After qualifying for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Northwest Quarterfinals on Nov. 15, University of Oregon acappella groups Divisi and Mind the Gap are aiming to win the top two spots and setting their sights to qualify for finals.

Both Mind the Gap, a co-ed acappella group, and Divisi, an all-female acappella group, were selected out of over 40 other groups in the region to compete in the Northwest quarterfinals after submitting a video performance to Varsity Vocals, the organization that hosts the competitions. At quarterfinals, the two groups will compete against eight other groups to advance to semifinals.

At the competitions, groups are judged on the vocal and visual performance during their three-song set. In order for groups to qualify for ICCA Finals, they must secure a place in the top two in quarterfinals to advance to semifinals, and then earn first place to qualify for finals.

Neither group has ever advanced beyond semifinals, but both Macy Hyland, Business Manager of Mind the Gap, and Caitlin Byers, Divisi’s Musical Director, say that their groups are working to refine their skills and are determined to qualify and even win the finals.

At last year’s quarterfinals, Mind the Gap earned first place and received awards for best soloist, best choreography and best arrangement. However, they did not place in semifinals.

Hyland said the group is determined to qualify for finals and is focusing on improving the visual aspects, such as storytelling.

“Mind the Gap has only gotten better [and] we have the makings of a winning group. This is the first time having a group where every person is goal-orientated,” Hyland said. “Every person is in it to win it.”

For Divisi, an all-female group, this is the first time the group will compete after a two-year hiatus. Byers says that the group decided to take a break from competition in 2013 to record its second album and in 2014, to find a new sound after receiving many new members.

Despite the hiatus, Byers is confident in the group’s ability to qualify and win finals.

Byers says the group has managed to find its sound quicker than past groups of Divisi and that members are coming with strong backgrounds in performance that will help them perform well at competitions.

“In my time [with Divisi], this is the best that we’ve ever sounded,” Byers said.

Although the two groups will be competing against each other in quarterfinals, sophomore Maddy Gourlay, a member of Mind the Gap, hopes that the groups will sweep first and second place so that both Mind the Gap and Divisi qualify for semifinals.

“It’s great to have UO represented by more than one group [at quarterfinals]. We are confident in our set and we want to see them do well too,” Gourlay said.

The ICCA Northwest Quarterfinal will take place on Jan. 30 in Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin, Oregon at 7 p.m.

The Equestrian Club’s Western and Hunt Seat teams respectively earned third and sixth place out of nine at its first competition at Linn-Benton Community College. Three riders are now in the hunt to qualify for nationals.

Equestrian Club President Courtney Horan says this year’s team is one of the best teams she has seen since she joined the club her freshman year.

At the level the team is currently performing, Horan says that the team, with a freshman-dominated club, will only get better in the future.

Three-year member, Chiara Ciacci says the first competition for newcomers is difficult because they have to adjust to new rules and riding random horses — a process that is designed to create an equal playing field.

Despite adjustments that newcomers make, all new members placed in their classes.

Horan says that three individuals, Jessica Barker, Hannah Gray and Ciacci, are currently front runners to qualify for spots at the national competition in May in Lexington, Kentucky.

Barker and Gray placed first and third in Western, and Ciacci placed third and sixth in open flat and open fences for Hunt Seat. All three riders are in class 15, the most advanced and skilled group of riders at competitions.

“[Our club’s] abilities and understanding of horsemanship and riding are the best that we’ve ever had,” Horan said.

In order for individuals to qualify for nationals, riders must first earn a total of 28 points – riders earn more points the higher they place in events – to compete at regionals. From that point, riders must finish in the top two in regionals and the top two in their zone – which includes California, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, and New Mexico.

Ciacci is hoping to return to nationals this year after qualifying for it her freshman year. Ciacci says she is somewhat disappointed with her recent performance at Linn-Benton Community College where she lost focus and made technical mistakes in fences. Despite that, Ciacci is optimistic that she will make it to nationals. Ciacci plans to focus on the small nuances of riding that will make her “better than the rest.”

“I’m at the best level I’ve ever been technically in my position and riding,” Ciacci said.

Starting her first season with the club, Barker, who is ranked first in the nation for Western, is confident that she has the necessary skills to qualify for nationals. However, she is still working on the presentation aspect of riding to get even better.

“I’m at a level […] that it should be my goal to qualify for nationals,” Barker said.

