Eight laptops. Five iPhones. Two cameras. Two backpacks.

All told, students of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication’s Media in Ghana program lost what they estimate adds up to approximately $25,000 in gear and cash last week when an unknown number of burglars broke into their compound in Accra in the middle of the night.

The students believe the burglars snuck in sometime after 3 a.m. on July 17 — that’s when senior advertising major Kinsey Bagwell made a trip to the bathroom. Two hours later, Carson York, a graduate student and former Oregon lineman, woke up to reach for his iPhone and check the time only to discover the phone was missing. He roused the rest of his housemates and soon afterward the 16 students discovered an open side window and a hole in the barbed wire that tops the cement fence surrounding the compound. A security guard who patrols the compound 24 hours a day hadn’t seen anything.

“I sat down in the living room with a few others and the feeling of helplessness set in,” senior journalism major Conor Armor said. “Just hours earlier, somebody had invaded our personal home — and even more frightening, been within inches of us while we slept — and there was absolutely nothing we could do to change that.”

Armor was relatively fortunate: The laptop he left in the living room was gone but he believes the pile of clothes next to his bed deterred the burglars from searching his bedroom for valuables. It would have been too much of a hassle to dig through the laundry.

Security has since been beefed up at the compound and the students have moved on, for the most part. Participants in the program intern for either an ad agency or a local media outlet and because some of the firms don’t have equipment to spare, students had been using their own laptops and cameras.

Bagwell didn’t lose anything during the burglary and has been lending her laptop to those who had theirs stolen.

Journalism major Kelly Vigil lost a Canon 60D digital camera and has been making-do with a point-and-shoot that program coordinator Leslie Steeves lent him. Although the loaner camera allows Vigil to shoot assignments for his internship, the memory card in the Canon had hundreds of photos and hours of video saved on it, which Vigil estimates amounts to nearly 120 hours of work.

“We really don’t know how to react to this,” Vigil said. “We’re trying to figure out what it means to us, not just as journalists but as human beings.”

The Media in Ghana blog hasn’t been updated since July 16, the longest it’s gone without a new entry since this year’s program started. Students say they’ve been working on ways to tell the story themselves.

This isn’t the first time Bagwell has had to deal with intruders — during her sophomore year, somebody tried to break into her home in Eugene. Bagwell set off her car’s alarm remotely when she noticed a potential burglar approaching, which promptly scared off the would-be intruder.

“Theft happens everywhere,” she said. “There’s no reason for somebody’s perception to change based off an incident that can easily occur in your hometown.”

And, indeed, students have kept a positive outlook on their two remaining weeks in Ghana. They say it helps that the locals have been sympathetic upon hearing about the incident, even if the police haven’t been helpful.

“Every Ghanaian I told of the burglary expressed horror and sorrow that their fellow countrymen would do such a thing,” Armor said. “Like any country, there are criminals in Ghana, and as apparently wealthy Americans, we are easy targets.”

Senior advertising major Michael Collins left his most expensive electronics in the U.S. in the event of theft 7,500 miles from home. He lost the equivalent of $50 in Cedi, the local currency, an Acer Chromebook he bought specifically for the trip and an iPod Classic.

But, he says, the incident hasn’t jaded his perception of the country or the trip. What he and many other students will remember most about their time in Ghana are the late-night card games, jumping out of boats and a visit to a local elementary school where Collins said students taught him and the other SOJC students “a thing or two about rhythm.”

“This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you have to take everything as it comes,” he said.

Mat Wolf has been around. He’s worked at newspapers all around the state, from The Register-Guard to the Mail-Tribune in Medford and even the Oregon Daily Emerald.

He graduated from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication in 2012 and moved to Jordan soon after to work for JO Magazine. He’s now in Egypt covering the political happenings in Cairo. He recently talked with the Emerald about life amid the revolution. Quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Emerald: How much did you consider your own personal safety before taking the jobs in Jordan and then Cairo?

Mat Wolf: Not much. I’m always cautious, but try never to be so cautious I become sheltered or afraid. I’ve heard some Jordanians complain that their country has an unearned stigma for being unsafe and I agree with them. It’s in an unstable neighborhood to be sure, but I don’t think Americans should have any qualms about traveling to Jordan.

Egypt’s a slightly different story as the atmosphere here is very anti-American as of late and they did just have a military coup. They also get angry when foreigners call it a coup and believe Americans use the term as part of some convoluted nonsensical plot to undermine the country’s official return to military rule and support an Islamist takeover. This line of thinking has never made sense to me, but it’s prevalent even amongst educated people here and the TV stations do their best to reinforce it.

