Members of various fraternities said they rise with University of Oregon sorority Pi Beta Phi to combat sexual violence in a new video published Feb. 7.

The video previewed the sorority’s Vagina Monologues event, where a number of women spoke about the feminine experience on Feb. 12 at 7:00 p.m. in Straub Hall. Tickets for the event benefitted Sexual Assault Support Services.

Sigma Chi member Max Lehman said when Emily McAlindin, Pi Beta Phi president, approached him about bringing the Vagina Monologues to UO’s campus, he fully supported the grassroots program.

“One of the empowering things I see about this is that it is completely put on by women,” Lehman said. “It’s about raising consciousness and a unified front against sexual violence.”

Lehman said this is the Vagina Monologues’ first time on campus, for all of his time as a senior.

“It was a way for fraternity men on campus to express their support of sexual assault prevention and that together as a community, we are rising to combat sexual violence,” Lehman said.

Philosophy professor Naomi Zack had two minutes to respond to receiving the University of Oregon Martin Luther King Jr. award honoring those excelling within diversity, inclusion and equity.

“At present there are only two full professors who are women of color throughout the entire University of Oregon. I am one of them. Given this situation, I am neither thrilled nor honored to receive an award in the name of Martin Luther King at this time, here at the UO,” Zack said in her response. “I am embarrassed.”

Zack said she received a positive reaction from the Black Student Union and from the administration. When she met with President Schill, Zack said he seemed to be enthusiastic about doing everything he can toward increasing the number of black faculty.

“I’m not taking credit for these things, I’m just saying that these are things in the works,” Zack said. “What I said in my reaction in getting the award was the reaction to how things are now. We need to be optimistic about how things could be better.”

Kevin Marbury, director of Physical Education and Recreation, also received the MLK award, responding in his speech by uplifting male black students performance at the UO. Marbury said Zack’s speech made a statement many were not surprised to hear.

“There’s no doubt that there should be more students and staff of color, particularly African American,” Marbury said. “Keeping things in people’s conscious is important in moving the needle, but at some point action needs to happen.”

Marbury said he does not consider being a support system for black male students work, as encouraging students is something he is passionate about doing. Several of Zack’s previous students also said passion and enthusiasm solidified her approach to teaching.

One of her graduate students, UO 2012 alumnus Al Frankowski, said Zack came to conversations with her students with a “can-do” attitude.

“Many conversations with Professor Zack was really just her saying, ‘Explain to me what you’re writing about,’ and it went from there,” Frankowski said. “She treated me like an intellectual.”

Zack is also a writer, as she said she writes almost all of the time. According to her UO Philosophy Department webpage, Zack has six published books and many more scholarly works, with one on the way this month.

“When we think about how accomplished Naomi Zack is, and how little the university appreciated that, then we see the injustice here,” Frankowski said. “We have to recognize that there is a person of color who has published at such a rate is being compared to someone who is publishing far less.”

However, both 2011 alumnus Grant Silva and graduate student Celena Simpson said they decided to go to the UO because of Zack’s critically acclaimed status.

“I think students can draw from her experience and make her feel more valued,” Silva said.

Simpson said it means a lot to her that Zack is a multi-ethnic woman, as Simpson identifies as a multi-racial woman as well.

“She wants to be able to give us the tools to fight for racial justice while also criticizing the categories that support that injustice,” Simpson said.

2012 alumnus José Mendoza said having more black faculty on campus will help include more black students at the UO.

“If you’re black and you’re a graduate student, you’re alienated at the University of Oregon,” Mendoza said.

Zack said as a writer, there are two issues that a person writes about.

“One is what you actually live in your life and the other is what you live in your work life and your work life is not the same as what you’re writing about abstractly,” Zack said. “This was an opportunity to say something about not just things I would say in my scholarly work, but to say something about my workplace.”

University of Oregon President Michael Schill named Trisha Burnett as the new chief auditor for the UO Office of Internal Audit, the university announced on Friday.

“The chief auditor’s job is to help make sure the institution is running efficiently according to the budget,” UO spokesperson Laura McGinnis said.

Burnett will report to Schill and the UO Board of Trustees, ensuring an improvement in risk management among many duties along ethical lines, McGinnis said. The function of the role is to provide an independent, advisory service that drives forward improvement to the operations of the UO.

