More than a dozen students stood in a circle in front of the Erb Memorial Union on Monday, silently protesting the hate crimes that have occurred on the University of Oregon campus recently.

Protestors carried signs and handed out fliers explaining the reasoning for their demonstration: “It was necessary for our communities to come together and organize this silent demonstration mirroring the silence that we are subjugated to every day as underrepresented students.”

Here are some photos of the protest.

The post Photos: UO students silently protest campus hate crimes appeared first on Emerald Media.

More than a dozen students stood in a circle in front of the Erb Memorial Union on Monday, silently protesting the hate crimes that have occurred on the University of Oregon campus recently.

Protestors carried signs and handed out fliers explaining the reasoning for their demonstration: “It was necessary for our communities to come together and organize this silent demonstration mirroring the silence that we are subjugated to every day as underrepresented students.”

Here are some photos of the protest.

The post Photos: UO students silently protest campus hate crimes appeared first on Emerald Media.

This week’s ASUO meeting had a busy agenda ahead of a short Thanksgiving holiday week.

4 new appointments to various positions started the ASUO meeting.

Myles Vigoda was appointed to the Program Finance Committee unanimously by the senate. Vigoda, an economics major, has had prior experience with ASUO and with budgeting which made him a stand out to the senate.

Mathieu Wilson was appointed to a position on the EMU Board of Executives unanimously by senate. Wilson has experience with other student organizations at other academic institutions he has attended and he wants to use his experience as a transfer student to get involved and share his experience.

“As a new student to the University of Oregon,” Wilson stated on his application, “I am interested in this role as a way to get involved and to be able to share my perspectives as a transfer student.”

Lucas Eschelbach was appointed to Senate Seat 4 unanimously. Eschelbach is a current EMU employee and feels his experience sets him apart from others when it comes to managing funds.

“My interest in this role is derived, first and foremost, by a desire to represent and serve my fellow University of Oregon students,” Eschelbach stated on his application.

Montserrat Mendez Higuera was appointed to the position of First Year Representative unanimously by senate. She hopes to learn more about how the ASUO functions and to how she can benefit UO. This position is not a voting position but does give her influence with the senate.

Financial business was next and many groups were requesting funds.

SELF was requesting $20,800 from ASUO for a large conference the group is planning early 2017. The students advocating for the event hope to sell out tickets to the conference which would be held in Straub 156.  The funds from ticket sales would hopefully allow for a smaller funding request in the future from the ASUO.

Max Burns requested to table the funding request due to how large the amount requested was and because he, and other senators, did not feel adequately informed about the event.

“I think that we need more time to think about it,” Burns said. The request was tabled until the next ASUO meeting in 2 weeks.

The Muslim Student Association was requesting $1,201 of their allocated funds be moved to other designated areas for upcoming events they will be holding throughout the year. The request was approved unanimously.

VFSA, after a contentious discussion, was granted their revised request of $9,634. The student veterans requested the funds for an upcoming conference that 13 members of the group will be participating in. The discussion to reduce the cost of the funds allocated came up due to the original funding request of $10,709.

Stand Up Society was requesting $1,700 from surplus for a workshop that will be taught by Alex Falcone, a Portland comedian. The money will be used for the workshop to teach upcoming comedians how to do stand-up. The request was approved

U R Awesome was requesting $50 to be transferred from Food for Midterms Kisses to Food for Finals Kisses. The student group hands out chocolates to students around campus and provides words of support during finals. The request was approved.

The Murdock Trust Resolution interrupted the Financial Business as it was scheduled earlier on the Agenda.

Murdock Trust requests the ASUO pass a resolution to defund the Murdock Trust because of its support of anti-lgbtq groups and groups that actively seek to undermine worker rights.

“Resolution to condemn the Murdock Trust for funding Organizations in the Pacific Northwest that harm the University of Oregon Community”

A member of the Freedom foundation showed up at the meeting to voice the reason why ASUO should not approve this resolution.

Working groups were next on the agenda.

Senator Pablo Alvarez proposed a resolution to put more pressure on faculty and students who commit acts of racism. The resolution is still in its developmental phase and Alvarez gave an update on its progress.