Barker is also confident in the club’s abilities to become even stronger in the future because of every riders’ strong background in riding.

“We are going to dominate in the upcoming years. We don’t need to learn anything new. We just need to practice,” Barker said.

Part-time employees and graduate teaching fellows of the university are receiving sick leave benefits for the first time thanks to a new law.

Oregon’s “Mandatory Sick Leave Law” went into effect Jan. 1 and requires employers to provide sick leave to all of their employees. For the University of Oregon, this grants sick leave to Graduate Teaching Fellows, university-employed students, temporary workers and part-time faculty for the first time, Senior Director of Labor and Employee Relations Bill Brady said.

“Previously the only group on campus who were accruing sick leave were [Service Employees International Union workers]. This extends the right to [ part-time officers of administration], faculty, students, and GTFs,” Brady said.

Student employees will accrue one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, which is the minimum required by the new law. Although this law extends sick leave to student employees for the first time, some expressed concern that it is not enough.

Freshman Theresa Wanner works for UO Dining Services. She says that some students work longer shifts than others, some up to eight hours, and that the minimum requirement is not enough.

Student employees typically work between 10 and 20 hours per week. Under the minimum requirement, full-time employees receive eight days after working for a year.

“[The amount of sick leave students get] is nothing,” Wanner said. “If it’s just a cold, you can come in. But if it’s really bad, you need more.”

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation negotiated with the university in the fall and will receive greater benefits than the law requires. GTFs will accrue two days of sick leave for each term they are employed and receive an extra day for the first term they are employed.

Shawna Meechan, president of GTFF, says that the group negotiated for per-day sick leave rather than per-hour sick leave for GTFs because it makes more sense for them. Some GTFs work irregular hours and have busier schedules than others. This makes it difficult for some GTFs to find peers that can cover their shift because some may exceed the .49 full-time equivalency, the maximum that GTFs are allowed to work.

“Prior to this, if you were sick, you had to barter with your friends or beg your supervisors to cover for you. More often than not, people would come in sick which is problematic,” Meechan said.

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Focusing on the importance of hands-on experience, the University of Oregon Security Club is giving students an opportunity to learn cybersecurity skills – skills that are in very high demand.

With cyber attacks becoming more prevalent and receiving more attention in recent years, Frank Arana, president of the club, says that the lack of focus on teaching security is “both a state and national problem.”

Arana says that Edward Snowden’s uncovering of government surveillance and recent cyber attacks on Sony and Target has highlighted security and brought it to the national spotlight. However, the amount of time that cybersecurity was ignored has been problematic for the state. According to a 2014 survey by the Technology Association of Oregon, there is a “serious cybersecurity skills gap in the state’s workforce” and is suffering from a moderate to a significant shortage of tech talent.

“The biggest issue with security is that a lot of people are intimidated by it and they just don’t get into it,” Arana said. “Now [people] are realizing that they need security people but no one really specializes in security.”

To combat this problem, the UO Security Club is teaching students skills to not only protect themselves but to provide practical skills they can use in security-related jobs.

Operations Director Holdon Oullette says that the group focuses on learning common offensive security attacks, such as cryptography and reverse engineering, through lectures on hands-on practice as a way to teach students about cyber security. By learning these tactics, the group becomes familiar with common attacks and helps them identify when an attack is happening to them.

“Learning about security in a more offensive way puts us more in the mindset that hackers would be in so we can help protect ourselves,” Oullette said.

In a computer science field that is typically self-taught, content Manager John Brodnax says that the UO Security Club helps bring people who would typically work by themselves to work together and learn from each other.

“We want to bring people to a more collaborative, open community,” Brodnax said.

At the university, there is only one course offered to students that is completely dedicated to computer security. Arana says that most schools, including the UO, mainly focus on theory-based teachings of cyber security rather than having students work with security directly like the club does. Although understanding the concepts involving computer science is important, Arana says that providing an opportunity to have students work with security hands-on is more practical.

Despite the limited courses, Oullette says that the university is one of the leaders in Oregon for security because, along with the club, Associate Professor Jun Li has been an integral part of pushing for increased offerings of security courses and is proposing to start a security-focused master’s program.

“We’re trying to catch up [in security] and I believe that here, at the UO, we’re spearheading this push for cybersecurity,” Oullette said.

On Oct. 28 the first open forum with the Tuition and Fees Advisory introduced the possible implementation of a guaranteed tuition plan. Now, Board of Trustees members question if the plan will better students or the university.