“Audits will be conducted with objectivity, transparency, fairness and in accordance with the highest professional and ethical standards,” McGinnis said in an email.

The UO Board of Trustees approved an internal audit charter, a guiding document for the Office of Internal Audit, in September 2014. The Executive and Audit Committee then amended the charter in June 2015.

Burnett has 15 years of professional experience, including auditing roles with the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, the North Carolina community college system and University of North Carolina-Asheville. She has held the interim role of UO chief auditor since November of last year.

Beginning this past January, the Delta Tau Delta fraternity announced on Twitter that it will be joining Delta Upsilon in accepting transgender men as members.

DTD member Zach Lusby said the chapter’s national policy does not discriminate against men based on their race, sexual orientation or gender.

“One of the driving elements in our fraternity is that we value excellence, and we would lose a lot of good men if we excluded transmen,” Lusby said.

The DU chapter congratulated DTD’s decision in a tweet this weekend.

While there are not any current transmen in the fraternity, the chapter welcomes anyone who self-identifies as male to rush in the spring, said Henry Korman, DU vice president of loss prevention and former DU representative of the Fraternity and Sorority Life Task Force.

“One of our founding principles is the advancement of liberal culture,” Korman said. “It is really important to allow anyone who identifies as male to be in the fraternity.”

Korman said DU, as a non-secret and no-hazing chapter, extends its policy to ensuring that all sexist and genderist language be removed from the vocabulary of the fraternity’s men.

Both Korman and Lusby said this shift reflects the character of their chapters.

Steve Prefontaine’s fraternity is making a return to the University of Oregon.

Originally founded in 1931 at UO, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity is striving to gain men who promote university leadership, Joey Romanczuk and Tyler Anderson, PIKE professional expansion consultants, said.

Romanczuk said in 2011, UO PIKE was shut down because the right men were not invested in the organization.

“2016 is the best time to come back on campus,” Romanczuk said. “The history with PIKE and the university makes it important to keep that relationship.”

Romanczuk and Anderson will be recruiting for most of winter term, from Jan. 22 to Mar. 11. The two consultants will meet with faculty, coaches and leaders within the community to start a recommendation process through recruitment. One can also recommend a potential member through PIKE’s online referral.

“Some people feel like because we are a fraternity we don’t want to hear from everyone,” Anderson said, “and that’s not the case.”

Justin Shukas, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said the two consultants will later be replaced by another PIKE staff member who will work with the colony toward chartering after one to two years.

“One of the interesting things is that Steve Prefontaine was an alumnus; they are one of the biggest fraternities nationally and there is one starting at Oregon State University as well,” Shukas said.

The Pi Kappa Alpha chapter values integrity, intellect and achievement, but Romanczuk and Anderson also said the fraternity expects its members to uphold the values of the UO. The two consultants said they are open to hearing all points of view regarding Greek Life.

“All people are welcome to come talk with us as all perspectives are important,” Romanczuk said.

In a required email sent to all University of Oregon addresses, Robin Holmes, vice president of Student Life, wrote that the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act of 1989 exists to focus on “high-drinking and substance use.”

Holmes said in the email that the Act requires all institutions with financial assistance to allow its students to access the UO drug and alcohol policy information. The email also said that the Office of the Dean of Students website is another tool students can access for more information.

“All students are expected to be aware of the information contained in this document,” Holmes said in the email.

Across the board, much of Fraternity and Sorority Life choose to prepare for the spring recruitment session during winter term, but some chapters are still offering spots in the rainy season.

The only fraternity officially rushing this term is Delta Tau Delta. The chapter has already handed out many bids to men, and Hao Tan, DTD vice president of recruitment, said the fraternity is not looking for a specific number of people to recruit.

“Our fraternity is about the quality of the pledge class rather than the quantity,” Tan said.

Adam Sharf, Interfraternity Council vice president of recruitment said a few other fraternities are contributing in unofficial recruitment. Sharf also said that a potential new member should contact a fraternity directly if they are interested.

“Winter recruitment is for the freshmen and first years that have already been on campus for a term and will choose the fraternities they will mesh with the best,” Sharf said.

Tan said his fraternity chooses to recruit during the winter because it aligns with the chapter’s initiation week, but winter recruitment also calls for a more detail-oriented enrollment.

