One year after University of Oregon President Michael Schill took office, the university will formally celebrate the installation of UO’s 18th president. The ceremony is set for June 1 at Matthew Night Arena, according to Around the O. 

Investitures symbolize a change of authority in high office positions from one person to another.

“We will be celebrating our president’s successful first year as well as formally installing him into the position,” chair of Board of Trustees Chuck Lillis said. “This will also be an opportunity for Mike to reflect on his aspirations for the future of this great institution.”

The event is open to the UO community. A reception will follow the ceremony in Giustina Ballroom and Slade Courtyard at the Ford Alumni Center.

University of Oregon President Michael Schill hosted a discussion on Tuesday about the future of wood products in Oregon. The Tuesday roundtable included Sen. Ron Wyden D-OR, Springfield city leaders, faculty from UO and Oregon State, research associates and students, according to Around the O.

The conversation was framed around the National Center for Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing and Design, a collaboration between UO and OSU focusing on the development of wood products and innovation in Oregon. Sen. Wyden and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley announced an economic development grant of more than $400,000 to the research center last month.

“If you were to think of an area where Oregon would really like to go in decades ahead, a sustainable forest product sector that is built around opportunities like this would be right at the top of the list,” Sen. Wyden said in his opening statement.

The research center partners with Oregon building designers and manufacturers in an effort to allow Oregon to compete in the domestic and global wood markets.

“I’m particularly excited about the partnership with Oregon State,” President Schill said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to bring the two schools together to achieve more than we could alone.”

The Board of Trustees meet on Thursday, Feb. 18 to discuss whether the University of Oregon can force the removal of a cell phone tower at Hayward Field, the Register Guard reports. The 120-foot tower lies next to Hayward Field’s west grandstand, which is set for demolition on Aug. 1. The renovation is part of the ongoing effort to prepare Hayward Field for the 2021 track and field world championships.

The cell phone tower is privately owned by SBA Communications. According to the Register Guard, communications between UO and SBA in effort to move the cell phone tower have failed. The corporation’s current lease on the land lasts until 2029, something the UO has been trying to change by offering “favorable terms” to give up the lease, the Register Guard reports.

The board will discuss the future of the tower on Thursday at noon via a conference call. The meeting will be broadcast in room 403 of the Ford Alumni Center for members of the public.

Despite weeks of protests and rallies against raising tuition, University of Oregon President Michael Schill announced last Tuesday that he will propose to the Board of Trustees a 4.76 percent tuition increase for in-state students and a 4.46 percent increase for out-of-state students. The board meeting takes place on March 3-4.

Although these figures are on par with what administration has been proposing at Tuition and Fees Advisory Board meetings, it had not been made official until Schill’s Tuition and Fee Recommendation was published on Feb 9.

“The number one priority for our university is to achieve excellence in teaching and research, and I believe that this tuition plan, as part of our overall strategic budget, is necessary to enable us to achieve those goals,” Schill’s announcement reads.

The ASUO pushed for a lower tuition increase at a rally and open forum on Feb. 3. According to ASUO Finance Director Shawn Stevenson, the student government is not backing down from their demands.

“I’m not surprised that he didn’t budge,” Stevenson said, “but over a four percent increase really isn’t manageable for students.”

Stevenson reiterated that the ASUO sees a 3.5 percent increase as the maximum acceptable tuition hike.

Schill said he wants to “cushion the impact of this increase” by expanding programs that are meant to assist the economically disadvantaged through college. For example, part of Schill’s “Oregon Commitment” expands the PathwayOregon program, which provides full tuition and fees to nearly 2,000 students.

Stevenson and the ASUO support PathwayOregon, but say that it doesn’t provide for enough students.

“We’re still going to see a lot of students who don’t have enough money to cover overall tuition increases, but aren’t in a low enough bracket to be eligible for a lot of need-based assistance,” Stevenson said.

Currently, qualifying PathwayOregon students must be Oregon residents, meet a 3.4 high school GPA (with some consideration given to lower averages), and be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant as determined by FAFSA.

Many of the budget increases paid by tuition hikes are meant to benefit the student experience, such as a projected $2.75 million in improving the UO wireless network.

