What do you do when you’ve been sexually assaulted? For University of Oregon students, one of the first places they may turn to is the UO Health Center, where nurses Colleen Jones and Rebecca Hagerwaite are trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.

UO’s SANE nurses have been on campus since 2004, trained by the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force.

“Our job is to address the medical needs — their physical, their emotional and mental health and their safety,” Jones said. “A big point of our job is to try to reduce the impact that an assault is going to have on their life and their academic performance. Because the earlier that we intervene, the less likely they are to have the anxiety, the depression, the PTSD.”

When a student experiences sexual assault and makes contact with the health center either by phone or walking in, the clock is ticking to get them to see either Hagerwaite or Jones within 120 hours. The victim will talk to a triage nurse, and from there the health center will reassign that day’s appointments to prioritize the victim and their needs both physically and academically.

“We try to accommodate the student schedule, because a sexual assault takes so much from them,” Jones said. “It’s really important that they maintain some control.”

Jones, who has worked at the UO Health Center for 28 years, says that in order to reduce as much retraumatization as possible, they ask as few questions as necessary during their care. If the assault victim is female, they move towards needing emergency contraception or STI prevention via antibiotics.

Sexual assault victims who are students pay nothing for the services.

Under Oregon law, victims of sexual assault will not pay for services within seven days of the assault. But even after the seven day limit, the university has a small fund to use and Jones says that the UO Health Center has historically waived any charges regarding sexual assault.

“Between the state and the university and the health center, great care is taken to minimize at least the financial trauma,” Jones said.

The fund is especially important for victims who are still on their parents’ insurance, and worry that billing their insurance may alert their parents when they’re not ready to tell them what happened.

None of the health center’s employees  are mandatory reporters, and it’s up to the victim whether they talk to police or do a physical exam called SAFE, or Sexual Assault Forensic Exam.

“I think one thing that we really like to emphasize is that the student is in charge of their process,” Jones said. “They can choose to do a physical exam or not. We offer options, they choose the one that best fits their needs.”

In Oregon, anonymous exams are an option, where there’s a number instead of a name, and kits will be held in evidence for 60 years. Jones also emphasizes that they encourage counseling and offer a crisis counselor, Caren Golian for victims to talk to.

According to Jones, sexual assault is not unique to universities, and everyone should have a program like SANE.

“It’s a lot of money and time and effort to put into your education, and then to have potential violence at the hands of another human derail that?” Jones said. “Students are paying a lot of money to the university, and I think it behooves the university to take care of them.”   

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The first thing that greets you when you walk into Oregon Axe is the sharp smell of freshly cut lumber and the startling thud of their customers hucking axes at slabs of wood painted like dart boards.

When Oregon Axe first opened earlier this year, part of the difficulty in getting customers was their ability to find it — Oregon Axe is tucked away in an old lumber mill-turned-business complex on the outskirts of Springfield’s bustling Main Street.

According to ‘Axepert’ C.J. Rayson, the owner Timothy Stemmerman traveled to Canada and when he came back, wanted to build an ‘axe lounge’ in Springfield, one of only two in Oregon.

“He comes over here and says, ‘we’re going to build an axe lounge, and we’re going to throw axes and stuff,’ and I said, ‘well that’s cool,’” Rayson said. “So then we started building this, and over time when I took over the manager position, I became an axepert.”

Rayson works the counter and phones when not instructing new customers, but bouncer-turned-axepert Cody also competes in the Highland Games throwing axes.

“You kind of have a niche for it,” Rayson said. “Anyone can become an axepert, as soon as you start doing trick shots or throwing with either hand or if you just walk up and toss it at the board and hit it, you’re an axepert by then.”

According to Rayson, the trick in throwing a good axe is not how hard you throw it, but it’s about where you stand and how you throw it.

Good axe throwing begins with a strong stance and holding an axe over your head, because holding it over a shoulder can cause the blade to wobble and miss the board, according to Rayson.

“Everybody’s different so everybody will have a different spot where they stand,” Rayson said. “But once you’ve got your spot, you don’t have to change it and you stick it every time.”

The Springfield location competes in the World Axe Throwing League, where competitors from around the world come to Chicago to challenge each other, and they’re the only ones to compete in that competition.

