According to an email sent by University president Michael Gottfredson to the campus community early Tuesday afternoon, Scott Coltrane is the first candidate to be recognized in the search for a replacement provost.

Coltrane has served as interim provost since July 2013 when former provost Jim Bean stepped down from the position.

As one of four candidates being considered for the position, Coltrane will host a public presentation in the JSMA Ford Lecture Hall on Monday, Jan. 13 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. to address the University population. The president encourages community members to attend the presentation and provide online feedback on Coltrane’s qualifications and performance.

Information on the remaining three candidates has yet to be released.

Let’s get the obvious joke out of the way: The Buzz serves beer and wine now, so feel free to annoy your friends and fellow students when you “cleverly” announce where you’re going for a drink. Got it out of your system? Good.

As of Monday, spirits found a permanent home on the menu of the central campus cafe from 4-9 p.m. on weeknights. Available to drinking-age students are a selection of four local brews, red and white wines from across the Northwest region and a gluten-free hard cider from Salem, all priced at $3 each.

“In a nutshell it’s just adding one more item to the drink menu, like anyone would do if they could,” EMU Food Service Coordinator Shelly Pruitt said. “I got presented with the question of how to drive students into the restaurant during evening hours and thought, ‘Well, if you want to keep students around, why not serve wine and beer?’”

Creating a daily pub night for the campus coffee shop has been a three-year process. Starting in December 2010, the Buzz began implementing pub nights first on a monthly basis, then starting once a week. After years spent on employee training and procuring the necessary permits, The Buzz’s request for a daily pub night was approved Dec. 1, 2013.

“The big thing was about risk management,” Pruitt said of the process. “We wanted to make sure we presented (alcohol) in the light of moderation. This isn’t another Taylor’s.”

In order to keep alcohol consumption at campus-safe levels, customers are restricted to three drinks per day and are required to return their previous bottle or wine glass in order to purchase a refill. What’s more, all alcoholic beverages must be consumed within the interior boundaries of the cafe.

Eventually, Pruitt hopes the additional menu items will draw even more students to the campus hub.

“It’s been a long process, but it’s working now and we are hoping that it’s going to be a big success,” she said. “Hopefully (The Buzz) becomes the student bar where they can kind of drive the atmosphere and what goes on within our limits.”

Beatriz Gutierrez is no stranger to the golden man.

Gutierrez is a testament to the success of Oregon’s education system. A junior at the University of Oregon, Gutierrez is the first in her family to attend a university — made possible by her attainment of a Pathway Oregon scholarship.

As a board member of the Oregon Students of Color Coalition — a subset of the Oregon Student Association — Gutierrez travels to Salem regularly to campaign against Oregon’s educational failures.

As they assemble around the state capitol building, Gutierrez and other advocates protest the most relevant issues confronting local students: tuition, access, quality. Above their heads stands the Oregon Pioneer, a 22-foot-tall, gold-plated testament to the glory of governance in the Beaver State.

Year after year Gutierrez returns to Salem, yet her cries seem to fall on deaf ears.

The countenance of the golden man remains unmoved.

Sixty miles away in Eugene, the realities are impossible to ignore. As state spending per UO student has declined, tuition is on the rise: the university is paying the price.

Five years ago, Brad Shelton was tasked with helping balance the scales.

Shelton accepted the position as the first-ever vice provost for Budget and Planning with one goal in mind: implementing a financial model that would marry the needs of administration and academics.

Six months into his term, Shelton restructured the budget model to academic departments according to their annual academic activity to streamline funding.

The change came just in time.

The UO received $80 million in funding from the state of Oregon when Shelton started in 2009. That funding has since been cut in half.

“As state appropriations fell, student population grew and tuition revenues increased,” Shelton said. “If we hadn’t had the budget model to work with then we would have had chaos.”

State spending on higher education has decreased almost 20 percent on a national level since the start of the 2007 recession, according to a study conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

In Oregon, it’s dropped 43 percent.

Higher education funding has been falling in the Beaver State since the early 1990s when Measure 5 was passed, severing the tie between property taxes and funding for higher education. More recently, the state has increased focus on K-12 education spending, taking the focus away from universities.

Ben Cannon is the newly appointed executive director of Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission and is responsible for the oversight of Oregon’s public universities and community colleges. With fewer dollars in the budget, he says, the Oregon University System has fewer dollars for every state student enrolled.

“The pattern over the last couple of decades has been one of diminishing state support, any way you look at it,” Cannon said. “That’s true not just of Oregon but of states across the country.”