OSPIRG Save the Bees resolution was approved by the senate. The resolution would call on UO administration and Congress to put a moratorium on neonicotinoid pesticides responsible for the death of bee populations.

The senate concluded the evening with Benchmarks which included The EMU Board being granted an increase of 4.15% to their budget for the 2016-17 cycle. Other benchmark allocations for the 2016-17 cycle can be found here. Benchmarks are not binding, but projections for the future.

The senate also changed the language in certain bylaws.

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here.

The post ASUO Wrap-Up Nov. 16 appeared first on Emerald Media.

After recent weeks of racial discrimination and protests, the ASUO is taking steps to unify the student body. The move to create a resolution would give the ASUO a clear standing on where they stand and put pressure on  administration to act when in incidents of racism occur.

The resolution was first created and proposed by Senator Pablo Alvarez who wanted the ASUO to take a definitive stance against acts of racism. Some of the resolution’s points would call on UO administration to clearly demonstrate to the student body that the university’s administration is making it a top priority to hire faculty of color and retain students of color. ASUO wants the university to  set a national precedent, showing that concerns of racial discrimination should be a top priority.

Alvarez further emphasized, in the resolution, the blackface incident that occurred over the Halloween weekend that involved a UO professor. The resolution discussed the administration’s slow response to releasing details on the professor alleged to have donned blackface.  

“Acknowledge this racist practice as more than an isolated incident,” the resolution stated. “To acknowledge it for the past and present institution of racism which students of color face on a daily basis at the University of Oregon.”

The resolution was tabled for two weeks in order for senator Alvarez to seek input from student groups around campus. The resolution has further need for revision but the senate has finalized few items.

Max Burns, senate president, spoke about the need to incorporate the student body when deciding on resolutions such as these.

“There hasn’t been any progress on the senate side,” Burns said. “A lot of senators felt uncomfortable about not incorporating the broader campus community and so we asked Senator Alvarez to take the resolution to them.”

The impact of the resolution, if passed, would be only symbolic in its purpose. It would act as a means for unifying the student body and creating a more inclusive university. Vickie Gimm, ASUO senator, spoke about the purpose of passing resolutions.

“The resolution as it is stands is just to have it serve as a statement for senate,” Gimm said. “We can only put pressure on something. We can only make a statement. Resolutions can also make policy changes in senate by laws or the way senate functions year to year.”

The resolution has some further progress to make before it can pass. There will be no action on it for the next two weeks. But the need to pass a resolution as symbolic as this would be in its best interest to pass sooner than later.

“If they wait too long it might not even be effective,” Gimm said. “It might be useless.”

The post ASUO proposing new resolution to combat racism on campus appeared first on Emerald Media.

We went to the ASUO meeting and here is the recap:

After an unprecedented presidential election and a tumultuous night of protests on campus, ASUO decided to keep the meeting short and focus only on financial business at hand.

5 groups requested funding or money transfers from ASUO. All of the groups were granted funding. 

1. The University of Oregon Rotaract Club requested $250 to be moved from Food for Community Outreach to Food for Induction Ceremony. “We are moving money from a line item that is for food which we don’t use, to food for the induction ceremony that we have for all new members,” the Rotaract club application said. “A lot of freshman joined the club this year, so we need more money then expected to cover the costs.” The Rotaract Club’s funding was granted
2. Divisi requested $900 for out of state travel. The acapella group is planning on going to Berkeley, California for a performance in the West Coast A Capella festival. “We are one of 2 groups from Oregon that has been invited to perform and we are very excited,” the group’s application for funding said. “We will be using this money to stay at hotels. We have gone the last couple of years without requesting any money from ASUO for homestays. This year the way they organized it the only way to go is if we have hotel rooms.” After performing a song for the senators, Divisi’s funding request was approved.
3. The UO Chess Club requested a transfer of $170 from their tournament budget to their equipment budget. The UO Chess Club’s request was approved and the money will be used to purchase different items that they say will help them hold better tournaments and have the tournaments meet the guidelines of the US Chess Federation’s Rules of Chess more adequately.
4. Oregon Life requested $1729.80 for upcoming retreats the group is planning. $500 of the total amount would go towards food and the rest would cover the costs of the retreat. “The money will be used for Oregon Life Annual Retreat,” the application for funding stated. “This event offers Oregon Life a good opportunity to enhance the cultural and physical development of students.” After Senate President Max Burns voiced favor of the request, the senate voted to approve the funds for Oregon Life.
5. Envision Journalism requested $210 for pizza for their first publication launch. The food will be free for all who attend. Envision Journalism’s request was approved after conversation about if the funds could be made available in time for the event on Thursday, Nov. 10.

