It’s the middle of the day and Caroline Cummings walks through downtown Eugene. She passes a group of men sitting on the sidewalk. As she approaches, they begin saying sexually explicit comments to her. The men’s dogs start to circle her. Cummings usually pretends to be on her phone to avoid this type of confrontation, but this time she can’t get past. She feels nervous, scared and harassed. Cummings says incidents like this are commonplace downtown.

“I’m getting five men surrounding me with dogs, and they’re literally within my arm’s reach and saying ridiculous sexual comments to me,” Cummings said. “That feels absolutely horrific.”

Many people have similar stories of confrontations downtown. Cummings was one of 34 people who used the public comment section of a city council meeting last month to urge the council to take action on public safety. Many community members were women who, like Cummings, have experienced sexual harassment downtown.

“I now walk to my car through an alley instead of main streets because I don’t want to cross Kesey Square,” Jenny Bennett said at the meeting. “That alley gives me a false illusion of safety.”

Crime in the downtown area has steadily increased since 2013. The police received 10,880 Calls for Service from the downtown area in 2013; 13,789 in 2014; 14,687 in 2015; and 15,007 in 2016, according to Eugene Police Department records. Reports of harassment, assault and menacing generally stayed constant until last year, when harassment reports increased by 54 percent between 2015 and 2016. Menacing reports increased by 57 percent and assault reports increased by 15 percent.

The downtown area is recognized by the city as Pearl Street to Lincoln Street between 8th Avenue and 10th Avenue and from Charnelton Street to Willamette Street from 10th Avenue to 11th Avenue.

Eugene councilors recently passed a ban on dogs downtown. The ban, which went into effect on April 10, was designed to prevent experiences like Cummings’. The ban will expire in November unless it is extended by another vote. Council members cited an increase in incidents involving aggressive dogs as the reason behind the ban.

Police received seven reports of vicious or biting dogs in 2016. The number has increased only slightly over the past four years. There were four in 2013, five in 2014 and eight in 2015, according to EPD records.

Some council members thought the ban was an attempt to exclude transients and homeless from downtown. The councilors who passed the ban said it only targets unsafe habits downtown.

“There’s a whole bunch of folks all clustered [downtown], and if you have several of them with dogs, then it’s inherently dangerous,” Councilor Mike Clark said at the work session in which the ban was passed.

Clark voted to pass the ban, along with five other council members. Two opposed it. Clark believed it was a small step in the right direction for a safer downtown.

Violating the dog ban is not a jailable offense. Officers can issue $100 fines and judges can increase that to $250.

Other laws that indirectly address harassment issues downtown include an anti-camping law, Eugene city code 4.815, and an anti-loitering law, city code 4.707(2).

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Eugene Police arrested a man in the Duck Store on 13th Avenue today for Harassment and Trespassing 2.

Police received a calling saying that Craig Thomas Ortiz, 56, trespassed and harassed someone on E. 16th Avenue at 9:09 a.m. Ortiz was in the university parking lot behind Taylor’s when police confronted him.

Ortiz then ran down Kincaid Street and into the Duck Store, losing his glasses along the way. Police cornered him in the store and arrested him. They booked him into Lane County jail at 11:01 a.m. Both the trespassing and harassment charges are misdemeanors.

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Candidates on the ASUO campaign slate UO For You answered questions at a public town hall on April 4 in the EMU. The town hall replaced the usual ASUO election debate because UO For You is the only slate running this year.

The slate is composed of Presidential Candidate Amy Schenk, Internal Vice Presidential Candidate Tess Mor and External Vice President Vickie Gimm. Gimm couldn’t attend the event.

This is the first year ASUO has only had one slate in recent history, according to Hunter Mackin, the ASUO election coordinator. ASUO faces a challenge in representing the entire student body’s opinions without offering them two different campaign options.

“I don’t want students to feel as if they don’t have a choice,” Mor said. Mor feels that in previous years, her, Gimm and Schenk would not have initially formed a single campaign because of their differing views; however she believes having a diverse slate is important. “The whole thing about senate is representing different views and the greater campus,” Mor said, “and the greater campus doesn’t have one view, it has many different views.”

“It’s really awesome that we’re able to coalition build and bring three groups that historically kind of divided ASUO elections all together,” Schenk said about the individual candidates backgrounds. “I see this campaign not as one slate but as a student movement.”

Both candidates said they would still do ground campaigning and phone banking for their slate even though they are running unopposed.

Schenk isn’t worried that candidates who may have initially campaigned against each other will differ over their goals. “There aren’t really different goals,” Schenk said. “We’re all really working for the same goal — providing for students and having the student voice heard on this campus.”