Ramadan has calmed things down, but there have been gunfire exchanges and mass arrests this past week. I try to be a little more aware of my surroundings and the mood of the crowd in Egypt, but I try not to do it so hard that I’m just hiding in my apartment. I am making arrangements to get a gas mask and at least some form of basic body armor here if I do more crowd work and these were items I never really felt I needed in Jordan.

Emerald: A line in your latest post on HuffPo struck me as particularly interesting: you mention people sitting at a café as it was closing and there was gunfire about five blocks away. Can you talk a bit about everyday life amid all this political unrest?

Wolf: Everyday life goes on. Regardless of the legality of the military coup here it was still incredibly popular and I do believe the military overwhelmingly has the public’s support.

These protests were massive and brought out millions of people, so if that’s had an adverse effect on businesses it’s that they were losing employees who ran down to join the protests. I know if a business has ties to or employees from the Muslim Brotherhood they’re hurting because a lot of the brotherhood has been jailed or is in hiding. There were some pitched gun battles last week, but I haven’t heard anything in the last few days even as arrests have continued, so it seems like things are quieting down.

Emerald: As a former UO student and SOJC alum, what are some important lessons the revolution in Egypt can teach current students and why should we pay attention to what’s happening in the region?

Wolf: It’s been impressive watching what just happened in Egypt — a true revolution for better or worse — and comparing that to things like Occupy which were all the rage my final year at school. I feel like in the states a lot of these movements like to label themselves as revolutionary (be it Tea Party or Occupy) because it’s a solid marketing gimmick.

Egypt has toppled two governments in two years; that’s impressive. The military had a hand in it to be sure, but the sheer mass of the civilian protests forced the military to act or to create a national security crisis by not acting. Actual revolution needs to pull in a lot of disparate elements, have defined and obtainable goals, and needs to be more than a handful of PhD candidates squatting in a city park and having drum circles with the terminally homeless.

At the very least there needs to be a working middle class presence in these sorts of things and that’s something modern American “revolutions” tend to lack. I guess if there’s a lesson for student journalists there it’s to consider what a real revolution, civil disobedience or political demonstration is or needs to accomplish before giving column inches to just any so called “movement.”

Omar Hagrass graduated from the University of Oregon in 2012. As an Egyptian native, he moved back home upon earning his degree in political science and now works as a financial analyst at CI Capital. Hagrass was one of many Egyptians who took to the streets and successfully oust Hosni Mubarak from the office of the president in 2011. His parents passed away June 20 in a car accident, otherwise he would have been in Tahrir Square protesting Mohamed Morsi’s presidency as well.

Hagrass recently chatted with the Emerald about the Egyptian political movement. Quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Emerald: Can you describe the atmosphere in Egypt from late June to early July? I saw stark contrasts between the atmosphere in Eugene and Cairo: In Eugene there were celebrations for the Fourth of July and Egyptians were celebrating democracy in action.

Omar Hagrass: Well, my parents passed away on June 20th in a car accident. Protests started 10 days later, on June 30. I didn’t really have enough time to join the protest and take care of family issues. I participated in the demonstrations but on a low scale. If everything was to go as planned, I would’ve stayed in Tahrir Square for no matter how long until Morsi was ousted. I did it before when Mubarak was our president.

The general atmosphere was very positive. The stock market skyrocketed the other day and people were actually happy by the revolution — not a coup d’état as foreign media call it. Of course, the Muslim Brotherhood has strong ties with certain citizens who actually went to the streets to protests the military declaration. That said, compared to the numbers of people who went to the streets on June 30, their numbers are incomparable.

Emerald: How is Egypt different now compared to when you left for school in Oregon?

Hagrass: It’s a lot different. Eugene was beautiful, calm, green, small, academic and so forth. Cairo is the exact opposite. It’s beautiful but never calm, there’s a lot if pollution. It’s a gigantic city, and since I started work it’s not as fun as when I was in school.

Emerald: You were here when the Occupy and Tea Party movements were at their respective heights. Any comparisons you can draw between civil unrest in the states and in Egypt?

Hagrass: There’s not much similarity. I remember checking in on the sit-ins and knew that the Occupy movement would not draw enough attention — youth were not playing a strong enough role in it.

In Egypt the middle class and the upper class were the stronghold of the demonstrations. I didn’t see many wealthy people joining the movement in Eugene and when it happened, take Kayne West participating in New York for example: he started making money out of it by selling shirts with his name on them. This was not the case here.