The meeting was adjourned directly after financial business was finished.

The post ASUO Wrap-Up 11/9/16 appeared first on Emerald Media.

After a night of heavy protests on campus and across the US, ASUO executive representatives released a joint statement regarding the presidential election. In the statement, the executives wanted ensure that the rhetoric of Donald Trump over the past year is not condoned by ASUO and is abhorred.

“We want to make it extremely clear,” the statement said, “that as representatives of the student body, we absolutely do not condone the blatant islamophobia, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, ableism and homophobia conducted by our nation’s president-elect.”

The ASUO executives released this statement in hopes to ease tensions and promote a sense of inclusiveness after a divisive election cycle.

“We released it so that students know they’re supported,” Quinn Haaga said about the joint statement.

The statement also urges students to take care of themselves and seek help if needed by contacting the counseling center. Kyle Heiner, the communications director for ASUO, provided comments about why the executives decided to release a statement for the student body.

“We are concerned about the impact Trump’s behavior will have on marginalized communities and wanted to make sure their voices are validated and they know there are resources for them to reach out to if they need them,” Heiner stated. This is a troublesome time for our country and ensuring students are safe on campus is our first priority.”

The post ASUO executives release statement following Donald Trump victory appeared first on Emerald Media.

Measure 97’s failure spurred Oregon public colleges to continue the effort to fund higher education. On Wednesday, the presidents of Oregon’s seven public universities signed a joint letter that asked for $100 million in funding for higher education.

“The universities have collectively been thinking about how they are going to jointly approach the state legislature for additional investment,” UO spokesman Tobin Klinger said.

According to Klinger, the letter was written in response to the failed measure because higher education may have received funds from tax revenue.

“As our elected leaders weigh difficult budget decisions, we urge them to invest a minimum of $100 million for Oregon’s university students to continue to clamp down on student costs and debt,” the joint letter said. “This investment will allow all campuses to keep tuition increases to a manageable level for the next two years and ensure that students can graduate without taking on a lifetime of debt.”

The letter urged lawmakers and the governor to put money toward higher education so tuition costs can remain at a reasonable level for the next two years.

Funding would be split among the seven universities that signed the letter. Community colleges in the state will approach the legislature separately, Klinger said. If accepted, the money will be divided between the schools by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, Klinger said.

The failed measure would have put further taxes on the largest corporations in the state with the funds going toward education and healthcare. The measure would have helped ease the state budget deficit of $1 billion. Many hoped that although no language in the Measure mentioned higher education, funds would make their way to UO. 

Last month, Kurt Wilcox, a board of trustees member, voiced concern for students if the measure were to not pass. “If we are going to pay for those costs, we are going to have to make significant cuts. We are going to have to raise tuition by double digits unless we pass ballot Measure 97.”

The Legislative Revenue Office, a nonpartisan group, found that costs for consumers could cost approximately $600 a year if the Measure passed, according to the Oregon Voter’s Pamphlet.

Voters rejected the proposed gross sales tax with a “No” vote tallying 52.63 percent compared to a 47.37 percent “Yes” vote.

The post Oregon public college presidents ask state for $100 million appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Associated Students of the University of Oregon is a student run government that allocates student money and represents the student body at UO. The student-government, since its inception, has held some form of control of the Incidental Fee — a mandatory fee that students pay. The Incidental Fee pays for student organizations, contracts and student services. Today, students spend $233.75 per term on the incidental fee.

