The University of Oregon asked a federal judge to dismiss the $7.5 million lawsuit that former basketball player Brandon Austin filed against the university in October 2015, according to the Register Guard.

In spring of 2014, teammates Brandon Austin, Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson were accused of sexual assault against a UO female student. Charges were not filed against the other two players.

Austin sued, claiming personal and professional harm, emotional distress as well as loss of future income by lessening his chance of playing in the National Basketball Association. He seeks $6 million to compensate for possible loss of income and $1.5 million in non-economic damages.

However, the university’s response to the lawsuit says that at the time of his suspension, Austin had no business relationship with any NBA team.

On Monday, university officials released emails and other supporting documents of Austin signing a “special choice of resolution.”

This means that he surrendered the right to face his accuser and could not appeal rulings from Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards, Sandy Weintraub.

Lawsuits related to this case are not foreign to the UO. The student alleging rape sued the university last year saying she was put in harm’s way because the they allowed Austin to enroll during a period in which he faced a sexual assault allegation at his former college in Rhode Island. She settled the suit for $800,000 and four years of room, board and tuition at the UO.

The university could face its third lawsuit related to the incident when in November two former university counseling center employees filed a lawsuit saying they were shunned, criticized and threatened with dismissal from the UO after they blew the whistle on supervisors who had seized the female student’s therapy records.

With the new year came new laws that went into effect.

Here is a break down:

Oregon is the 4th state to require paid sick leave:
Behind California, Massachusetts and Connecticut, Senate Bill 454 requires companies with 10 or more workers to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave every year.

Wage transparency law:
House Bill 2007 protects employees who inquire about, discuss or disclose any information about their wages.

“Ban the Box” law (House Bill 3025):
In 2015, Oregon, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Vermont and Virginia all passed a law that prevents employers from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history on an application form or prior to conducting an interview. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island have already implemented it.

Domestic Worker Rights:
Senate Bill 552 means that domestic workers will receive overtime pay, periods of rest, paid vacation time and freedom from harassment.

Personal injury protection guarantee: 
Senate Bill 411 ensures that people with auto insurance can get the full amount of uninsured motorist coverage (and underinsured coverage) if they are injured by an at-fault, uninsured driver. This applies to those with insurance policies issued or renewed after Jan. 2. In order to get full coverage, consumers must contact their auto insurance providers and say they want all of their auto policies renewed or reissued.

“New Motor Voter” law:
House Bill 2177 ensures every eligible voter receives a ballot.

Expanding access to birth control in the state:
House Bill 2879 gives pharmacists the ability to prescribe birth control, so women will no longer have to visit their doctors to receive contraceptive prescriptions.

House Bill 3343 requires insurance companies to cover a full year of birth control.

Guns out of the hands of domestic abusers:
Senate Bill 525 was passed in alignment with the federal Violence Against Women Act.

Reduction of the carbon intensity of transportation:
Senate Bill 324 aims to create cleaner air, fewer emissions of greenhouse gases and the development of a homegrown alternative fuels industry. It aims to reduce carbon intensity by 10 percent over the next 10 years.

Protect college students from unfair fees:
House Bill 2832 protects college students from unfair fees, requiring all contracts between public universities and third-party institutions that disburse student aid money to comply with federal consumer protection guidelines. The new law prohibits transaction fees, inactivity fees and revenue-sharing policies in an effort to lessen the financial burden on students.

Coos Bay’s Southwestern Oregon Community College closed Friday due to a “non-specific threat,” according to the Coos Bay Police Department and reported by The Register-Guard.

Students who live on campus have been asked to either stay in their dorms or go to activities off campus. SWOCC security staff and local law enforcement will be patrolling the campus for the rest of the day, according to the school’s Facebook page.

The campus will reopen Saturday morning unless noted otherwise, the school said.

A female University of Oregon student reported that she was attacked by a man who tried to steal her backpack at about 12:45 a.m. on July 17.

According to a campus crime alert sent by the University of Oregon Police Department, the incident occurred east of Beall Concert Hall on the UO campus. The Beall Concert Hall is affiliated of the UO School of Music and Dance.

The woman was approached by an unknown man “when she was walking south on the road between Beall Hall and Pioneer Cemetery. The man grabbed her from behind, grabbed her hair, pushed her to the ground and tried to remove her backpack.”

