Finding a permanent solution to the leadership vacancy at the University of Oregon Police Department is finally out of the beta stage.

According to Andre Le Duc, assistant vice president of UO’s Risk Management, search committee members tasked with screening UO’s newest police chief candidates met for the first time on May 9. The committee was formed after the unexpected departure of UOPD’s former Chief Carolyn McDermed in February.

The committee of 13 individuals, comprised of faculty, undergrad and grad students, UOPD staff members, UO administrators and Eugene Police Department Chief Pete Kerns, began the process of finding UO’s next chief of police.

“We are accepting applications up until May 18,” Le Duc said. “At that time, we will have the committee review those applications and then do a ranking process to determine which candidates will advance.”

The candidates will then go through an initial round of Skype interviews as a group of finalists are selected. Those finalists will then come to campus to have interviews with UOPD, several departments that are most affected by campus security and a student panel. They will also give a public presentation.

Le Duc had hoped the search process would be further along at this point. His original plan involved holding public forums on campus during the school year so students would be able to interact with potential candidates. He now believes his early plan might have been too optimistic. Le Duc now sees mid-to-late June as a more likely decision date.

“We are still trying to do this as timely as possible,” Le Duc said. “I had hoped that we would be able to do this before the end of the term, but that really was not realistic with having a four to six week open national search.”

Le Duc stressed that this national search will begin with defining its purpose. His plan for the first meeting on May 9 was to discuss what the UO community values in its police force. He also planned to discuss what community-based policing and campus-based policing look like.

Kelly McIver, communications director and public information officer for the UOPD, explained how the search group will streamline UOPD’s efforts.

“Search committees are common across public and private enterprise, but especially in education,” McIver said in an email. “They allow stakeholders from across the organization to bring their special perspectives to a hiring process and to use the power of many minds to come to a recommendation to the hiring authority.”

According to McIver, the search group will be utilizing a consulting group to broaden the array of qualified applicants who will apply. The consultant group will spread news of the job application via networks of professionals working in the industry of law enforcement.

Le Duc is ultimately tasked with hiring the candidate that best fits the job description, but the use of a search committee is designed to give the institution a wide range of advisers to recognize strengths and weaknesses in the candidates.

“This committee is large, even by university standards,” Le Duc said. “But we wanted to have representation from across the institution, from students and employees, academic as well as administrative areas. We rely heavily on the partners who work closely with university police all the time and value the input representatives from those areas will contribute to the search process.”

Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst are concerned about the decision to install black curtains at the entry to their exhibition “Relationship” at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

The curtains were installed two days after the exhibit opened.

Some volunteers of a children’s program at the museum had concerns as well. Museum administrators agreed, saying that some of the exhibits content could potentially infringe on parental consent guidelines for nudity.

Jill Hartz, executive director of JSMA, explained some exhibits that are fine for one, could act as a “trigger” for another museum visitor. The museum relies on what Hartz refers to as “community standards” to determine how to handle each exhibit or exhibition.

“We reach out broadly across the community on and off campus so that we can understand what the interests are and pair our shows with what we think can support community interest and academic interests as well,” Hartz said.

Part of the work Hartz and her staff focus on is serving the diverse viewership of the museum. Hartz believes the museum offers a wide range of opportunities for community members of Eugene, University of Oregon and K-12 students who come from all over the state.

Hartz says she and her team were initially unsure if the “Relationship” warranted the drapes.

Drucker and Ernst see the museum’s choice as igniting a negative connotation around the topic of trans*.

“The gaze of ‘Relationship’ is tender, playful and complex — all of the narrative themes and emotions that love presents,” Ernst and Drucker wrote in an email to the Emerald.

The duo don’t agree that the exhibit’s content is for adults only. They are concerned that the reasoning for the change in its presentation could be viewed as condemnation of a transgender person’s body.

“Perhaps the one complainant mentioned in the article considers transgender bodies inherently inappropriate or perverse,” wrote Ernst and Drucker. […] “Since there is no overt nudity or sexuality depicted, we are flummoxed as to what ‘preventative’ use the black curtains serve in blocking off the artwork.”

