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Student collective’s resolution denouncing white supremacy is being revised by senate, administration and members of the collective

The university senate voted last Wednesday to revise the student collective’s second resolution that aims to denounce white supremacy and hate speech on campus.

Graduate student Arian Mobasser presented the second part of the resolution, which was previously divided from the collective’s initial larger resolution.

The resolution states that the presence of white supremacist groups on campus is directly in conflict with the university mission statement that says “we value our diversity and seek to foster equity and inclusion in a welcoming, safe and respectful community.”

The resolution states “the UO Senate denounces white supremacist, white nationalist, and Neo-Nazi groups and recognizes their organizing on campus as a significant threat to the university community and our stated values.”

“Other public universities have denied platforms to specific white supremacist speakers/groups,” according to the collective’s resolution.

A protester holds up a sign that reads, “We will not tolerate neo-nazi presence on the U of O campus!!!” President Schill’s speech is interrupted by protesting University of Oregon students on Oct. 6, 2017. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

The second resolution stated that “far-right and white supremacist organizations historically and currently used disingenuous appeals to “free speech” in order to gain access to public universities.”

The senate discussed the resolution and voted to have the senate, student collective and administration revise it to clarify certain language. The new version of the resolution will be presented to the senate and voted on later in the term.

Mobasser and the student collective initially brought forth a larger resolution on Nov. 29 following its student conduct charges for protesting President Schill’s “State of the University” speech on Oct. 6.

The resolution was divided on the floor of the senate by Keith Frazee. The first half of the resolution, which declared the senate’s support of the collective as they navigated their student conduct charges, was passed on Nov. 29.

“I perceived two very important concerns within the previous motion. Both are very important issues, but I felt they each warranted their own full and robust discussion,” Frazee said.

The second resolution aims to denounce white supremacy on campus through the senate pledging to unite against white supremacy. They also call the senate to urge the administration and community to do the same.

“Let us stand united in singling out these views and say as loudly as possible that those who walk with and alongside badges of hatred, bigotry and genocide may be allowed on our campus, but they are not welcome,” Mobasser said.

At the senate meeting last Wednesday, Susan Gary, UO law professor, raised concerns regarding the legality of the resolution’s wording. Specifically, she said the university cannot suppress speech based on content.

Gary presented an amended version of the resolution to the senate, addressing some legally concerning language she found in the original document. This sparked an hour-long debate on the wording of the resolution that led to the senate’s vote to revise the document.

“It’s our responsibility as a community to support the people affected by this,” Senate President Chris Sinclair said.

 

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Student collective’s resolution denouncing white supremacy is being revised by senate, administration and members of the collective

The university senate voted last Wednesday to revise the student collective’s second resolution that aims to denounce white supremacy and hate speech on campus.

Graduate student Arian Mobasser presented the second part of the resolution, which was previously divided from the collective’s initial larger resolution.

The resolution states that the presence of white supremacist groups on campus is directly in conflict with the university mission statement that says “we value our diversity and seek to foster equity and inclusion in a welcoming, safe and respectful community.”

The resolution states “the UO Senate denounces white supremacist, white nationalist, and Neo-Nazi groups and recognizes their organizing on campus as a significant threat to the university community and our stated values.”

“Other public universities have denied platforms to specific white supremacist speakers/groups,” according to the collective’s resolution.

A protester holds up a sign that reads, “We will not tolerate neo-nazi presence on the U of O campus!!!” President Schill’s speech is interrupted by protesting University of Oregon students on Oct. 6, 2017. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

The second resolution stated that “far-right and white supremacist organizations historically and currently used disingenuous appeals to “free speech” in order to gain access to public universities.”

The senate discussed the resolution and voted to have the senate, student collective and administration revise it to clarify certain language. The new version of the resolution will be presented to the senate and voted on later in the term.

Mobasser and the student collective initially brought forth a larger resolution on Nov. 29 following its student conduct charges for protesting President Schill’s “State of the University” speech on Oct. 6.

The resolution was divided on the floor of the senate by Keith Frazee. The first half of the resolution, which declared the senate’s support of the collective as they navigated their student conduct charges, was passed on Nov. 29.