In Gutierrez’s time at the UO, she’s borne witness to changes caused by chronic state disinvestment.

Three years ago, she could pay for rent and food with scholarships and minimal support from her parents. This year, she’s had to accept a job on top of hours of class and volunteer work to make ends meet.

In all, she thinks she’s got it pretty easy.

“I’m lucky that my parents can help some and that I got Pathway,” Gutierrez said. “A lot of my friends don’t even know how they’re going to pay their rent.”

In 1994,  the UO’s price of educating an in-state student like Gutierrez was $14,679. Last year, it was nearly the same — up less than $1,000 to $15, 456 in 2012.

In those 18 years, state funding for that same student’s education has decreased 21 percent. And the cost of tuition has nearly doubled.

Not only has this increased pressure on students, Shelton says, it’s also had a significant impact on campus, resulting in everything from fewer administrators in Johnson Hall to fewer academic tutors in the Teaching and Learning Center.

“Nobody wants to raise tuition, but we want to keep the lights turned on,” he said. “Year after year we’re trying to figure out where to spend the limited funds we receive … In the last few years, the decision has been that we just can’t afford to hire anybody.”

The effect is visible.

Dilapidated lecture halls are pack tighter as enrollment increases with few faculty hires. Out-of-state enrollment increases to fill the funding void left by the state. Bank accounts and grade point averages plummet as finding employment becomes the only viable means of sustaining enrollment.

Atop the capitol dome, the golden man keeps shining.

From a national perspective, Oregon’s cuts to higher education — the 47th most severe in the country according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities — have left the UO struggling to compete with its peer institutions. An academic benchmarking report released in early October ranked UO last in spending per student and student to tenure-track faculty ratio when set side-by-side with comparable research institutions.

Gutierrez worries that decreased investment will negatively affect both today’s students and her home state’s future.

“How are we supposed to build a future without investing in our students and the generations to come? We’re heavily in debt — most of us — and we’re sinking,” she said.

At the UO, July 1, 2014 will mark the beginning of a new era.

Susan Gary, a UO law professor specializing in nonprofit management, will be at the forefront of that change as one of  the 14 trustees on the new UO Independent Governing board whose jurisdiction over campus starts this July.

As of yet, there have been few discussions of financial practices, but Gary hopes that by the time they’re granted executive power, the trustees will be ready to make the decisions that count.

“I think there’s a real sense on the board that we want to make the university a place that excels in its academic mission but doesn’t do so on the backs of the students,” Gary said. “That’s something we’re critically addressing, but we’re not quite sure how that’s going to play out and when.”

Cannon believes it’s time for Salem to shoulder more of the financial burden.

A special session headed by Gov. John Kitzhaber in September resulted in a tuition buy-down to cap in-state tuition increases at 2 percent for the remainder of this academic year and prevent any increase through the spring of 2015.

The state is predicted to invest $1,500 more in support to the UO in 2014. Regardless, Shelton says the rise of the independent governing board is happening just in time.

“We have to continue to manage the institution in a direction where it is stable,” he said. “Now the (state) funding source is diminished and so now that responsibility to make sure that we’re still here to service the state is on our shoulders.”

As state spending for education declines, it’s posed in stark contrast to other areas of the state’s budget. Both enrollment and incarceration rates have climbed over the last decade, however as spending for one has declined, the other has increased. Oregon invests up to $1.3 billion in correctional spending per biennium, accounting for 23 percent of the state’s discretionary budget.

In 2011-2013 biennium, $1 of every $10 spent in the state of Oregon went to the correctional system. The average inmate cost: $30,955 of taxpayer money.

That same year, the state spent less than 10 cents of every $1 cost of a students education – $3,850 on average.

That’s a difference of more than $27,000 per person, per year — enough for the UO to buy its own golden man.

Final exams will be delayed until 10 a.m., Monday, according to a release from the University of Oregon Office of Communications. Tests scheduled at 8 a.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. will be rescheduled.

Students whose schedule has been impacted by the delay will be notified by email later this evening and a revised schedule will be posted at alerts.uoregon.edu. Law school exams will continue as originally scheduled. However, any students who can’t make their 8:30 a.m., tests can take them at 10 a.m.

Campus Operations employees are expected to report for their normal morning shifts on Monday morning. Overnight shifts starting on Sunday night have been cancelled for custodial staff.

The UO is urging faculty cooperation with students affected by weather or travel conditions and are reminding students to use their best judgement when it comes to navigating the snow.

