Riding EmX to class probably seems better for the environment than driving. But opponents of the new EmX route — which is finally in the early stages of construction — say the big green bus is actually less eco-friendly than other forms of transportation, including standard buses.

Hundreds of signs in West Eugene opposing the new route are signs reading, “EmX carbon footprint stamps out business!”

EmX — Emerald Express — is a Bus Rapid Transit system, which is less expensive than light rail but still offers faster, more efficient service. The West Eugene EmX Extension has been the cause of much conflict in Eugene. Once completed, the West EmX will run from Eugene Station north on Charnelton Street, west on 6th Avenue, south on Garfield Street and then out West 11th Avenue to stores like Fred Meyer, Target and Walmart.

Our Money Our Transit is a local group that has been protesting the project for seven years, claiming that EmX is not needed on this route and that it is too expensive.

After years of planning, construction crews broke ground last week. Lanes will be closed along the route all summer, mainly after 7:30 p.m.

Bob Macherione, spokesperson of Our Money Our Transit, owns a car repair shop along the new EmX route. He thinks that EmX will make traffic and carbon emissions worse.

“LTD will spend $100 million, and it won’t relieve congestion (because the road will lose a lane to EmX),” Macherione said. “And you’re not going to save greenhouse gases if you’re not going to drive any faster.”

But LTD’s projections show that the West Eugene EmX will be fast and frequent enough that more people will ride it, thus reducing emissions by 95 percent.

“An empty bus is the most costly and one of the highest in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and a full bus is the least,” said Tom Schwetz, planning and development manager for LTD.

Macherione agrees that a full bus reduces carbon emissions, but he is convinced LTD has outright fabricated that data to justify unneeded transit, and that EmX is simply an “ego trip” for overpaid city administrators. In addition to increasing congestion, running an “empty bus” every 10 minutes is wasteful, increasing carbon emissions.

Joshua Skov, an environmental analyst and professor at UO’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices, helped LTD figure out the environmental impact of EmX.

Skov differentiated between measuring carbon emissions per person versus per bus. Macherione was assuming the bus would be empty and thus wasting carbon. Skov assumed the bus would be full, based on LTD models, so the extra carbon from the bigger bus would be used more efficiently.

“These big buses use more fuel and emit more carbon dioxide, because they can carry more people,” Skov said. “It’s not like on a per passenger basis they do worse.”

Schwetz said that out of 400-some transit operators in the country, LTD is rated number 23 in terms of productivity, which measures the cost of the system per rider. He argues that when people like Macherione say they see empty buses on West 11th Avenue, it’s because the bus is at the end of the line.

“I just think that people don’t know how transit works,” Schwetz said.

If you dealt with emotional pain by causing yourself physical pain in the form of cutting or burning yourself, you would probably be wary of revealing your secret to a group of strangers. But the leaders of a new support group at the HEDCO Clinic on campus want self-harmers to do just that.

Research estimates that undergrads are three times more likely than adults to engage in non-suicidal self-injury. Yet people seeking help are likely to be met by accusations that they are looking for attention or trying to kill themselves, both of which are common myths. And since 40 to 65 percent have experienced significant trauma, seeking help is even more difficult.

Self-injury functions like substance abuse: Pain releases endorphins, naturally occurring opiates that the brain produces as a reward for food or sex or to soothe after injury.

Nitsan Ozer and Mar Prutton, M.S. students in the Couples and Family Therapy program, started their support group in September 2013. They are supervised by Tiffany Brown, a UO researcher and lecturer who specializes in self-harm and addiction issues. “We were inspired to create this group based on a need more than anything,” said Prutton, explaining how difficult it is for people to find help. There are no other self-harm support groups in Eugene.

Often, other groups will focus too much on the cutting or burning, rather than addressing underlying causes, and people who self-harm can be criticized or shamed if they are unable to stop.

“I was actually told by one [therapist] that I needed to grow up and I was stupid,” one person said in a study by Brown.

Ozer and Prutton say their group is different. The focus is on healing and moving on, not dwelling on the behavior.

Brown’s research shows that getting comfortable talking about self-harm is the first step: “All the rest of it comes after someone feels connected and safe and believes in the people that are serving them,” Brown said, “Which Mar and Nitsan have done really well.”

Ozer agreed: “We’ve heard from multiple members that it’s been so helpful to come in and just be with people who get it, to feel like what they’re doing makes sense and has served a purpose, and hearing that other people have done it as well.”