“I perceived two very important concerns within the previous motion. Both are very important issues, but I felt they each warranted their own full and robust discussion,” Frazee said.

The second resolution aims to denounce white supremacy on campus through the senate pledging to unite against white supremacy. They also call the senate to urge the administration and community to do the same.

“Let us stand united in singling out these views and say as loudly as possible that those who walk with and alongside badges of hatred, bigotry and genocide may be allowed on our campus, but they are not welcome,” Mobasser said.

At the senate meeting last Wednesday, Susan Gary, UO law professor, raised concerns regarding the legality of the resolution’s wording. Specifically, she said the university cannot suppress speech based on content.

Gary presented an amended version of the resolution to the senate, addressing some legally concerning language she found in the original document. This sparked an hour-long debate on the wording of the resolution that led to the senate’s vote to revise the document.

“It’s our responsibility as a community to support the people affected by this,” Senate President Chris Sinclair said.

 

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What you need to know about the UO Senate’s goals this term

Fall term was busy for the university senate: it began reforms of sexist and racist course evaluations. It launched efficient transfer agreements between community colleges and universities in Oregon. And it voted to support the UO Student Collective following their protest of President Schill.

This term it has even more to do.

This term the senate will be voting on changing the general education requirements, welcoming accomplished faculty with the help of expedited tenure and reducing white supremacy on campus.

Changes in general education requirements

The senate will be voting on a new general education curriculum, or CORE education curriculum, that aims to streamline the first year of study at UO by offering major-specific tracks of study for incoming students.

The senate will introduce the issue at the senate meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 17 and vote on it later in the term.

It will vote on creating legislation to support the issue in the coming weeks, starting what will be a very long process of planning and organizing a successful, new system, senate president Chris Sinclair said.

The university’s accreditors requested for the university to redesign their general education requirements to be more in line with the university mission.

“What the accreditors want is alignment between what we are offering and assessing with the university mission,” Sinclair said.

The CORE education program will streamline the first year of study at the university by offering major specific tracks of study.

For example, if a student came to the university and wanted to major in business, they would take the business-specific track of study. There, they would take all prerequisites for business classes in conjunction with their general education requirements.

If a student was undeclared, they would take a more broad track of study to expose them to more potential majors while still completing their general education requirements.

Establishing expedited tenure for incoming faculty

The senate will vote on the new expidited tenure process  this Wednesday.

Incoming faculty at the university are not guaranteed tenure. The process of granting it to new faculty is long and requires the incoming professors to commit to Oregon without the promise of tenure for six months or often longer, according to Sinclair.

President Schill has the executive power to grant tenure to any faculty member; however, according to Sinclair, the university does not want to abuse or rely on this power.

The new process, proposed to the senate by Boris Botvinnik, a math professor and faculty personnel committee representative, is much shorter and will guarantee tenure to new faculty much sooner.

The new process is aimed to attract acclaimed faculty to the school, according to Sinclair.

Provost Banavar brought up the issue to Sinclair at the beginning of the academic year, and the senate created the task force to address the issue.

Discussion and voting on the second resolution from the Student Collective

The senate will discuss the second resolution from the Student Collective this Wednesday and is scheduled to vote on it later in the term.

The second resolution aims to reduce the prevalence of white supremacy on campus in order to make the university more inclusive.

At the last senate meeting on Nov. 29, the student collective offered their resolution to the senate, asking for support as they faced their student conduct violations and to denounce white supremacy on campus.

The resolution was split into two parts following a motion by senator Keith Frazee. The first outlines the student conduct violations and the second reduces white supremacy on campus.

“I perceived two very important concerns within the previous motion. Both are very important issues, but I felt they each warranted their own full and robust discussion,” Frazee said.

The senate passed the first part of the resolution last November and is bringing forth a new amended part two of the resolution this Wednesday

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UO student arrested for assaulting man with knife on Wednesday

A University of Oregon student allegedly cut a 21-year-old man with a knife Wednesday evening at an apartment complex near Harlow Road, according to police. Police did not say if the victim is a UO student.

