The State Board of Higher Education met today, January 10, 2014, to discuss upcoming changes within the Oregon University System when the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University adopt a new model of independent governance on July 1.

A preliminary report on Shared Services presented by Eastern Oregon University president Bob Davies, on behalf of the Shared Services Work Group that involves all OUS presidents, included a number of recommendations to continue working together on certain candidates among OUS universities even after universities with independent governing boards are established. Possible shared services include employee benefits, risk management, collective bargaining (all three mandatory,) as well as accounting and reporting, Fifth Site computer operations, payroll processing and treasury operations. The workgroup has not yet made a decision whether or not to include student and academic services.

The workgroup made two recommendations: to determine the financial impact of each university that establishes its own governing board in the OUS, both as a collective and within each individual institution and to form a mechanism to moderate negative financial impact caused by the reformed OUS structure, or require universities with established governing boards to remain in each shared service.

The workgroups will progress by hiring an executive director of Shared Services. An OUS news release states the director is to be a OSU employee and in place by July 1, 2014.

Board Director Orcilia Forbes and OUS staff members are confident that the transfer between OUS and the Higher Education Coordinating Commission will be able to outline all areas of responsibility before July. HECC includes public universities, community college and financial aid, as opposed to the OUS that is comprised of the seven state-run universities. Forbes provided an interim report that details their progression.

Along with five other OUS campuses, the UO submitted a capital request for a utility tunnel repair project. A final list for prioritized projects will be set in February and presented to the legislature for approval.

As the University of Oregon continues to grow in both population and programs, it will rely heavily on its student infrastructure.

According to UO Human Resource Data and Compliance Coordinator Kerry Davis, that means more student jobs.

About 3,600 students worked on campus in 2012 — an increase from the previous year, Davis said. Student employment plans to continue the hiring trend as soon-to-be completed projects — like the expansion of the Student Recreation Center — will require additional student staff.

“We function off of students,” Tiffany Lundy, assistant director of membership services said. “The majority of the money coming into the department is off of the student fee and a significant amount of the money goes back to the students through employment.”

The physical education and recreational department employs about 300 student workers like lifeguards, personal trainers and office staff. About 120 of its student employees work for its facility operations. Because the Student Recreation Center retains a high percentage of students from year to year, Lundy states that only 25-35 spots open up every year. Last spring, the Rec had over 500 students apply for few positions.

“We can’t operate without students,” Lundy said. “They are integral in everything we do.”

Unlike other places on campus, the Rec does not require students work-study eligibility, like many campus employers.

In the work study system, the federal government allots money for the University to fund salaries of qualified students. That money pays for a percentage, often the majority, of the student’s earning before the employer pays the remaining amount from their operating budget. About 1,666 students earned funds under the federal work-study program for the 2012-13 academic year.

According to Jim Brooks, the director of student financial aid and scholarships, the federal government has allotted $1,581,979 for work study for the last several years.

Not all work-study jobs are found on campus and for many students, the commute to their job can make it difficult to justify.

Though she has work study, UO senior Cassie Soucy found it difficult commuting via transit to her former job located near Valley River Center between classes.

Soucy now has a job on campus that’s “pretty low-key,” and lets her do homework as long as the work is getting done. For her, flexibility at her workplace is essential for her fast-paced lifestyle.

“The perks of having an on-campus job is that they understand the college student’s lifestyle a little better than the outside of the campus area,” said Soucy, who is a current employee of the Lillis Business Technology Center. “So it’s super flexible with my schedule.”

From an employer’s standpoint, Davis understands that academics come first.

“Students are students first, so we don’t want to impede on their class time or study (time),” Davis said.

Have an idea to start up a new club on campus? While the application may be quick and simple, the process to get officially ASUO recognized could leave you waiting in the cold.

To become officially recognized, programs must meet twice each month for no less than six months. They should also have a minimum of five members in attendance and documentation of their meeting, according to ASUO External Vice President Greg Mills.  However, not having a regular meeting space can make it difficult for new groups to achieve this and get officially recognized.

Carter Fritsch, secretary for Young Americans for Liberty, is currently frustrated with the process. His group has been meeting since early October and has about three more months to fulfill the requirement. Yet, it has become pretty expensive for the group to continue holding meetings on campus.

