Following the F-1 visa revocations of four University of Oregon international students, around 250 students and community members gathered outside Johnson Hall to show support for the four students. 

Joseph Anthony, a speaker at the rally, said the fear some students and community members have felt surrounding these current events provides an “energy… to push back harder.” 

“If we (greater UO community) let them in, they will not stop here… what (the) Department of Homeland Security is doing is baseless and unjustified,” Anthony said.

Isaak Ordaz, another speaker at the event, is an organizer for the Young Democratic Socialists of America and a student at Lane Community College. 

During his speech, Ordaz listed specific demands for the university administration to uphold. 

The demands included:

• Not sharing photos, contact information or student credentials with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers
• Denying ICE access to “all campus work sites”
• Providing legal assistance for affected students 
• Eliminating code of conduct violations students received at pro-Palestine rallies last year 

UO does provide legal assistance to students, which is accessible through their website.

“It is up to us, the people with moral clarity to stand up for our international students… and the university as a whole,” Ordaz said. 

Ordaz also said he would like to see UO use the UO Alerts system, a program designed to send emails and text messages to students in the event of law enforcement activity or natural disasters, to notify students of ICE agents on campus.

“Getting those updates would be extremely helpful if UO would use the same system,” Ordaz said. 

According to Anthony and one of the pamphlets passed around at the rally, YDSA is setting up another monitoring system, an app, to help identify ICE agents and warn the community of their presence. 

“It will be a call line, text line and people taking it in will confirm if the people are ICE and connect with community partners,” Anthony said. 

The pamphlet also said the goal of this app would be to “protect each other by not creating any unnecessary stress, fear or anxiety” that would be generated by false reports.

Jason Sydes, a lecturer of the Knight campus graduate internship program, spoke in representation of faculty at the rally. 

Sydes described the four international students who got their visas revoked as “valuable” for the UO community.

“I want to live in a world where we celebrate diversity and our university students help us do that,” Sydes said. 

Sydes said he believed action is needed from UO and other universities, instead of “laying down quietly” in acts of “anticipatory disobedience”

Will Rivas, a UO student, said he came to the rally to “show people that you (he) cares” about international students. 

“It’s really f—ing scary what is happening to these students and it really sets a precedent and I want to know concrete steps for change and the demands for UO,” Rivas said. 

Em Farquhar, a UO student, said he attended for similar reasons.

“I decided to show up on the war on our citizens and people that are rightly here because I want to stop fascism and felt this was one of the best ways to do it,” Farquhar said.

The post Hundreds of students and community members gather for “ICE off Campus” rally appeared first on Daily Emerald.

Following the F-1 visa revocations of four University of Oregon international students, around 250 students and community members gathered outside Johnson Hall to show support for the four students. 

Joseph Anthony, a speaker at the rally, said the fear some students and community members have felt surrounding these current events provides an “energy… to push back harder.” 

“If we (greater UO community) let them in, they will not stop here… what (the) Department of Homeland Security is doing is baseless and unjustified,” Anthony said.

Isaak Ordaz, another speaker at the event, is an organizer for the Young Democratic Socialists of America and a student at Lane Community College. 

During his speech, Ordaz listed specific demands for the university administration to uphold. 

The demands included:

• Not sharing photos, contact information or student credentials with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers
• Denying ICE access to “all campus work sites”
• Providing legal assistance for affected students 
• Eliminating code of conduct violations students received at pro-Palestine rallies last year 

UO does provide legal assistance to students, which is accessible through their website.

“It is up to us, the people with moral clarity to stand up for our international students… and the university as a whole,” Ordaz said. 

Ordaz also said he would like to see UO use the UO Alerts system, a program designed to send emails and text messages to students in the event of law enforcement activity or natural disasters, to notify students of ICE agents on campus.

“Getting those updates would be extremely helpful if UO would use the same system,” Ordaz said. 

According to Anthony and one of the pamphlets passed around at the rally, YDSA is setting up another monitoring system, an app, to help identify ICE agents and warn the community of their presence. 

“It will be a call line, text line and people taking it in will confirm if the people are ICE and connect with community partners,” Anthony said. 

The pamphlet also said the goal of this app would be to “protect each other by not creating any unnecessary stress, fear or anxiety” that would be generated by false reports.