Zhihao Ma was arrested for assault on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Eugene Police Department)

Zhihao Ma, a 23-year-old undeclared undergraduate student at the University of Oregon, was arrested and booked to Lane County Jail on charges of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, according to police.

Police officers arrived at the 3400 block of McKenna Drive at 6:43 p.m. Wednesday evening. The situation began with a dispute between two men who knew each other. Ma threatened the victim before lacerating him multiple times, according to John Hankmeier, Eugene Police public information coordinator.

Ma was restrained by bystanders until the police took him into custody, police said.

The victim was taken to hospital with multiple laceration wounds. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to police.

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Oregon Research Schools Network aims to address low graduation rates

The state of Oregon has the fourth lowest high school graduation rate in the country. In 2016, approximately 25.2% of students did not graduate.

University of Oregon’s College of Education, with the help of an anonymous donation of $50 million to the university, has created a partnership with high schools in the state of Oregon to improve these numbers. The program, called the Oregon Research Schools Network, or ORSN, aims to teach professional development, offer dual credit to students and conduct collaborative research.

“The Oregon Research Schools Network is designed to be a long-term and high impact partnership with the College of Education, the University of Oregon and local high schools.”

The ORSN was created by Randy Kamphaus, dean of the School of Education, as a solution to the ever-rising high school dropout rates in the state of Oregon. Nancy Golden, a UO professor, former superintendent of the Springfield schools and former chief state schools officer, will facilitate this program and communicate with the high schools and their respective UO faculty representatives.

According to Kamphaus, “The Oregon Research Schools Network is designed to be a long-term and high impact partnership with the College of Education, the University of Oregon and local high schools.”

This program will place a UO faculty member in the affiliated high schools for two days a week to teach students professional skills and offer them opportunities to earn college credit while in high school. The program will also conduct collaborative research to diagnose issues within the community, such as low graduation rates or student behavior, in an effort to solve these problems.

“One of the exciting, innovating aspects of the ORSN is we will have someone on the ground in each high school two days a week, which we think will make the partnership more impactful and more enduring,” Kamphaus said.

The representatives will be important liaisons with the College of Education and will communicate between the university and the high schools.

At some schools, UO will appoint a qualified high school teacher with a masters degree or higher as a clinical professor, and they will facilitate the program as a UO faculty member.  This will mainly occur at distant schools where a faculty member could not travel back to Eugene for the remaining three days to teach UO students.

Hannah Brown, a sophomore education major, said, “the College of Education is a great program in and of itself, strengthening the whole college will make it extremely competitive across the nation and even internationally.”

This new addition to the university is being funded using a portion of an anonymous $50 million donation to the school. This donation, awarded to the College of Education by President Schill, is going toward a five-year pilot period for the program.

According to Kamphaus, the goal of the five-year pilot for the program is to have 10 schools signed on.

The program made its first formal agreement with North Eugene High School. They are having conversations with high schools from coastal Oregon to eastern Oregon, and expect official signings in the coming week, Kamphaus said.

Partnering with each school will cost approximately $300,000 for the five-year pilot period according to Kamphaus. All of the expenses are going to the salaries of the UO faculty working at the high schools. Kamphaus said the College of Education will have a better idea of where funding will come from to sustain the program in the long run after the five-year pilot period. It does not want to receive funding from one source, in case that source is depleted.

According to Golden, this program will create opportunities for UO students pursuing their degree in teaching to gain additional training in urban high schools.

“The program will especially benefit the College of Education’s Masters and Doctoral students by opening doors to multiple research opportunities and settings,” Golden stated.

Kamphaus said that down the line, this program could even include opportunities for business internships with neighboring companies near these high schools. He said it is expected that becoming a permanent fixture in the various communities around the state will open up several opportunities for UO students with businesses, neighboring schools and governmental agencies.

“The ORSN could really make us the first school in the country to bring the deep and broad intellectual resources of a major research university to bear on public education,” Kamphaus said.

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Teaching, leading and FFA: How Alyssa Smith is gaining real experience in the business world

Students of the University of Oregon’s business school learn about how to lead effectively in the business world through lectures and classroom activities.