It has been a little hard to find people who are willing to join the support group, since many people have had such upsetting experiences with mental health treatment in the past. One participant in Brown’s study said they had never told their therapist about their self-harm: “It’s not like he’d understand; he didn’t even get eating disorders. I just feel like people don’t really get it and they don’t really want to know about it.”

But there are significant benefits to treating a stigmatized behavior in a group, as in 12-step programs for recovering addicts and alcoholics.

“The idea of bringing addiction or self harm issues into a group setting is that those relationships are what is healing,” said Prutton, “So if you have a cohesive group that you can rely on, then what’s really powerful more than anything is just having those relationships.”

Comforting a friend who confides in you about sexual assault is a difficult situation. You may be overwhelmed and feel confused about how to help. Even the most well-intentioned people may unintentionally react in a way that only makes the survivor feel worse. But there are a few universal rules that can make a significant difference.

BB Beltran is the director of Sexual Assault Support Services, which offers a 24-hour hotline, support groups and legal assistance. She says that believing the survivor — and making it clear that you believe them — is the single most important way to help.

A classic wrongheaded response to an account of sexual assault is to suggest that the survivor was somehow to blame, either because of clothing choices, alcohol consumption, being out alone at night, talking to an unfamiliar person and so on. This kind of reaction can contribute to the development of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, according to research from RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence network.

Beltran says research shows that having a supportive network of friends can minimize trauma.

“I cannot overstate how crucial it is to believe survivors and tell them you believe them,” Beltran said.

Other essential items Beltran says to remember when helping a sexual assault survivor:

• Be a good listener and make them feel comfortable expressing how they feel.
• Validate that what they did to survive was right for them.
• Make sure they get medical attention.
• Respect the survivor’s choice of whether to report the assault.
• Help the survivor build social support so you aren’t overwhelmed.

It’s just as crucial to avoid saying or doing something that will make the survivor feel worse:

• Never blame survivors for the assault or make them feel ashamed about their experience.
• Don’t be judgmental and don’t let the friend self-blame. Explain that it’s not their fault.
• Don’t interrogate survivors. Don’t pick holes in their story or ask why they did something.
• Let survivors talk if they want to, but don’t force the subject.
• Don’t get impatient if survivors don’t “get over it” right away.

Survivors of sexual assault at the University of Oregon have a number of resources for reporting their assault both confidentially and non-confidentially.

It is important to note that all on-campus resources with the exception of the University Counseling and Testing Center are mandated to report instances of sexual assault that come to their attention. Off campus resources like SASS, Womenspace and off campus medical centers do not share that requirement.

Crisis Assistance
Office of the Dean of Students 541-346-3216
UO Police Department 541-346-2919
Eugene Police Department 541 682-5111
(SASS) Sexual Assault Support Services 541-484-6513
Womenspace 541-485-6513

Medical Care and forensic evidence collection
University Health Center 541 346-2770
University Hospital District Medical Center 541-686-7300
Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend 541-222-7300
McKenzie WIllamette Medical Center 541-726-4400

On-Campus support
University Counseling and Testing Center 541-346-3227
Office of Students Conduct and Community Standards 541-346-1140
Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity 541-346-2971

Find additional resources at Safe.uoregon.edu or call the university crisis hotline at (541) 346-SAFE.

Researchers in Los Angeles say that UO has a rape-tolerant culture, as the White House launches a national campaign to increase penalties for college sexual assaults. While UO is not one of the 55 colleges with potential violations, UO President Michael Gottfredson has started several new programs and hired new employees to improve rape prevention, reporting and university response.

Caroline Heldman, a researcher from Occidental College in Los Angeles, found that between 2009 and 2012 only one UO student was expelled after a rape conviction. While 15 to 35 UO students each year are found guilty of rape, they are almost always given a slap on the wrist, temporarily suspended or made to write essays.

Nationally, an average of 10 to 24 percent of convicted rapists are expelled from college. The UO only expels one percent.

Last month Jennifer Freyd, a UO psychology professor who studies sexual assault, was invited to the White House for the announcement of a new push to use Title IX to mandate that colleges respond to sexual assaults or risk losing federal funding. Rape is considered sex discrimination under Title IX.

The White House also created a “road map” to help victims navigate reporting Title IX violations if their school doesn’t respond adequately.

