When the fire alarm sounded throughout the Student Recreation Center Monday evening, many students speculated it was a cruel and immature April Fools’ joke, but what started as a simple fire drill evacuation turned into an hour-long escapade of students attempting to retrieve their belongings from inside the building before heading home.

It turned out the commotion was caused by a fire sprinkler set off by a rock climber who unknowingly jostled a sprinkler on the wall. Water started leaking from the pipe, leading to flooding around the south exit and bouldering section of the rock climbing gym. Students were allowed to enter in small groups to grab their belongings and leave.

Public relations major Alletta Simons said that she and a friend were on their way to the rec center from Global Scholars Hall when they found the building had been evacuated.

“We walked up to see hundreds of students on the right side of the road, a fire truck and three or four cop cars,” Simons said. “It was actually kind of comical because there was people still in their swimsuits and gym clothes.”

The SRC staff announced via mass email and Facebook that the building would be closed until 10 a.m. Tuesday with all activities prior being cancelled. It reopened at 9:45, just in time for 10 o’clock classes and with only a small portion of the rock climbing gym closed off.

“We’ve taken up the flooring that was damaged and now we are in the process of drying it out,” said Molly Kennedy, assistant director for marketing at the rec center. “Part of the rock climbing wall is not going to be available until possibly the end of this week, but the main wall will be open, business as usual.”

Bryan Haunert, associate director for facilities at the rec center, said that the damage left by the leaking water wasn’t as bad as first perceived by the responding service workers.

“The damage is actually pretty minimal. It’s all water damage,” Haunert said. “We have a flooring company coming in tomorrow, and we’re anticipating getting the flooring back in by Thursday and at the latest be up and running Friday.”

With portions of the rock climbing gym closed, bouldering and climbing classes will be forced to squeeze into the remaining area until repairs are complete. Kennedy said that she wishes there was more the staff could do to accommodate students during this inconvenience, but there is little to do with already limited space.

“These things are unfortunately out of our control, and all I can say what we’re doing is trying to get it fully functional as soon as possible,” Kennedy said.

The Oregon men’s basketball team, Pac-12 champions for the first time in six years, made an astounding run in the NCAA tournament before being defeated by top-ranked Louisville in a 40-minute war of attrition. But the hardwood isn’t the only place where the Cardinals beat the Ducks.

According to a study by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics at the University of Central Florida, Oregon is one of six teams in the 2013 NCAA tournament that would be ineligible for postseason play under tougher academic standards in the next two years.

The NCAA board of directors approved changes to Academic Progress Rate standards back in 2011. Those changes take effect in the 2014-15 season. For championships in 2014-15, teams must earn a 930 four-year average APR or a 940 average over the most recent two years to participate. In 2015-16 and beyond, teams must earn a four-year APR of 930 to compete in championships.

The Ducks’ current multi-year APR sits at 926 — currently not a problem — but without improvement it could lead to being left without an invitation to the big dance, or any dance.

These rates are calculated by looking at the academic progress of each student athlete on a team who receive financial aid. Each team receives one point for retention and one point for eligibility, totaling a possible two points per athlete. A team’s total points are added up and divided by the points possible, then multiplied by 1,000 to find the APR score. The TIDES study uses a multi-year average rather than any one particular season.

Gary Gray, senior associate athletic director for compliance, says the new rules won’t change how the athletic department functions because it’s always looking to boost student athlete APR across all sports in order to serve the mission of helping athletes reach their goals, whether that be a degree or professional accreditation.

“It doesn’t change how we operate — APRs are a constant topic of conversation in the department for all teams as well as for all of our student-athletes,” Gray said. “Our goal is to provide the best possible student-athlete experience.”

The Ducks’ APR took a dip in 2010, landing at just 870. The rating was better in 2011, yet dismal still at 912. In 2012, the Ducks were better, gaining 38 points to land at a comfy 950.