However, sophomore business major Alyssa Smith is already leading in the business world.

Smith spends her summers and weekends gaining real-world experience running conferences for the National Future Farmers of America organization, or FFA — an established club focused on agriculture and leadership.

Smith is working as a convention facilitator for the National FFA Organization. In high school, she was an FFA state officer in Oregon from 2015 to 2016.

The National FFA organization is “an intra-curricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership,” according to its website. The organization has over 700,000 members nationwide, and its goal is to prepare high school students for professional success.

“Not everyone is super smart or athletic, but there’s something in FFA that every student can do and be really good at.”

The organization changed its name in 1988 from “Future Farmers of America” to “The National FFA Organization” because not every student in the organization is going to be a farmer, Smith said. Many students go on to work in the business side of agricultural companies, while some pursue farming or technical occupations.

Students get involved in FFA by taking an agriculture class in high school, where the option to join FFA is presented. The teacher of the agriculture class connects them to the leadership conventions and more broad involvement in the national FFA organization.

Smith got involved in FFA during her first year of high school at Elkton Charter School when she took the class “Introduction to Agriculture.” Within the course, students were introduced to FFA and able to join the statewide competitions and attend conventions. The teacher of the class encouraged Smith to participate in a job interview competition, which is a career development event within FFA. Smith won the competition as a first-year.

“I’m really competitive, so doing the job interview — and doing well — motivated me to get more involved,” Smith said.

Smith became the treasurer for the National FFA organization in March of 2015 and took a year break between high school and college to focus on the position. As the treasurer, Smith served as one of six members of FFA that represented national FFA. In 2016, she became a convention facilitator and started her first year at UO.

Last summer, Smith facilitated the Washington Leadership Conference in Washington DC. FFA students from across the country attended the convention each of the seven weeks it was offered.

As a convention facilitator, Smith was taught curriculum from the national FFA to teach students.

(courtesy of Alyssa Smith)

“At these conferences, high school students are taught ways to interact with their communities and make a difference,” Smith said. “It’s very high energy. Some of the conferences are as small as 70 students or as large as 900 students.”

At the end of the convention, the students created their ‘living to serve plan.’ “They have a very detailed plan of how they are going to serve their community,” Smith said. For example, according to Smith, a student from Elkton Charter School, Grace Whitley, created a plan called “project love,” which raised money to send care packages to U.S. soldiers.

This is the last year that Smith will be a conference facilitator for the National FFA Organization.

“Though it is a great job to have, I don’t think I’ll be doing it for a third year,” Smith said. She went on to say that in order to perform her duties as conference facilitator, she has to miss school several Thursdays and Fridays out of the year.

Smith applied to become the director of the Washington Leadership Conference this fall, which she worked over the summer. As the director of the conference, Smith said she would manage the staff of the event and make sure the event ran smoothly.

If she receives the position, Smith will take spring term of 2018 off from school.

In the future, Smith hopes to either become a business consultant for small businesses and startups or get involved in corporate leadership, which is similar to what she is doing in FFA now.

“Not everyone is super smart or athletic, but there’s something in FFA that every student can do and be really good at,” Smith said.

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Breaking Down Fall Term’s Top News Stories

Three stories stood out this term because of their impact on the policy and direction of UO.

A sexual assault investigation of a former UO basketball player prompted a U.S. senator to write a letter investigating the school’s policies. Students interrupting a speech led to a national conversation about free speech. And UO announced the design and leader of the Knight science campus. We ranked these the top three stories of the term because of the attention they brought to the school, including Sports Illustrated and the New York Times. But The Emerald played a role in breaking and covering these stories. We’ve summed them up here, but will also continue to cover them when next term begins.

Designing the Knight Campus

The Knight Campus renderings feature a skybridge over Franklin Boulevard. (Courtesy of the University of Oregon)

The plans for the University of Oregon’s new Knight Campus for Accelerated Scientific Impact were revealed to the public on Oct. 27.