“We have tons of people that are trying to access the network at the same time,” UO Vice President of Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt said, “Making sure that we’re keeping those services up in a way that’s sustainable for campus is a big and growing cost for all campuses.”

Stevenson is skeptical of the proposal and says that a complete overhaul would be the only way to improve the IT infrastructure. That overhaul, he said, would only drive the cost further up.

“I think [Schill] is being overoptimistic in how much this hike will affect it,” Stevenson said.

Students and faculty have until Feb. 19 to use an online form to comment on the proposal.

Last year, the ASUO protested tuition hikes at the Board of Trustees meeting. Stevenson says to expect an ASUO showing this year in some form.

“Students, quite frankly, can’t afford this increase,” Stevenson said. “We’re going to make sure our voices are heard at the Board of Trustees.”

A coalition of University of Oregon student groups have accused the Tuition & Fees Advisory Board of, in a meeting last week, rushing a vote on a proposed increase in tuition for the 2016-2017 school year.

In an email sent to the Emerald this morning, they said that some students who opposed the increase had to leave the event, which took place during the week of Jan. 25, early for class. In their absence, the TFAB voted to increase tuition by 4.7 percent for in-state students and 4.65 percent for out-of-state students.

“Our tuition dollars keep the school running, yet our voices are ignored on a daily basis,” the statement said.

The TFAB is comprised of administration, faculty, two students appointed by students and two students appointed by UO administration.

Following the meeting, an email to ASUO President Helena Schlegel stated that an open forum for all students to discuss the issue could take place on Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. However, the student groups noted that the time conflicts with students lobbying in Salem for higher education funding, as well as students who would be in class.

“This funding model of raising tuition is not stable or sustainable,” the statement said. “Operating in a non-transparent way to exclude students from vital conversations is not an acceptable way to run an institution of higher education.”

The statement goes on to say that the tuition hike disproportionately affects students with marginalized backgrounds and that the initiative conflicts with President Schill’s message to improve equity and inclusion at the UO.

“Investments in the Pathway programs will not be enough if tuition is increased in an unsustainable manner,” the statement said.

The statement was signed by several student groups, including the AccessABILITY Student Union, the MultiCultural Center, the Nontraditional Student Union, various members of the ASUO and others.

A student rally will be held today in front of Johnson Hall to demand tuition transparency prior to the 3 p.m. forum. The TFAB will propose the tuition increase to UO Provost Scott Coltrane on Feb. 8.

These accusations come one week after President Schill’s statement that he would recommend a tuition increase to the Board of Trustees.

“Our own President is not in touch with the needs of students on campus,” the statement said. “He speaks of funding completion services and budget cuts, but does not work to encourage administrators to allocate the dollars to the services and resources students are asking for.”

Here is the student groups’ statement in its entirety:

“University of Oregon Campus Community,

On January 4, a new term began for most students at the UO, and with that began another round of weekly talks about tuition at the Tuition & Fees Advisory Board (TFAB). This board is comprised primarily of administrators and faculty, with two students appointed by students, and two students appointed by the administration. At the start of the term, guaranteed tuition was off the table for 2016-2017, and administrators presented an increase of 4.7% for in-state students and 4.65% for out-of-state students. Over the course of the year, if a student were to take an average of 15 credits per term – the required amount for graduation in four years – this amounts to an increase of about $483 for in-state students and $1,489 for out-of state. Factor in the duration of loan payment and interest rates, and students will be paying this increase back for many years to come.

The student representatives, including the ASUO President Helena Schlegel, opposed this increase and looked forward to negotiating ways to adjust the budget in order to reduce the proposed tuition and fee increases. During the week of January 25, the student participants left the meeting a few minutes early in order to make it to class. The rest of the group moved to make a decision in the absence of these students and voted to approve the 4.7% increase.

Both student-nominated representatives were informed on Monday, February 1 that this decision had been made, as well as that all remaining TFAB meetings for the year would be canceled as they were no longer deemed necessary. An additional message was sent to Schlegel mentioning that an open forum for all students could only take place at 3pm on Wednesday, February 3. Previously, there had been talks of holding the forum later in the week or possibly the next week, but instead it was moved up, on the same day that students will be in Salem to lobby for higher education funding for a statewide lobby day, and at a time that many students are still in class.