The Executive Cabinet of ASUO consists of the Student Body President, their Internal and External Vice Presidents, and a Cabinet of 24 appointees. The current ASUO President, Quinn Haaga has been in the position since Spring term where she campaigned under I’m with UO.

“The ASUO is the student body government led by students for students,” Haaga said. “We have a budget of about $16 million and one of our biggest responsibilities is allocating that to various student-run organizations, contracts and various services for students.

Listen to the Emerald podcast with Connor Kwiecien and Miguel Sanchez-Rutledge about the ASUO below.

The Legislative Branch, which is the ASUO Senate, handles allocations of funds and policy making. It consists of 23 elected Senators from every academic major. The Senate handles the Incidental Fee and how it is distributed to UO student-organizations. The Senateis the public facing division of ASUO and they hold weekly public meetings where they discuss policy and financial issues.

The Judicial Branch, also known as the Constitutional Court, is the division of ASUO that reviews and retains all knowledge of ASUO law. According to the ASUO website, the Judicial Branch mainly works in the background and focuses on making sure the rest of ASUO upholds the laws set forth.

“This review power covers almost any action by ASUO government bodies, programs, and in special cases such as elections, actions by individual students within programs,” According to the ASUO website. “The Court has broad powers to impose sanctions in order to compel compliance with its rulings. Court appointees serve as long as they remain students at the University of Oregon.”

Vickie Gimm, a senator in ASUO, has been involved with the Multicultural Center since her freshman year, and has worked with ASUO as the MCC coordinator prior to her appointment to senate. She described how important it is for students to care about what ASUO is doing.

“The incidental fee is important because we are responsible for so many services and because this is the only way students can maintain our autonomy because this is the only resource we have as students that is actually going to go directly to benefit students.”

ASUO wants students to be more involved and to care about how the government that represents them is being handled. Haaga encouraged students to participate and stay informed about ASUO when they can.

“Throughout the year definitely lookout for openings for different senate seats or different finance committee positions,” Haaga said, “because those open up semi-frequently and it’s a good way to get involved.”

ASUO holds weekly public meetings in the EMU Miller room every Wednesday at 7 p.m.. ASUO has some open position including an Elections Work Coordinator they are hoping to fill prior to elections in the Spring. Members all have office hours during the week and for more information on how students can speak to them or how students can become involved the ASUO website has a wealth of information.

The post Understanding ASUO and why it matters appeared first on Emerald Media.

Newly appointed ASUO senator, Vickie Gimm, plans to use her position to better reflect the student body of the University of Oregon. Gimm, an ethnic studies and sociology major, was appointed to Senate seat 1 on Oct. 19 after a divided ASUO eventually voted her into the position.

Gimm has been in the spotlight since she first started at UO because of the positions she has held within the Multicultural Center. During her freshman year, Gimm was attracted towards becoming more involved with student organizations. During her time as outreach coordinator in the MCC, Gimm was involved with dozens of student programs.

“I wandered into the multicultural center and before I knew it I was on staff,” Gimm said. “I spent my freshman and sophomore year as the outreach coordinator and through that I worked with a ton of different student programs.”

Gimm is an authorized signer of funds for many student organizations and has a vast knowledge of dealing with budgets of various sizes including the MCC’s budget of  $160,000. Student organization budgets can range from $200 to over $200,000. Some of the organizations that Gimm has been involved with through this position are the Black Student Union, Moviemento Estudiantil Chicano De Atzlan (MEChA) and various others.

Gimm decided to run for an open senate position because she felt that ASUO needed more individuals who are familiar with the vast number of student organizations at UO.

“ASUO is responsible for a lot of programs,” Gimm said. “They make decisions that affect all of these communities and I felt like, as people from these communities, we should probably be involved in those decision making processes.”

The executive board chose Gimm out of a pool of candidates they believed would best reflect the values of ASUO. Quinn Haaga, ASUO president, introduced Gimm to the senate body and expressed the full support of the executive branch for the candidate.