Construction on the new campus begins in 2018, and it is expected to open in 2020. The campus is expected to attract acclaimed faculty to the university and create undergraduate and graduate research opportunities.

The UO received a $500 million donation from Phil and Penny Knight in October 2016, as well as $50 million in state bonds to fund the project.

On Nov. 20, UO assigned Robert Guldberg, a Georgia Tech professor and leader in scientific research, to be the executive director of the new school. Guldberg will start in September 2018.

“One of my primary interests has been trying to deal with the challenge of taking the exciting discovery of what’s in the labs, and making sure it’s getting out into the real world. If we don’t do that, in a way, that research doesn’t really have an impact,” Guldberg said in an interview with the Emerald.

For the past nine months, the architects created designs for the cutting-edge facility, which connects two glass towers across Franklin Boulevard with a transparent sky bridge.

In January, UO hired Portland-based Bora Architects and New York-based Ennead Architects to design the new campus. The university sent them across the country along with faculty and researchers to gain inspiration from other leading university designs.

“The building wraps in around itself. It’s highly transparent and has double height with mezzanines that brings everyone much closer together,” said architect John O’Toole of Bora Architects.

According to Patrick Phillips, the acting executive director of the Knight campus, an entire wing of the building will be dedicated to graduate internship building and undergraduate research. The goal is to expedite research to impact not only the local community, but the world.

The university purchased a plot of land across the river from the main site of the Knight campus for $3.2 million too, for an estimated 150,000-square-foot building.

Bigby-Williams Sexual Assault Investigation 

Oregon Ducks forward Kavell Bigby-Williams (35) talks to a reporter in the locker room at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. on March 18, 2017. (Aaron Nelson/Emerald)

Echoes of the national dialogue regarding sexual assault can be heard at UO. The ongoing story regarding the Kavell Bigby-Williams sexual assault investigation caused Oregon democratic Senator Ron Wyden to raise concerns regarding the school’s handling of the case.

The alleged sexual assault took place on Sept. 17, 2016, near Gillette College in Wyoming, where Bigby-Williams attended before transferring to UO in fall 2016. After receiving a complaint from the alleged victim’s friend that said she was upset, acting out of character and had large bruises on her neck, Northern Wyoming Community College District Police Department opened an investigation into the incident on Sept. 19.

Despite transferring to UO, the case followed Bigby-Williams, and police in Gillette asked UOPD to conduct a follow-up interview on the incident. On June 19, two days before an Emerald story revealed that he played the entire season while under investigation, Bigby-Williams announced his transfer to Louisiana State University.

Following the story, Bigby-Williams made a statement to Gillette police, contending that the sex was consensual, and he did not know she was sick or drunk. Gillette Police closed their investigation into the alleged sexual assault in July after the county attorney declined to press charges, citing “the victim’s wishes and some of the circumstances surrounding the case facts.”

In late October, Sports Illustrated published a piece by former Emerald sports editor Kenny Jacoby, who broke the news of the initial investigation, calling into question the UO’s handling of the investigation. On Nov. 6, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden raised five questions regarding the university’s procedures and handling of the case in a letter. Wyden asked UO President Michael Schill to inform him of the actions taken during the investigation, which revealed the potential mishandling of the investigation.

If these reports are accurate, they raise major questions about the university’s commitment to creating and maintaining a safe campus environment,” Wyden wrote.

One week later, Schill responded to Wyden’s letter, saying the university chose not to pursue a conduct investigation against Bigby-Williams out of respect of the survivor’s wishes and that the school followed proper protocol. Schill said that the UO’s procedures regarding sexual misconduct are “guidelines” for how the school responds to reports of said behavior, but they are not strict policies.

Schill invited Wyden to a discussion with him, general counsel Kevin Reed and the university’s Title IX team led by Darci Heroy. The next day, Wyden accepted Schill’s invitation.

“I love my alma mater and want to get this fixed as soon as possible — a goal that of course means I would meet with President Schill,” Wyden said.

A meeting between Wyden and Schill is being arranged, according to UO spokesman Tobin Klinger.