Aside from these divisive tactics and increases which are inaccessible for many students and communities on campus, all of this comes at a time when there is a dangerous rhetoric being spread around campus by University President Michael Schill. At an event on January 26, Schill failed to acknowledge how his 2% budget cuts across the board are trickling down and student I-fee dollars are having to pick up the gaps left in some student group and resource budgets. He also directly stated that debts of $24,000-$25,000 are not insurmountable, and that borrowing is actually a positive thing that fills gaps now before one has the money at a later time. On many other occasions in addition to this event, President Schill has mentioned that tuition increases are inevitable and will happen every year.

This rhetoric is at odds with President Schill’s initiatives on improving equity and inclusion at the UO. The tuition hike affects all students, but it disproportionately affects students from marginalized backgrounds, like students of color and low-income students. Investments in the Pathway programs will not be enough if tuition is increased in an unsustainable manner. Tuition affordability is vital to improving the dismal state of diversity at the UO; President Schill and other administrators need to realize this if they are truly invested in bettering our campus.

Our own President is not in touch with the needs of students on campus. He speaks of funding completion services and budget cuts, but does not work to encourage administrators to allocate the dollars to the services and resources students are asking for. Students on campus are frequently divided by the administration – see the 2014 GTFF strike for recent context – and are either completely ignored or constantly left out of conversations about situations that directly impact us.

Our tuition dollars keep the school running, yet our voices are ignored on a daily basis. Students across the nation are facing the same circumstances, but are being taught that because it is “just the way things are,” we have no power to hold administrators accountable. It is time for the UO and students across the country to come together and engage critically with administrators about where our dollars are going, and why we are going into debt while our administrators are making as much as $798,400 a year (yes, President Schill makes that much a year).

This funding model of raising tuition is not stable or sustainable. Operating in a non-transparent way to exclude students from vital conversations is not an acceptable way to run an institution of higher education. Commoditizing marginalized students and denying the importance of affordability in their ability to attend UO is outrageously misguided We need an administration that cares about, listens to, and includes our voices and opinions. That is non-negotiable.

In Solidarity,

AccessABILITY Student Union

Associated Students of the University of Oregon Executive

Associated Students for Historic Preservation

Climate Justice League

MultiCultural Center

Nontraditional Student Union

ROAR Center

Student Insurgent

UO Student Mental Health Advocates

Kevin Dobyns, ASUO Senate President

Andrew Dunn, ASUO Senate Seat 7

Mario Radic, President, Pi Sigma Alpha

Nicole Hendrix, ASUO Senate Seat 18

Quinn Haaga, ASUO Senate Seat 2″

A Eugene woman is suing Washington County and a counselor after she was beaten and raped by a 17-year-old male who was brought to to an Oregon football game at Autzen Stadium in September 2014 by the Washington County Juvenile Department, according to The Oregonian.

The department, where Jose Andrade works as a counselor, was supposed to be watching the attacker when he went missing at while attending the Sept. 13, 2014 game. Now, the 40-year-old woman seeks an undisclosed amount of money for physical, emotional and economic damages.

She alleges that the department ignored signs that the attacker, Jaime Tinoco, was not fit to attend the now-discontinued program that allowed him to be at the football game. Tinoco is accused of committing aggravated murder three weeks earlier in a separate case, but officials didn’t arrest him until after the Eugene attack. One night prior to his trip to Autzen, Tinoco was cited for driving without a license and breaking curfew. Still, he was allowed to visit the stadium.

The Eugene woman alleges that the county and counselor failed to keep close watch over Tinoco. The then-17-year-old was lagging behind the group of 12 youths and county staff members before he separated from the group, according to the complaint. Andrade reportedly told Tinoco to keep up. However, the counselor went to the front of the group soon after. At some point, the attacker went missing and was free for six hours before assaulting the Eugene woman. County officials did not notice that Tinoco was missing until one hour after leaving, at which point they returned to Autzen Stadium.

Tinoco followed and ran after the woman when she left a pub near the stadium. After dragging her into bushes in front of the stadium and attacking her at 7:30 p.m., police later found and arrested Tinoco at a footbridge.

The Washington County program was that funded these trips designed to allow at-risk youth to attend football games. The University of Oregon provided tickets for the program. In 2015, it was announced that the program would no longer continue.