Freyd says that rather than expelling rapists, colleges often blame the victims for what they were wearing or invalidate their concerns. Research shows that this “institutional betrayal” can cause depression and anxiety, forcing the victims to drop out of school.

Meanwhile, the perpetrators go unpunished.

The UO sanctions against rapists “don’t actually treat this as a crime,” Heldman told The Register-Guard.

Gottfredson announced last month that ending sexual assault is a top priority, with new programs like the UO Coalition to End Sexual Violence, a new website, new employees to deal with complaints, a 24-hour hotline, and mandatory employee training in sexual harassment prevention.

However, Freyd said that the introduction of employee training, which consists of an online test, is motivated by insurance companies and liability concerns, not a genuine desire to educate and change attitudes.

“It is not a solution to ignorance to take a passive online test, and, in fact, a lot of people resent it,” she told The Register-Guard. “They feel they’re being forced to do something. Information is being stuffed down their throat. They see it as less than respectful and useful.”

But Freyd said the new White House effort is a step in the right direction.

Students exploring the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art may not realize how unusual it is for a university museum to display works by Paul Cezanne, Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall, Frank Stella and other luminaries.

The museum’s budget makes it difficult to snag these world-famous paintings and sculptures. But out-of-state collectors exploit tax laws that save them money on artwork if they loan newly acquired works to Oregon museums before shipping them home.

While the state of California loses millions in tax revenue per year, UO students win by having access to art that would normally only hang publicly in New York City or Paris. The Jordan Schnitzer gets so many of these individual artworks that they have a designated space for “Masterworks on Loan.”

Currently there are over 30 works in the two-room section, where a Van Gogh painting hangs behind a layer of Plexiglas and a security guard.

The Jordan Schnitzer and the Portland Art Museum have become a resting point for artworks on their way from sellers worldwide to collectors, according to a New York Times article. Oregon’s proximity to California makes it an attractive way to avoid California’s 8.75 percent tax.

Most states have taxes on both buying art and displaying art. Oregon is one of three states that has neither, along with Delaware and New Hampshire.

So California collectors buying a Warhol painting from New York would normally be subject to taxes in New York and in California.

But if they immediately lend that painting to an Oregon museum for at least 90 days before shipping it home, the art was displayed in Oregon first, making it exempt from other states’ taxes.

“We don’t know how many are doing it for a tax break, because we don’t have to deal with the legal aspects of it,” said Jill Hartz, the executive director of the museum. “Collectors, agents or lawyers might call us or write us and say, ‘You know, I have this beautiful work, would you be interested in showing it?’”

Hartz says that the tax break has many positive effects for UO. Professors from several departments bring students to the museum to analyze the art. This year close to 5,000 students have visited the museum for academic purposes.

James Harper, an art history professor who utilizes the museum’s art for his classes and has also worked at the Harvard University Art Museum, says the Jordan Schnitzer is up there with the best university museums. “It’s a great resource… It’s definitely in the top 10th percentile.”

The New York Times suggested that smaller museums, such as the Jordan Schnitzer, don’t have the expertise to show such famous art. However, Hartz said the museum is nationally accredited and is very knowledgeable about proper care of artwork.

And, to critics who say this tax break causes California to lose revenue, Harper said, “It’s not Oregon’s job to pass a law to keep California from losing revenue. It’s California’s job.”

If you have a loud party but police never show up, you might assume that there will be no repercussions. But a University of Oregon program, the Good Neighbor Project, sends a letter to your landlord informing them of every noise or property complaint — even if police don’t respond and you never get a citation.

Multiple letters could result in eviction. The Unruly Gatherings Ordinance, which holds both renters and property owners responsible for noise and alcohol violations, has made absentee landlords more worried about neighborhood problems they might have ignored in the past.

“One of the frustrations that we heard from neighbors was that they stopped calling because we weren’t responding and they know we hadn’t come once,” said Kelly Putnam, manager of EPD’s West University Station. UO stepped in to collect records of the calls and forward them to property owners.

The Good Neighbor Project is neither a law nor initiative, rather it is run from the office of the Dean of Students without the involvement of EPD. At a City Club meeting on April 18, community and UO leaders praised the program, saying that it helps address the noise and partying in near-campus neighborhoods.

“It’s to warn the students that because of the Unruly Gatherings Ordinance, things are getting to the point where the residents might be held responsible,” said Paul Shang, dean of students and assistant vice president. “But also because of Unruly Gatherings, the managers and the property owners are being put on notice that they might become responsible as well.”