Students Protest Schill’s Speech

Interim Vice President Dr. R. Kevin Marbury addresses the protesters. President Schill’s speech is interrupted by protesting University of Oregon students on Oct. 6, 2017. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

At Schill’s “State of the University” speech on Oct. 6, a group of about 45 protesters overtook the stage to voice a wide range of grievances with the UO and its administration.

On Oct. 30, at least 13 of the students were charged by UO administration with student conduct code violations for their alleged actions during the protest.

This story has drawn national attention and sparked controversy on campus for the ramifications it may have on free speech and protest.

Here is a timeline of the events:

Oct. 6, 2017: Hundreds are in attendance for Schill’s “State of the University” speech. Protesters from the UO Student Collective take the stage just minutes into the introduction. Five minutes later, administration announces the speech is suspended. Hundreds of attendees leave the EMU Ballroom while protesters chant and yell their grievances with the UO administration. A few hours later, the group of protesters releases a list of 22 demands for UO administration. Administration releases a video of the speech in a campus-wide email that afternoon.

Oct. 23, 2017: Schill releases an opinion piece in the New York Times titled “A Misguided Student Crusade Against ‘Fascism,’” in which he discusses his issues with the protest.

Oct. 30, 2017: Thirteen students are charged with two violations of the UO student conduct code: “disruption of university” and “failure to comply.” Katy Larkin, the UO associate director of investigations, notifies students in an email of their alleged participation in the protest. The students are given two options to resolve the charges: accept responsibility and meet with administration to discuss their concerns — resulting in no sanctions — or contest the charges and have an administrative conference with a “decision-maker” to determine if they were responsible for the charges in question.

Nov. 2, 2017: The UOSC meets to discuss what actions they would take in response to the charges and what option they will choose. Members decide to wait until Monday to inform UO administration of their decision.

Nov. 3, 2017: The Emerald reports that one of the 13 students charged was not at the protest. Lola Loustaunau, a graduate student from Argentina, said she is not a member of the UOSC and was at home on a Skype call with a friend at the time of the protest. The friend confirmed that they were on a Skype call at that time and Loustaunau also provided the Emerald with screenshots of her computer with timestamps of the call.

Nov. 6, 2017: A letter signed by UO Senate President Chris Sinclair and three other leaders of prominent UO groups is released in response to the student conduct code charges. The letter asks Schill to “cease the punitive measures against students” and participate in a dialogue with them.

The letter lists seven problems with the email from Larkin that had informed the students of the conduct code violation charges. The UOSC also announces that they will express their concerns with this process at the Nov. 15, UO senate meeting.

Nov. 9, 2017: Charlie Landeros, a vocal member of the UOSC, has the first administrative conference of the students charged for involvement in the Schill speech protest.

Nov. 12, 2017: Landeros releases a statement via Facebook, criticizing the process UO took when charging the protestors. In the statement, Landeros asks for some of the same rights criminal defendants have during a trial.

Nov. 13, 2017: Landeros is found responsible for the first charge, “disruption of university,” and presented with two sanctions by UO: a letter of reprimand and a requirement that they write an essay explaining what they did wrong and what they learned. Landeros will appeal the decision.

Nov. 14, 2017: The UOSC releases a statement via Facebook announcing they will present a resolution to the UO Senate asking for their support in getting the conduct code charges dropped.

Nov. 15, 2017: Members of the UOSC present a resolution to the UO Senate and speak about their issues with the UO and the student conduct code charges.

Nov. 20, 2017: Loustaunau attends her administrative conference with Larkin where she presents a slideshow of evidence showing she did not attend the protest. Loustaunau was told her indication of “going” on a Facebook event was a factor in the decision to charge her as well as photos and videos gathered from the event. Loustaunau is told by Larkin that the charges against her will be dropped.

Nov. 29, 2017: The UO senate splits the resolution presented by the UOSC into two parts and approves the first section that asked the senate to support the UOSC members who were charged with the violations. The second part proposes the UO senate urge the UO administration to deny hate groups and white supremacists a platform on campus and has not yet been voted on.