“There (is) almost discouragement with meeting on campus … for clubs who are trying to get started, which seems counterproductive in my opinion,” Fritsch said.

Phil Van Camerik, a student worker at UO Schedules and Events Services, said students who are part of a club that is not yet ASUO recognized can reserve a room three different times for free. However, that does not include equipment that may be needed.  Groups must pay for the space after those three initial meetings, which adds up to approximately $70 per use.

ASUO recognized groups have benefits such as requesting funding funneled from the incidental fee, as well as more practical help like renting out rooms on campus for free or reduced cost.

According to ASUO Program Advisor Julie Scroggins, ASUO acknowledges approximately 183 different groups on campus with approximately 120 receiving funding each year. About 15-20 applications are received each year, with five to 10 becoming recognized organizations.

“The concern is that a group might receive recognition and funding from the student government and then not accomplish anything or lose their group members. The PRRC (Program Review and Recognition Committee) process hopefully ensures that groups have evidence to alleviate those concerns,” Mills said.

Every one of the UO’s fee-paying students contributes $208, which amounts to about $14 million total. It gets divided into four areas, the Program Finance Committee being one of them. The PFC receives about $2 million to spend from the incidental fee that is able to fund student groups.

Fritsch understands the “thorough” process it should take to review a club, especially for those seeking funding, but is confused on the holdup when his organization only seeks one thing: a place to meet on campus.

“It means we can’t establish a regular presence on campus so being able to build the community and develop a regular meeting space was critical to the success of the organization,” Fritsch said. “Right now, because of this, we haven’t been able to do that.”

However, Van Camerik says authorized groups can sponsor a new group by making a reservation on their behalf: a possible alternative for yet-to-be-recognized student groups struggling to pay for a meeting space.

“…Nobody had told us this,” said Fritsch, “Which is interesting because we explored quite a few different options for getting space.”

President Michael Gottfredson reached out to University of Oregon faculty and staff in a letter released on Wednesday morning, congratulating them on a “remarkable” 2013 and outlining his plan for the remainder of the academic year.

“As we begin a new year and a new academic term, I am impressed by the challenges we have overcome and the opportunities that lie ahead — remarkable opportunities to invigorate key programs, focus our goals and priorities and refinance the University to make our aspirations a reality,” he wrote.

President Gottfredson also recognized the accomplishments the UO has achieved this past year including two bowl-game victories and national recognition for the University’s Pathway Oregon scholarship program. He hopes to build off this momentum into the new year with the discussions surrounding the University’s existing academic plan.

Starting on Jan. 14, the University Provost will host a series of discussions to review the academic plan created by UO in 2009 and Gottfredson encourages deans, faculty and staff to participate in the conversation in order to help determine measurable goals and strategies to accomplish the University’s goals.

Gottfredson also commended the acknowledgment by president of the Association of American Universities for UO’s creation of its institutional board structure who believes it is “as one of several recent positive developments for higher education.” The independent governing board is slated to hold its first board meeting on campus for UO’s new Board of Trustees later this month — seven months prior to their official starting date.

“Our new Board of Trustees will also be key to helping the UO realize our future,” Gottfredson said in the press release.

Members will meet later this month to create by-laws, elect officers and continue learning more about the function of the University. Board members have already completed two previous orientation sessions. More information including meeting agendas regarding the Board of Trustees can be found here.

Whether on stage or in front of a camera, University of Oregon freshman and up-and-coming actor Alex Mentzel feels right at home wherever he’s given the opportunity to perform. Most recently, Mentzel was featured grappling with a demonic, wild, sheep-like beast in the mid-season finale of Grimm, a television show filmed and based in Portland, Ore.

Amid the crunch of memorizing lines and traveling to auditions, Mentzel is pursuing a degree in theater and German from the UO, where his father Eric Mentzel is also an associate professor. While studying for finals and auditioning for roles can be hectic, Alex is grateful for his supportive family both on and off campus.

“I didn’t want to do acting 24/7,” Mentzel said. “I wanted to grow as a person as well as academically.”

Early on, Mentzel knew he wanted to pursue a career in acting. He’s made many sacrifices along the way, such as not being able to go to his senior prom. But these are willing choices the South Eugene graduate happily makes and is grateful for.