The woman was able to get away after using pepper spray on the assailant.

She described her attacker as a white male in his “late 20s to late 30s, about 6-foot-1, short hair, clean-shaven, with close set eyes, wearing jeans and a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with [the hood up], and a strong smell of body odor.”

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information regarding this incident or other crimes on campus should call UOPD at 541-346-2919. You can view available updates at police.uoregon.edu.

Eder Campuzano is also an author for this story.

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. That’s certainly the case with Michael Schill.

The newest University of Oregon president’s tenure may have started on July 1, but he didn’t officially get to work until Monday morning.

Schill started his day meeting with campus operations, dozens of staff from Carson’s central kitchen and various news reporters from the Eugene community. The president took time to shake hands and converse briefly with most of the university employees he met.

It was in the confines of the Carson Hall kitchen that Schill’s sweet tooth was revealed. He told the staff that because his mother wasn’t the best cook, so most of the preparation for his favorite treats was done by Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines before they made their way to the table.

His eyes widened at any mention of brownies, cookies and other baked goods.

“That’s my specialty,” he said.

He wrapped up the kitchen tour with a trip to the bakery, where he spoke with Chef Bron Smith about the central kitchen’s pending relocation to Moss Street. The scent of dough was heavy in the air as he watched a member of the kitchen staff prepare duck-shaped cookies for an event.

Schill was hired as the UO’s newest president on April 14. He’s the first president hired by the Board of Trustees, nearly one year after Michael Gottfredson stepped down from the university’s top administrative post. Schill will be the highest-paid president in UO history, with an annual salary of $660,000.

He comes to the UO from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as dean for five years.

En route to Johnson Hall for an interview with KVAL, Schill said that he’d be spending the next few days doing much of what he had done so far — meet university faculty, staff and administrators to get the lay of the land. He spent some time in Eugene when he was hired, but has only recently begun settling into his new office.

“It’s quite a busy time,” he said. “Busy, but exciting.”

The day was capped off with a meet-and-greet at Allen Hall at 3 p.m. Staff, faculty, students and alumni filled the foyer. Visitors munched on cookies and sipped on lemonade as they waited for their chance to chat with the new university president.

As Schill made his way through the crowd, he stopped and spoke with event attendees, spending more and more time with each individual as the room cleared.

It wasn’t until the first floor of Allen Hall was practically empty that Schill noticed something on the table — it was a platter of cookies in a familiar shape.

“Hey,” he said, “didn’t I see these get made?”

Sure enough, it was the duck-shaped cookies that were being prepared in the Carson kitchen hours earlier.

“I probably shouldn’t be eating these, but oh well,” he said as he reached for a treat.

Follow Lauren Garetto (@laurengaretto) and Eder Campuzano (@edercampuzano) on Twitter.

The Eugene City Council on Wednesday approved a ban on fireworks south of 18th Avenue and east of Agate Street.

The decision was reached unanimously during an emergency meeting.

Eugene Mayor, Kitty Piercy opened the City Council meeting asking the Eugene community to make a sacrifice for the sake of the cities safety this 4th of July by considering a full firework ban that would go into effect immediately.

Originally the meeting was set to discuss passing either a full ban or no ban at all. After opinions from community members and members of the counsel were heard, a third option of a partial ban was brought to the table by councilor Greg Evans.

Some Eugene community members feared a full ban due to the fact that firework sales raise funds for many local churches, sports groups and bands. With a full ban, these groups would lose a large portion of funds.

In addition, some feared that a full city-wide ban would push people outside of city limits where fire risks would far more extreme.

With less than three days until the holiday, a partial ban seemed like the most time efficient decision while still keeping the Eugene community safe.

Evans says that the ban will remain effective throughout the year until the counsel meets again and comes up with another proposal to deal with the situation. After the fourth, they will work to make suggested “safe zones” where people are encouraged to set off their fireworks safely.

For those living in the restricted areas, Evans encourages families to enjoy their holiday with family or friends outside of that area.

“I can make you run faster.”

That’s what Pete Peterson, owner of Red Rooster Barber Shop, said to Steve Prefontaine in the early 1970s as he saw him passing his shop.

Peterson told Prefontaine that he noticed his hair getting in the way when he ran, and he could change that for him without compromising his iconic long hair. Since then, he was the official barber and friend of Steve Prefontaine.