So if the team’s score is steadily rising, why might the Ducks be ineligible? It has to do with the 926 multi-year average, ruined by poor performance in previous years.

Craig Pintens, senior associate athletic director for marketing and public relations, is confident the team will be eligible under the new rule changes affirming in an email that, “We will comply next year.”

Other top teams in the tournament such as Louisville, Duke and Michigan scored much higher than the Ducks at 965, 995 and 1,000 (a perfect score), respectively, over a four-year period.

Steve Stolp, director for student athlete services, says the team’s low average APR can be explained by the transition between coaching staffs over the previous four years.

“The deficiency is primarily explained by the number of basketball players that transferred out of the Oregon program in the coaching transition between Ernie Kent and Dana Altman,” Stolp said. “Coach Altman started in April of 2010. Since then, we have had single-year rates above 950.”

Stolp and the rest of the student athlete support team will need to match the upward trend of the Ducks’ on-court performance with their grades if the team seeks further success in the post-season.

The upward trend of Oregon’s success, both in the classroom and on the court, is reminiscent of the larger national picture. The TIDES study shows an increase in total APR for division 1 men’s basketball as a whole and teams are graduating a larger percentage of their athletes than in recent history.

For example, the overall graduation success rate — or GSR — for male basketball student athletes increased in 2013 to 70 percent from 67 percent in 2012.

“We are doing better each year. The academic reforms instituted in the past have worked,” said Richard Lapchick, director of TIDES and Chair of the DeVos Sports Business Management Program at UCF.

The study also looked at the disparity between graduation rates of white and black male student athletes. While both showed improvement, there is still a clear gap between the two groups.

“The most troubling statistic in our study is continuing large disparity between the GSR of white basketball student-athletes and African-American student-athletes,” Lapchick commented in his report. ”It is simply not acceptable that in 2013, 40 percent of men’s teams (teams in NCAA tournament) had a GSR disparity of greater than 30 percent between white student-athletes and African-American student-athletes.”

The study shows that while Oregon doesn’t have a graduation disparity rate of more than 30 percent, there is still a noticeable gap of 20 percent between white and black basketball student athletes.

However, the 85 percent total GSR for Oregon’s men’s team is better than the athletic department’s total for all sports, which sits at 80 percent.

In two days, University of Oregon sophomore Samantha Stendal’s video — titled “A Neeeded Response” — has over 1.3 million views on YouTube and is receiving national attention for its pointed message in responding to the events of the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case in which two high school football players were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl who was under the influence of alcohol.

The video features a male (Justin Gotchall, also a UO student) standing in front a female passed out on a couch.

“Hey bros, check who passed out on the couch,” the video begins. “Guess what I’m gonna do to her …”

The male then puts a pillow under the her head, brings her a blanket and a glass of water and says, ”Real men treat women with respect.”

Short, sweet and to the point.

Since posting the video, Stendal was interviewed by multiple news outlets, including Eugene’s KVAL and Portland’s KGW.

“The message I hope that people can get from this video is that we need to treat one another with respect,” she told KVAL. “No matter what gender, we should be listening to each other and making sure there is consent.”

James Olmsted broke the law when he confronted students in the EMU amphitheater during a mock border checkpoint exercise. His language, although described as aggressive by some witnesses, was protected under state and federal law. Here are a few laws that protected Olmsted’s speech in the moments leading up to the altercation.

Article 1, Section 8. Oregon Constitution allows you to freely express your opinions in public including protests, demonstrations, book readings, campaign events and petitioning.

State of Oregon v. Henry is a Oregon Supreme Court ruling that laws criminalizing obscenity violate Oregon’s freedom of speech provision. Obscenity is protected under Oregon Constitution (Article 1, Section 8).

