According to Tom Driscoll, associate director of University Housing and director of Dining Services, Chicken Bonz has a lease that started on Aug. 5 and will run to the end of the 2027 school year with options to renew for three more years after that time period. 

Located on the first floor of the EMU, Chicken Bonz is a “unique new chicken joint,” which originated in Eugene’s neighboring city, Springfield, back in 2002.

Chicken Bonz offers a variety of food options, including chicken tenders, wings and several choices of sides and combos to mix and match. Prices for its chicken tenders start at $7.50, with combos starting at $11 and sides starting at $3. 

The prices at Chicken Bonz are higher than Chipotle, with Chipotle’s highest main menu courses starting at $8.60 for protein, including sofritas, veggies and chicken. Ace Sushi’s prices start at $10 with its cheapest sushi rolls. 

When researching a new vendor to set up shop in the vacant spot, Driscoll turned to student perspectives to determine the most wanted product. He found that students were looking for chicken options. 

“We wanted to find something that students have expressed they’re interested in seeing, and chicken and chicken-type products were super high, if not first, on that list,” Driscoll said.  

University of Oregon senior Jordan Poppe said that he “like[s]” how Chicken Bonz offers more food options than Crumbl Cookie did.

“The last place that was here was Crumbl and I didn’t really get anything from there ever because it was a cookie,” Poppe said. “It doesn’t really give you any nutrients but I like this place [Chicken Bonz] a lot better because it offers more food.” 

Eva Brazfield, a UO junior, said that she is looking forward to trying the fries from Chicken Bonz to see if they compare to the ones from Little Big Burger. 

“Up until this point, my favorite place to eat was probably Little Big Burger. I really liked their fries,” Brazfield said. “I am trying their [Chicken Bonz] fries to see if they are as good.”

The post Chicken Bonz is spicing up the EMU appeared first on Daily Emerald.

The end of the summer was not only met with returning students, but also the unveiling of University of Oregon’s newest nine-foot tall bronze statue of The Duck, known as “The Thinker.”

Located in front of the Lillis Business Complex, The Thinker is now the third mascot statue at UO’s main campus in Eugene.

In 2017, UO’s Portland campus unveiled the first “The Thinker” Duck statue located inside the Old Town Academic Center. 

According to Alison Brown, a UO alumnus who is also responsible for sculpting bronze statues of the Oregon Duck mascot, The Thinker was designed to represent a connection between the Eugene campus and the Portland campus.

“Yes, it is a twin sculpture, creating a unifying thread of discovery, linking the two locations in thought and storytelling,” Brown said in an email statement to the Daily Emerald.

Brown also said that both The Thinker Ducks were inspired by the Musée Rodin’s “The Thinker” statue.   

“A whimsical take on the famous statue ‘The Thinker’ — it’s a humorous yet realistic play on what’s both familiar and evolving at the same time — a[n] [Oregon] mascot known for antics by all, equally famous as a symbol of a world-famous institution operating as a leader in making the world a better place in so many ways,” Brown said. 

According to Eric Howald, a UO spokesperson, the newest statue was donated by the Sauer family, a prominent alumni family of the UO, with several generations of students graduating from the university, as recently as 2024.

“The Sauers are longtime UO advocates and volunteers, with Ron [Sauer] serving on the UO Foundation Board as a member of the finance committee. He has also served on the [Oregon] LCB [Landscape Contractors Board] board [2005-23] and UOAA [University of Oregon Alumni Association] Board [2002-08],” Howald said. “Ron is a founding member of the Cameron Center for Finance and Securities Analysis at Lundquist [College of Business].” 

In 2016, UO’s Eugene campus introduced the first bronze Duck statue, known as “Yell-O.” It is positioned between the Matthew Knight Arena and the Ford Alumni Center. 

In 2023, UO unveiled the second mascot statue, known as “The Duck and Me,” which is located outside of UO’s outdoor football stadium, Autzen Stadium.  

This statue was meant as a resting point for students on their walk to Autzen and as a fun “selfie” location for students and their families.

Some UO students shared their thoughts on the new Duck. 

According to Annika Segesta, the various Duck statues are a fun and creative way to learn more and bond with the campus.  

“It makes students want to kind of ‘collect them all,’ so it seems like an incentive to visit the other locations and maybe promotes some on-campus explorations and adventures,” Segesta said. 

According to Katherine Hernandez, she views the statues as a form of representation and as a sign to continue reaching her goals.

“[The Thinker] reminds me of the reason I am here. The books and bag remind me of the goal I am trying to reach,” Hernandez said.