UO For You’s campaign platform centers around three main goals — Inclusivity, accessibility and affordability. Here are the specific initiatives the candidates presented for accomplishing each goal:

Inclusivity

Mor mentioned advocating for a mandatory cultural competency training, possibly required during freshman orientation. “We were on the topic of diversity and things like that, and we were finding ways to put action behind our words and behind our advocacy. We really want to push that, potentially in freshman orientation, cultural competency is one of the required things that new students have to go to,” Mor said. “I think it’s a really good transition to the UO.”

Accessibility

Sharing her personal experience with depression in her freshman year at UO, Schenk said she will be a major advocate for increasing student access to mental health care. She wants to increase funding to the health center.

“Needing emergency care for depression really sparked a concern for me,” Schenk said. “Asking somebody to wait two months to get care for depression specifically, since I can talk on that, is asking way more than should ever be asked of a student.”

Affordability

On the topic of tuition increases, both Mor and Schenk focused on advocacy. Mor said she wasn’t entirely clear on the power ASUO has in affecting tuition increases but understands it mostly as an advisory role. Schenk also advocated for increasing the number of student voices in tuition discussions. She has been involved in the Tuition and Fees Advisory Board in the past. Both candidates mentioned alternatives to increase affordability.

Mor said she wants to expand students groups without increasing fees. “I’m really passionate about student groups being able to expand their programs,” Mor said. “I hope to find a way that we can find a middle ground maybe, where it’s still affordable for students but we’re also still expanding student programs.”

Schenk wants to open a student food pantry on campus similar to the one at the Episcopal Campus Ministry on 19th Avenue. “The food security working group has done a lot of awesome work here on campus, so I want to heighten their effort and see what we can really do to bring food security here to UO,” Schenk said. “I think the food pantry is our most tangible aspect at this point.”

ASUO elections open Monday, April 10, the same day ground campaigning begins. UO For You is the only campaign registered, but the election allows for write-in candidates.

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Oregon is increasing its bottle and can deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents per container on April 1. The increase is a state order based on a decreasing number of bottle and can returns in 2014 and 2015.

After a decreasing numbers of can and bottle returns over the last few years, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission evaluated container return percentages over 2014 and 2015. In 2014 68.26 percent of containers were returned, and in 2015 only 64.45 percent were returned, according to the OLCC. Because the numbers were less than 80 percent in both years, Oregon law requires the OLCC to increase the bottle deposit.

Bottle and can returns started in Oregon in 1971, the first state to do so. The Oregon Bottle Bill, its official title, was designed to prevent an increasing amount of litter. At the time, beverage containers made up 40 percent of roadside litter, according to the OLCC. Since the bill was introduced, that number has dropped to six percent.

The bill won’t affect just beer. All bottles and cans increase by 5 cents. This includes “water and flavored water, beer and other malt beverages, soda water and mineral water, and carbonated soft drinks in container sizes up to and including 3 fluid liters,” according to the OLCC. In 2018, this will expand to include almost all containers between 4 ounces and 1.5 liters except distilled liquor, wine bottles, milk and infant formula.

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Annual tuition will cost $945 more for all undergraduate students next year.

The decision, which amounts to a 10.6 percent increase for residents and 3 percent for non-residents, was made by the Board of Trustees during a Thursday meeting.

With the increase, many students are forced to reevaluate their position at the university. Some have to decide if they can afford the greater cost of attending University of Oregon.

“It’s hard not to be scared when you’re poor,” freshman Maria Slade said. “I’ve kind of been freaking out.”

Slade chose to attend UO because her family qualified for the need-based Pathway Oregon scholarship, which pays for 100 percent of a recipient’s tuition. Two weeks into her first term, she was told her award had been reevaluated and she no longer qualified for the scholarship — a situation that can occur when a student’s family income goes up.

(Noah McGraw/Emerald)

“I was panicking then, two weeks into school, that I was going to have to drop out or transfer,” Slade said. Her dad convinced her to stay. Then she got President Michael Schill’s email announcing a potential 10.6 percent increase to her tuition.

“It’s just a lot,” Slade said. “My dad told me that he’s going to work till he’s 70 in order to pay for my education. I hated that.”

Slade isn’t sure if she’ll come back to UO after spring break.

The Board of Trustees is a group of 14 alumni that act as the governing body of the university. Outside the meeting, held at the Ford Alumni Center, around 50 students, staff and faculty rallied chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, tuition hikes have got to go!” and, “Hey Schill, we’re no fools. We won’t let you ruin our schools!”