Though some conversations about the show are perceived as negative by the exhibit’s creators, Drucker and Ernst see this as an opportunity to further discuss the stigmatization of trans* individuals.

“It’s no coincidence that this issue comes up at a time when trans* bodies are being checked, questioned, declined entrance, and otherwise repressed as part of a backlash against LGBT rights,” wrote Drucker and Ernst.

Due to the tiebacks installed on April 22, volunteers now can block off the entrance of exhibit during times when children are present. Otherwise, the curtains will be pulled back during operating hours.

Drucker and Ernst are understanding about the entire situation, and they think the conversation surrounding the issue is valuable.

“We’re happy that it’s inspiring dialogue and conversation. We hope that museum goers will push the curtains aside to see it,” wrote Drucker and Ernst.

Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst’s  art exhibit, “Relationship”, was on display for two days before museum officials at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art dawned black curtains covering both entry points to the exhibit located in the gallery room.

Citing controversial content, volunteers from a children’s program at the museum communicated to administrators about difficulties they faced while navigating shared space just outside a room the group uses for projects.

Sheila Roth is one volunteer concerned about how the “graphic” nature of the art depicted in “Relationship” will be interpreted by children as they pass by it. She believes the art depicts content that may impact children negatively and that parents might have concerns over their children’s exposure to such materials.

“It might be disturbing for a young person; as a matter of fact, the same day [“Relationship”] went up, two of the kids were drawing penises on the table. We have never had that before. We don’t teach life drawing to the students here,” Roth said.

Sherri Jones, museum education program coordinator, explained that the children’s program services grade-school children from all over the state. She said she had not received any complaints about the show as of yet.

Kurt Neugebauer, associate director of administration and exhibitions, was against installing curtains when the show was planned, but as the situation with the children’s group developed, installing curtains was a better “preventative” measure than other available options in his opinion.  “During open hours, these curtains are not to be drawn… at all,” Neugebauer said.  The original plan was to be able to close off the area while children were present.

“The museum’s position,”  Neugebauer said, “was to have curtains there where they could be closed during the off-hour young children’s tours and for their activities as they have to pass by.”

Over five-and-a-half years, beginning in 2008, Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst amassed a collection of personal images that have some contemplating just what identity is. After opening April 20 and continuing through June 26, as part of the Queer Productions Series at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Drucker and Ernst’s photographic collection, “Relationship,” displays the duo’s “opposite-oriented” transition — Ernst female-to-male and Drucker male-to-female.

“I would say that it was refreshing for me to see, to have something that has been stigmatized, hushed-up, or hidden away, to be so open and to see the process of the transition from male-to-female and female-to-male and in such a delicate and loving way,” exhibit-goer Mary Jenkins Gunn said.

In 2014, images from the personal collection of Drucker and Ernst found fame at the  Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. While on display for the first time, “Relationship” challenged conventional concepts of sexual identity and gender identification.

Located in the gallery of JSMA, the collection of raw personal images depicts Drucker and Ernst’s bodies undergoing a metamorphosis to reflect their inward identities outwardly.

Accompanying the photographic exposé is Drucker’s award-winning experimental short film “She Gone Rogue” staring Drucker and Ernst. Supporting cast for “She Gone Rogue” includes Holly Woodlawn, Vaginal Davis and Lawless Sabrina. The film depicts a mishmash of imagery. Some of the images depicted are adult in nature.
“I thought it was really powerful and very evocative,” Margie Templeton, and exhibit-goer said. “The way they did it … at some points you can’t tell which one is the woman and which one is the man and who is becoming what. They are growing into who they truly are.”

Also known for their contributions to Amazon Prime’s award-winning series Transparent, where Ernst and Drucker are co-producers, the two multi-platform artists are racking up accomplishments as their creativity is embraced by the bright lights of Tinseltown. From fine art to TV programs, these two seem to be changing how many view issues surrounding trans culture.

According to Quinn Miller, UO English assistant professor, Drucker will be visiting the campus for three events. Drucker will screen portions of some of her new projects such as “Unison,” “This Is Me” and wifeytv.com. Screenings off campus at the Wayward Lamb are free to the public.