“She offers a unique and incredibly valuable perspective that we believe does not currently exist on either of these bodies,” Haaga said. “Vickie has been advocating for students since the day she arrived on this campus.”

The process for Gimm’s approval onto Senate was met with debate. The Oct. 19 meeting called into question Gimm’s personal demeanor towards ASUO members. Senator Hao Tan recalled social media posts that Gimm posted during last Spring’s elections to question her on her biases.

“There are members on this board that the candidate [Gimm] has either directly or indirectly attacked on social media,” Tan said.

Other candidates were compelled to express their concerns about Gimm’s rhetoric including senator Awab Al-Rawe.

“I am happy with the candidate’s qualifications,” Al-Rawe said. “However, I am concerned about some of the comments that I’ve heard and the use of language that I’m not comfortable with.”

After the questioning that took up the majority of the ASUO meeting, Gimm found the senate members’ disapproval of her to be contradictory to some of past guest speakers the ASUO had granted funding for in the past.  

“It was pretty ironic how they [ASUO] kept going on about free speech and I somehow am limiting the rights of free speech of certain controversial speakers,” Gimm said. “What about me? What about my rights for free speech and my rights of expression? I felt it was contradictory.”

Gimm called into question ASUO’s definition of freedom expression when they approved the controversial journalist, Milo Yiannopoulos.

“Throughout my years of experience observing ASUO,” Gimm said, “I’ve noticed that free speech rights only apply to people of certain communities and they aren’t granted to people of marginalized identities.  It baffles me that being an spoken advocate and being a woman of color is somehow controversial in the eyes of the ASUO.”

With Gimm’s appointment to Senate, she hopes to bridge the divide that lingers with the ASUO and the entire student body.

“I want to do the best that I can to work in collaboration and communicate with these groups,” Gimm said. “It is important to make sure that people of marginalized identities are a part of these decision making processes.”

The post Newly appointed Senator Gimm hopes to make change in ASUO appeared first on Emerald Media.

Here’s the recap for this week’s ASUO meeting:

There were four groups requesting funds or transfer of funds for various student organizations. One of the groups was tabled until next week.

1. ASUO executive members requested multiple different transfers of funds. The first transfer came from Food for Retreat to Food for Finance Retreat of $5. The second transfer came from Food for Retreat to Food for Special Events of $5. The remaining $1,225 was to pay for the first month’s stipend of the new core team of the ASUO executive.
2. Arab Student Union requested a transfer of $1,000 from Weekly Discussion Forum to Food for Weekly Discussion Forum.
3. BOTA requested a transfer of $150 from Food for Coding Workshop to Food for Development Workshop.
4. Oregon Life requested $500 for their Feed the Ducks event. The money would go towards general event equipment including table clothes, napkins and utensils.
5. U R Awesome was not present for a request and was tabled until next week.

All requests were approved unanimously by ASUO.

The ASUO discussion was dominated by the recent news of UO faculty member Nancy Shurtz dressing up in blackface for Halloween. Senator Perla Alvarez presented five proposals in the resolution to combat racism at UO. The resolution was tabled at the request of multiple senators so that the resolution could be crafted and more effectively presented. Some of the current proposals of the resolution include:

1. To acknowledge this racist practice as more than an isolated incident.
2. To denounce any claims of ignorance or goodwill deriving from the faculty member.
3. To clearly demonstrate to the student body that the university’s administration is making it a top priority to hire faculty of color and retain students of color.
4. To be more transparent when communicating problematic issues, such as the one this resolution addresses, that concern the university as a whole.
5. To set a national precedent at the collegiate level demonstrate that concerns of racial discrimination should be a top priority.

Oregon Students Public Interest Research Group also requested a resolution for ASUO to support their efforts to call on the Environmental Protection Agency to put a moratorium on bee killing pesticides nationally and for UO and students to stop the use of neonicotinoids. The resolution was tabled for one week to allow senators to do further research.

ASUO discussed future edits on the bylaws which they decided to work on at a later date.

ASUO announced they will not be having a senate meeting the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.

The post ASUO Wrap-Up 11/2/16 appeared first on Emerald Media.