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy is a common law test for a persons fourth amendment right to privacy; the expectation of privacy generally recognized by society does not include public places such as a college campus. Allows people to photograph you in a public place without your consent as long as it is not for commercial use and passes the four privacy torts:

• Intrusion of privacy vs. consent
• Disclosure of private facts vs. newsworthiness
• Painted in a false light (defamation) vs. proof of actual malice
• Appropriation of one’s likeness (photographed in public place) vs. consent & newsworthiness

Eugene police officers arrested eight people — including five University of Oregon students — early Sunday morning after responding to a noise complaint on East 18th Avenue between High and Mill Streets.

Around 12:22 a.m., the Eugene Police Department — with the aid of an Oregon Liquor Control Commission officer — arrived at the apartment to find people running from the house and jumping from the second story balcony; the door, too, was barricaded from the inside. After repeated attempts to peaceably enter the premises, police received a telephonic search warrant to enter at 1:55 a.m., almost an hour and a half after arriving on the scene.

After ramming the door and entering the residence, police found over 30 people packed into the two bedroom apartment and arrested the three residents — two of which are UO students as well as brothers.

Twenty-five people at the party were cited for being minors in possession of alcohol, and another two cited for possessing small amounts of marijuana. The police reported some of the party goers said they were trapped inside the apartment against their will — leading to counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, prohibited noise and felony coercion for all three residents.

Among the detained were three additional UO students. All were taken to jail once police cleared the apartment.

Eugene Police Lt. Doug Mozan said when police deal with situations where people are not cooperating, it ends badly for everyone.

“When police officers are dealing with one party, a typical response takes two to four officers, depending on the number of people,” Mozan said. “When people run, when people resist … two to four turns into 20, and these officers come from every corner of the city.”

Mozan said this party is an example of circumstances under which the Social Host Ordinance could be cited in the future because of the enormous strain it puts on EPD’s resources.

“If it takes 20 police officers or so,” he said, “that’s when Social Host Ordinance can kick in because of the time and resources being taken away from other areas of the city.”

EPD will continue to train its officers and educate residents on Social Host Ordinance until April 1, when police are authorized to start citing it.

Update: The University of Oregon Police Department released a statement Friday, confirming that Olmsted, 58, was arrested Thursday afternoon on campus.

“He (Olmsted) was cited in lieu of custody for second-degree theft and two counts of physical harassment. Olmsted was escorted off campus and issued a letter forbidding his return. An investigation is ongoing and other charges may be pending.”

University of Oregon adjunct law professor James Olmsted has been removed from the law school’s adjunct and affiliated faculty page. You can check out the cached site here. The cached page is 11 days old, and there has been no word as to whether he was removed due to the altercation or some time prior.

***

Several videos displaying an argument between Olmsted and students protesters started to make the rounds on social media late Thursday evening. The videos show different angles of a heated altercation between him and a student he pushed out of the way.

According to the YouTube descriptions, the videos take place near the EMU amphitheater at a mock border check-in organized by Students Against Imperialism  — a group in support of equitable treatment along the United States-Mexican border, which recently combined with the group, Students for Palestinian Liberation.

It is unclear how the dispute started and ended, as both videos capture only the middle of the quarrel.

More to follow.

*Warning, these videos contain profane language that may offend*

The University of Oregon’s Substance Abuse Prevention Program has its work cut out for them. Their mission — an operation of the Dean of Students’ office — is to change current and prospective students’ views on what it means to be a college student.

While tidings of the UO’s rowdy antics travel slowly by word-of-mouth, multimedia snapshots provide a quick and modern look at student festivities and an intensified stigma for SAPP to fight against.

Jennifer Summers, director of substance abuse prevention, says the biggest thing to overcome is the public’s impression of how students act.

“Our main strategy is to try and help students, the local community and the nation recognize that college is much more than any party,” she said. “We know that the number one thing that can contribute to students drinking more is the perception that students are drinking more.”

A multimedia piece was recently released by collegiate life documentarian media company The College Culture. The Southern California-based start-up, whose goal is to capture “the other side of college,” has produced short films documenting party life at notable West Coast schools, like the University of Colorado at Boulder, Cal Poly, University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Arizona.