He spent his early childhood in Cologne, Germany, watching his father perform on stage. For Mentzel, it is not just a desire to entertain a crowd but a fascination to portray genuine emotions and situations.

“I took the attitude that an audition is like a mini-performance,” Mentzel said. “I’m always grateful for an audition.”

He got his first big break after responding to a Craigslist ad. The post was for a small role in 2007’s Feast of Love, directed by Robert Benton and starring Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear. Mentzel appeared in one scene as Kinnear’s nephew in the film, but it was enough to get his foot in the door. Soon after, at age 14, he booked a guest role in the television show Leverage among other productions on and off screen.

Prior to nabbing TV spots, Mentzel first got into acting through doing community theater. He’s been involved in productions at the Cottage Theater, Actor’s Cabaret of Eugene and Rose Children’s Theater.

“He’s so levelheaded about being a performer,” said Peggy Brown-Major, director at the Cottage Theater. “He takes it all in stride and goes with the flow. It’s so rare especially for kids his age because they get out there and say ‘I’m just going to take Broadway by storm’ and the reality is only one in a million are going to do that.”

Above any dream of fame or fortune, Mentzel’s main goal for his acting career is to make a living doing what he loves to do. For this reason, he has chosen to pursue a college degree rather than focus solely on his acting career. Mentzel hopes to use the skills he has learned at UO to teach other students to act, dance and sing or even get involved in business while he builds up his resume.

“I also wanted to grow as a person. The more you know about people and how they behave towards each other, the better the actor you become,” Mentzel said. “What a better place to learn and get to know people than at a college.”

Mentzel has also learned to translate what he learns in class to his acting. His courses range from Greek tragedy, race incarceration and American values to marine biology and have all helped broaden his perspective and approach when connecting with a script.

He will be putting those skills to use as he prepares for his role in the upcoming show Ecstasy: a Water Fable, directed by Professor Michael Najjar, opening in March.

“Usually when you have a kid that is aspiring to be a performer for a career, they have stars in their eyes and delusions of grandeur,” Brown-Major said. “That’s not how Alex is.”

Contract negotiations continued as the University responded to the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federations’ (GTFF) bargaining proposals on Friday afternoon in the Ben Linder Room.

“Across the board GTFs feel that the university was not respectful of them,” David Craig, GTFF president said. “For the university to say that they don’t deserve to be paid that basic cost of living is disrespectful and undermines the contribution that GTFs make to the function of the university.”

The graduate student union opened the bargaining session nearly three weeks ago, fighting to raise the minimum wage for GTFs who work at least 20 hours a week to reflect a graduate student’s basic cost of living in Eugene — a figure established by the UO financial aid department. Currently, many members, according to the union, fall about $600 short of the $1,620.44 monthly estimate.

“We don’t believe it’s an appropriate benchmark for GTF salaries,” Jeffery Matthews, the lead negotiator for UO administration during the negotiations said.

The university administration was unable to run its numbers prior to the second bargaining session to offer a counter proposal but plan to do so in the next meeting on Jan. 17.

“My take-home pay is barely enough to get by,” Craig, who is in his fourth year in the philosophy department and has attained the highest pay level, said. “I’ve had to take out student loans, not for anything extra or additional but just to get by and survive in Eugene.”

Among the issues discussed was non-discrimination. The university administration brought a counter proposal to the GTFF’s request to expand non-discrimination  to include ethnicity, pregnancy status, citizenship status, HIV anti-body status, parental status, pregnancy status, height, weight, social/political affiliation or participation in grievance.

“Specifically we decided to focus this article because parents on campus felt like they wanted some stronger language based on being a parent or deciding on having a kid,” Amber Cooper, the GTFF lead negotiator said.

According to the administration, there is not enough legal history or case-law to enforce those areas.

“It can be a very nerve-wracking thing as a graduate student to tell your supervisor that you’re going to have a baby or have children to begin with,” Cooper said. “There’s this expectation that you should not have children to be competitive and be amazing as an academic and so we felt like opening this article, specifically, to get some stronger language around discrimination that involves being a parent or getting pregnant.”

The University administration and GTFF did agree to standardize kitchen facilities across campus.

The administration also made many different proposals in regards to language that marks the University of Oregon’s break with the Oregon University System set for July, establishing UO as the employer.

The next meeting will be Friday Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m. The location has yet to be determined.