“I was probably as cocky of a barber as Prefontaine was a runner back in those days,” Peterson said. “We became very good friends.”

Now, Oregon students and the Eugene community can get haircuts from the same man who gave Pre, and many others, their iconic looks.

Pete Peterson is the owner of the Red Rooster Barber Shop on East 13th Avenue. Although the shop is hard to notice from the outside, once customers enter they are immediately surrounded by sports memorabilia and Oregon history from the last fifty years.

There are stories to every object.

“I could go on forever and ever and ever and unfortunately I can’t remember them all; there’s just hundreds and hundreds,” Peterson said.

Peterson started cutting hair 49 years ago when he got his barber license as a fall-back job after leaving the military. About four years into barbering, the former owner of the Red Rooster recruited Peterson because he needed someone who could work on college students. He’s been at the shop ever since.

“I found that I enjoyed the people. Each person is different and every haircut is different,” Peterson said.

Peterson has been the official barber for famous athletes and coaches such as Bill Musgrave, George Seaford, Rich Brooks, Gunther Cunningham and Norv Turner. But Peterson says that some of his favorite clients have been the University of Oregon presidents.

Peterson says that he has befriended all of the last six presidents, and has remained friends with them after they left the university. In fact, some presidents left Peterson gifts when they left the school.

Bill Boyd, president from 1975-1980, gave him a set of presidential glasses from the UO when he left. That gift would normally be given to someone who has donated $1 million or more to the university. But Peterson says to get presidential glasses, “all you have to do is cut his hair.”

Aside from big name athletes and employees, Peterson’s cuts have been a family tradition for many in the Eugene community.

“I still have people who are coming in 45 years later,” Peterson said.

One of his clients, C.B. Koch, started getting his haircut at Red Rooster because his dad did — and has continued to do so since.

Koch is a famous Duck too. He was the only Ducks mascot at the UO in 1978 when he was 18 years old, back when the entire costume was just a head. Now, UO mascot duties are shared by six to seven people.

“I was the last one to wear the old fiberglass duck head,” Koch said.

Of course, with this many famous athletes, coaches and families coming to the shop, Peterson can’t do it alone.

Peterson runs his shop with one other man: Jim Lavender. Peterson recruited Jim from a corporate salon more than 20 years ago. Lavender says the shop has an ambiance that anyone can enjoy, and an atmosphere that customers can’t find anywhere else.

“Go to SuperCuts and ask to see the latest Playboy — you ain’t going to see it. Ask me, and I’ll go right in the back and get it for you,” Lavender said.

The two say that they have good business because they treat everyone equally — and consistently give “extraordinary” haircuts.

“We treat them (college students) just like anyone else. We joke with them and we make fun of them,” Lavender said.

The Red Rooster has not paid for advertising since the ’70s but the shop remains busy every weekday; it’s almost impossible to get into the shop without making an appointment.

Peterson and Lavender say that their skills are what keep people coming in the door.

“You wouldn’t be standing here cutting hair for 45 years if you were crappy at it,” Peterson said.

As for the future of Red Rooster, Peterson said that he is getting older and sees retirement in the near future. But until then, he will remain 13th’s favorite barber.

“When you get a haircut, you should get a good looking haircut, but you should also have a good time,” Peterson said. “Make friends out of your customers, and if you do that, they are going to come back.”

Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter: @laurengaretto 

Delta Sigma Phi fraternity members think they have finally found a philanthropy fundraiser that will contribute substaintially more money to the American Red Cross than they have in the past.

Each Greek chapter has its own philanthropy that it supports, and throughout the year the chapter will hold events to raise money for them. Some of the more well-known events are Sigma Chi’s Derby Days for the Make A Wish Foundation, Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash to raise money for Service for Sight, and Gamma Phi Beta’s Crescent Classic to support Girls on the Run, among many others.

But Delta Sigma Phi have struggled throughout the years to find a solid philanthropy event like the ones mentioned that they could get their brotherhood behind, says president Jon Workman.

“In the past few years that I’ve been a member, we’ve struggled in finding a mainstay,” Workman said. “We’ve been trying to find our niche in the market, you could say.”

Workman says that they tried events such as haunted houses, scavenger hunts and soccer tournaments to raise funds for the American Red Cross, but they weren’t getting the response or participation that they were looking for, Workman said.

While searching for another event, the fraternity found the answer in an unexpected place.