Jason Sydes, a lecturer of the Knight campus graduate internship program, spoke in representation of faculty at the rally. 

Sydes described the four international students who got their visas revoked as “valuable” for the UO community.

“I want to live in a world where we celebrate diversity and our university students help us do that,” Sydes said. 

Sydes said he believed action is needed from UO and other universities, instead of “laying down quietly” in acts of “anticipatory disobedience”

Will Rivas, a UO student, said he came to the rally to “show people that you (he) cares” about international students. 

“It’s really f—ing scary what is happening to these students and it really sets a precedent and I want to know concrete steps for change and the demands for UO,” Rivas said. 

Em Farquhar, a UO student, said he attended for similar reasons.

“I decided to show up on the war on our citizens and people that are rightly here because I want to stop fascism and felt this was one of the best ways to do it,” Farquhar said.

The post Hundreds of students and community members gather for “ICE off Campus” rally appeared first on Daily Emerald.

In light of the 2025 Associated Students of the University of Oregon spring election, the UO Student Power slate, led by presidential candidate Prissila Moreno, has relied heavily on endorsements to gather student support.

UO Student Power’s endorsements consisted of athletes, students, campus leaders and organizations.

According to Taliek Lopez-DuBoff, the presidential candidate for the Unite UO slate, the slate relied less on individual endorsements on social media, and more on texting and face-to-face interactions with students.

Both slates couldn’t be officially endorsed by campus clubs and organizations that receive incidental fees from ASUO, according to the ASUO 2025 Spring Election Rules.

UOSP avoided this constraint by listing the club involvement of individual endorsements below their names on Instagram posts, according to Moreno. 

One campus leader who endorsed UO Student Power is Valentine Bentz, a co-director of the Radical Organizing and Activism Resource Center and UO Grove Garden Coordinator.

“I think UO Student Power has the potential to make ASUO fight an institution, and what I mean by fighting institution is something that’s not in admin’s hands,” Bentz said. “Student government is only one small part of the fight for meeting students’ needs, but it’s essential that it aligns with building power on campus.”

Bentz said he also supported UOSP’s outreach techniques and is more familiar with members of the slate from collaborating on advocacy work.

“If you look at the folks who are running (for UOSP), they have a lot of experience in grassroots organizations, and experience going out and engaging directly with students,” Bentz said.

Both UO Student Workers Union and UO Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation endorsed UOSP as well. 

According to both unions, their executive committees made the decision.

Victoria Robison, a member of UOSW’s executive committee, said one of their main reasons for endorsing UOSP was communication.

“I think that we endorsed UO Student Power because they wanted to work with us and they reached out,” Robison said. 

“They (UOSP) have policies that our executive committee believes represent important things… (like) protecting international students… and working with labor unions,” Robison said.

According to GTFF’s VP for Organizing Mathew Miyagi Tuten, GTFF’s Committee of Political Education discusses potential endorsements and then brings their decision to the executive council.

Tuten said GTFF mainly endorsed UOSP because they appreciate their free speech messaging. 

Unite UO also campaigned on free speech and Lopez-Duboff helped pass a free speech resolution in May 2024, but Tuten said it came down to experience.

“I have been involved with people from UOSP and it is one thing to say you support free speech and it is another thing to have a good track record,” Tuten said.

UOSP reached out to UOSW and GTFF directly, according to Robison and Tuten; whereas Unite UO took a broader approach, according to Lopez-Duboff.

“Yeah, we hadn’t reached out to them but I think like I said before, we have people from all over our team that are represented in those different sorts of unions,” Lopez-Duboff said.

UOSP was also endorsed by Oregon Ducks player Luke Moga, incoming player Akili Smith Jr. and others before their endorsement video was taken down from Instagram. 

Moreno said the endorsements were taken down on April 8 in a “very impulsive” move when “concerns around his (Moga’s) politics” arose. 

“If I could go back I probably wouldn’t have taken it down and that’s because a lot of the things that people were saying surrounding his support for Trump was based on the fact that he follows Trump on Instagram,” Moreno said. “I don’t think that it’s weird to follow the president of the United States to be well informed from a primary source.”