With the College Culture’s most recent stop turning its eye on the UO, the film showcases the student social scene and snapshots of iconic Eugene locations including Spencer Butte, Autzen Stadium and 13th Avenue. It shows students drinking before a football game and the after parties celebrating a big win.

Summers said while the film shows some good things about Eugene and the UO, it also paints an inaccurate picture of typical student behavior.

The American College Health Association publishes an assessment on health of college students at institutions across the country. Their most recent data on the UO shows that only 75.6 percent of students use alcohol (PDF). The assessment also looks at perceived alcohol use by students, accounting for how often a student sees others around them drinking, which sits at 96 percent.

Summers believes videos like this one contribute to the inaccurate notion of how many students are actually drinking.

“It’s got the ‘O,’ it’s got the Duck, it’s got highlights from some of the things that are truly happening in the campus community,” she said, “but then you’ve also got it where it tries to bridge in these pictures that don’t showcase what the normal behaviors of most of our students are.”

But it’s not just administrators reacting to the video. Student peer health educators in the substance abuse prevention program were also concerned about the message disseminated by the film.

“I thought the beginning of the video was awesome; it shows Eugene as kind of the hidden gem of Oregon,” said Ashley Penington, peer health educator and human physiology major. “But what upset me the most was I don’t want prospective students to coming here to think UO is about crazy college drinking when there is so much more to the culture of who our students are.”

Penington and the other peer health educators say their job is not about getting students to stop drinking, but to get them to drink and party in a manner that is safe for everyone. She and fellow peer health educator Stacee Curtis want to educate students on how alcohol and drugs can negatively effect their bodies if used in extreme excess.

“As peer health educators, we are not trying to send out a ‘don’t drink’ message,” Curtis said, “but we don’t want potential students to see this and think they have to act this way to fit in here, because that’s not portraying a safe image.”

In order to work against this view, Penington, Curtis and other peer health educators offer presentations to student groups, Fraternity and Sorority Life, as well as freshmen in residence halls to break the myths and provide facts about drinking. Penington said helping her classmates understand more about the human body and how alcohol affects it has been the most gratifying part of being a peer health educator.

“It’s been really rewarding for us to go into to situations where you know you’re not going to keep them from drinking, but you can see they’re learning,” she said. “I just hope something beneficial comes out it.”

It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday night. You and your roommates made it through the long week and are ready to host a party for your friends to come have some fun. All of the sudden its 12:30 a.m. and your house is a war zone. There’s beer on the floor, a random girl spilling Jager on the purple couch your mom gave you and people shooting each other with your roommate’s blow dart gun. The worst part is you don’t know half of the people raging in your house, and someone clearly didn’t read the sign “do not turn volume past 40 unless you want our neighbors calling the pigs!” As if on cue, the police show up 20 minutes later and warn you that you need to empty your house or face a $375 base fine, police response costs, which average over $800 per call and possible criminal penalties. This is your party life under the new city of Eugene ordinance on unruly gatherings.

The ordinance — commonly know as the Social Host Ordinance — was passed by the eight-member city council and approved by Mayor Kitty Piercy on Jan. 28. According to a city fact sheet, police can cite individuals under the ordinance if there is “alcohol present or consumed and where any two or more of the following behaviors occur on the property where the gathering takes place or on adjacent property: violations that involve laws relating to sale, service, possession or consumption of alcohol; assault, menacing, harassment, intimidation, disorderly conduct, noise disturbance, criminal mischief, public urination or defecation and littering.”

The ordinance went into effect March 2, but police will not enforce action until April 1, after a month-long education period.

Student activists, including ASUO and Fraternity and Sorority Life, showed heavy opposition in the early stages, but were unable to prevent the ordinance from being enacted. Now, many are concerned that they will feel the pressure of Eugene Police’s newly established sledgehammer.