All customers have to sign waivers before they can throw, but according to Rayson, they have yet to see an accident. From there, axeperts will go over safety instructions and an axe throwing tutorial. You can throw for fun during your slotted time, or play a variety of games based on points and teams.

Throwing axes might seem intimidating when holding a hefty blade in your hand and being told to hold it over your head to throw it, but with the right grip — dominant hand on top with both thumbs pointing towards the blade — there’s nothing quite as satisfying as the sound of the blade sticking into solid wood, and if you’re lucky, you might just hit the bullseye.

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Home of the Oregon Ducks basketball team, Matthew Knight Arena is more than a sports facility; more than a floor made of wooden planks and greasy popcorn. For many, seeing a popular music artist or a monster truck rally means they end up in line by the bronze Oregon Duck that sits outside.

Across the city, venues accommodate for an array of spectacles, from tens of thousands of fans to gatherings of few for intimate performances. For this reason, Eugene draws a spectrum of diverse artists. But as the venue grows to accommodate, so does the price tag to use the space.

Seating 12,364 people, MKA was built in 2011 to replace McArthur Court and was named after Nike owner Phil Knight’s son Matthew, who died in a scuba diving accident in 2004.

In 2017, MKA saw a range of musical artists, from Snoop Dogg’s 420 Wellness Retreat to WWE Live. According to Senior Associate Director of Operations and Events Mike Duncan, the first music artist to play at MKA was heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold in 2011.

According to Duncan, the pricing can vary depending on the situation — $45,000 is for shows using the lower level and $60,000 is for both upper and lower levels. For example, Foo Fighters paid the full $60,000 when they came to Eugene.

But the rental fee is not the only money that the university makes from these artists. Duncan says  UO retains 20 percent of all original merchandise sales and 10 percent of digital sales through the “Program, Novelty, Parking and Concession sales.”

If a musical artist sells 500 t-shirts at $30, UO gains $3,000 from that 20 percent in sales.

According to Duncan, the cost covers more than just using the building but affords ushers, security, ticket takers and janitors, along with the use of MKA’s equipment, such as chairs and staging.

Although uncommon, Autzen stadium also has a history of musical artists playing there. The Grateful Dead played there in 1994 and again in June 2018 as Dead & Company. For Dead & Company to play Autzen in 2018, it cost $200,000, along with the same fees and percentages for merchandise.

In some situations, like Snoop Dogg’s 420 Wellness Retreat on April 21, 2018, the university will also retain $2 from all ticket sales, which is considered a facility fee.

For other venues in Eugene, the grandiose venues such as Autzen and MKA don’t mean other venues lose artists. For example, the Hult Center draws artists with a different character than those looking to perform at major arenas, according to Rich Hobby, the Center’s director of marketing.

“We are a performing arts center — meaning we focus 100 percent on putting shows on our stages year round,” Hobby said of the Hult Center. “The size of our halls is focused on creating intimate and engaging experiences during performances. Not that you can’t have a great experience at the MKA – it will just be different.”

According to Hobby, some artists will play both MKA and Hult Center, and if an artist is new to the area, they’ll usually go with the smaller hall. While the Hult Center offers smaller and more comfortable shows, it doesn’t always mean the best show.

Libby Morris saw Jack White at the Hult Center in 2012, and said while White was an incredible performer, the venue was not the best.

“The sound quality at Hult was disappointing as there was a lot of feedback and noise distortion,” Morris said. “I don’t think that I would see another electric show there.”

For Hobby, comparing the two facilities for size or experiences is difficult.

“We don’t really lose any artists or performances to Matthew Knight Arena,” Hobby said. “The main reason for that is comparing the two venues is a little like apples to oranges, or more like apples to watermelons.”

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With Uber and Lyft coming back to Eugene and Springfield, students have more resources to get around town or go to events.

While this resource is a great way for students to get home safely after a night of drinking and  for their peers to earn some money, there has been situations of college students around the country having to escape fake Uber or Lyft cars.  

Here are a few tips to stay safe when getting a ride.

