Editor’s note: This story contains offensive language.

The University of Oregon Phi Kappa Psi chapter has been temporarily suspended after a defamatory document printed with the fraternity’s name and the names of many of its members’ surfaced.

The 32-page document, which the Emerald obtained on Sunday, contains a list of the names of UO Phi Kappa Psi members followed by questions for each member. The questions contain anti-gay slurs, rape jokes, references to illegal drug use and derogatory language directed at women. The front page is labeled “Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi.”

When reached Wednesday morning, UO Phi Kappa Psi chapter president Michael Wagemann said that he “highly doubts” the document was made by a fraternity member, and he added that the fraternity does not “condone or promote” the language used in the document. Wagemann then referred the Emerald to Phi Kappa Psi’s national headquarters, who announced the suspension Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement to the Emerald, the national fraternity wrote, “This week, the Phi Kappa Psi National Headquarters became aware of a document containing derogatory messaging allegedly written about and/or by members of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter at the University of Oregon. The fraternity immediately launched a cooperative investigation with the University and placed the chapter on interim suspension during this review.”

Homophobic excerpts from the document include:

• “I hear you’re a Patriots fan, Are you actually from New England or are you just a fag?”
• “Do you fuck 2s every weekend to convince yourself that you’re not gay?”
• “what’s up faggot? Who have you gotten more nuts from this year, twitter sluts or your girlfriend?”
• “Does a girl run your snapchat account or are you really that gay?”
• “What’s it like to lose your girl to a bisexual male cheerleader?”

Several women outside of the fraternity are referenced in questions, such as:

• “Did [redacted] actually rape you or are you too embarrassed to admit that you willingly fucked her?”
• “Do you enjoy banging 3s or are you just too blind to tell that they’re beat?”
• “How many times have you had to expand your tinder radius to find a new whore to fuck?”
• “Can i have your sisters phone number? She’s just so fucking hot. How do you think she’d look on my dorm bed?”
• Do you get blacked out so often so the the 4’s you hook up with seem hotter?

Other excerpts include:

• “How many schools have you shot up?”
• “How many copies of Mein Kampf do you own?”
• “What’s higher, your grade point average or the points of molly you take at parties?”
• “Can you go one week without doing something utterly retarded?”
• “Who’s a softer pledge master, you or [name redacted]?”

UO’s investigation will include interviews with a random sample of new and current fraternity members, said assistant Dean of Students Marcus Langford. Using that information, a third-party investigator and the university will determine whether the chapter violated the UO Student Conduct Code.

“This is something that, quite frankly, I’m troubled by,” Langford said about the language in the document. “As an institution, it’s something that is counter to what we believe in.”

All of the chapter’s events and fraternity operations are suspended until the investigation is completed and the fraternity’s national headquarters and the university decide on further action, Langford said. The status of the fraternity’s pledges is “on pause” until the investigation is completed.

Langford did not give a timetable for the investigation.

UO Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Kris Winter added that the language used is discriminatory and may be a violation of other UO conduct codes relating to discrimination.

In 2015, UO sanctioned Phi Kappa Psi and six other fraternities for hazing, probation and disciplinary violations. The fraternity’s chapter house, located at the corner of East 11th and Hilyard Street, was featured in the 1978 movie Animal House and on College Weekly’s popular “Trending Houses” YouTube series.

Other chapters of Phi Kappa Psi have also faced recent controversy. A former Oregon State University student was found guilty of raping a woman at the OSU chapter’s fraternity house in 2015. Last year, Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska suspended its Phi Kappa Psi chapter until 2025 after reports of hazing, drug distribution and underage drinking.

The full document can be viewed here. The Emerald chose to redact students’ names.

Phi Kappa Psi national headquarters’ full statement is available here. 

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The Student Services and Enrollment Management department is having preliminary talks about the future of Hamilton and Walton halls — and a complete demolition is not out of the question.

“I want to emphasize that these are very preliminary thoughts,” said Roger Thompson, the vice president for Student Services and Enrollment Management. “We don’t have some drawing or plan for what we’re going to do in there, but we’re certainly thinking about what it might look like and what we might do differently.”

Thompson brought the proposal to a Campus Planning Committee meeting on April 17 and perceived the group’s reaction to be positive.

“We need a lot more discussion with the president and others, but the first place to start was with the Campus Planning Committee because they represent the faculty, students and staff,” he said.