Audience members at City Club expressed frustration at UO’s recent growth — since 2007, the student body has grown from 20,000 to 25,000 and is now capped until class sizes can be reduced. With 80 percent of those students living off campus, families and elderly people near UO feel powerless as their neighborhoods change before their eyes.

Camilla Bayliss, co-chair of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, has lived in the same house since 1972.

“For the past six or seven years we’ve been bombarded with changes,” Bayliss said. “With an increasing number of students there’s been an increase in noise, vandalism, unruly parties and a number of other code violations. The biggest challenges are parking and increasing numbers of student renters.”

Shang said that the combination of the Good Neighbor Project and the Unruly Gatherings Ordinance has helped community relations and student safety. He talked about a late night walk that UO administrators and city council members take once each term near campus. He said it’s shocking what they see.

“A surprising number of people are walking up and down those sidewalks looking for parties, yelling and screaming and often times being very obscene, urinating in public,” Shang said. ”Many of them quite inebriated, and many of them very young.”

Putnam said that in order to stretch the resources of EPD, they had to use a system of “triage,” where police respond to the most important calls, and the rest of the complaints are forwarded to landlords.

“The university doesn’t have an interest in punishing people,” Shang said. “Have your parties, have a good time — but be respectful of the fact that you live near other people.”

Incumbents and challengers for the three commissioner positions in Lane County met for a forum in the Prince Lucian Campbell auditorium. The ten candidates traded subtle insults while the almost 70 audience members interrupted with clapping, booing, and laughing.

The most contentious moment of the evening came when candidate Sid Leiken said the state isn’t logging enough. A man with a ponytail and long beaded necklaces burst into loud, sarcastic laughter, and Leiken responded, “Where’s the respect? That’s okay, I’ve been heckled worse than that.”

Candidates agreed on some matters, like increasing public safety, deemphasizing logging in favor of other types of economic growth, and trying to alleviate homelessness. However, they clashed on funding issues, what the county should do to help the homeless and how much and what type of logging should be done.

Five full-time, paid county commissioners legislate and administer Lane County government. Two current commissioners weren’t at the event because no one is running for their spot. There were three incumbents and seven challengers at the forum.

Jay Bozievich is the incumbent for the west Lane district, challenged by Dawn Lesley. Lesley said she was angry about “partisan bickering” within county government, and mentioned that she was following Bozievich’s recent legal trouble and his coworker’s corruption charges. She said Bozievich’s “extreme politics don’t represent this moderate district.” Lesley also complained about 911 calls going unanswered, and said the “public safety crisis” could be solved by auditing the county to reduce government waste. Bozievich stressed what he said were his successes giving grants to help farmers, helping expand tourism with the county, and alleviating homelessness.

Sid Leiken is the incumbent Springfield commissioner. Sheri Moore and Charmaine Rehg are also running for that seat. Leiken served on the board of National Christian University (NCU), and has “extensive private sector” experience. He empasized that economic development and environmental protection go hand in hand, and said his dry cleaning business was one of the first to go green.

“I’m a hardworking unpaid volunteer because I care,” Moore Said. She rattled off over a dozen arts, community, and government groups she participates in. She also mentioned the partisan climate in the county and talked about how she wants to “restore honesty and respect to Lane County” and encourage agriculture and the health care sector. Rehg is the vice president of the Washburn Homeowners Society and used to work at a methadone clinic. She wants to find new ways of brining money to the community rather than “this knee-jerk Wyden/DeFazio reaction to cut more trees.”

Kevin Matthews and Jack Schoolcraft are both vying for the east Lane spot now occupied by Faye Stewart. Stewart grew up working on his dad’s logging business and is a fourth generation Lane County resident. He wants to increase jail capacity and hire more deputies so that all crimes will be prosecuted.

Matthews has been a small business owner for 20 years, as well as a ranch hand and educator. He said that “to build trust you have to be trustworthy” and criticized the “conservative majority” in the county that wants to “go back to the past” in the timber industry. Schoolcraft is a UO alum and a Vietnam veteran who is a craftsman and writes sci-fi novels. He wants to limit government salaries and end county hires from outside the area, because non-locals who leave declining cities to work in Lane County are just “rats fleeing a sinking ship.”

Also running for the east Lane spot are Jose Ortal and Joann Ernst, who didn’t attend the forum.

The forum, which ran from 7-9 pm Wednesday evening, was hosted by the College Republicans and moderated by Camille Lieruance, an Emerald reporter.