1. Share your expected arrival and trip information with someone, even if it’s sending it to a friend just in case. You can share this information through the apps or by just sending a screenshot. This helps people know where you are and who is picking you up, and they can report that information to the police if they need to.
2. Ask the driver who they are there for: Instead of asking drivers if their name is ‘so-and-so’, ask who they are there to pick up, or ask what their name is and see if it correlates with the name on the app. You can also check the plates on the car before getting in.
3. Try not to be alone: While this also cuts costs, it ensures that you’re not alone in a car with someone you don’t know, and it’s harder for a driver to divert from the route if they’re outnumbered.
4. Have them drop you off at a public place. If you don’t feel safe letting a stranger know your address, you can have them drop you off at a nearby store or bar and walk. This works for short or familiar distances.
5. Have a personal protection device. At the University of Oregon, personal protection devices are allowed on campus, including pepper spray, collapsible batons and stun guns (but does not include guns or knives). UOPD also offers self-defense classes, and the UO offers self-defense courses for physical education credits.
6. Safety lines. If you are in a dangerous situation, always call 911 first, but Lyft also has a 24/7 safety line that connects you with a live person to help guide you through situations. Uber is also adding a direct way to call 911 through their app. Look through each app and know where these options are in case you find yourself in a dangerous situation.

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Incoming University of Oregon students will encounter a lot during their first few weeks here. New responsibilities, new people and a new environment can leave new Ducks overwhelmed and feeling like there aren’t as many resources and support as they may have once had.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), 40 million U.S. adults suffer from an anxiety disorder, and 75 percent of them reported experiencing their first episode at 22.

More and more, universities are incorporating programs to help students deal with anxiety and other mental disorders that may prevent them from being a successful student.

Students who might face anxiety and other mental health illnesses have options when coming to UO, but it can be hard to know where to start. Here are a few resources to look into.

1. UO’s Duck Nest: Offering everything from aromatherapy to mental well-being workshops, the Duck Nest offers students a place to stop between classes, attend the free workshops and start healthy habits. In addition to a stress and anxiety management workshop, the Duck Nest also offers yoga and meditation. The Duck Nest also offers Peer Wellness Advocates who can help you navigate the mental and physical health resources on campus.
2. UO’s Counseling Center: The counseling center has phone consultations and other services that can help students, along with crisis support and response, brief in-person assessments and group therapy sessions. Students can receive free short term individual therapy sessions at the counseling center. The facility’s fall term hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday. Their drop-in hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday. They also have an after hours crisis and support hotline for students to speak with a therapist at 541-346-3227.

Students may not have time to visit the Duck Nest or the Counseling Center, but here are a few other tips to conquer anxiety. While these aren’t cure-alls, they are ways to reduce the stress and can lead to a healthier, more balanced lifestyle while at college.

1. Make a plan: Through a schedule, a planner or a computer calendar, make a plan and stick to it. Plan out time to complete class work, but also make time for self-care and relaxation. This helps to conquer the day-to-day stressors and creates a structure to your week.
2. Exercise: Most people would scoff and say, “I have literally no time to exercise!”, but that’s not true. According to the ADAA, psychologists studying exercise in relation to anxiety and depression suggest that a 10-minute walk may be “just as good as a 45-minute workout.” Walk with a friend or your dog or, if lacking self-motivation, take a class through the UO Rec Center, which offers everything from scuba diving to meditation.
3. Arts and crafts: Located in the EMU’s lower level, UO offers a craft center that has everything from acrylic painting to beginning flameworking. So if you’re in your dorm and your dorm mate isn’t the biggest fan of the smell of paint, check out the craft center’s workshops. Bring a friend and make something cool.
4. Try to get some sleep: It sounds nearly impossible for anyone who has suffered from anxiety and lays awake at night thinking about the smallest problems and letting their mind run away with them, but according to the ADAA, sleep disorders and anxiety go hand-in-hand. Anxiety can cause sleep disorders, and sleep disorders can cause anxiety. What’s important is getting those seven to nine hours of sleep and establishing a regular bedtime — and sticking to that bedtime. It can be hard to do, but setting a bedtime routine can help.

None of these things will ever replace a good therapist or regular medication, but having a few tricks up your sleeve can help both students both new and old to the UO survive some stressful situations.

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At the July 3 Eugene Emeralds game, people walked the concourse with the usual staples — ketchup covered hot dogs, fries and something new: bright pink cupcakes.

The cupcakes are staples of a new nonprofit in Lane County known as The Cupcake Girls.

The cupcakes are from the table covered in their merch, and the people behind the table are cheerful and smiling, yelling over the loudspeakers and joyful noise of PK Park.