Lopez-Duboff said their slate received support from Align magazine and Women in Business, but didn’t find it “necessarily pertinent” to post the support on social media.

“I don’t think this election will be won on social media anyway, so I mean while we of course appreciate the support from all these folks, we just haven’t really posted any of them, which I think is ok for us,” Lopez-Duboff said. 

The post Gathering support; endorsements of the ASUO 2025 spring election appeared first on Daily Emerald.

The United Academics of the University of Oregon, a faculty union, began bargaining with the university on Feb. 1, 2024, several months before their contract expired in June.

Throughout the year-long bargaining and negotiating, UA has been pushing for higher salaries as a means to ward off inflation, especially in the Eugene housing market, according to Keaton Miller, associate economics professor and member of UA’s bargaining team. 

“If you are trying to buy your first home and start a family it (current salaries) means you can’t afford a down payment and have to eat into (your) savings,” Miller said.

According to UO’s website, UO said that one of the main reasons it has not agreed to larger raises is because of how much money the university is paid by the state to begin with. 

The union was set to go on strike just hours before a tentative agreement on salary, the last sticking point at the bargaining table, was reached, according to UA President Mike Urbancic.

“We were very prepared, we had wagons, gear, signs made… the machine was ready to go and we just needed to turn the key and say go,” Miller said. “It was a really tough call to make, but sometimes new information comes along and you have to change things.”

Miller said one of the main reasons UA opted against a strike last minute was to limit “disruption.”

“A strike is a very disruptive thing to the university, and for faculty, your health insurance can be taken away and we don’t want to hurt students because we are ultimately here to serve students,” Miller said.

Miller also said that federal decisions caused the “ground to shift” and had a significant impact on the agreement. 

“(While) funding constraints (were) getting tighter and tighter in the Trump era, we noticed that campus needed a little reconciliation. We had a deal on the table and it isn’t what we are hoping for, but it is better than what some other universities got,” Miller said.

According to Miller, the federal government also impacted UA’s decision to halt the strike in terms of “protection” of faculty and students on visas or green cards.

“I think we bear an obligation to our faculty to evaluate all the risks, and in the past months, we have seen undergraduate and graduate students across the country on student visas or green cards getting revoked and deported and arrested,” Miller said. “(This situation) really gave us pause and… it did affect our thinking as a bargaining team and as faculty.”

How long has bargaining gone on for? 

According to Miller, some bargaining sessions started out rough over disagreements about union dues and positions.

“The administration started this process with some really aggressive moves that would have made the university harder to operate… and some people (members) said that set the tone for what happened later,” Miller said.

After 20 bargaining sessions, UA requested for state mediation on Dec. 6, 2024. State mediation is conducted by the Oregon Employment Relations Board and is a confidential process of negotiations — members of the public or the press are not permitted to attend the sessions.

In early December 2024, UO was offering 4% across-the-board raises for January 2025 and 3% merit-pool increases in January of 2026.

UA launched a new website, strengthenuo.org, to consolidate the union’s efforts. UA also held numerous rallies with hundreds of attendees throughout winter term. 

On Feb. 19, UA declared it had reached impasse with UO, meaning that both parties were not able to come to an agreement. 

During the “cool-down period” that followed the impasse, 92% of faculty in the union voted “yes” in a strike authorization vote.

In March, salary became the “most significant remaining issue between the university and the union,” and UA declared an intent to strike as soon as March 31, the first Monday of spring term. 

But on March 30, UA paused all efforts of a strike after both UA and UO reached a tentative agreement. 

UA will now hold a ratification vote regarding the tentative agreement by April 6. 

The vote opens on April 2 and will be sent out to UA members via email. UA is also hosting an information session that day. 

“We (UA) don’t want members to just be voting, we want members to be able to ask questions and understand the terms of the contract,” Miller said.

The full details of the salary increases and payments members will receive if the ratification vote goes through were published in an email from UA President Mike Urbancic to UA faculty, and are included below. The one-time payment will come in members’ next paychecks, according to Miller.

“While negotiations were thorough and required time to address complex issues, we believe the result serves both faculty interests and the university’s financial responsibilities,” UO spokesperson Eric Howald said. “With the agreement in place and spring term proceeding as scheduled, we can collectively refocus on our shared commitment to educational excellence and student success at the University of Oregon.”