The now-18-year-old Tinoco faces aggravated murder charges after the death of 29-year-old Nicole Laube in August 2014. In addition, the teen pleaded guilty earlier this year to the Eugene attack. He was sentenced to 14 years and two months in prison by the Lane County Circuit Court for rape, kidnapping, sexual abuse and assault.

TrackTown USA president Vin Lananna shocked the track and field world last April by securing the 2021 International Association of Athletics Foundation World Championships for Eugene. Since the announcement, the bid has been met with questions and concerns ranging from the cost of the proposal to bribing allegations.

Though the controversy has quickly become a national story, bringing the World Championships to Hayward Field has sparked a local debate among students and faculty of the University of Oregon. These questions boil down to who will pay for the event and how the university will accommodate 2,000 visiting athletes and approximately 3,000 members of the media.

Lananna proposed that the project will cost $40 million from public funding, initially meant to be paid with state support and a lodging tax increase. However, Lananna recently indicated that the dollar amount of tax support is now only expected to be $25 million – after a lukewarm reception from Lane County legislators.

The attention now turns to what the UO’s role will be in paying for the World Championships, especially in relation to a budget refocused on research and academics.

Nick Jones, a UO sophomore, says he has mixed feelings on the IAAF bid.

“Bringing prestigious athletes here definitely gives great exposure to the city and the UO,” said the former Pit Crew member, “At the same time, I’d like to see some attention on renovating academic buildings like PLC.”

Although President Schill has acknowledged in a recent message to the UO community that “resources are too scarce and our mission too important for us to waste money in redundant administration, poorly performing programs and lax accountability,” the UO still sees value in supporting TrackTown’s bid both financially and by providing housing. According to a legislative agenda by Hans Bernard, UO’s associate vice president for state and community affairs, funding TrackTown’s proposal is a top priority. Bernard stated that “…these events will be to the economic and cultural benefit of the Eugene-area and the State of Oregon.”

These details come amid Lananna’s announcement last September that historic Hayward Field would be undergoing renovation. Construction begins this August, with plans to triple the seating – a facelift under the management of the UO Foundation.

Evidence suggests that the UO may cater to TrackTown USA during the event. According to UO documents,  “Any regular University of Oregon staff time spent working on the event would not be charged to TrackTown USA.” The Register Guard expanded on these proposals, noting that any activities that conflict with the championships, including classes, seminars or orientations, would be canceled. However, because the event is still several years away, UO Vice President General Counsel Kevin Reed says that “There’s no final OK on any of those arrangements.”

After more than a week of pushback, the University of Oregon Summer Enrichment Program will get a second chance.

The UO College of Education announced Friday in a message to the SEP community that the university will support the 35-year-old camp this summer. The university will collaborate with Oak Hill School, a K-12 school in southeast Eugene. After this year, Oak Hill will support SEP independently.

YETAG, an outreach unit of the UO College of Education, had originally partnered with Oak Hill to support its “Super Summer” program, a camp for K-5 students. Now, that collaboration extends to SEP campers — grades 6-12 — as well.

SEP provides a residential summer camp for promising middle school and high school students. They are largely taught by UO graduate students. Tuition added up to as much as $1,595 a year.

Last week, Dean of Education Randy Kamphaus initially ended the pipeline summer program for economic and non-economic reasons.

“It wasn’t just a financial decision,” Lauren Lindstrom, UO associate dean of research and outreach, told the Register-Guard. “We are focused more and more on our research and other programs for college-age students (not those younger).”

Kramphaus met with SEP parents on Monday to discuss the camp’s future.

“It was a tough conversation because we were closing a program that affects youth,” Kamphaus said on Wednesday. “I think we were all disappointed that we had not found a more acceptable plan for SEP.”

Tuition was not enough to financially support the program. For the last three years, the UO has averaged $80,000 a year in subsidies to support the program, according to Kamphaus.

A Facebook group called “Keep SEP Alive”, created last week in response to the previous discontinuation of the program, currently has 680 members. With today’s announcement, their dream to keep the program alive will continue in the immediate future.