Here’s the full text of the UO campus alert:

The University of Oregon campus in Eugene will resume its regular operational schedule at 10 a.m., Monday, December 9th.

Final exams scheduled on Monday at 8 a.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m, will be rescheduled; those students and faculty who are affected will be notified via email and the revised schedule for those exams will be posted later this evening to this website. Finals exams scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m., or later, and those ending by 5:15 p.m., will continue as scheduled. Law School exams will take place as scheduled; students who cannot make it to campus for safety reasons can take their Monday 8:30 a.m. exams at 10 a.m.

It is understood that not everyone will be able to travel to campus due to continuing inclement weather. Members of the campus community are expected to use their best judgment in assessing the risk of coming to campus and returning home, based on individual circumstances. Students should work with their instructors and staff with their supervisors if they cannot safely get to exams and work. Faculty members not able to travel to campus are responsible for making alternate arrangements for proctoring exams.

Campus Operations custodial staff scheduled to work overnight (Sunday – Monday) should not report tonight (Dec 8), but all Campus Operations morning shift employees should report for their normal times on Monday.

Please use extreme caution when traveling to and from campus; riding the LTD bus system is recommended.

Updates on delays and cancellations will be posted on this website.

Video footage that captured students pelting snowballs at former University of Oregon professor Sherwin Simmons last Friday has not only gone viral on popular social media sites such as YouTube and Reddit but has also caught the attention of media outlets around the country.

As of Sunday, articles regarding the incident have been featured by both national and international media corporations, such as USA Today, New York Daily News, right-wing political website the Conservative Post and Metro, a tabloid based in the United Kingdom.

At 5 p.m. the video had received close to 2,000 shares on USAToday.com and had been viewed 1.2 million times on YouTube.

Though the USA Today sports story highlights the social media reactions of UO football players to the incident, most sources call into question the behavior of the student body as a whole and the social media attention garnered by the “snowmasacre,” as described by the Daily News.

According to UO Dean of Students Paul Shang, the university is conducting an investigation into the incident to determine the extent of disciplinary action. University of Oregon Police Department has yet to issue a response to the event.

University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson’s contract has been extended one full academic year, following an Oregon State Board of Higher Education meeting this afternoon.

As originally drafted, Gottfredson’s contract ensured his employment from Aug. 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015. At today’s meeting, his term was approved for extension by the Higher Education Board to extend through June 30, 2016 following a suggestion from Interim Oregon University System Chancellor Melody Rose.

According to Higher Education Secretary Charles Triplett, Gottfredson’s contract stipulates his eligibility for extension following a satisfactory performance review after annual presidential evaluation meetings with the system chancellor.

“We’re just following the contract terms,” Triplett explained of board deliberation over Gottfredson’s extension. “This is in his contract and per the board’s normal practice.”

Presidential performance reviews were conducted in July and August of this year. Gottfredson’s contract is the only one being discussed at today’s meeting due solely to the specific timing of his contract and performance review, Triplett explained.

According to OUS spokeswoman Di Saunders, Gottfredson holds high regards within the OUS system.

“It is very well known that President Gottfredson is doing a stellar job and that people are very pleased,” Saunders said. “This is a big transition that he’s managing excellently for the UO.”

The most notable transition spearheaded by the current president is the formation of the UO’s own governing board, independent of the OUS system. Of 14 candidates, 11 board members will be voted on within the coming weeks. Official governance under the new board will begin on July 1, 2014. Following the transition, the new board will be in charge of executive hiring and contract negotiations.

Future regulations concerning executive hiring are still unsure, as the delegation for such decisions will fall to the new board members. Currently, the Higher Education Board is in the process of drafting suggestions for the Independent Governing Boards outlining what the state board has found to be most effective in the traditional hiring process, Triplett said.

Following today’s decision, President Gottfredson expressed his excitement at leading the University for an additional year.

The University of Washington, University of California-Berkley and University of Michigan — all three of these institutions are considered among the top public research schools in the country. Along with the University of Oregon, they belong to an elite group: the American Association of Universities.

But an inaugural report benchmarking performance released by UO interim Provost Scott Coltrane shows the university is among the lowest of its peers. Put side-by-side with the other 33 public schools in the selective group, Oregon is out-performed in a number of areas including six-year graduation rate, student to tenured faculty ratio and average spending per student.

Oregon ranked below average in more than half of the 22 metrics from the 2010-2011 year, ranking dead last in all three of the above categories.