Tenure related: 

One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)

April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board

September 2025: 3.25% Across-the-board

September 2026: 2% Across-the-board, 3% Merit.

Career Instructors: 

One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)

April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board

September 2025: 2% Equity, 3.25% Across-the-board

September 2026: 3% Across-the-board + unused portion of Equity pool Across-the-board.

Career Researchers: 

One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)

April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board

September 2025: 4.25% Across-the-board

September 2026: 3% Across-the-board

Postdocs:

One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)

April 2025: At least 2% Across-the-board

September 2025: At least 2% Across-the-board

September 2026: At least 2% Across-the-board

Limited Duration: 

One time payment: $2000 (prorated by FTE)

April 2025: 4.5% Across-the-board

September 2025: 2% Across-the-board

September 2026: 2% Across-the-board”

The $2,000 payment is to cover the raise that faculty did not receive in October because of ongoing bargaining sessions, according to UO spokesperson Eric Howald.

“The one-time payment is compensation for the months when faculty members went without an expected pay increase because there is not retroactive pay in the new agreement,” Howald said.

If the strike ratification vote does not pass, the UA bargaining team will go back to mediation and decide upon a new contract and the “membership goes on strike,” Urbancic said in an email to union members. 

Miller said UA is not expecting a 100% ratification vote.

“I think it is reasonable for anyone to look at the contract and say ‘I wanted more.’ We pushed each other really hard, and I think neither side is 100% happy with the result but that is part of bargaining and it’s a difficult negotiation when there are really substantial constraints,” Miller said.

According to Howald, the university believes that the results are the best possible outcome to equally serve both the institution and the faculty given UO’s financial position.

“While negotiations were thorough and required time to address complex issues, we believe the result serves both faculty interests and the university’s financial responsibilities. With the agreement in place and spring term proceeding as scheduled, we can collectively refocus on our shared commitment to educational excellence and student success at the University of Oregon,” Howald said.

The post UA reaches a tentative agreement after 14 months of bargaining; awaiting member approval appeared first on Daily Emerald.

In the last few years, the world of artificial intelligence has continued to change, providing benefits and causing confusion for the University of Oregon community. 

Some programs at UO train students how to use AI to process medical data, do artistic mock-ups, develop code and brainstorm ideas for writing topics. 

Through the transition, professors across fields are finding creative ways to add instruction on AI into their courses and address ethical questions along the way.

Leslie Coonrod, associate director of the Bioinformatics and Genomics Master’s Program, said AI has helped with discovering “the next big thing” in bioinformatics.  

“I like to say we’ve never taught this exact same class twice because we’re always integrating new techniques… we’re always looking for that next big thing on the horizon,” Coonrod said.

Since different departments use AI differently, the UO 2023 to 2024 Communities Accelerating the Impact of Teaching conference decided that a “one size fits all” policy would be insufficient in addressing the needs of every department, according to Assistant Professor and Philosophy and Data Science Initiative Data Ethics Coordinator/Colloquium Committee Chair Ramón Alvarado.

According to UO’s website, AI policy guidelines “strongly encourage instructors to have an explicit policy about GenAI in their course syllabus” and “reinforce their expectations in assignment instructions and in conversation with students,” but don’t list explicit rules.

Alvarado teaches computer science and data science students the philosophical and ethical implications of technology and AI.

To better understand what “technology” truly means, Alvarado says his Ethics of Technology class zooms out thousands of years.

“Most of my students come in thinking like, ‘Hey this is ethics of technology, you’re gonna talk about the internet, you’re gonna talk about social media, you’re gonna talk about AI, right?’ But because it is the ethics of technology in general… do I start with a rope? Or do I start with bread because that’s technology as well, right?” Alvarado said.

Alvarado said asking these questions is critical to thinking about things with a wider lens to realize “technology is almost inescapable.” 

A large part of Alvarado’s classes are discussion-based, and students analyze social biases in GenAI models and ask deep questions, including: What does it mean for an algorithm to be fair?

“Ethics is an exercise that needs to be done… continuously by us. And so it’s not something that you can just program a computer to do for you,” Alvarado said. “A lot of people think we can fix bias in machine learning by just getting the proper computational model for fairness and then we can just make an algorithm fair. No, you’re still gonna have to choose which kind of fairness you’re talking about.”