Due to construction, the University of Oregon Department of Parking and Transportation is facing a reduction of both parking space and revenue.

The department is self-sustaining but is not allowed by state law to use tuition or tax money to run its programs. In 2012, UO made $1,700,000 in parking revenue that includes fees collected from permits and parking meter fines. Department Director Gwen Bolden reports that many meter parking spaces around the Erb Memorial Union and the Student Recreation Center have permanently closed, impacting revenue generation. The funds mainly go toward covering personnel and maintenance costs.

Yet, Bolden does not see a demand for more campus parking. In fact, she receives more requests to take out parking spaces than to put more in.

The university currently offers about 4,000 parking spots and sells about 200-300 parking permits. The number reflects the fact that the majority of campus residents don’t typically bring cars to college for the first year.

“Most universities say that they want a campus that is dedicated to pedestrian friendly, where they say that they don’t really mean it,” Bolden said. “This is the first campus I’ve been on where we do have more bicycle riders … (and people) using alternative transportation methods than we do in single-occupancy vehicles.”

There is, however, one particular area on campus that has people driving in circles: the “academic core” that extends from Franklin Boulevard to 18th Avenue and from Agate Street to Hilyard Street. The challenge, Bolden said, is the lack of space available that would make adding additional spots possible.

“The downside is having to drive around until you can hopefully find a spot, and then once you do, you’re only allowed to be there for two hours,” said university senior Rachel Juth, who lives about two miles east of campus and drives to campus four days a week.

The real parking crunch, however, is felt on the perimeter of campus where every year, students drive their cars to Eugene with no place to park.

“There is only a certain amount of parking spaces on the street and you have to manage those spaces like a scarce resource,” said Jeff Petry, the parking service manager for the City of Eugene.

The rise of many new housing developments around campus and downtown Eugene has created a challenge for the city.

According to Petry, many times 80 people want to receive a permit for the same location, often apartment complexes, but there are only two permits available. The amount of residential permits an address can receive is equal to the amount of cars that can park in front of its location. Permits cost $40 and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis and are often sold out within the first week of fall term. Not having a permit prevents drivers from parking on the street beyond time limits and can lead to a parking ticket.

A Zone H permit for high-density areas is offered by the city as a last resort for drivers who were unable to attain their first-choice permit. But because of its higher cost, $180 per quarter, fewer students go for that option.

“The biggest challenge is … making sure (students) do their homework if they choose to bring their car to campus,” Petry said.

Campus Operations is busy making sure students make it safely to their finals this week.

“We’re trying to figure it out as we go along,” said student worker for Campus Operations Erik Robertson. “Part of the main thing is to … clear out the parts that are more slippery and throw some salt on them.”

Although slick weather conditions made it difficult for some workers to come in, many campus employees and student workers were still able to come in and spend their weekend afternoon shoveling snow out of the way in high-traffic walkways and steps.

“It’s not so bad because the sun’s out,” Robertson said. ”I’m actually staying pretty warm, had to take my coat off because I was getting too hot.”

However, due to a low supply of salt, Campus Operations will be mainly using sand to help melt away the snow.

Ken Janecek, a temperature control technician with Campus Operations for eight years, has never seen a snow storm quite as bad as this. Janecek is expecting a busy day tomorrow after many pipes have been reported broken, including a fire hydrant across from Fenton Hall that spewed water all over 13th Avenue Saturday night.

Campus Operations have marked off super slick areas with yellow caution tape and advise students to go around in order to avoid any accidents.

Four months before the current contract’s expiration date, the University of Oregon and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation kicked off the first bargaining session of contract negotiations in Lawrence Hall 166 on Nov. 22.

The GTFF has advocated on behalf of graduated students since 1976. Contracts are renewed every two years.

For the first time, the UO has hired a lawyer to be the lead negotiator of its five-member bargaining team for this specific contract. In the past, a human resource representative has acted as the lead negotiator.

“The University of Oregon is enlisting expertise as it negotiates the complexities of bargaining issues. This is consistent with the process that was taken in the recently successfully completed faculty union negotiations. The university values members of the campus community, including our students who are employed as GTFs and hopes to reach agreement that benefits how we each contribute to the missions of research, teaching and service,” said Kimberly Espy, vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school.