Madi McCallum — a junior journalism major whose house has been targeted by the Eugene Police Department before —  says that while she understands the need to keep the peace, she feels like the city and EPD are attempting to take the college experience out of a college town.

“Partying is pretty typical in college, and I feel like they’re trying to make it illicit,” McCallum said. “It is their job to protect the community and look out for everyone’s best interest, but they’re going way beyond what they need to do to keep people safe.”

EPD Sergeant David Natt said he understands the student sentiment and wants to be clear that the ordinance will be applied with discretion, case by case. His only advice to students worried about the new ordinance is to know which actions are punishable under the ordinance.

“If someone has fear that they are going to be cited for that ordinance or is concerned about that, take a look at the list of behaviors, understand what they are and don’t allow them to happen at your residence,” Sergeant Natt said. “If we can’t determine two of those actions are happening, we can’t cite the ordinance.”

A key factor to keep in mind is that there are no limitations or guidelines on how many people constitute an unruly gathering. Whether it is four or 400 people, if there are two of the actions on the list happening, you can be cited.

With all the concerns surrounding the application and implications of the new law, many are overlooking some of the more underlying consequences for those tagged by the ordinance.

One provision of the rule allows the police to hold a cited address’s property manager or landlord to be held liable for response costs after the fourth violation at the same address within a 12‐month period, but limited to the civil penalty for recovery of the actual response costs.

Local West University and South Eugene property managers are preparing to educate their tenants on how the ordinance can effect them in the long run. Even if a tenant leaves and a new one moves in, the ordinance is still tagged to that address even if the people who incurred the black mark have moved on.

Jim Straub, owner of Acorn Property Management, said that he won’t bring it to the attention of his tenants until a serious incident occurs to defend his company’s relationship with its renters.

“I don’t anticipate bringing it to the attention of tenants until there is something severe. The consequences are scary, but I don’t think 99 percent of people will run into this,” he said. “The way the ordinance is designed, you get a free warning and tenants are going to know if they are violating it and the police will inform us as well.”

Straub explained that if a tenant is warned by police, they will contact the tenant within the next few days to talk about moving forward in a positive manner to prevent another incident and incurred fees by both parties.

As far as the University of Oregon is concerned, the administration only wants to educate students on their rights and regulations to party in a safe manner.

Jennifer Summers — director of substance abuse prevention in the Dean of Students Office — said that she, along with student groups, is working with EPD and the City of Eugene to make sure they have a comprehensive approach in getting the word out to students to make sure they are well informed of the changes.

“One of the approaches we are focusing on is not only getting the word out about the ordinance itself, but clarifying some of the specifics on what makes a gathering unruly,” Summers said. “Also, EPD has stressed the affirmative defense, that if you’re trying to call and say your party accidentally got out of control, their biggest concern is trying to increase compliance.”

Summers said that there will be a town hall-style meeting in April for students to come and meet city and police officials to ask questions so they can better understand the regulations and their rights. Summers and her office are still planning the event and plan to announce the details soon.

The University of Oregon’s newly formed police force just turned one year old, but campus stakeholders aren’t throwing a birthday party. The question of whether or not to have an armed police force on campus has dogged students, faculty, staff and community members for the past several years and could likely be decided by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education this spring.

University community members met for a second forum Tuesday evening to continue the discussion around UOPD carrying handguns where the community had the opportunity to ask questions of interim Chief Carolyn McDermed and Police Captain Pete Deshpande. While some questioned how arming their force would affect response times and procedure for potentially dangerous situations or whether or not officers would be required to take cultural competency training to prevent firearm misuse — others questioned the lack of students at the forum.

Michael Connelly, an instructor in the department of academic extension, said that he was worried the student voice wasn’t being heard in the longer discussion surrounding arming UOPD.

“The students need to be empowered to have a voice in whether they want this, so we understand the people who we serve, what they really want,” Connelly said. “We need to allow students have their voice be heard and respect it no matter what our own feelings about it are.”