Hamilton and Walton dorms, which currently house 753 and 558 students respectively, were constructed in the late 1950s and ‘60s. At the moment, Thompson said there are no conversations around the future of other older dorms such as Carson.

Thompson said that the costs of repairing broken heating and cooling systems in the facilities may outweigh the cost of building new dorms.

Additionally, Thompson said that the 2021 World Track and Field Championships will put the world’s eyes on Eugene, and putting UO’s “best foot forward” plays a role in the conversation.

UO will host athletes on campus, but Thompson said that housing athletes is “completely secondary to what we do for our own students.”

Conrad Nielsen, a freshman environmental sciences major and Hamilton resident, said that although he is not living in Hamilton next year, he empathizes with the people who will have to live through the construction.

Andrew Rossete, a freshman studying business administration, said that he enjoys living in Walton Hall and didn’t know that the building was almost five decades old.

“I really like living in Walton,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of connections and the community is cool, but there’s a lot of noise during the night and that’s my only complaint. I don’t know if I’d like living in a new dorm because I feel like it may be too modern. I like Walton because you can’t tell how old it is.”

Thompson said that students would be involved in the conversation around the future of the facilities, adding that he has already received input from Student Services Advisory Board meetings.

“We’ve been doing our due diligence about what the project itself would look like, what are the things we would have to consider,” he said. “I’d like us to keep the process moving about what it could potentially become.”

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University of Oregon law professor Nancy Shurtz, who was at the center of controversy in fall 2016 after a photo of her in black makeup at her Halloween party circulated online, will return to campus in July, following her one-year sabbatical in Florida.

Shurtz said after the incident that her costume was inspired by the memoir of a Black doctor dealing with racism in the U.S., and she intended for the costume to “provoke a thoughtful discussion on racism in our society.” Many in the UO community criticized her costume for including blackface makeup; over 1,200 UO students signed a petition calling on her to resign and 23 of Shurtz’s fellow faculty members penned an open letter calling on her to resign as well.

After the incident, she made an official apology to the UO community, which in part said, “I intended to create a conversation about inequity, racism and our white blindness to them. Regrettably, I became an example of it. This has been a remarkable learning experience for me.”

Following the incident, the university launched an investigation that found Shurtz guilty of violating UO’s anti-discrimination policies. As a result, Shurtz was placed on administrative leave. Shurtz will return to campus in July and teach classes in the fall.

“My heart is racing,” Shurtz said in an email interview with the Emerald. “Is the question am I ‘excited’ or ‘terrified’? This leave and sabbatical has been a long one, so I have missed being home and am eager to get back to the great Northwest, my home of 38 years.”

The findings of the investigation were published in a report released on Nov. 30, 2016. Despite the investigation’s conclusion that her costume violated UO’s policies, Shurtz says she did not wear blackface.

“That term is reserved for derogatory, mocking, and demeaning depictions of African-Americans,” she said. “At my private, off-campus Halloween party, I sought to challenge racism and provoke thought by depicting through my costume, a book — Dr. Damon Tweedy’s A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine. … At no time did I portray Dr. Tweedy, but I did want to honor him as a man of courage and insight.”

After the incident, UO Ethnic Studies professor Michael Hames-García contradicted Shurtz’s opinion in an editorial submitted to the Emerald:

“The possibility that Shurtz’s act was done with no deliberate racist intent to harm makes it worse in my view. It confirms everything I suspect and fear daily about the ignorance and callous disregard for black humanity among my colleagues and students,” Hames-García wrote.

Ofer Raban, a constitutional law professor at the law school, said that Shurtz is “legally and morally entitled to return to the law school.”

“The report failed to address Oregon constitutional law which is more protective of free speech rights than the federal constitution,” he said. “That’s relevant to the case and it wasn’t addressed.”

The part of the Oregon Constitution regarding freedom of speech says, “No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print freely on any subject whatever; but every person shall be responsible for the abuse of this right.”

Raban continued by saying that the findings of the conduct investigation didn’t take this part of the constitution into account.

“The report conceded that Nancy Shurtz’s expression was aimed at promoting racial equality, but that fact did not play any role in the legal conclusions,” he said.

The report says that UO policy prohibits even “unintentional discrimination.” The report stated that, “It is likely and even probable that her costume had a greater negative impact on students of color, because of the historical connotations of, and uses for, ‘blackface.’”