Emerald: What were your personal thoughts of Morsi and his time in office?

Hagrass: I believe he was a puppet. I voted for him just to avoid voting for an old regime loyalist, Ahmed Shafik. At the beginning, he took a few good steps and showed good will. But as time went on, it was clear he was trying to kill political plurality in the country and extend the Muslim Brotherhood’s power. The constitutional declaration Morsi set up in November was an alarm that things were going the wrong direction. It was one of the main reasons why people went to the streets on the 30th.

Emerald: Any lessons we can learn in America from the civic activism in Egypt? Why should we pay attention to something happening so far away?

Hagrass: America is the strongest economic and military power on Earth. People of America, in my opinion, do not know that American foreign policy is so messed up that it actually prohibits democracy in many countries. A good example would be the backing of five successive administrations to Hosni Mubarak, a dictator who did not allow any form of democracy to occur in Egypt.

People around the world have no problems with American people.

We — Arabs — actually love them. On the other hand, we despise how American administrations insist in meddling with our internal affairs.

I am not an expert in American politics but I can assure you that activism plays a very important role in the society. It will always work as a social judge to the government, raise awareness, reveal corruption and so forth. I believe that civic activism is taking important steps forward but is still missing major factors that could make it stronger and really influential.

There’s a scene in “The Dark Knight” that perfectly illustrates Hollywood’s ongoing fascination with grittiness. It’s the one where Batman is speeding toward the Joker in the Batpod and the latter is shouting, “I want you to do it. Hit me!”

Like the spread of the blue stuff in “Breaking Bad,” the gritty reboot has been invading territory that was once campy, cheeky and fun. And it’s not just movies. Remakes of popular video game franchises such as “Tomb Raider” and new intellectual properties such as “The Last of Us” are hailed for their protagonists’ ability to get down and dirty, to exhibit raw human emotion, over-the-top, cartoonish behavior be damned.

But is that really what we need right now?

Unemployment remains stubbornly stagnant. And article after article points out just how pointless your degree is if it isn’t in business administration or engineering. So maybe we don’t need entertainment full of grit and grime. Maybe we need a little more “Despicable Me” and a little less “Man of Steel” these days.

Because let’s be honest: How much more bold a project would a campy Superman film have been? Or — think about this for a second — a quirky buddy cop flick starring Superman and Batman? Audiences expect grit these days. The day Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski announce they’re jointly working on a He-Man movie that explores the characters subtle masculinity through a two-film origin story isn’t far off, at least that’s what it feels like.

I shudder to think of what Michael Bay might do to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in this regard. With reports that he considered making the turtles aliens having surfaced a few months ago, it’s almost instinctual to get a little woozy whenever Bay’s name and the turtles show up in headlines.

Is Bay going to give us the turtles from the original comics? The ones that dismember living creatures rather than robots and spill blood everywhere they go? God, I hope not.

We need more iconic characters resurfacing with a glossy, cartoonish sheen rather than a gravelly tone and cool color palettes that dominate their screen presence. Hollywood needs to go to grit rehab. Soon.

Crack!

In the days leading up to the Fourth of July and for weeks after, the neighborhoods closest to the University of Oregon are rife with the sounds of tiny explosions. The acrid odor of burnt flash powder hangs in the air and the corpses of charred fireworks are scattered throughout the streets.

Bang!

Flanked by one of the state’s largest colleges to the east and one of the city’s largest high schools to the south, it’s no wonder the area west of Alder Street and south of 13th Avenue sounds like a miniature war zone when Independence Day nears.

Boom!

Halfway around the world in Cairo, Egypt, Mat Wolf, a 2012 graduate from the School of Journalism and Communication and former Emerald staffer, hears something similar most nights. But the bangs come from rifle fire and, although those heard in Tahrir Square in the beginning of the month were celebratory, shots these days mark scuffles between members of the Muslim Brotherhood and a contingency that helped expel Mohamed Morsi from the office of the president. And once the sounds of the rifle fire fade, there’s not much of a difference between the scents on the streets in Eugene and those in Cairo.

Although the military played a major role in the shake-up, don’t call it a coup. From what Wolf has observed, most Egyptians believe Americans use the term as a way to undermine the country returning to military rule.

“Many people do have a sense that they’re in control of the government now and that the military is an extension of the people’s will,” Wolf said.