Nov. 29, 2017: The Emerald reports that some members of the UOSC were denied representation for dealing with the student conduct code charges from the UO Office of Student Advocacy because it was “a conflict of interest.”

What’s Next: The majority of students charged with conduct code violations that chose option two are still waiting to have their administrative conferences to determine if they were responsible for committing the violations. Landeros is attempting to appeal the sanctions they received.

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UO Senate passes part one of Student Collective resolution despite letter from Schill and Provost

The University of Oregon Senate voted to support one of the UO Student Collective’s resolutions at the Senate meeting on Wednesday after 13 of the collective’s members were charged with student conduct code violations by university administration in October.

The passage of this resolution shows the Senate’s support of the Student Collective and that members of the senate will stand by the Student Collective as the students navigate charges of violating the Student Conduct Code. The Senate is a body of representatives of UO faculty, student body and administration who work to address issues in the university community through passing legislation and creating task forces.

On Oct. 30, each student was charged with “disruption of the university” and “failure to comply.” The violations came after the students held a protest of UO President Michael Schill’s “State of the University” speech on Oct. 6. Protesters took the stage and the speech was canceled. A few hours after the protest, the Student Collective released a list of 22 demands. A coalition of student activists, its demands hinged on the rights and safety of marginalized students on campus. 

On Tuesday, Schill and Provost Jayanth Banavar wrote a letter to the Senate that was published to the Senate website. The letter recommended that the Senate should not support the collective’s list of resolutions because the administration found the wording of the resolutions to be inaccurate in certain sections.

For example, the Student Collective’s resolution stated that UO welcomed white supremacist groups to campus. Schill and Banavar’s letter states that this was not true, as the university cannot legally deny any group from being on campus, “unless they constitute true threats to the physical safety of members of our community.”

The Senate voted to divide the resolution into two parts to simplify the resolution. Part one addresses the issues with student conduct code inconsistencies regarding free speech and civil disobedience and peaceful protesting. Part two addresses the university’s attitude towards the white supremacist groups invited to campus, and how they are a danger to student safety.

The UO Student Collective first presented its resolutions at the Senate meeting on Nov. 15, when the Senate was informed it would vote on the resolutions on Nov. 29. The UO Student Collective made changes to the initial resolution on Nov. 29 to emphasize the student body’s right to free speech and clarify the resolutions overall.

According to Senate President Chris Sinclair, the Senate bylaws state that any resolutions the Senate votes on must stand for two weeks before voting. In order to vote on the passing of part one of the resolutions, the Senate had to vote on a suspension of the rules.

The Senate voted to suspend the rules to vote on the first resolution on Nov. 29 due to the impending deadline of the charges the Student Collective is facing on Dec. 8.

The resolution call for the UO administration to “cease the Student Conduct disciplinary charges” against the protesters and support the collective’s attempt to “create meaningful structural change” on campus.

Part two of the resolution proposes that the UO Senate should “urge administration to pledge that they will use their position of power to deny White Nationalists and hate groups a platform on this campus.”

Correction: This article previously reported that the UO Senate voted on all the UO Student Collective resolutions. In fact, the Senate has only voted on part one of the resolutions. This article has been changed to reflect this information.

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Movember’s efforts to raise awareness for men’s health attracts more women than men

Students gathered in the Common Grounds Café in Hamilton’s Dining Commons on Nov. 9 for “Speak Easy,” a night of poetry and spoken word about the emotions of college life.

The event is part of Movember, which raises awareness for testicular and prostate cancer on campus, as well as men’s suicide prevention throughout the month of November.

Despite being catered toward men’s health awareness, the majority of participants and attendees were women, according to Nikita Ramakrishnan, the student who made Movember a reality on UO’s campus.

The global charity Movember encourages participants to grow mustaches to raise money and awareness for men’s health. At UO, Movember came back for its second year to raise awareness and spark conversations about all aspects of men’s health.

Throughout November, various departments at UO under the direction of Nikita Ramakrishnan put on several events. These events ranged from health panels to dodgeball tournaments.

