Class of 2014, congrats we did it. We made it through college. On June 17 we’ll wake up and be members of the real world — it’s terrifying and exciting all at once. We might be going to different corners of the world, but no matter where we end up we’ll always have something in common — we’re Ducks. We’ve spent the last four years learning, growing and having fun. But our time here hasn’t just been about us, a lot has has happened in our community over the course of four years. Here are five moments we’ll never forget:

14th Avenue and Ferry Street riots – It was the weekend before our first day of college. Maybe you had just gotten a new TV at Freebies at Freddies or you just cracked open your first Four Loko — before they were illegal — when suddenly chaos struck on 14th Avenue and Ferry Street. More than 400 people congregated in that intersection after a series of parties were broken up. Students began ripping signs out of the ground and throwing bottles. Police responded by throwing tear gas into the crowds.

Oregon goes to the Natty – It was every football fan’s dream, all eyes were on our school as the Ducks competed for the National Championship title in Glendale, Arizona. Although the game ended with blue and orange confetti raining down and every Oregon student uttering the words “Scam Newton” it was a close game and a rare experience. Auburn won 19-22.

Matthew Knight Arena opens – We were the last class to ever see a game at McArthur Court. The arena was supposed to be open in time for the start of the 2010-2011 school year, but if you lived in Bean you know it was definitely still under construction — every morning bright and early a chorus of construction permeated your room. The arena officially opened for the USC game on January 13, 2011 and got a lot of attention for the trees painted on the court.

President Lariviere fired –  Hundreds of students and faculty protested the firing of President Lariviere after the State Board of Education unanimously voted to fire him. Phil Knight called the firing “yet another example of Oregon’s assisted suicide law.” Lariviere was told his contract would not be renewed and he was given the opportunity to resign or be fired — he chose the latter.

Snowpocalypse 2014 – At first it was awesome, we woke up to a winter wonderland and school was canceled. But then things got out of hand. Telephone wires froze over and power went out. Frozen trees fell on cars. A snowball fight initiated by the Oregon football team made international headlines after a video was released of football player Pharaoh Brown dumping a bucket of snow on an unsuspecting professor.

I remember the moment when I officially chose the University of Oregon. I was the annoying girl who applied to 10 colleges. My family did college tours across the country and I took the ACT and SAT an obnoxious amount of times. But then I visited a friend at UO and that weekend sealed my fate. I was going to be a Duck. From my first cup of jungle juice – made in the recycling bins in Hamilton – I was sold.

There is something about this place that is magical. Maybe it’s the fact that this Arizona girl saw rain for the first time – and also the 999th. But, I think it has to do with how unique Eugene is – it’s the way front lawns fill with people on a sunny day. The feeling of success when you score a booth at Max’s. The first glimpse of the “O” through the trees on the walk to Autzen.

I have spent the four best years of my life at Oregon, and it won’t be easy to leave. I’m not scared of losing friends because I know that the people I’ve found here will be in my life forever. I’m terrified to leave the simplicity of being here. I can’t imagine not waking up after a night out and crawling into my roommate’s bed to laugh about our night before. I hate the fact that in the real world I might not have a karaoke machine in my living room and be able to use it four nights a week. I’ll miss how acceptable it is to drink Burnetts (or maybe it still isn’t but my friends and I do it anyway). I can’t imagine a spring that didn’t involve me and my eight roommates sipping cider on our porch and counting how many people we know who walk past.

Class of 2014, we’ve been lucky enough to go here when Oregon football reigned – we’ve been to a bowl game every year for the past four. We’ve seen our school transform – does anyone else remember the incessant 7 a.m. banging as Matthew Knight was built? Every year more and more people want to go here. Oregon has improved over the past four years, but so have we.

The person who will throw up her cap on June 16 is completely different than the one who moved into Bean four years ago. I’ve grown up here. UO has intimidated me, challenged me and brought me immense joy. There have been professors who expanded my mind and students who inspired me to dream bigger.

Picking UO was easy, but leaving it will be difficult. Every year I look at the incoming freshman and think how jealous I am that they’re just starting this journey. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away, but I also wouldn’t trade where I am now for anything. These last four years have been incredible and I want to thank every person who has been a part of them.