Over the same period, Oregon spent an average of $29,532 per student — almost $2,000 less than the next school, Indiana University at Bloomington, and less than half of the AAU average at approximately $60,000 per student.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — a key comparative institution according to the OUS — spent $86,337 per student in the same year.

Oregon also had a high student-to-tenured faculty ratio over the last five years, averaging 34 students per teacher, compared to the AAU average of 22. In 2011, Oregon’s ratio of 35:1 was 12 students over the AAU average of 23:1.

The average six-year graduation rate ranked poorly as well at 66 percent in 2011, or 32nd of the 34 schools. Oregon has consistently remained 10 percent lower than the five-year AAU average of 78 percent.

In terms of affordability, Oregon is slightly below average in cost of attendance. A resident undergraduate student paid about $8,800 to attend the UO in 2010-2011. That’s almost $1,000 less than the median cost of $9,500 charged by its AAU peers.

“Graduation rates, access and quality all need to improve,” Coltrane said. “The final metric of the report shows clearly that one of our first goals must be to find the funds to pay for these strategies.”

Coltrane also points out that higher graduation rates at other institutions could be a measure of student selectivity.

Though the numbers appear ominous, both Coltrane and former UO president and current professor Dave Frohnmayer stress that the report compares Oregon to elite research institutions, many of which have increased federal funding and per-student expenditures due to their affiliations with hospitals and farms.

Despite the gap in the type of institutions that comprise the AAU, Frohnmayer sees the UO’s membership status as an important distinction of quality.

“It is the premier organization of American research universities. It’s the association to which every university worth its salt aspires to membership, so it’s very coveted,” Frohnmayer said. “Membership is a proxy for the university’s excellence, so it means a lot, in my view.”

Although the rankings show many areas for improvement, the numbers weren’t all bad for Oregon — the report demonstrates a higher than average ratio of female faculty, number of books published by faculty and private donations solicited.

AAU Public Affairs Vice President Barry Toiv would not comment on the possibility of Oregon losing membership as a result of  below average metrics — it is standard practice for the AAU to not comment on the status of member institutions.

In determining the admission of a new school to the AAU or assessing existing members for renewal, the organization uses a rubric of membership indicators that include measurements of an institution’s federal research funding, faculty awards and attributed research citations.

According to the benchmark report, the UO’s standing in these categories is marginal.

In terms of federally funded research, Oregon ranks 27th among the 34 schools in the AAU and last among its eight OUS peers. Over the last five years, Oregon has received $250 million less per year than is typical for a public school in the AAU — in 2010-11 Oregon received only $78 million compared to the $317 million averaged by peers.

In terms of faculty grants and awards, the UO scored worse than 50 percent of AAU institutions with only 855 grants and 313 awards per 1,000 faculty members, compared to the norms of 1,018 and 395, respectively.

Although Oregon faculty publish an above-average number of books — 663 per 1,000 faculty members in 2011 compared to the average of 508 — the average number of times their works were professionally cited ranked below 75 percent of peer institutions.

­­Though Coltrane agrees that the report raises concern about the UO’s ability to maintain its status among similar universities, its purpose was to provide an accurate comparison to identify and start to remediate areas for improvement.

“The report does raise concerns about the UO staying in the AAU,” Coltrane said. “But recent events such as the creation of the university’s own governing board, our rise in the U.S. News and World Report rankings and other measurements of the strengths of our individual programs show that the institution’s momentum is upwards. There are many strategies that the institution can and will use to improve our various metrics.”

Oregon currently receives only 5 percent of the state higher education budget, the least of any school in the OUS. Oregon State and Portland State universities, the next two lowest, receive double that amount. 

Increased state support, improved grant reception and increased private funding are all ways that Coltrane hopes to see the UO’s new independent governing board generate funds to improve current rankings.

Like Coltrane, Frohnmayer points out the importance of reading deeper than the surface when interpreting the benchmark data.

“We do not have medicine, pharmacy, engineering or agriculture and so in a way the UO’s position is quite heroic … given that we start with that significant disadvantage,” Frohnmayer said. “The major problem the university has faced is the enormous and catastrophic withdrawal of state support. The fact that we’ve been able to make progress and increase federal support shows a very commendable amount of effort.”

Benchmark data raises the question of university prerogative for some students.

“It seems frustrating that we’re the flagship school and yet we are ranked dead last by the AAU, so what does that say for the state of education in Oregon?” said senior Jeremy Hedlund, proponent for tuition equity and founder of UO’s Student Labor Action Project. “That our tuition is equitable to these other schools yet we’re ranked among the lowest speaks to the priorities of our institution and makes me wonder what our tuition dollars are going to.”