The Cupcake Girls is a family affair, with husbands and kids participating in the action, and the youngest members threw out the first pitch of the game.

A young member of the Cupcake Girls gets ready to throw the first pitch on his birthday. The Cupcake Girls were selected to be the Eugene Emeralds’ nonprofit organization of the night on July 3, 2018. (Henry Ward/Emerald)

They first met with the Emeralds when they had neighboring booths at a University of Oregon career fair. Before they knew it they had a table at the July 3 fireworks game, one of the busiest nights of the season.

Started in Las Vegas in 2011, The Cupcake Girls founder Joy Hoover would visit local clubs to talk to the dancers toting the cupcakes. From there, The Cupcake Girls would become a way for those in adult industries and sex work to find medical help, advocacy and crisis and emergency care without pushing anything other than respect and inclusiveness.

“The cupcakes were just a fun conversation piece that we’d bring into the strip clubs in Vegas, and then the clients started calling us ‘cupcake girls,’” Hoover said. “It’s just a timeless baked good that provides as a conversation starter for people in the adult industries so we can share with them who we are, what our mission is and how many resources we provide for individuals that may need it.”

The Cupcake Girls made the decision to bring awareness of their work to Lane County and it happened organically for a few reasons, including the fact that Springfield has more strip clubs per capita than any city in the U.S., according to Amy-Marie Merrell, The Cupcake Girls’ City Director of Portland.

“We kept having clients that were reaching out to us from this area, my parents live in this area and I was able to talk to a few people here after getting the request from the clients,” Merrell said. “The sex trafficking here is just as extreme as it is in Portland because of the I-5 corridor.”

The Cupcake Girls were selected to be the Eugene Emeralds’ nonprofit organization of the night on July 3, 2018. (Henry Ward/Emerald)

For Hoover and Merrell, it takes an understanding that every situation is different, and the glamour you see on TV is not always the story of every sex worker or adult entertainer.

“We see a lot of systemic poverty, we see issues within the needs of medical, dental and legal, we see a lot of mothers and a lot of needs not being met because there’s no H.R. and there’s no regular support for people who work in the sex industry,” Hoover said.  

Before starting The Cupcake Girls and still to this day, Hoover balances a growing nonprofit with her family and being a part-time hairdresser, and Merrell still works full-time in advertising. When it comes to family involvement, Hoover feels it’s important her daughters understand the importance of treating people with respect.

“My husband and I started The Cupcake Girls, and when we had babies we wanted our daughters around people that are marginalized, any types of people,” Hoover said. “We want our kids not just to hear us say we’re safe and inclusive and that we give back, but that they see us do it with their own eyes.””

Not every story is the same, according to Hoover. And for many, being trafficked can start anywhere, whether it be from a family member or it can be a college student.

“Being at a college, you might run across individuals who are working in the sex industry, potentially are being trafficked, and the biggest thing is to be a safe and kind person to be able to talk to and have share with you, ‘hey this is going on and I need help, I need support,’” Hoover said.  

For Hoover and Merrell, the mission is purely to help people who need it, without pushing them in or out of the industry or pushing any sort of agenda, and to provide care in a safe place for anyone.

“To me, there’s no better feeling than to provide that not just for our clients which is why I started The Cupcake Girls, but for our staff and our volunteers and our partners,” Hoover said. “And showing my daughters that women can link arms and really make a difference in the world, and that we can do that through something as little as a cupcake.”

Editor’s note: This post has been edited for clarity. 

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The Cupcake Girls, a nonprofit focused on rights and advocacy for adult entertainers and sex workers in Las Vegas and Portland, is coming to Lane County. Members of The Cupcake Girls will throw out the first pitch at the Eugene Emeralds baseball game at 7:05 p.m. on July 3 at PK Park against the Everett AquaSox.

“This is a great opportunity for us to introduce ourselves to Lane County,” The Cupcake Girls Marketing and Community Relations Manager Alyssa Tolva wrote in an email. “The Eugene Emeralds has a great community spotlight program that helps spread awareness for local nonprofits.”

The Cupcake Girls started in spring of 2011 by founder Joy Hoover, who visited clubs in Las Vegas with a box of cupcakes as an icebreaker to talk to the performers. In the fall of 2011, The Cupcake Girls expanded to Portland, a city that has more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas.