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane held oral arguments today over whether to overturn Measure 36, which is the 2004 initiative that banned same-sex marriage in Oregon. The case has drawn international attention, as Oregon could be the latest in a long list of states that have legalized gay marriage after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Defense of Marriage Act  in 2013.

The majority of those present gave arguments in favor of abolishing Measure 36. Attorneys from two different suits both spoke in favor of same-sex marriage, and representatives from the governor’s office, the attorney general and Multnomah County all agreed.

Two separate cases had been combined to challenge Measure 36 together, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum had already said the state would not try to defend the marriage ban. The National Organization for Marriage, a conservative group, filed a motion on Monday arguing that they should be able to defend Measure 36 in lieu of state support, and asking to delay today’s hearing. McShane will wait until May 14 to make a decision on that motion to intervene, and won’t make a decision on the case until after that.

Conservative supporters of Measure 36 had been critical of McShane presiding over the case, since he is gay. However, he was careful to challenge parts of arguments if he didn’t think they were well supported by legal precedent and sound logic.

The attorney for two of the plaintiffs quoted a Supreme Court decision in which Justice Edward Kennedy wrote that laws discriminating against same-sex couples create “a class of second class citizens” and infringe on rights that “everyone else in America enjoys without question.” McShane surprised the attorney by asking what he thought of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s opinion in the same case that laws limiting marriage are not discriminatory. The attorney was momentarily at a loss for words, but drew audience laughter when he replied, “I think Justice O’Connor has evolved on this issue as well.” He was alluding to President Obama’s frequent referrals to his position on gay marriage “evolving” until finally overturning DOMA.

Judge McShane mentioned that he has been getting mountains of mail sent to his home, from people opposing same-sex marriage, but that all the letters have been remarkably kind, and many people have said they will pray for him. He also refuted rumors in the press that he is planning on marrying his own partner.

McShane will make a decision on May 14 about allowing the National Organization for Marriage to argue in the defense of Measure 36.

Steven Huter, director of the Network Startup Resource Center and a UO research associate, was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame today. He has worked since 1990 to help bring the Internet to over 100 countries.

He was one of only 24 inductees to the hall of fame, along with 12 other Americans.

“Access to the Internet promotes economic growth, improvements to education, the dissemination of knowledge and overall human development,” Huter said in a press release.

His philosophy is to train locals to build and maintain networks, so that they can spread knowledge to people in their communities and continue to grow Internet access without outside help.

In Huter’s acceptance speech, he said that he would have preferred the honor to go to his entire group.

Google has given the NSRC grants of a total of $4.45 million in the last four years to help expand Internet access in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“I think of the NSRC as 21st-century pioneers, helping to open up new Internet territory,” Vinton Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist at Google, said in a statement. “It would be hard to overstate their contributions to increasing Internet access for everyone.”

The Internet Society created the Hall of Fame three years ago to recognize people who have contributed to spreading the Internet around the world.

The third annual Climate Change Research Symposium will be held tomorrow, April 16, in the EMU Fir Room from 8:30 – 4:30 p.m.  It is free and open to the public and features 52 UO presenters.

“Faculty and students here are doing research on numerous aspects of climate change, helping to deepen our understanding of the physical, biological and social facets of this problem,” said Ronald Mitchell, the symposium organizer and UO political science professor in a press release. “The symposium is a great opportunity to learn about cutting-edge research into the causes of climate change, the impact it’s likely to have and what we can do to avert some of those impacts or adapt to those we can’t avert.”

Kate Larsen will give the keynote speech from 12 – 1 p.m. on “Climate Change Negotiations: An Insider’s Perspective.” She is the director for climate change at the New York-based Rhodium Group and the former deputy associate director for energy and climate change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

At 4:30 p.m., there will be a roundtable discussion on “Promises and Pitfalls of Teaching Climate Change in the Classroom.” Alan Dickman, a UO associate professor of biology, will be the moderator. Participants include students from “The Cultures of Climate Change” class, which was recently featured in The New York Times.

Other speech topics include climate change from the perspective of the law, philosophy, geography, and politics.  A full schedule and description of the symposium is at http://climatechange.uoregon.edu/.

There is a reception at 6 p.m. in the Museum of Natural and Cultural History where attendees can preview the museum’s new exhibit about climate change, called “Explore Oregon!” The museum is located at 1680 E 15th Ave.