The University of Oregon announced it was aware of the sexual assault investigations involving Oregon basketball player Damyean Dotson, Dominic Artis and Brandon Austin on March 9 — almost two months before the story was broken to the public.

But UO isn’t the only school dealing with sexual assault related investigations.

According to a statistic released by the White House, one in five girls will be sexually assaulted while in college — usually by someone she knows.

Nancy Schwartzman is a sexual assault survivor and the creator of Circle of 6, a free app invented to help prevent assault.

She believes schools are not prioritizing their students’ safety, by choosing not to pursue offenders or to let them off without severe criminal charges, in order to produce favorable safety records.

“I just think over and over again schools are choosing rapists over their female students,” Schwartzman said. “The overall trend is schools don’t want to be transparent about their record because they don’t want parents to not send their kids there.”

On Thursday the Education Department released a list of 55 universities with open “sexual violence investigations” that have been filed with them under the jurisdiction of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex. The University of Oregon was not on the list. 

Erin Buzuvis is professor of law at Western New England University who researches Title IX and she says that Title IX is violated when a school fails to handle a sexual assault case appropriately.

“It’s considered an act of sex discrimination to ignore a victim of sexual assault,” Buzuvis said.

She says she sees the release of the 55 universities as a motivator of all schools to step up and do the right thing.

“What now is increasingly more apparent, is that universities that to do try to sweep sexual assault under the rug are going to be held accountable by the government and the court of public opinion,” Buzuvis said.

In January, President Obama created the “White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.” The group was tasked with figuring out ways to bring down the true frequency of sexual assault occurrence on campuses nationwide.

UO Psychology professor Jennifer Freyd researches sexual assault and was invited to advise the task force. Although she believes sexual assault has always occurred at this magnitude it has become a bigger deal recently because the public is calling for change.

“We’ve had the tipping point here, I’ve been in the field for 22 years or so of sexual violence, I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like entering another galaxy,” Freyd said.

Though Freyd’s research on sexual assault isn’t limited to one school, she says hearing about the alleged rape at UO hits close to home.

“I’m very very worried about how this case came about and I’m worried about how we’re going to handle it,” Freyd said. “The sort of common thread is to not have sufficient transparency, we absolutely need to not hide things under the cover because sexual violence hides in the dark.”

Come November, Oregonians will ask themselves once again: Should recreational marijuana be legal? A 2012 measure to legalize the green was shot down by Oregon voters, but Colorado and Washington managed to make it happen. Will this year yield a different result here?

Help lead the conversation and let us know your thoughts on its legalization. Once you tell us, your results will show up in this interactive graphic.

University of Oregon undergraduate student Griffin Felt was pronounced dead on Friday, the Eugene Police Department confirmed.

Felt was studying pre-journalism at the university.

There are no signs of foul play and cause of death is still under investigation.

More to come.

Update: This survey has been frozen as of mid morning Monday, Feb. 10. Information generated using the survey was collected in this map of power outages near campus.

UO Dean of Students Paul Shang released a statement regarding the reader submitted snowball video that reached #2 on Reddit.

The statement said that police will be investigating the identities of the students throwing the snowballs and look into whether their actions constitute a criminal act.

“The University of Oregon takes the conduct of its students seriously. Consequences are clear for those whose actions reflect poorly upon the university or violate its standards for student behavior. However, until the facts of the snowball-throwing incident are sorted out, it would be premature to speculate about any potential outcomes in this case,” the statement said.

Continuing coverage of the snowball fight and its consequences can be found on our topics page.

It’s a snow-fighting frenzy outside today.

After Oregon wide receiver Josh Huff took to Twitter Friday morning to organize a snowball fight outside the EMU, he moved the location of that bout to the fields next to the Rec Center. Not everyone got the memo. As of 1:10 p.m., there was still a sizable snow war happening outside the Erb Memorial Union. Here’s a spot of video from the event:

For more coverage of today’s snowfall, check out our topics page.

You can find information regarding the snowball fight’s escalation here.

A snowball fight started at 12:40 p.m. in front of the EMU.

Oregon football players organized it over social media.

Follow us on twitter @dailyemerald for live coverage of the event.