Casey Shoop, a professor of literature and philosophy, teaches a Clark Honors College 101 course that helps students analyze writing styles.

According to Shoop, he assigns his students to write an essay about themselves and then asks ChatGPT to write an essay about his students as an exercise on differentiating between a human-written and AI-written piece. 

Shoop said the error rate was significant, which caused his students to think about what makes an essay truly personal.

“The technology (AI) has already insinuated itself into our lives and so I think the assignment has a practical dimension which is students need to know why that writing is not as good as it might be,” Shoop said. “And so learning what the limitations of the large language models are is useful as a way of thinking about how to write a successful piece of writing.”

Shoop also said it is useful to step back and think about the boxes students may put themselves in to adhere to technological standards.

“I think the uncanny and interesting thing… is not simply just that we are increasingly asking these systems to do more for us to be more like us, but that they’re making us more like them, that’s the true kicker in the course,” Shoop said. 

In the computer science department, senior instructor of computer science Juan Flores requires his students to produce their own original code, but also teaches how to use AI coding assistant Microsoft GitHub.

According to Flores, he only allows students to use GitHub for single sections of their coding projects because it is important for students to learn the basics of programming beyond coding.

“(Students) need to know… what computer science is about, how to formulate the problem, what they need to solve,” Flores said. “Generally (that is more than) just the coding. Coding is like the last part. You need to design an architecture, you need to interview the stakeholders, you need to extract their needs and that’s still not well developed with AI. So coding is the last part. It’s like plowing the ground.”

No matter how a class may approach AI, journalism professor Damian Radcliffe said disclosing what AI model is being used is always important to avoid “undermining trust,” and to encourage collaboration among professors and students.

“I think it’s helpful for us as faculty, as instructors, to understand how students are using this technology so that we can support and guide that as much as possible,” Radcliffe said. “(Disclosing AI use) will in itself make you think about the implications of using this technology — both the good and the bad.”

The post How UO is incorporating AI into the classroom appeared first on Daily Emerald.

At least five incidents of trespassing, including three burglaries, have occurred since the start of February on or near the University of Oregon campus, according to an UO Alert sent on Feb. 26.  

According to the alert, an unauthorized person entered Barnhart Hall’s 1st, 2nd and 4th floors on Feb. 25 and attempted to pry open 1st and 4th floor lounge doors.  

The alert also said the same person involved in the Barnhart Hall incident and a second person are wanted for “questioning” in connection with two laundry burglaries at Carson Hall and Living Learning Center South during the week of Feb. 17.

On Feb. 18, a student living in Spencer View Apartments, an off-campus apartment complex, reported their bank card and key fob as stolen by a different suspect that has not been identified, according to a Feb. 21 UO Alert.

On Feb. 23, another suspect was found in Matthew Knight Arena men’s locker room who had “gathered items” and taken them to a bathroom stall, according to the Feb. 26 alert. 

According to UO Spokesperson Eric Howald, the suspects gained access to residents’ floors when doors were held open for them.

“Holding a door for someone or even allowing them to skip using a key or keycard is an act of kindness, it’s commendable. It can also cause problems, as we saw here,” Howald said. 

Sophia Goncalves is a freshman living in Carson Hall and neighbors with a resident who had their laundry stolen.

According to Goncalves, her neighbor originally thought their laundry was moved when the dryer timed out, before realizing the laundry was stolen.  

“She (resident) went around to every door, banging on the doors and then she went to the Resident Assistant on call and the person above them,” Goncalves said.

Goncalves said the incident made her think about the security of Carson.

“It made me very hyper aware of how easy it is to get in here. You can just wait for someone to open the door,” Goncalves said.

Emma Klausenburger is a graduate student and an RA in Carson Hall.

Klausenburger said she’s been keeping an eye on her laundry more than usual.

“I was really scared to do my laundry for a little bit and I did it last night and I was literally like sitting in the lounge area just to wash my clothes to make sure that no one like no one came and tried to steal my stuff,” Klausenburger said.