Spencer Atkinson, the housing community director of Hamilton Hall, created the “Speak Easy” poetry reading event for students.  “I’m a former high school English teacher, so doing spoken word poetry is something that is a familiar venue of mine for self-expression,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson said he believes men are not participating in certain events because they are socialized to suppress their emotions. “Men are taught not to express emotion. The only appropriate emotion is anger,” said Atkinson.

The “Speak Easy” event was intended to encourage men to express their feelings in a healthy way.

“The goal of the ’Speak Easy’ event is to create a space where it is okay to talk about emotions and to have feelings and to express them with words as opposed to your fists or with other forms of violence,” Atkinson said.

However, he continued by saying “events that are stereotypically male activities will attract a more male audience,” Atkinson said.

Ways we can change this trend lie in the ways we define “manhood” and what it means to be a man, according to Atkinson.

“If we can train young men that there is a myriad of ways of becoming a man, of being a man, of expressing ones man hood in healthy contexts, then we can shift all of those social ails in a positive direction.”

Emily Burns, a sophomore at UO, said more women are participating than men due to the fact that women tend to participate in more events.

Burns said, “There’s a trend that women participate in things more because of the idea of feminism. Feminism is supporting equality and is not for promoting just women’s health, but promoting men’s health as well.”

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University honors programs to be improved in the coming year: What you need to know

If you’re a sociology major at the University of Oregon, you can earn honors by achieving a 3.4 GPA; however, if you’re a biology major, you need a 3.3 GPA in upper division courses and an intensive research thesis if you want to graduate with honors.

Achieving honors in college can set students apart from their peers and make them more competitive candidates for graduate schools and internships.

The university Senate appointed a task force made up of faculty, administration and student representatives last spring to diagnose inefficiencies such as these in the honors system at the university. The task force proposed their conclusions and recommendations in June 2017, which will be voted on in the coming year. There are differences between the departments on how honors are achieved, as well as solely GPA-based honors that the task force recommended correcting.

The university Senate will be working with the task force and the honors college representatives to create new policies that, if approved, will be implemented next year.

Josh Snodgrass and Jeremy Piger, co-chairs of the honors task force, presented their conclusions and recommendations at the Senate meeting on Nov. 1. The task force analyzed data associated with the amount of students graduating with honors within each major and department and drew conclusions on where honors qualifications at the university need improvement. The honors report stated that the number of students receiving honors, “seems appropriate.”

Each department within the university can offer honors to the high-performing students in that specific department. According to Snodgrass, they wanted to ensure that there was a similar process of achieving honors between each department of the university.

For example, certain departments within the university offer honors that are solely GPA-based, while others require research or an honors thesis, according to Snodgrass.

They also wanted to ensure that all departments offer departmental honors. Thirty-one of the 36 college of arts and sciences departments offer honors programs, the task force found.

Another issue the task force recommended addressing is a lack of representation of science and math professors within the Clark Honors College itself.

“It’s difficult to get laboratory scientists into the honors college in the current structure because you need a lab and equipment. It’s much easier to find humanities professors to be in the honors college rather than someone who needs a big laboratory,” Sinclair said.

Alex Goldman, a history major in the Clark Honors College, added that the honors college could retain more of its students if it added more faculty from diverse disciplines.

The task force approached this process by questioning the current process of achieving honors, as well as the structure of the Clark Honors College, according to the Honors Task Force report.

“We need to be better as a campus for finding a solution so we can reward our best and brightest students,” Snodgrass said.

According to Senate President Chris Sinclair, the Senate will want the Honors Task Force to create motions for change at the university level, and have them present to the Senate in the coming year. The Senate will then vote on approving or denying the proposed motions. Any changes to the honors college will be conducted through the honors college representatives and later presented to the Senate for voting and approval.

The Clark Honors College is looking to hire a new dean in the next year. In the meantime, interim dean Karen Ford will take the information presented by the task force and present a proposal of the changes they want to make to the provost.

Then, the university Provost, Jayanth R. Banavar, will make decisions on which changes to implement. The substantial changes will be voted on by the Senate in the coming year, according to Sinclair.

“If we are going to offer honors, they should be meaningful and they should provide benefit to the student,” Sinclair said.

 

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