The union presented its bargaining priorities, including an increase in minimum wage, expanding dental coverage and establishing paid leave — specifically for parental purposes — that both faculty and classified employees already have.

“We feel like what we are asking for is really, really modest and just a small fraction of the university’s budget or even surplus,” GTFF President David Craig said.

An estimate gathered by the university found that the basic cost of living for UO graduate student is $1,620.44. Currently, GTF monthly wages fall approximately $600 short for some GTFs.

According to a press release by the GTFF, “this causes many GTFs to take on increasing sums of student loan debt simply to make ends meet.”

“Seeing SEIU fighting so hard right down to the wire to get a contract … has motivated us to work very hard this school year and offer to meet with the university as often as we can to be able to reach a contract early,” GTFF’s staff organizer and lead negotiator, Amber Cooper said.

Cooper takes over for David Cecil, who was the GTFF lead negotiator for the last six contracts. Cooper has previously worked with other graduate unions at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois-Chicago.

There are over 1,500 GTFs at the University of Oregon who assist in teaching, research or administrative positions. While the union represents all of them, only 75 percent are full members. Each GTF receives a monthly salary, a full-time tuition waiver, a mandatory fee subsidy and access to health insurance.

Information gathered by the university in 2012 showed that GTFs were responsible for 31 percent of total teaching time for undergraduate students. This year, Craig states there has been an increase of about 50-100 GTFs at the university.

“I feel like things have started well and there is respectable communication between the union and the university,” Craig said about the first meeting.

The university will respond to the GTFF’s proposals and submit its own propositions next Friday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. in the EMU Ben Linder Room.

Adriana Gonzalez is one of 1,639 Latinos speckled among more than 24,000 University of Oregon students. She is not only a member of the largest minority group at the UO and in the U.S., but also the only Latino student involved in UO’s College Republicans, serving as the recruitment director.

The UO senior was raised in Gervais, Ore., picking strawberries in a small farming community of about 2,500 residents. The majority of the town’s residents are Latino. She shared her air with a Fiber-Fab, a large bathtub manufacturer known to release the toxin styrene in the air, according to USA Today’s The Smokestack Effect report. Both experiences have shaped her stance in pro-immigration reform and as an environmentalist.

Gonzalez never thought of herself as any different than her peers. It wasn’t until she came to the UO that she felt she was told otherwise.

“There is a certain point where you can only take so much of people expecting you to be a certain way because of the color of your skin and I am at that point where it’s enough already,” Gonzalez said. “Just because I am Mexican doesn’t mean I agree with (white privilege) or Affirmative Action.”

The political science major believes that because of the color of her skin, she has been pressured to adopt certain beliefs. After writing an essay disregarding white privilege for her American society class, Gonzalez received an email from her professor who requested to see her for portraying the conservative ideals.

Growing up Gonzalez did not consider herself a Republican. In fact, she remembers crying tears of joy for President Obama’s victory in 2008, grasping onto the promise of hope and change specifically towards immigration reform.

Five years later, Gonzalez tears have dried. As a Mexican-American daughter from immigrant parents, she is fed up with the lack of immigration reform policy, something that has not been done since her favorite president, Ronald Reagan, signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The bill gave immigrants like Gonzalez’s mom amnesty.

According to The Pew Research Center, Obama received 68 percent of the Latino vote. Recently, Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie captured 51 percent of the Hispanic vote for his reelection, showing a change in attitude between Latinos and the Republican Party.

UO sociology and ethnic studies student Alfonso Macias also shares Gonzalez’s frustration over Obama’s unaccountability toward his promises. He has always aligned himself with the Democratic Party but now chooses to not to fully affiliate with either party.

“If a Democrat or Republican were to promise these things, personally I wouldn’t buy into it because of things that I’ve learned so far in the past,” Macias said. “But I’m still open ears.”

Macias chooses to stand in solidarity with his raza which encompasses Latinos, Chicanos and indigenous people from Latin descent. He feels that both parties exploit Latino vote for their self-interest rather than serving the people’s interest.

Sherry Cantu, the outreach director for Lane County’s Republican party, is reaching out to the Latino community.

“We have to be open-minded (and) give our message out to people who might embrace it and might want to join our party,” Cantu said. “I don’ t think the Latino community has been given many options, I think they’ve just been kind of ramrodded with (the democratic party.)”