When arriving in Portland, the group found that Springfield has more strip clubs per capita than Portland, according to Tolva.

The nonprofit continues to visit clubs and other adult industry events, and does outreach to sex workers. Some of the services that The Cupcake Girls offers include is crisis and emergency care, mentorship and advocacy and domestic violence support, among others.  

At the Emeralds game, The Cupcake Girls will have a booth on the concourse selling t-shirts, totes and cupcakes. They hope to find volunteers and community partners, according to Tolva.

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The Northwest Indian Language Institute, or NILI, has finished up its 21st summer institute this week. Started in 1997 as a request by local tribes as a way to help local Native American communities teach their indigenous languages, NILI hosts a two-week on-campus institute that teaches classes linguistics, traditional ecological knowledge, advocacy and how to work with technology.

Through the years, the summer institute has expanded to no longer just be for elders and instructors, but now includes indigenous youth who want to preserve their languages in a globalized world. The institute has grown to include around a dozen different communities spanning across the country from Klamath Falls, Oregon, to tribes in Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Janne Underriner is the director of NILI and teaches an introductory class on the linguistics of native languages at the summer institute. According to Underriner, her class focuses not just on grammar, but the origin of a word’s sound.

“People really shut down when they learn sounds of languages,” Underriner said. “It’s not necessarily something that’s looked at as being fun, but for me it’s fun and I want them to think it’s fun too.”  

For institute attendees, they spend the two weeks dining together, attending classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in McKenzie Hall, and using campus dorms and local hotels. Everyone eats lunch and dinner together in Carson, and the youth in the program get to experience being on a campus and the Eugene area.

The summer institute can often be the first time on a university campus for younger attendees, according to Underriner. The scholarships to attend the summer institute are funded by a variety of university offices, including the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, the Office of Research and Native American Studies.

Much of NILI’s work revolves around not just creating teaching methods and lesson plans, but according to Marnie Atkins, who works with NILI and has also participated in the summer institute as a member of the Wiyot Tribe, it’s about preserving the knowledge in the language.

“It’s worlds of knowledge that each language holds within it, and so through that language, we learn philosophy and astronomy and science and biology,” Atkins said. “When these languages start to wane, we could lose that information if we don’t work hard to sustain it, to hold it from being lost.”

At the summer institute, it’s not uncommon that attendees will come back multiple years. According to Underriner, one attendee is in their 13th year of attendance. Since the youth program started four years ago, there’s been many returners there too. For Underriner, the sense of community across all age barriers has been a big success at the institute.

For Scott Delancey, a linguistics professor and an instructor at the institute said he wants people to understand that the summer institute and the work that NILI does with indigenous communities makes a difference.

“When I talk about NILI and programs like that, people are very skeptical and they say ‘ah well, that’s very nice but people aren’t really going to learn those languages.’ But in fact, we’re seeing young people showing up now with conversational ability in their heritage language that they acquired back home in their tribal language programs,” Delancey said. “That’s really exciting, and we see more and more of it every year.”

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University of Oregon alumna Madison Simmons doesn’t look at her debt total when she makes her monthly student loan payment. She says the number is depressing.

“I’m just factoring these loans in as a fixed expense for my foreseeable future,” Simmons said.

The words “I’m going to graduate with no student debt” are rarely uttered by a student anymore. Instead, you hear “I want to buy a new car / buy a house / get married, but I can’t because of my student loans.”

This bleak outlook has become common among college students, and the burden of signing one’s life and credit score away to get a college education is the M.O. The student loan debt crisis isn’t just harming students, it could harm the U.S. economy. At its growing rate, it could slow economic growth, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told CNBC in March.

Students are struggling with the weight of this responsibility, but what is being done about it at university, state or national levels?

America’s student loan debt crisis

National student loan debt is currently over $1.4 trillion and growing every second. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, said student debt is becoming like the housing debt crisis that the U.S. experienced 10 years ago.

“If we continue to keep racking up all this debt, we could be talking about a bubble which will affect the American economy, and at some point, it just blows up,” Wyden said in an interview with the Emerald. “It also will really hurt our ability to compete in global markets.”  

UO undergraduates’ average debt grew almost 2 percent last year, from $25,542 in 2015-16 to $26,164 in 2016-17, according to UO’s Financial Aid office.