“Fall recruitment is for freshmen and sophomores, but winter is a lot more personal,” Tan said. “We are able to give them more time and attention.”

On the sorority side of the spectrum, Panhellenic Council President Tori Ganahl said PHC does not have much to do with winter recruitment. Ganahl said many chapters participate in Continuous Open Bidding, or informal recruitment, throughout winter and the spring terms.

“We have a winter showcase event (hosted by PHC) to showcase all sororities for anyone that wants to come and see what will be going on in late February,” Ganahl said.

Other than the winter showcase, Ganahl said most of Greek Life keeps winter recruitment pretty casual.

“We try to make it more casual than formal recruitment,” Ganahl said. “Anyone can reach out to our PHC recruitment chair at phcrush@uoregon.edu.”

Sharf said a lot of fraternities and IFC itself have been transitioning during winter term in preparation for the wpring, as this recruitment season is “low-key”.

“If people are looking for a fraternity, unless they know who they want to contact, they should wait for spring,” Sharf said.

Sharf said the last couple of weeks of sinter term will also be laying the groundwork for spring term.

“In the weeks up to spring break we will be tabling and social media stuff for spring,” Sharf said. “Spring recruitment is going to be off the walls, and everyone should be excited for it. The first Monday is an IFC sponsored kickoff event that will have pizza and everything.”

Tan said he did not know he would fit into Greek Life until he participated in the recruitment events, which he said offered a variety of free items.

“If you don’t think Greek Life is a good fit for you, it wouldn’t hurt to try it out,” Tan said. “The worst thing that could happen is that you walk out with a free taco.”

Brought to B’nai B’rith Camp in Lincoln City, Oregon, for one weekend, several leaders of the University of Oregon’s Fraternity and Sorority Life built relationships within the community in order to fulfill a common goal: success.

The Greek Leadership Academy, an FSL leadership program for boards from chapters, the Panhellenic Council and the Interfraternity Council, met this year on the weekend of Jan. 22 with a total of 48 men and women participating. Each year, the retreat encourages participants to think about their Greek community in a space off-campus.

“This is our flagship leadership program for council throughout the year and it keeps evolving as the community evolves,” Justin Shukas, UO director of FSL, said.

Shukas said that every year there are small group facilitators who contribute to the retreat.

For 2016, the guests were Jaden Brown, performance coach for the International Alpha Tau Omega Headquarters; Cherie Michaud, Greek Alliance Council and PHC advisor for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Leslie Schacht Drey, Oregon State University Director of Center of FSL.

“One of the biggest takeaways is for the community to get together and figure out how they will utilize each other to move forward in a positive direction,” Shukas said.

Abby Beach, UO Delta Delta Delta president, said it was her first time at the retreat, but she gained a lot of information about leadership to take back to her chapter.

“It was one of the best weekends I’ve had,” Beach said. “It was a good weekend to connect with each other and it was a really great opportunity to discuss our ideas and problems to help strengthen the community as a whole.”

UO Panhellenic Council President Tori Ganahl said last year’s Greek Leadership Academy weekend was more personalized to each specific person and their leadership style. In each group session at the retreat last year, Ganahl said men and women were grouped so each leadership position was represented in each team.

However, Ganahl said this year’s system allowed more time to bond as a group, as each council was a team.

“This year was more focused on ‘How can we go back to the Eugene community and share our plans?’ ” Ganahl said. “Just as PHC, we gained so much transparency with each other and were so productive in figuring out what ways to grow as a community as a whole rather than individually.”

Beach said that what made the retreat fun was spending time with other chapter presidents.

“The most influential part was understanding how we’re all agents of change,” Beach said. “We’re the ones in our community that can inspire change and work together.”

An expansion of Oregon State University’s Valley Football Center led to a finding of colossal bones, likely from a mammoth, the university announced Tuesday.

A worker digging up the north end zone of Reser Stadium for the Valley Football Center project stopped working when they saw the femur of the bone, Tim Sissel, general contractor for the project, said to OSU.

“Animals who were sick would often go to a body of water and die there, so it’s not unusual to find a group of bones like this,” Loren Davis, OSU associate professor of anthropology, said to OSU. “We had all of these types of animals in the Willamette Valley back then.”

Davis was called in to the site after the discovery. There will be further testing conducted to see if any human bones are on the site, but there currently are no traces of such remains.