Workman says that at least a decade ago, Delta Sigs raised money through a car smash event. They would bring old cars to their house, and let people smash them up for money. After realizing this, Delta Sigma Phi didn’t look any further – they decided to attempt the smash event.

Luke Lundstrom, fundraising chair, took on the daunting task of trying to create yet another event for the fraternity that would hopefully be successful. What was even more daunting? Lundstrom is a freshman, and his predecessor was a senior. He had to do something his more experienced predecessors couldn’t do–find a fundraiser that would stick.

Lundstrom said that he was able to get three free cars from B & R Auto Wrecking, which kept the overall cost for the event very low. The fraternity charged one dollar per sledgehammer hit, and in their first year attempting the event, they raised about 750 dollars.

Workman says that they even had unexpected community involvement.

“We got enough involvement from not only fraternities and sororities, but also the general campus community that it’s something that we do want to continue,” Workman said.

Brotherhood Chairman Drew Forrest said that despite Lundstrom being a freshman who proceeded a senior in the position, he attains great leadership qualities that lead to this event being a success.

Forrest also says that it was an event that all members wanted to be a part of.

“It was something that everyone invested themselves into,” Forrest said. “It’s an attractive idea and I think that’s something that made it really successful.”

The fraternity says that they want to continue this event in the future, but continue to add to it in hope of raising as much money possible for the American Red Cross and officially make this their annual philanthropy fundraiser.

Two fire trucks responded to a fire at The Patterson apartments on 15th and Patterson Tuesday at 6 p.m. Firemen have confirmed there was a small kitchen fire. No one was hurt.

Resident of the apartment complex Danielle Bouchard says it was her neighbor who was cooking that set the fire off. Bouchard says that when her neighbor saw the small fire in her pan, she quickly put it out with the fire extinguisher that was in her house.

Leo Giles, Battalion Chief for the Eugene Fire Department, says that as a precaution they made everyone evacuate the building, including the neighboring restaurant Sushi Island.

The building is now clear.

With three times the amount of sexual assault within the community, Fraternity and Sorority Life has created programs to combat that statistic, and believes that it’s beginning to change the culture.

FSL’s sexual assault prevention task force was originally a recommendation by the ASUO sexual assault prevention task force. When FSL started the task force, they had set ideas of how to run it.  However, as time goes on , they are finding new ways to better educate their members in hopes to prevent sexual assault in their community and on campus.

Director of Sexual Assualt Prevention Kerry Frazee is leading representatives from each chapter to educate them on different aspects of sexual assault. Frazee said that members learn about consent, bystander intervention, social norms, gender norms, perpetrators use of alcohol and response process.

Frazee says what started as a model for individuals to bring back to their chapter as a 15-minute lesson has spurred into something much better. She said that chapter members have really taken the information and made it specific to their chapter, something that works well in the fraternity and sorority community.

“It (FSL) is designed to be a supportive community where you have resources and connections,” Frazee said. “I think there is so much value in having peers facilitate the discussion because there’s that trust of the person who is presenting. There’s also that full understanding of the population of the chapter, each chapter is different.” Frazee said that being able to individualize the lessons has created conversations among FSL that create engagement.

“Personally, I see the task force creating conversations within our chapter in regards to sexual assault prevention. Being able to talk about it in an environment with people who I trust makes having hard conversations easier too,” Delta Upsilon member Kyle Wizner said.

In addition, representatives from the task force are seeing this model unfold in a way that seems to really be working in their personal chapters.

Delta Tau Delta representative Zach Lusby said that a personalized approach for each house has made learning more effective.

“It’s impossible to gauge how effective these workshops are on an individual level because we all perceive them differently and they are instituted differently in every single house,” Lusby said. “Yes we’re still very focused on education, and we’re still incredibly devoted to ensuring that everyone is educated about it, but we’re also creating a conversation and I don’t think that’s necessarily as expected as it was when the task force was put in place.”

Lusby said that the ability to create conversations and engage with the community is what is really making this task force work. In fact, he said that he already feels safer in the fraternity and sorority community since the implementation of the task force.

“It’s hard to see that in a way that is represented through tangible numbers, and you just can’t do it. The statistics haven’t come out for the most recent climate survey, but I can say that at a social level things are beginning to change,” Lusby said. “On a personnel level, I am feeling more comfortable by the day.”