In addition to concerns raised by ASUO executives earlier last week at a Dec. 3 meeting, the Board of Trustees also questioned the plan’s effectiveness and the financial risk that it creates.

Vice President for Enrollment, Roger Thompson says the biggest advantages of implementing this program are that it provides a realistic four-year cost for families and students who are planning to enroll in the university, and that the buying power of scholarships will remain the same.

“We are able to talk with families honestly and ethically about the total cost of earning a degree. The risk of financial hardship moves from the student to the university,” Thompson said.

However, financial predictability creates new challenges that administrators, and possibly students, may have to face.

Jamie Moffitt, Vice President for Finance and Administration, says the university has to be willing to take on the financial risk that comes with this plan. She says the impending increase of costs for the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System and unknown university costs in the future will undoubtedly increase tuition for incoming students. The university must take responsibility to minimize that increase as much as possible so students do not bear most of the burden.

“If we hit a year where we have a dramatic cut [to the budget], we have to be willing to let our reserves drop,” Moffitt said.

Board of Trustees member Ann Curry is critical of the guaranteed tuition concept, saying that it provides a greater benefit to the university than it does to the students.

Although it does provide predictability for families with regards in tuition, Curry says that without giving students the option to opt-out from plan, the significant increases in tuition for each incoming cohort would provide the university the opportunity to “give the coffers a little more flesh.”

“We’re saying that the university is taking the risk. But the truth is […] this provides predictability and affordability to the university,” Curry said.

Allyn Ford, another Board of Trustees member, was also critical of guaranteed tuition saying that it is not the way the school should go.

Ford says it would create too many new variables that the university is not currently dealing with.

These variables include: costs for students who graduate in more or less than four years and dealing with unexpected budget cuts with fixed tuition.

Ford also says that the plan does not match the board’s mission to keep tuition increases low. He prefers a tuition plan that would guarantee a cap on tuition increases so families are not surprised by large increases like the 14.6% increase in 2009.

“What I’d like to see us do is not only impact predictability, but affordability as well,” Ford said.

An official proposal of a guaranteed tuition plan will not be introduced until March.

Senators and ASUO Executives have both settled into their roles as the fall term concluded. Each had their own success and challenges. Here’s a look at a few of the major moments of the term.

Senate

Senate was put under pressure by the Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian student group, on Nov. 11 when the Senate denied the group’s $950 request for a poker night where attendees had a chance to win firearms. The group returned on Nov. 18 claiming that the senate violated viewpoint neutrality and sought reimbursement for a donor who gave them the money for the event. Senate denied the request and the university decided not to act on the allegation of viewpoint discrimination. Senate Vice President Quinn Haaga said that members did a good job maintaining viewpoint neutrality given the nature of the request.

Senate members are working on a resolution to possibly halt the expansion of new fraternity and sorority chapters after findings in a recent climate survey indicated that students involved in Greek life still face significantly higher rates of sexual assault than those who are not involved. Haaga says that the Senate will wait for the results of an external review before continuing action with the resolution.

Senators repealed a resolution that prevented student groups from requesting funds for off-campus retreats on Nov. 4. Haaga says the senate reversed its initial decision because retreats provide opportunities that cannot be found on campus.

Executive Campaigns

ASUO executives created the campus safety campaign in the wake of the Umpqua Community College shooting, ASUO Director of Staff Casey Edwards said. ASUO organized a forum addressing student concerns regarding the university’s lack of school-wide safety initiatives.

“After UCC, that was a moment where you realize something immediate needs to be done,” Edwards said.

ASUO also started a tuition affordability campaign to help students understand how a guaranteed tuition plan being proposed by the administration may affect them. ASUO has organized two forums, the first was held on Oct. 28 and the other on Nov. 13, to let students voice their concerns and help the administration understand where students stand on the plan.

New Radio Show

The executive officers of ASUO created a new radio show on KWVA in order to increase awareness of the different campus-related issues, campaigns the organization started and help give student groups a platform to speak to the student body. ASUO Internal Vice President Claire Johnson said that the show’s primary goal is to help build a connection between ASUO and students because students often feel disconnected from the organization.

“[Students] think of [ASUO] as a separate entity that they can’t really communicate with. We created [the radio show] so people can become more involved with ASUO,” Johnson said.

The program airs every Thursday at 7 p.m. on 88.1 KWVA.