University of Oregon President Michael Schill gave a lecture on Tuesday addressing the affordability of college for various groups of students. The presentation — “Access and Higher Education” — focused on low-income students, first-generation students and underrepresented minorities.

“Kids who are born today to different families of different circumstances should not necessarily be guaranteed the same income or outcome,” Schill said in his opening statement. “Instead, we aspire to the principle that they should have the same opportunity to achieve economic and social mobility.”

The president highlighted research that showed six-year graduation rates for all American universities, which demonstrated that minority groups and students whose parents did not go to college were less likely to graduate. However, he noted that financial affordability was not the only cause of college performance between different demographics.

“The deck is stacked against [underrepresented minority students]. Many of our primary and secondary schools, particularly those disproportionately serving low-income and underrepresented populations and neighborhoods, are failing our students,” Schill said. “When students go to college, they often begin the race with a hobbled foot.”

Schill offered three solutions. He emphasized the importance of financial aid; engaging students so they will “tie themselves to friends, faculty and advisers;” and prioritizing effective advising and counseling.

Rather than free or lower tuition, Schill proposed “targeted investments.”

Schill referenced last October, when he put $17 million worth of investments in the effort of improving graduation rates by 10 percent in five years. It was dubbed “The Oregon Commitment.” Its biggest impact was expanding Pathway Oregon, as well as introducing an early intervention advising program for all students, modeled from “what was learned from Pathway Oregon.”

This plan does not come without a cost. When asked about tuition, Schill said he expects a “moderate rise.” He pointed to the fact that the state of Oregon only devotes seven percent of subsidies to the UO.

“I believe in treating our students with complete honesty and transparency,” Schill said. “You can expect me to recommend to the board a significant tuition increase – not astronomically more than it was last year.”

University of Oregon faculty gathered at a senate meeting on Jan. 13 to discuss a new strategic model designed to set the university on course for greater academic excellence. The meeting came a week after UO President Michael Schill set an initiative to realign the academic budget toward research funding.

The president’s message was addressed in a letter to the campus community and acknowledged several concerns about UO’s academic standing.

“Today, our university’s research profile is not as strong as it should be,” Schill wrote. “While there are many programs and pockets of excellence throughout the university, the overall landscape is very uneven.”

One specific worry relates to the university’s status in the Association of American Universities, an elite group that represents the best research colleges in the country. According to Schill, only 47 percent of UO faculty are on tenure track, 11 points behind UO’s AAU peers.

Provost Scott Coltrane was assigned to re-engineer the academic budget to address these issues. On Jan. 13, he unveiled a five-year strategic framework that he described as a “guiding document, meant to be aspirational.” However, it introduces some specific proposals, such as increasing tenure track faculty from 80 to 100. The 13-page draft, entitled “Excellence,” does not replace the 2009 academic plan, but rather complements it.

That same day, the UO dropped its $3.4 million contract with marketing agency 160over90 to focus more on research.

“They did a good job of capturing our creative spirit,” said Provost Coltrane. “But I think we need to turn more toward the content of the academics. They created a shell where we can tell that story and get people excited about who we are.”

According to Coltrane, creating the five-year framework initially aimed to set more specific objectives.

Coltrane says that about 50 members of faculty were involved in the process and wanted different, individual measures implemented. Coltrane hopes that a broader framework will lead to more unified goalsetting.

“I think we are a decentralized campus in that we’ve let departments make choices about [which classes to require],” Coltrane said, “Sometimes that’s good because they know what the most interesting areas are. We want those faculty to propose courses, but we have to align our curriculum so that the classes you take will satisfy graduation requirements.”

As the framework remains a draft, community and staff have until Feb. 3 to submit suggestions to further improve its content. The conversation now turns to whether this action will promote research and academic growth.

“The fact that this is a research school, and it’s not as research productive is unfortunate,” said assistant professor of marketing Aparna Sundar. “That is why I’m encouraged we’re starting to have this conversation. I think it will be successful if we change the culture of the university to celebrate research.”

Students who want to take part in research fund their projects through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. Alyssa Bjorkquist, a senior who recently received a mini-grant from the UROP for marine biology, is encouraged by the steps taken to emphasize research.

“The amount of progress I’ve seen from administration towards expanding scholastic opportunities makes me optimistic for the future of research on campus,” Bjorkquist said.