(Courtesy of Mat Wolf)

Of course, what the military had on its hands in Tahrir Square in the days leading to Morsi’s ouster was a wave of protesters that needed to be addressed. Their conundrum? Either let the protests turn violent or mediate.

“The military had a hand in it to be sure, but the sheer mass of the civilian protests forced the military to act or create a national security crisis by not acting,” Wolf said.

As an American stepping into the heart of the Egyptian revolution — the country’s second in two years — Wolf has been able to approach the protests and ensuing civic struggle with a perspective uncommon in the area.

But he’s anything but a newcomer to the area.

For the last year, Wolf has been a reporter in Jordan, a country he left when the work dried up. Before going through the UO journalism program, Wolf was a Marine who spent considerable time in the area, becoming proficient in Arabic in the meantime.

“Do you really want to come to Egypt? Right now? Really?”

That’s what Wolf was asked during his interview for the gig in Cairo, as he wrote in a blog for The Huffington Post. But it wasn’t the lure of adventure that had Wolf enticed by the idea, at least not entirely. He said the idea of producing some solid stories from the area were his main motivation for seeking employment in Cairo.

“I just wasn’t in love with the idea of getting my journalism degree and then just turning around and continuing in community newspapers,” Wolf said. “It may be for some people — and for all I know it may be something I return to eventually — but I figured that while I was young, healthy and ambitious I wanted to try my hand working overseas again.”

While Veneta’s Country Fair, McMinnville’s Turkey Rama and other such community celebrations paint the front pages of Oregon’s newspapers in the colors inherent in each event, in Cairo the coverage skews more toward the political side of things. But even if rifle fire is common in some neighborhoods, life goes on amidst the revolution.

“Ramadan just started, which means shops are shuffling around their hours, anyway, and people only really hit restaurants and cafes at night but I expect that to continue” Wolf said. “There were some pitched gun battles last week, but I haven’t heard anything in the last few days even as arrests have continued, so it seems like things are quieting down.”

(Courtesy of Mat Wolf)

Indeed, the scenes marking a major political movement in Egypt are markedly different from those that have occurred in the U.S. over the last few years. While Americans flocked to Zuccotti Park in New York City and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. building makeshift communities and dressing up in colonial apparel, not much has changed on the political landscape, save for a different political party controlling the House of Representatives. The impact of citizens taking to the streets in Cairo has resulted in not one, but two presidential ousters since 2010.

“It’s been impressive watching what just happened in Egypt — a true revolution for better or worse, and comparing that to things like Occupy, which were all the rage my final year at school,” Wolf said, mentioning that major political movements stateside are branded as revolutionary because they’re easier to market that way. “They also do this long before they actually accomplish anything remotely impressive but get a lot of media attention doing so.”

Although civic engagement in Egypt has produced tangible results, Wolf says they may set dangerous precedents for political activity in the area.

“I’m not defending Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, but he was legitimately elected,” Wolf said. “What happens when the next guy they elect becomes unpopular? Do they just oust him as well?”

The Oregon State Board of Higher Education has reduced the University of Oregon’s tuition increase to 3.4 percent from 5.8. The board also capped tuition increases at 3.5 percent for the next two years. That means resident undergraduates taking 15 credits will see their overall bill go up by $270 next year rather than the original $465 approved by the state board earlier this year and a maximum of $290 the following year should the UO ask for another increase.

The reduced rate was enacted by the OUS as a response to legislation passed in Salem recently. Near the end of its latest session, the Oregon Legislature approved a $15 million package known as a tuition buy-down that would cap rate increases at all seven Oregon University System schools at 3.5 percent for the coming year.

“We are grateful to the Governor and Legislature for this additional investment, which helps make our public universities more affordable for current and in-coming students,” interim OUS Chancellor Melody Rose wrote in a press release. “Our hope, which I know we share with Oregon students and families, is that this is the beginning of a rebalance in the state-student share of college costs.”

Two decades ago, the legislature covered 70 percent of a student’s tuition and fees with students contributing the remaining 30 percent. Those figures have now reversed, with students footing 70 percent of the bill and accruing record debt as they do so — student loans have recently surpassed credit cards as the number one source of debt for American residents. This is also the first year in quite some time that the Oregon Legislature has approved additional funding for the state’s institutes of higher education.

For students however, the increase is a drop in the bucket compared to the final statement they’ll receive from the UO upon graduating.

“It’s not that much extra, but I wish it didn’t go up,” said Madison Justine Layton, an incoming freshman. “My parents know it’s worth it, so they won’t be too upset. It’s definitely a relief that it’s not going up as much, but it still sucks,” Layton said.