In a statement provided to the Emerald, UO spokesperson Tobin Klinger said the incident has had “a significant impact on the law school and the larger campus community,” but steps, such as curriculum review and school-wide workshops, are being taken to improve relations within the community.

Shurtz said that she cannot accurately predict what it will be like when she arrives on campus.

“The atmosphere can be expected to be challenging. I am going to try to exhibit the principle that one can make human mistakes and learn from the lessons,” she said. “I am going to teach that one needs to recognize a core of inner goodness that provides the basis for sound values and inner strength.”

Shurtz said that she has to be open to all forms of criticism and that rebuilding trust is a day-by-day process.

“I am hoping that a true exchange of thoughts can ensue and deeper mutual understanding attained. I am a human being.”

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A new ice cream pop-up named Dip It opened on the ground level of the EMU on Monday. The pop-up is located in the same storefront as Red Wagon Creamery, which closed in December after financial struggles and allegations of sexual harassment emerged against the owner.

The pop-up will be open for all of spring term and is run by University Housing. While Red Wagon sold ice cream served in cups and cones, Dip It takes a new approach to serving its product.

Customers can order a vanilla ice cream bar, frozen banana, ice cream sandwich or a Rice Krispy Treat, which is then dipped in chocolate and covered in toppings such as rainbow sprinkles and toffee bits. “I love ice cream and thought the dip concept was interesting,” said Eric Bertrand, Dip It’s creator. Bertrand says that the 62 percent Valrhona chocolate used by Dip It is one of the top varieties in the world.

Although it is early in the pop-up’s life, Bertrand says that customers are interested. “It’s the first day and business has been good so far.”

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University of Oregon College Democrats President Hannah Argento is calling on James Barber, a fellow Democrat, to back out of the race for East Lane County Commissioner. Barber, who works at Sixel Real Estate as a principal broker and has not previously held public office, posted multiple inappropriate and misogynistic social media posts from 2010 to 2013.

Barber’s posts, which included tweets soliciting Twitter users for photos from a topless beach and Facebook posts joking about oral sex, came to light a few weeks ago.

Barber wrote on Facebook in 2010, “Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich #factsaboutboys.”

Argento and other members of the UO College Democrats signed their names on the now-defunct website dropoutjames.com, which called for Barber to back out of the race. The website detailed his responses to the accusations, as well as screenshots of his older posts on social media.

In a letter posted on the website, the group said there were “no words” to describe what they saw of Barber’s posts.

“The continuation of his candidacy would set a precedent that would allow this derogatory rhetoric to continue demeaning women and discouraging them from the democratic process and that is unacceptable,” the letter read.

On March 30, Barber made a post on his campaign’s Facebook page addressing the posts, saying that he acknowledges that they are “inappropriate in their humor” and is sorry that he made a “contribution to a culture that objectifies and dehumanizes women.” On April 1, Barber met with Argento and other College Democrats to discuss the matter and apologize for his comments.

In an interview with the Emerald, Barber said the discussion went well.

“I was able to talk about my background, and they already know that the work I’ve been doing, that I am a different person than when I made those posts,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to add into this culture of objectification. I was ignorant about it at the time.”

In a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday, Barber detailed key points of that discussion, including how both parties got to understand how the other felt. He wrote that the College Democrats seek to help women in politics and keep misogyny out of elected positions, and that he felt attacked by what he saw as a “smear campaign” against him and that he has changed as a person since writing the posts.

“When faced with the inappropriate posts and their cringe-worthy content, I realized how much I had grown over the last 5 years,” he wrote. “Why would I be getting attacked over a handful of posts from so long ago, when I’ve clearly grown and changed?”

Argento said that despite accepting Barber’s apology as an individual, she holds a higher bar for how a future elected official thinks and acts.

“We thank James Barber for his apology and we accept it, however, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the candidate presented misogynistic viewpoints,” she said. “As a candidate, those posts and attitudes are unforgivable.”

The College Democrats made no endorsements for the race, but Argento said that under her leadership, the group will not endorse Barber.

“As long as I am president of College Democrats, I don’t believe that James Barber will ever receive our group’s endorsement,” she said.  

Argento said the decision was difficult, as it went against party lines.

“I stand by my personal belief that he should step down as a candidate,” Argento said. “It’s disappointing to see that he is supported and endorsed by so many Democrats who claim to support women.”

When asked about his reaction to the College Democrats’ refusal to endorse him in the future, Barber said that it’s not unexpected.