Students, Coltrane says, have little to fear from the rankings.

“We’re not being out-performed in terms of what we do for our students — it’s really all about the research,” he said. “I don’t think we’re failing to give students what they need.”

Follow Sami Edge on Twitter @Sami_Edge

University President Michael Gottfredson made an appearance at  the University of Oregon Health Center’s annual faculty and staff flu clinics early Thursday morning. Through the end of October, faculty and staff can receive flu shots with their faculty ID and PEBB Providence Insurance Card from 8-9 a.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Faculty or staff without an insurance card can pay the $15 fee with cash or check.

Gottfredson gets a flu shot every year.

“It’s a good prevention practice,” he said. “The flu is an important health isue and I’m hopeful not to get it and I’m hopeful not to spread it to others … plus, [the shot] really doesn’t hurt.”

Students can also receive flu shots at the Health Center between 9 and 11:30 a.m., or from 1-4 p.m. every weekday with their student ID. The $15 fee will be charged to their student billing account upon completion, and flu shots will be available until stock runs out — usually between January and June of the following year.

According to Health Center Promotion and Marketing Manager Keith Van Norman, both student and faculty clinics have seen a steady turn out this year — though he stressed that there’s always room for more. Not only can a $15 flu shot prevent lost time due to illness, it’s also important to protect the campus as a whole, he said

“The flu goes around every year at the UO and it’s important that people get their flu shots for preventative care … If you’re going to be out of commission for a week you’ll miss 10 percent of your classes and it will cost you a lot of money and time,” Van Norman said. “For $15 to prevent that — it’s a really good return on that investment.”

Paulina* is a survivor of sexual assault. She’s also an employee at the University of Oregon. If a fellow student reached out to Paulina for support relating to a sex crime, Paulina would be expected to report it to her supervisors.

It’s an obligation that comes with working for the UO.

As of last Friday, the university had 10,781 employees. Faculty. Graduate Teaching Fellows. Student Recreation Center receptionists. They all have to report any instance of university-related sexual assault that comes to their attention, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Regardless of whether or not the victim wants to come forward.

“It takes away a personal aspect of friendship or confidentiality with a survivor, and puts the university first,” Paulina said of required reporting. “It’s not my place to decide whether or not a survivor wants to take action.”

Though employee requirements are uniform, notification and training for the reporting process are anything but.

Under Title IX requirements from the Department of Education, universities are expected to have a category of employees responsible for reporting inappropriate discrimination, including sexual assault. Legally, which employees fall into the role of required reporter is a decision left up to individual universities or university systems.

In a policy unusual within the Oregon University System, all UO employees are expected to report, all the time.

According to university administration, the all-inclusive policy is an attempt to eliminate confusion regarding who has to report sexual assault, or when they have to do it.

“(The required reporting policy) is very straightforward, it minimizes confusion … It is to meet our obligations under federal law that provides guidelines for when an institution knows, or should have known about discrimination, it has a duty to act,” UO’s title IX Coordinator Penelope Daugherty explains. “At the end of the day, if we want to provide an environment that is free from discrimination, then the way we do that is by knowing when discrimination is occurring so we can address it.”

Despite administrative desire for uniformity, inconsistencies with the implementation of the policies — including confusion regarding who is designated as a required reporter and what kind of training reporters receive — lead survivors and advocates to question the policy’s true purpose.

Annie Clark, a national advocate for sexual assault reform and survivor of an assault at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, worked in UO housing last year. Although she believes that the information generated by required reporting can be beneficial, from her time at the UO, she’s not sure that the university’s systems are capable to collect accurate information — let alone make use of it.

“If you have an infrastructure in place and people are properly trained it can be beneficial … I don’t see systems in place that are adequate to support the survivors if they come forward,” Clark said. “Telling people just to report, report, report, but not giving them adequate training to respond as a person — it just comes off as if they want to make sure they’re in compliance with federal laws, and not like they want to support the victim.”

To reduce confusion, the university will roll out a new mandatory training program by November. Online, and approximately 90 minutes long, the training will be broken into two parts: one to address institutional reporting responsibilities under federal law, and the second to address responding to a victim of sexual assault and specific practices for the UO.

Training will be mandatory for faculty, GTFs, professional staff and classified employees. It will be voluntary for all others. Although they remain required reporters, student and temporary workers will not be institutionally mandated to receive the training.