Despite the concern by faculty and staff to hear the student sentiment, there were only a handful of students at the forum, no more than 10 at one point. While many offered good dialogue for the officers and administration to consider, the lack of student involvement could be interpreted as a lack of interest.

ASUO Vice President Nick McCain, who was attendance Tuesday, said that the ASUO has the power to put forth another referendum to find a clear student consensus one way or the other.

“Senate does have the ability to put referendum forward with two-thirds majority vote,” McCain said. “We’re going to look into it and I’m one of the members that sits on the advisory committee so if that is something the students are looking to do, its my job to represent students, we can put it on the ballot.”

President Michael Gottfredson — who was in the audience but did not make a statement one way or the other — will be making a recommendation to the state board this spring before they vote and final action is taken.

McDermed, Deshpande and Vice President for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt all advocated for UOPD to carry guns citing statistics which show how unsafe it is for a police officer to do even the most routine duties including making traffic stops, transporting suspects and investigating crimes off-campus.

“Police carry guns for three main reasons,” Deshpande said. “For deterrence as a last resort, unknown risk factors and to protect life.”

The past year was a roller coaster of triumphs and tribulations for the University of Oregon, but with the firing and hiring of a new president, widening state disinvestment in higher education and Governor John Kitzhaber’s plan to overhaul Oregon’s public education system, the announcement of UO Provost James Bean’s resignation effective July 1 brings the state’s flagship institution to yet another crossroads.

The announcement came this past Wednesday in a letter from UO President Michael Gottfredson. Bean has served as the UO’s chief academic officer for the past four years with a one-year sabbatical from which he returned at the beginning of this academic year. His return was perfectly timed with Gottfredson’s campus debut to help transition the UO’s new leader into the role.

“His efforts to develop a transparent budget system for the University and to place the campus on a better financial footing have been especially noteworthy,” Gottfredson wrote. “I am also personally very grateful for his guidance, counsel and leadership during my first months here.”

Bean says that he is excited to get back to teaching but will continue to work with the administration in an advisory role even after he steps aside. He believes his previous experience of working at the University of Michigan’s engineering and business schools can translate to success here at the UO.

“I’ve been honored to be able to serve in this position, but I want to return to help develop the next opportunities for the University to improve its AAU ratings and applying my experience from my time at Michigan,” Bean said.

Former UO president and current law professor Dave Frohnmayer expressed his gratitude toward Bean’s tenure as provost. Frohnmayer said that without Bean’s Big Ideas project — a campaign to elicit ideas for academic and research improvement in an open forum style — the UO would have missed major opportunities for programs that may not have surfaced otherwise.

“I think Jim Bean has done an outstanding job in one of the toughest assignments in American higher education,” Frohnmayer said. “He carried on effective dialogue with faculty leadership in the Big Ideas effort, which helped discover the interests of the faculty across colleges and disciplines.”

Over the coming weeks, President Gottfredson will take input on an interim replacement while the UO prepares for yet another national search. This time the main theme of the search will be improving the UO’s academic stature.

Despite the UO showing preference to close national searches run by consulting firms, some faculty members want to keep the search in the hands of faculty and faculty administrators.

Biology professor and former faculty senate president Nathan Tublitz has put forth a motion for the search to be headed by a joint faculty-administration committee comprised of tenure and non-tenure faculty, a dean and an administrator.

Tublitz said that he wants to see the faculty hire a new provost who will work more closely with students and faculty to improve issues like the number of students, class sizes and updating facilities as well as fostering a better research environment to maintain the UO’s relationship with the Association of American Universities.

“The outgoing provost didn’t spend enough time working on issues directly relating to students,” Tublitz said. “I hope the next provost will work to positively impact students.”

With talk of change, some professors have expressed a hankering for more energetic leadership, possibly someone on the younger side. Tublitz expressed that age isn’t a factor in his mind.

“Younger is not important; energetic is essential,” he said.