“There’s a female in this race who they had supported prior to this, and I did not expect that decision to change,” he said. “I fully respect their desire to see more women in office and for the most part I share that desire.”

Follow Michael Tobin on Twitter: @Tobin_Tweets

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Update at 1:55 p.m.: University of Oregon President Michael Schill sent an email to campus earlier this afternoon addressing these incidents. “There is nothing more important than the safety and well-being of our students,” Schill wrote. “We are writing to share information about the steps we are taking to address off-campus safety, and to urge everyone on campus to take care of each other.”

Schill wrote that the UOPD is working closely with the Eugene Police Department so that both departments can share information and tactics. UOPD is also working with the Oregon Department of Justice to install neighborhood cameras this week. 

Two University of Oregon students were the victims of serious crimes near the UO Campus, according to an email announcement sent out by UO Police Department Monday night.

On the evening of March 17, a student said he was walking to Tom’s Market on 19th and Agate Street when he was grabbed by an unknown man, dragged into a car, driven to an unknown location and then sexually assaulted. The suspect, who was described as a thinly built, 6 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 4 inches white male wearing a black hoodie, black pants, and a black bandana, fled on foot. The survivor provided no description of the driver.

The second incident occurred on the afternoon of March 15. The victim was a UO student walking on 15th Avenue between Alder and Kincaid. The student said she was approached by three men speaking Spanish; one of them pushed her up against a car while the other two tried to cut the straps of her backpacks with knives. After pulling out her phone and telling the men she called the police, the suspects fled.

According to the email, the student described the first suspect as white, around 25 years old and about 6 feet tall with a lean build. He had blond collar-length hair, was clean shaven and had brown or hazel eyes. He was wearing a red Columbia jacket and an Oregon baseball hat.

The email described the second suspect as a 28 to 30 year old Hispanic man weighing about 280 pounds and wearing a blue-striped shirt. The knife he used had a six-inch fixed blade with blue electrical tape on the handle.

The third suspect was described as a 28 to 30 year old Hispanic man wearing a white tank top and using a pocket knife. The email described him as taller than 6 feet with a medium build. The suspect had dark black hair in a short ponytail, was clean shaven, and had brown eyes

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Emerald Media Group’s Board of Directors has selected Zach Price as the Emerald’s 2018-2019 Editor in Chief.

Price is studying journalism and joined the Emerald’s Arts and Culture desk as a reporter in 2016. He became an associate editor on the desk at the beginning of 2017.

“I’m really excited where we can take the Emerald and am excited to work with the staff,” Price said. “It will be good to bring new people into the Emerald and continue to teach and do great journalism.”

Price is focused on multimedia content and expanding the Emerald’s digital presence.

Ben Schorzman, the Board’s director, said that the decision to select Price comes as the Emerald is searching for a new publisher.

“With a new publisher being hired this spring, we are in a transition this year and felt that someone with strong leadership qualities was necessary,” Schorzman said. “In our opinion, his leadership qualities stood out to us, and we were impressed by his vision in his presentation.”

Schorzman said that Price understands that the Emerald’s readership is evolving and that the Emerald must find new ways to reach readers.  

“He knows that fewer people are reading us in print. He has some really good ideas for multimedia and video and creating a focus on digital storytelling.”

Fellow Arts and Culture associate editor Dana Alston said that Price is extremely dedicated to the desk.

“Zach is an excellent choice to be Editor in Chief,” Alston said. “He’s always been hard working, knowledgeable and dedicated to his job. I think he’ll bring that same level of dedication to his new position.”

Price will continue working on the Arts and Culture desk and shadow current Editor in Chief Jack Pitcher until June.

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Stefan Strek is a 27-year-old University of Oregon student who studies art and French and works on campus. On his Facebook page, Strek writes things like, “Reasons women are like cats,” — he gives 13 of them — and he reminisces about skipping class in high school to “drink malt liquor” and “get laid.”

He’s now taken on a new interest: running for Congress.

Strek is one of five Republican candidates running in the May primary election to determine who should represent Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane and Linn counties. Only one Democrat is challenging incumbent Peter DeFazio for his seat. Strek stands out from the other candidates who have run before and are significantly older. He’s the only candidate in one of the most politically contested districts of the country who wore a tank-top, flip-flops and baggy, multicolored swim trunks in front of a statue of the Sphinx at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Past experience

Strek isn’t new to local politics. In 2016, he ran for mayor of Eugene and received 1,003 votes, despite not holding any prior public office. In his mayoral application, Strek wrote that his only past political experience was going to the U.S. embassy in Caen, France, to celebrate the 4th of July and drink whiskey and eat chicken wings with “top American and French politicians.”