The protesters encouraged the board not to increase tuition during a public comment section of the meeting.

“Within Eugene, the University of Oregon does not represent hope. It does not represent the ability to achieve greatness,” UO student Charlie Landeros told the board. “What it represents is the unattainable symbolism of capitalism that continues to oppress marginalized communities such as the poor.”

Landeros is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and receives benefits from the GI Bill. “I have to wonder if the University of Oregon is here for the poor, is here for people of color,” he said. “If it is, then why is the only reason I can be here because I had to fight through two wars? … I had to see my friends die in the battlefield for me to be here. And I wonder if that is going to continue to be the standard for poor people to attend the University of Oregon.”

Check out our video on student reactions to the tuition hike here. 

The tuition increase comes as the university faces a projected $25 million rise in costs for the 2018 fiscal year, according to reports from the Tuition and Fees Advisory Board.

TFAB, a committee comprised of students, faculty and administrators, conducted research to determine the tuition increase. TFAB met seven times between November and the trustee vote. They researched information on the current budget, potential increases, comparative schools and student need. TFAB recommended the increase to President Michael Schill, who in turn proposed the increase to the Board of Trustees in early February.

TFAB had major concerns about the university’s increased costs for 2018. According to TFAB’s report, contributing factors to rising costs include increases in faculty and staff salaries and wages, university investments, medical costs and retirement payouts.

(Kelly Kondo/Emerald)

There will still be an $8.8 million deficit after the tuition increase. Schill plans to cover this with mandatory fee increases, new fees and staff cuts. Mandatory fees will increase 12.11 percent in total. A new $50 technology fee will go toward “critical, recurring investments in technology to keep campus running,” according to board meeting materials. The faculty union recently alleged that approximately 75 non-tenure track faculty will be cut next year. Schill disputed the number.

One reason the university is struggling to run in the black is because of a lack of funding from the state. Between 2000 and 2014, Oregon state funding per student for higher education decreased by 51 percent, the 4th highest decrease over that timespan in the country, according to Urban Industry, a Washington, D.C. research firm. In 2015, however, the Oregon Legislature voted to increase funding by 26 percent.

In fall 2016, the presidents of Oregon’s seven public universities sent an open letter to Governor Kate Brown asking for a $100 million increase in state funding. Brown did not accommodate the presidents’ requests.

UO is not the only school hurting from a lack of state funding. Southern Oregon University predicted a 12 percent increase in tuition next year.

“I actually agree with the students,” President Schill told the Board of Trustees on Thursday. “They shouldn’t have to pay a 10.6 percent increase. I’m hoping the state will see that.”

ASUO shares the president’s position and is directing focus on trying to advocate the state to increase funding.

Tuition will increase less with additional support from the state. The TFAB proposal includes a tiered system based on state funding. For example, if the university gets an additional $100 million from the state, tuition would increase 5.1 percent for in-state students, instead of 10.6 percent.

ASUO External Vice President Natalie Fisher is a member of TFAB. She believes the increase is an unfortunate necessity. “All of these things need to be paid for but they shouldn’t be paid for with tuition dollars,” Fisher said. “I’m not upset with the university. I know a lot of students are and that’s totally valid. But I think we have a bigger fight, and a different fight, and it’s with the state government, not with the university.”

UO has organized a lobby day at the capitol in Salem on March 9 called “Ducks in the Capitol.” The goal is to convince the state to increase funding for higher education. President Schill told the board he would attend the event. Shuttles are provided and will leave UO at 6:45 a.m.

All board members agreed that a lack of state funding was a major driving force behind the tuition increase, but not all agreed on the proposed plan.

Kurt Willcox, the Board of Trustees member representing non-faculty staff at the university, was the only member who voted against the tuition rise. Willcox didn’t say the increase was unnecessary, but pointed toward the disproportional increase for in-state students as his primary reservation.

“I do think we have a very clear obligation to provide Oregon students with access to an affordable education,” Willcox said. “And I think we can do better for our in-state students than what this proposal provides.”

Despite the many factors that make tuition increase a complex issue, for students like Slade, the bottom line is the question of affording another year, or even another term, at this university.

“I know my parents are going to do what they can to keep me in this school,” Slade said. “But I’m not down for that. I don’t want my dad working till he’s 70.”

Slade ultimately feels unsupported by a university she has already paid thousands of dollars.

“[UO] doesn’t support students who can’t necessarily pay to go here out of pocket, and doesn’t advocate for us strongly enough at the state level,” she said. “There’s no safety net whatsoever.”

Emma Henderson contributed reporting.