The Oregon state Senate approved a series of bills today that authorize approximately $1 billion in bonding authority for projects statewide, with the University of Oregon receiving about $240 million. The Senate approved two items with a price tag of more than $80 million: $84.3 million for the Erb Memorial Union renovation project and another $84.75 million for housing expansion. The Student Recreation Center received a $50.25 million bond approval with Straub and Earl halls sharing an $11 million bond approval and the Science Commons and research library a further $8.38 million.

All told, bonds approvals for OUS projects took the lion’s share of the measures, totaling nearly $620 million. The Oregonian has the full list of bond authority approvals from Senate bills 5506, 5507 and 5533.

The Oregon state Senate approved a series of bills today that authorize approximately $1 billion in bonding authority for projects statewide, with the University of Oregon receiving about $24 million. The Senate approved two items with a price tag of more than $8 million for the UO: $8.5 for the Erb Memorial Union renovation project and another $8.4 million for housing expansion. The Student Recreation Center received a $5 million bond approval with Straub and Earl halls sharing $110,000 bond approval and the Science Commons and research library a further $800,000.

All told, bonds approvals for OUS projects took the lion’s share of the measures, totaling nearly $240 million. The Oregonian has the full list of bond authority approvals from Senate bills 5506, 5507 and 5533.

Somebody at Illumination Entertainment owes whoever created the minions big time.

The yellow oddballs stole the show in the first “Despicable Me” and the sequel doesn’t just utilize them to the same degree as the original — a major part of the plot centers around them.

“Despicable Me 2” picks up more or less where the original left off. Gru (Steve Carell) has grown even more fatherly since we last saw him, playing the ideal patriarch for Margo, Edith and Agnes, voiced by Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher, respectively. The movie’s early moments set up much of the subplot that weaves throughout the main narrative — Gru’s life is about as picturesque as it gets, save for one thing: The girls lack a mother.

A short interaction between Agnes and Gru really sets it up, subsequent hints toward the mother subplot nearly making this particular element of the film over the top. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, if there’s one place “Despicable Me 2” succeeds, it’s in the exaggerated nature of nearly everything about it.

From the minions (who are inherently larger-than-life characters trapped in miniscule bodies) to the plot and even how damn adorable Agnes is, much of “Despicable” would come off as excessive if it weren’t so endearing. Carell plays Gru to great effect as he wrestles with the trials of love on his own and later as a protective father when Margo meets a boy of her own at — where else? —the mall.

Much of the film’s first act is set here as Gru maintains a cover as a cupcake maker to find out who’s behind the theft of an entire Arctic facility. Secret agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig) is assigned to accompany him by the folks at the Anti-Villain League, who woo Gru into helping out with the promise of shiny new gizmos and gadgets. Since we last caught up with the man who once stole the moon, he’s been hard at work building his “legitimate business,” employing his minions to craft a series of jellies (and sometimes jam.)

Carell and Wiig mix well as Gru and Lucy. Carell’s former supervillain is as innocuous and goofy as ever with Wiig adding a much-needed spark to his usual stone-faced demeanor. In fact, Gru’s attempt at being the straight-man is, again, tested time and again by those around him. Jokes range from subtle scares of conversations that may lead to “the talk” to, well, farts.

Dreamworks walks a fine line here, introducing humor that’ll make parents and twentysomethings giggle and at times laugh out loud while remaining kid-friendly. Sure, the plot suffers at times from its overwhelming predictability (the secret villain is painfully obvious from the get-go), but there’s no denying that “Despicable Me 2” does a great job of appealing to anyone looking for a reprieve from indestructible men and enormous robots.

Besides, you can’t beat the minions’ two-song outro to the flick — part Backstreet Boys, part Village People. That alone should sell anyone.

The Oregon Senate, on a 23-7 vote, approved a bill that would grant the University of Oregon administration’s wish to create an independent governing board.

Senate Bill 270 would grant both the UO and Portland State University the ability to create such a body the moment it passes in the House, which is the anticipated outcome in Salem. Gov. John Kitzhaber would appoint board members over the summer with a confirmation coming in the fall. The UO’s board would begin governance in July of 2014.

The board would have the ability to hire and fire the University president, regulate tuition and sell bonds to back construction projects. Currently, the UO must get legislative approval for any tuition increase that exceeds 5 percent.

The legislation would give the UO broader control over its own operations and make its governing structure closer to that of Lane Community College just over the hill, which has its own individual board of education.