Sixty-three percent of Oregon students graduated in 2015 with debt, which averaged $27,697, according to the Department of Justice. The averages in different states vary from just under $20,000 to over $36,000, according to The Institute for College Access and Success, with Oregon falling around the median, which is about $27,500.

Jim Brooks, the assistant vice president and director of UO’s Financial Aid office, said less than half of UO graduates borrow money. But those who do take out loans borrow more than the university is comfortable with, he added.

“It climbs a little every year, which goes along with what we’re seeing at the state and the national levels. Our debt at graduation is lower than the federal and lower than the state figures,” Brooks said. “Would we rather they not be borrowing as much as they are? Sure. But it’s the nature of where we are right now.”

Brooks said lower- and middle-income students who are not getting large scholarships borrow more than other students.

“[They’re] the ones whose parents don’t have the ability to just write a check and pay their tuition or pay their expenses,” Brooks said.

And tuition consistently rises. In the last 10 years, resident undergraduate tuition increased 87.9 percent.

The University of Oregon’s rising price tag

The UO Board of Trustees approved another undergraduate tuition increase this year — $6 per credit hour for in-state students, $18 for out-of-state.

For an in-state student taking a full course load, that’s an overall increase of $270 annually, or 2.84 percent. Out-of-state students are looking at a price tag of $810, or 2.49 percent more annually.

Former students like Simmons are struggling to pay debt. She graduated from UO’s Law School and owes just under $100,000 in student loans and $3,500 for a private loan she took out after graduation when she was studying for the bar exam.

“I am the first lawyer in my family, and before law school, I always thought that being a lawyer was a ticket straight to riches,” Simmons said. “After I got to know more attorneys, I realized that a lot of us — especially folks on the 10-year, standard repayment plan — are paying a lot more in loans than they’re taking home.”

Simmons wants to work for the government, which would qualify her for loan forgiveness. She and her partner collectively pay $1,000 a month in student loans.

The Board of Trustees sets the tuition rate each year. ASUO President Amy Schenk advocates for student affordability and her biggest concern is that marginalized and lower-income students won’t be able to come to UO if tuition continues to rise. She said some administrators don’t recognize the burden that even a small increase could put on students.  

“I want them to recognize this is an increase on top of the 6 percent last year, on top of the percentage before that,” Schenk said. “For some it could mean getting priced out of the university, and for some students it could mean they can’t afford groceries.”  

Oregon’s part in student loans

Ben Cannon is the executive director of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, or HECC. The commission oversees 24 Oregon colleges and their tuition increases. Cannon said the HECC has seen significant increases in the cost of tuition, textbooks and other students’ expenses in recent years.

“They’ve been rising pretty steeply for over a decade,” Cannon said. “The long-term forecast I would expect annual increases that are going to average somewhere in the 4 to 5 percent range.”

The HECC approved a 10.6 percent tuition increase for UO last year but it was reduced to 6.56 percent after an increase in state funding.

“The most common strategy that students use to manage the tuition increase is to borrow more,” Cannon said. “That could be their ticket to stay in school, but it also means when they complete they’ll have a larger debt to repay, and it may affect the type of career choices that they make.”

Portland State University alumna Sarah Culbertson said her $28,000 student loan debt has grown to $32,000 since she graduated in 2012. Culbertson says seeing the total loan size increase is distressing.

“I have definitely sacrificed a lot to be able to make payments, like having the wedding I want and living in a nicer place,” Culbertson said. “My husband also has student loans, so it’s something we face trying to pay down together. It took us over two years to save for a honeymoon after getting married because we just didn’t have much to put away each paycheck.”  

But Cannon says the state is taking some steps to reduce college costs.

“As a state, we’ve made significant investments in need-based financial aid,” Cannon said. “So there’s certainly a number of efforts underway.”

Senator Ron Wyden, the PROSPER Act, and an uncertain future

In 2017, Republicans in the House of Representatives proposed a new higher education bill titled the “Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity through Education Reform”, or the PROSPER Act, which is a renewal and reform of the 1965 Higher Education Act. Federal aid would change to a “one loan, one grant” system, eliminating subsidized loans that don’t accrue interest while students are in college.  It also reduces the nine loan repayment options to just two, eliminates public service loan forgiveness and changes borrowing limits for students and their families.

The PROSPER Act reduces federal aid to students by nearly $15 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office estimate.