Even though he lost the mayoral race, he told the Emerald that he received support from voters outside of Eugene.

“There was a large amount of people I spoke with who supported my viewpoints, but couldn’t vote for me since they didn’t live within city limits,” he said. “People like that I approach things objectively with an open mind.”

Strek said that running for office will give him a chance to better address issues that he cares about, such as veterans’ health care and Oregon’s foster care system.

“I care about people; I’ve seen way too many people that were let down by public policy,” he said. “I want to do what I can to make sure people are safe, have access to health care and have the economic opportunities so they have hope for the future.”

Issues

Strek is running as a Republican, but calls his politics “common sense.” Strek said that issues such as veterans’ health care and Oregon’s foster care system can be better addressed at the federal level. According to his preview in the voters’ pamphlet, Strek’s priorities include building a border wall, creating jobs, lowering taxes and “deporting-illegals.”

Other than economic issues, Strek is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment. In a January forum with the other Republican candidates, Strek said that if he won the general election he would “criminalize the infringement on Second Amendment rights” and that he would work to pass legislation that would imprison legislators who try to limit citizens’ access to guns. In an interview with the Emerald last Thursday, Strek said that the Second Amendment is “the foundation of what makes our country the greatest nation on earth,” and without it “we lose the entire Constitution.”

Social media presence

On social media, Strek does not hold back on what he chooses to share. In a Facebook post about South Eugene High School’s decision to change its mascot’s name from “Axemen” to “Axe,” Strek wrote that he spent half of his time in high school “skipping class to drink malt liquor downtown and the other half skipping class to get laid.”

Strek told the Emerald that voters would perceive posts like these positively.

“For the most part, everyone enjoys a good drink and a good time with their gender or nongender of choice… who doesn’t enjoy a good time in general?” he said. “It’s good to show transparency and that shows a significant level of progress that I met you here instead of drinking 40s downtown and meeting up with girls. I’m at a phase in my life where I don’t care about getting drunk every day. That’s just a fun time to look back on.”

Strek recently wrote on his Facebook page that women and cats are similar because they “pick on each other in unnecessarily complicated ways” and are “constantly grooming themselves.” When asked how women voters in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District would perceive this post, Strek said that they would perceive it positively.

“I mean, you think that’s wrong? Most girls have a pretty decent sense of humor and they appreciate cat references. Most girls like cats and identify with them,” he said. “I respect cats, just like I respect women.”

What’s next?

If he wins the primary in May, Strek says he hopes to gain to the support of UO’s voters in the November general election. Despite campaigning on controversial values like building a border wall and “deporting illegals,” he said he can win voters.

“If they took the time to think about it, yes, they would support me. I’ll work harder than anyone else in this race to get this job,” he said. “If elected, I will work harder than anyone else in Congress, and you can guarantee that.”

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Six months after the launch of the College of Design, some faculty members are complaining about a new level of bureaucracy and the fate of some of the old programs.

Also, some faculty members are unhappy over a controversial court decision that allows dean Christoph Lindner to control extra funds from a donor’s will that were intended only for books and photographs for the art history department.

Lindner, who became the dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts in 2016, proposed that the school undergo a massive restructure and become what is now known as the College of Design.

Established in fall 2017, the college is home to these schools: Architecture and Environment; Art and Design and Planning, Public Policy, and Management, as well as one department: the History of Art and Architecture.

Lindner said that the creation of the College of Design was a result of conversations about the school’s identity.

“We had a series of conversations around who we are and who we want to be. The College of Design is a result of that process,” Lindner told the Emerald.

The reorganization created three new faculty leadership positions known as “school heads,” in addition to the existing department and program heads.

“The school head is a bridge between programs and departments which exist inside the school,” Lindner said in an interview with the Emerald. “The school heads work with program and department leaders in their schools to make a leadership team. It’s a highly collaborative structure for a collective set of goals.”

But some faculty complain that the school heads complicate communication.

Dave Cecil, the executive director of United Academics, the union that represents faculty members on campus, says that the reorganization has caused confusion about who is responsible in each school.