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The University of Oregon Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition by $945 per year for all undergraduate students at today’s board meeting. This amounts to a 10.6 percent increase for resident students and a 3 percent increase for non residents.

Along with the tuition increase, the board approved a $50 per term technology fee for all students. The technology fee will pay for “critical, recurring investments in technology to keep campus running,” according to board meeting materials.

The increases come as the university faces a projected $25 million increase in costs for the 2018 fiscal year, according to reports the Tuition and Fees Advisory Board presented to the trustees today. Many board members and people in the audience cited Oregon’s proportionally bad state funding for higher education. Oregon currently ranks No. 46 in the country for higher education state funding.

“I actually agree with the students,” President Schill assured the audience. “They shouldn’t have to pay a 10.6 percent increase. I’m hoping the state will see that.”

The board voted near-unanimously to approve the tuition increase. (Noah McGraw/Emerald)

The vote was near-unanimous. Kurt Willcox, the board member representing non-faculty staff at the university, cast the sole “no” vote. Willcox pointed toward the disproportionate increase for resident students as his primary motivating factor.

“I do think we have a very clear obligation to provide Oregon students with access to an affordable education,” Willcox said. “And I think we can do better for our in-state students than what this proposal provides.”

Other board members felt that the increase was a hard decision, but ultimately necessary. The most divided member seemed to be Ann Curry, who asked more questions than all other board members combined. Curry pointed to the tuition increase, the technology fee and next year’s live-on requirement for freshmen as maybe too much at one time.

“Add all these up together, it’s just a lot, just all happening at once,” she told the board. Ultimately she decided to vote yes, saying she couldn’t in good conscience let the university’s debts go into the red.

As the meeting adjourned, Curry turned to Willcox, who was sitting next to her, and said, “That was really hard.”

Around 50 students, staff and faculty rallied outside the Ford Alumni Center before the meeting. The group chanted “hey hey, ho ho, tuition hikes have got to go!” and, “Hey Schill, we’re no fools. We won’t let you ruin our schools!”

Students focused protests on the minimal funding UO receives from the state. Oregon ranks 46th out of all states in state funding for higher education. (Noah McGraw/Emerald)

Speakers urged different unions to unite together to keep administration accountable and costs low. Many unions will enter contract negotiations with administration soon.

Before the vote, the board heard comments from members of the audience. Everyone who spoke about the tuition increase was a UO student.

“Within Eugene, the University of Oregon does not represent hope. It does not ability to achieve greatness,” said UO student Charlie Landeros. “What it represents is the unattainable symbolism of capitalism that continues to oppress marginalized communities such as the poor.”

Landeros is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and receives benefits from the GI Bill. “I have to wonder if the University of Oregon is here for the poor, is here for people of color,” he said. “If it is, then why is the only reason I can be here because I had to fight through two wars? … I had to see my friends die in the battlefield for me to be here. And I wonder if that is going to continue to be the standard for poor people to attend the University of Oregon.”

The board didn’t vote on the tuition increase until 5:30 p.m., four hours into the meeting. Most of the protesters had left the room by then. There was a single shout of “shame!” from the audience when the resolution passed.

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In this episode from the Emerald Podcast Network, news editor Noah McGraw and news reporter Andy Field discuss the recent flurry of anti-Trump protests, a one year update on the UO Black Student Task Force’s demands and whether Taylor’s is charging your credit card more than it should.

Listen to the episode below. Subscribe to Emerald podcasts on iTunes here or listen to us on SoundCloud here.

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University of Oregon alumnus and Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny Knight are donating a $500 million “lead gift” to create a three-building, 70,000 square foot campus: the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.

According to a UO release, the donation is the “largest ever for a public flagship institution.” The entire campus will cost an estimated $1 billion.

Although no firm timeline is given, the release states that the project is “something that will unfold over the next decade,” and the university aims to have the first building in place within three years.

“In an age of declining public support for scientific research generally and declining public higher education support specifically, Penny and I are delighted to contribute to these critically important areas,” Phil Knight said in the release.

UO estimates that the project will have a $99.7 million economic impact on the the state of Oregon during peak construction and stimulate nearly $80 million statewide annually once completed.

Conceptual designs show the campus along the north side Franklin Boulevard, across the street from UO’s Lokey science complex, where Domino’s Pizza and Evergreen Indian Cuisine are currently located. The release says the campus will house “cutting-edge labs, research facilities, prototyping tools, imaging facilities, human subject interaction space and an innovation hub.”

UO biology professor and acting executive director of the Knight Campus Patrick Phillips. (Courtesy of Around the O)

According to the release, UO aims to begin recruiting new scientists immediately. Initial hires will be researchers in the life sciences.