Congress is divided on the act. Republicans see the bill as a step toward fixing the national student loan debt through reforming almost everything about lending.

Democrats see the bill as an attack on student aid because of its impact on former President Barack Obama’s student loan forgiveness initiative, which forgives loans after 20 to 25 years. If a student had a job in public service, their debt would be forgiven after 10 years. Under the bill, future loan borrowers wouldn’t have these options.

Wyden says he and others in the Senate have proposed multiple bills in the works that address the many facets of student loan debt.

Along with Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, Wyden introduced the PARTNERSHIPS Act, which gives states the incentive to fund higher education. It would help to end tuition hikes with incentives from the federal government to help cover costs.

Wyden and Merkley have also introduced the AFFORD Act, which aims to make income-based repayment plans available to all students.

Along with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Wyden has introduced a bipartisan bill called the “Student Right to Know Before You Go” Act, which will not only protect the privacy of prospective students, but also increases competition by making university data like graduation rates and average debt readily available to them.

“Right now, schools can charge what they want because nobody ever gets any information about what anybody else is doing, so there’s no competition,” Wyden said.

Wyden attended the University of Oregon Law School in 1974, and sees a difference in the student loan environment today.

“For students, it kind of throws out the window the notion that you work hard and you play by the rules, there’s a clear path to get ahead in life,” Wyden said. “Now you work hard and play by the rules and your path to get ahead is littered with hurdles and obstacles accumulated by all of these debts.”

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The Knight Library Public Art Task Force has announced it will not remove a controversial mural. The task force is instead asking for students to submit artwork in response to the mural that will be displayed in Knight Library in a new exhibit starting fall term.

The exhibit will be called “Show up, Stand out, Empower!” and will be on display for five months; however, that will not be the conclusion of the library’s efforts to let people respond to the art, according to task force chairman Ed Teague.

The mural that has garnered the most controversy is called “Mission of a University” and was made in 1937 by Nowland Brittin Zane, a University of Oregon art professor.

One particular part of the mural that some have taken issue with is the part of its plaque that reads: “It means conservation and betterment not merely of our national resources but also of our racial heritage and opportunity to the lowliest.”

The task force was formed in January 2017 with the purpose of contextualizing the art in the library and allowing students a chance to respond to the art. Since the task force formed, it has gone through three forms and has had 16 members.

“The title of the plaques that I had the most problem with is ‘The Mission of a University,’ therefore I think the response to this for the contest should be submitted by those who attend the university,” said freshman Francesca Smith, a member of the task force.

She joined the task force after she created a change.org petition in November 2017 to get the mural torn down. Now the petition has over 1,800 online signatures.

According to Smith, when she first saw the mural, she was “dumbfounded that that kind of language is still acceptable on this campus in the 21st century.”

Since she joined the task force, her views on what should be done with the mural have changed. She said she talked to others with different viewpoints and learned that there would be legal issues with trying to remove the mural.

She said that she had multiple ideas on how the task force could respond to the mural and that the exhibit that the task force is going through with was her idea.

The mural is not being removed for multiple reasons, one of which is legal complications. It was made during the great depression, and the people who made it were hired through the Works Project Administration. The WPA was a part of the New Deal in the 1930s that hired millions of Americans to work for the government on construction and art projects.

This means that it is not clear if the university actually owns the mural, according to Teague.

“The simplest answer is that the library can’t just take them down,” said Teague.

Despite the efforts of the task force, some still want the University to do more in response to the mural.

“I understand that it is a historical landmark that has historically been used to protect racist imagery and justify it, and yes we should recognize that history, but that also goes against the idea of restorative justice,” said Kyra Solis, a member of a group of students who protested the mural on Feb. 15.

On that day, Solis and about 20 other students sat silently on the stairwell near where the mural hangs. Some of the students held signs which read “Shame on UO 4 glorifying White Supremacy” and “Hate is not heritage.”

Solis and two other students met with library leadership about her and other protesters’ concerns about the mural. Since the protest, Solis has not been able to be involved in further dialogue with library leadership because she has been busy with classes.

“That mural is inherently harmful and espouses the idea that I, as a mixed woman, as a person of color, [am] inherently lesser,” said Solis.

This story was updated to correct a quote. The word “dispouses” was changed to “espouses” in the last line of the story. 

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