“There’s now a layer between faculty members and the dean,” he said. “Now there’s a little bit of unclarity of who to go to when a problem arises. There’s a new layer of bureaucracy.”

According to Cecil, faculty members feel that they were not consulted before certain programs, such as Arts and Administration, were ended.

“Some of the faculty who worked here for decades felt they worked to make a successful program,” he said. “They felt as if the decisions were made unilaterally and that the dean wasn’t consulting them.”

Town Hall meeting

As a result of faculty members’ discontent about the changes that have occurred since the beginning of the 2017 school year, Cecil held a town hall meeting for union-only faculty members last week.

Faculty became uncomfortable when Patrick McCusker, a fundraiser for the college and a non-union member, appeared at the meeting and photographed their discussion of the state of the college.

But Lindner said that McCusker’s appearance at the meeting was a misunderstanding. According to Lindner, McCusker saw an announcement about the town hall on UO Matters, a blog run by economics professor Bill Harbaugh. The post did not say that the meeting was closed to non-union members.

According to UO spokesman Tobin Klinger, McCusker’s presence can be explained by the fact that his job requires him to understand the climate at the college.

“Development officers are constantly looking to learn more about what’s going on with the faculty and what’s going on with every facet of the college they’re representing.”

Lindner offered an apology and said that McCusker’s attendance was “a terrible misunderstanding.”

Changes to the Marion Ross Fund

Restructuring of elements from the College of Design, formerly called the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, took place not only on campus but in the courts as well.

Controversy arose when excess funds from the Marion Dean Ross Fund were repurposed to fund activities unrelated to the original intent of the fund.

Professor Marion Ross was the first chair of the department of art history at the UO. Ross died in 1991 and instructed the Board of Trustees of the non-profit UO Foundation to establish the Marion Dean Ross Foundation, a private endowment which at the time was worth $1.2 million and increases in value each year. Ross left two co-personal representatives to his will; the only who is still living is Thomas L. Price, a longtime friend of Ross.

According to court documents obtained by the Emerald, Ross’ will stipulates that the fund should be used only to purchase photographs and books on the history of architecture, which would be used by the art history department. Ross’ will also says that the photographs and books will be selected by the department of art history.

But in November 2017, the UO Foundation petitioned the Lane County Circuit Court to modify Ross’ will, despite Price not giving his consent to the modification. In a letter sent to UO Foundation General Counsel Wendy Laing, Price said that the proposed changes to the Ross Fund were “contrary to [Ross’] intent.”

Lindner said that changing the fund was justified because most of the money is being spent on books and photographs, and the remainder of the fund is still going toward the department.

“The whole point of that fund is to support art history and that’s exactly what’s happening,” Lindner said. “In an environment of very limited resources, we’re giving that department access to more support to use on itself and its students.”

According to court documents, the UO Foundation argued that Oregon law allows for modifications of trusts to be made if a “particular charitable purpose becomes wasteful.”

For example, the UO Foundation said that the annual distributable amount from the fund in 2016-17 was $94,000, which is more than the art history department spent on books and photographs that year.

Despite Price’s objections — and the original intent of the Ross Fund — the Lane County Circuit Court allowed the UO Foundation to modify the trust so that excess funds are under Lindner’s discretion. According to the judgment document, the excess funds will be used for costs such as Ph.D. fellowship support and research-related expenditures.

Richard Sundt, a former UO professor who knew Ross, disagrees with the modifications made to the fund by the UO Foundation.

“The rationale for modification of the will seems to be based on questionable grounds and conflicting data. We need transparency and clarity,” he said. “The dean and the department have shown remarkable little vision as to what a fully funded Ross bequest can accomplish and has already accomplished.”

This article has been updated to more accurately reflect the conflict over the Marion Ross Fund, and it has an additional comment by Christoph Lindner from an interview with The Emerald last week.

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A student said she was robbed at gunpoint this morning around 3:00 a.m. near East 16th Ave. and Hillyard Street, according to a campus crime alert.

Based on the information she provided to Eugene Police, the suspect is described as a “black male in his mid-20s, with a heavy build, wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and light colored jeans, and possibly with a nose ring” and described the gun as silver.

Eugene Police said the suspect was last seen going west on East 16th Ave. away from Hillyard Street.

Eugene Police encourage anyone who has information related to the crime to contact the non-emergency line at 541-682-5111.

The Emerald will continue to report on this story if developments occur.

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