This inconsistency makes Clark question the institution’s reporting capacity.

“Training GTFs and faculty is a step in the right direction, and I know there are limited resources, but if reporting is something that you’re required to do, but not told how to do and given no training in — that doesn’t set you up for success,“ Clark said.

Though she doesn’t support the policy herself, UO student Katie* considers proper response training a necessity for effective and survivor-centered reporting practices. As both a survivor and a mandatory reporter in the healthcare industry who has received hours of extensive training, Katie understands the delicacy required to support a survivor during the reporting process. It’s not something that she thinks an online program can accomplish.

“(Reporting) can be either incredibly traumatic or therapeutic,” Katie says. “The outcome is ultimately dependent on how much training the reporter has been given and how much they can actually do with that training.”

Even if a student employee participates in the online training, Katie remains skeptical that an online course is comprehensive enough to teach survivor empowerment tactics to the average student employee.

“Unless someone signs up specifically for a job that designates you as a required reporter, you cannot expect them to have the level of humanity,” Katie said. “Empathy is not something you can teach in a classroom.”

Though the administrative policy that imposes the rule is decades old, both Daugherty and Sheryl Eyster, assistant dean of students, stress that the required reporting implementation and practices are a work in progress.

“We’re learning every day. We don’t have all of the answers, but we’re going to go look for the answers and clarify what we’re going to be expecting of students in those situations,” Eyster said. “I think it’s pretty clear that we need to start strengthening these processes … this is a situation where we’re dedicated to trying to figure out how to make this better.”

The next step, Eyster says, is to improve visibility surrounding the policies. Both she and Daugherty frequently meet with campus groups to educate them about the employee requirements, options for survivor reporting and resources available for survivors who report to the university.

In addition, the administration is considering requiring the new training course for all employees in the future and is working to clarify the exact reporting duties of interns and stipend-earning students.

Although there’s only so much they can do to balance federal compliance with student comfort, both women invite community input — critical and constructive. After all, Daugherty says, it’s a constantly evolving process.

“These are the protocols as they are currently operational,” she said. “I even loathe to call them final because they will constantly be evolving as we see areas for improvement.”

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of sexual assault survivors.

A sawdust collection unit malfunctioned, causing a small fire on the north side of Lawrence Hall on Wednesday evening, a UOPD officer told the Emerald. The fire started at 9:18 p.m., Eugene and Springfield fire captain Ray Smith said. By 9:38 p.m., the fire had been taken care of.

A student familiar with the woodshop was using a router to make a wooden box. In the process, the router sparked an ember, which was sucked into the sawdust ventilation system. A fire ensued within the ventilation filters located on the outside of the building, Smith said. The sprinkler unit within the ventilation unit contained the fire until Smith’s team could remove and drench the filters. Smith said the unit functioned exactly as it should have in this situation, containing the fire until crews arrived.

“The sprinkler inside held the fire until we could get in and pull it all out,” he said. “The university is good at [safety procedures]. And we’re thankful for that. It paid off in this case because everything worked as it should have.

Kurbis Hoyt, School of Allied Arts and Architecture instrument technician supervising the wood shop at the time of the incident says the circumstances surrounding the fire were incredibly lucky.

Mike Grimes of the Eugene Fire Department signals another firefighter on the north side of Lawrence Hall. A sawdust collection unit malfunctioned, causing a small fire on the north side of Lawrence Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 (Jake Crump/Emerald)

Doors to the outside were propped open while the students were working in the wood shop, allowing the smoke generated in the sawdust collection unit to travel indoors and set off Lawrence’s fire alarms.

Without the added noise, Hoyt doesn’t know how long it would have taken the wood shop occupants to notice the fire.

“Since there was already a lot of noise in this room, we had a delayed reaction to the fire that was ensuing right outside this window,” Hoyt said.

Ryan Avery, a professional speaker giving a lecture on how to be a better public speaker, was giving a lecture in a room near the studio.

“It was a fire, that’s for sure,” he said.

At first, Avery didn’t pay any attention to the fire alarms going off inside Lawrence Hall.

“You know how you hear these things and you think, ‘Whatever,’” he said. “Sometimes you hear a siren.”

That’s when he saw the smoke start to creep into his lecture room and he evacuated the building with a handful of students. After a moment, he decided to re-enter Lawrence because he didn’t want the smell of smoke on the belongings he left inside. But he couldn’t get in — the smoke in the lobby was too intense for Avery to get very far.

Eder Campuzano contributed reporting to this story.