UO biology professor Patrick Phillips was named the acting executive director of the campus. The university plans to begin a nationwide search for a permanent director immediately.

“This is a seminal moment for the University of Oregon, an inflection point that will shape the trajectory of the university for the next century and beyond,” Schill said.

Knight donated $500 million to OHSU in 2015 after the university succeeded in meeting his challenge of fundraising $500 million in less than two years. The project’s aim was to “overhaul early detection of lethal cancers.”

According to an email sent to UO students on Oct. 10, UO President Michael Schill will be speaking tomorrow on the “latest hopes for our university related specifically to how we will enhance our research enterprise and accelerate our impact on society.” The speech is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. in the Giustina Ballroom of the Ford Alumni Center.

Correction: A previous version of this article connected the donation to the STEM CORE program. There is no association between the program and this project, the error has been corrected.

There is an outbreak of the Norovirus on the University of Oregon campus, according to an email sent out by Vice President of Student Life Robin Holmes. There have been 34 reports of gastroenteritis symptoms, commonly called the stomach flu, from UO students at the University Health Center and the Lane County Public Health Department, UO spokesman Tobin Klinger said.

The Health Center is not sure where the outbreak originated, but they are assessing that information as students come in. The university is taking extra cleaning precautions in high traffic areas.

In early April, Oregon State University had an outbreak of Norovirus that affected an estimated 75 students, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported. UO has not had an outbreak in at least two years.

The virus is very contagious. Symptoms include stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea, but it is not life threatening, the Health Center said.

If you experience any symptoms contact the Health Center at 541-346-2770.

UO Libraries is cutting its collection budget by over half a million dollars this year in response to administration’s realignment process.

Collections technically encompass all the media the library owns. The cuts will not affect permanent additions to the library like the books on the shelf. The areas that will face the most cuts are the databases and scholarly journals that require annual subscriptions.

“We’re currently launching a plan to work with faculty to decide what will need to be cut,” Dean of Libraries Adriene Lim said.

The collection budget is split up by discipline, such as physics, psychology or comparative literature. Most departments are taking a cut of 12.4 percent. Overall the sciences will take the biggest hit, as their initial budget is generally much higher than other departments’. Accounting for the inflation, the biology department’s budget will be cut by $34,240, physics by $47,379 and chemistry by $60,923. General sciences, which has by far the biggest budget, will be cut in half, losing $75,320.

“In the science, technology, engineering and medical areas, the costs for the journals, for example, are much, much greater,” Mark Watson, associate dean for research services, said. “A physics journal could cost $4,000 a year, and a journal in the humanities could cost $400 a year.”

While the cuts in the science’s budgets are much higher, humanities departments often feel the cuts much deeper. Their journals are cheaper, so it will take cutting more resources to reach the target budget.

“I’m not saying the chemists aren’t going to miss this big, expensive database that we’re going to have to cut,” Watson said. “But in English literature, for example, if we have to cut twelve journals to get enough to actually meet that 12.4 percent, that’s 12 different, distinct things that people were depending on. And now they’re not there anymore.”

Departments with budgets less than $3,000 will not take any cuts.

The cuts are a response to President Michael Schill’s realignment plan. Administration asked all departments on campus to cut spending by 2 percent this year. Unfortunately for the library, many of their databases get more expensive year to year.

Watson said the library submitted a strategic budget request asking for money to cover the inflating prices of their current subscriptions. Not only was that request denied, but they were hit with the additional 2 percent cut that affected the rest of campus. Two positions were laid off.

“In the library, if we stay status quo, we’re really losing. You have to add money to the pot,” Watson said. “It’s like boiling something on the stove. You’re going to lose liquid in the pot when some of it vaporizes.”

While the two percent cut was only responsible for  a budget loss of $115,000, according to a memo sent out by Dean Lim, the denial of the library’s  strategic budget request means an additional loss of $450,000 when factoring in inflation.

Reductions are not new to the library, Watson said. “I went clear back to 1960, and figured out that on average, we have done this every five years,” he said. That’s an average though, as the library has gone through long periods of ease and other, shorter periods of strife.

“We get upset about it every time it happens, but in reality, this is kind of the way things operate. I think universities and libraries are starting to realize that it’s really not going to change unless some bigger, more systematic and structural changes occur,” Watson said. “For one thing, all of our professors do all this research. They publish it, and by and large, it is given away to companies who then repackage and sell it back to us at inflated prices. So we ought to look at that and say, ‘Wait a minute. Something is wrong with this picture, right?’ ”