Anna Schaffner, a freshman living in Barnhart Hall, said she was slightly concerned about the trespassing incident, but she was not surprised it occurred. 

“Honestly, I think we see these things around, like (I) get the crime alerts all the time and they are always by Barnhart so it’s another thing but it felt a little different this time because now it’s in our dorm (and) this is where we live,” Schaffner said.

According to the Feb. 26 alert, the male suspect in the Barnhart, Carson and LLC cases is identified to be approximately 35 years old, and the woman suspect connected with the laundry incidents is approximately 25 years old.

Finn Burgoyne, who lives in Carson Hall, said he thought it was odd that middle-aged people were able to access the floor and laundry room.

“It’s crazy (it was) random 30 year olds who did it, like people that shouldn’t be in a dorm room,” Burgoyne said.

In addition to avoiding holding the door open for unknown people, UOPD advises students to “report any suspicious activity.” 

“When you see someone who doesn’t seem to belong in your space, you haven’t seen them before, they’re acting oddly — say something.” UOPD Chief of Police Jason Wade said. 

The alert also advised students to “carry a well-charged cell phone with emergency numbers pre-programmed.” 

Bryson Beck, director of promotions and student recruitment, said UO is “deeply concerned” about the recent incidents and emphasized that students should report “any and all” crimes to UOPD, even if they seem minor.

“We hope to prevent future occurrences by ensuring students are aware that these instances of trespassing can be prevented by not allowing folks to follow them into secured spaces in their buildings,” Beck said.

The post UOPD responds to an uptick of trespassing and burglaries appeared first on Daily Emerald.

The University of Oregon Basic Needs Program is providing students with emergency housing through its program, the Landing Pad. 

The Landing Pad, which launched in 2022, connects students to emergency housing on campus for up to two weeks, according to Julia Morrill, director of Basic Needs and Off-Campus Community Support.

Students can apply through the UO Basic Needs website and their application will be processed “within a couple of days,” according to Morrill. After applying, students meet with someone from the Basic Needs Program to plan their next steps.

“We try to offer students various different resources. They’re in the driver’s seat,” Morrill said. “They know what is best for them and we try to empower them with information on what is available and different (resources) they could use on campus and in the community.”

While students are at the temporary shelter, the Basic Needs Program provides them with basic hygiene supplies and necessities, including toiletries, bedding and Duck Bucks, a UO debit card program. 

The program’s housing assistance can be a sigh of relief for students navigating a complex and increasingly pricey housing market. Only about 3% of apartments in Eugene set monthly rent lower than $1,000 and students, who often cannot realistically work full time, can be heavily affected. 

Ardina Mofid, a sophomore who attended the 2025 Housing and Community Resources Fair on Feb. 5, discussed her experience looking at off-campus housing for the first time.

“It’s been overwhelming and a little confusing too because the prices are really high and because I don’t know how it’s gonna work out for next year,” Mofid said.

Beyond the Landing Pad, the Basic Needs Program also assists housing insecure students by providing them with longer-term options, including housing and monetary needs. 

“If (students) come for an appointment, we can talk to them about a variety of different resources we have available such as any of our other subsidies, or (resources for) any food security issues they may be facing,” Morrill said.

Another housing program for students is the Housing Subsidy Fund, which is a program paid by Incidental Fees that the Associated Students of the University of Oregon oversees. 

According to Morill, the fund currently distributes $700 to $900 to every student who is granted assistance. Students can apply up to three times while attending UO.

UO Basic Needs connects students through their website, Instagram and print advertising and is working to update their housing services with the help of ASUO outreach.

“We are not sure if the Landing Pad is really the optimal solution for emergency housing for University of Oregon students but we are exploring other options internally and ASUO is conducting a housing survey,” Nick Dikas, Basic Needs coordinator for housing, said.

Morrill said providing stable housing is an important part of supporting UO students’ overall well-being. 

“Our ultimate goal is to help students bridge the gap between where they are now and where they need to be so that they can continue their education at UO,” Morrill said.  “We want them to be able to pay their bills and have safe and stable housing, nutritious food and also connect with the community.” 

The post UO Landing Pad provides temporary housing to students appeared first on Daily Emerald.

Founded by Carter G. Woodson in 1976, Black History Month is a month-long celebration in February that aims to spread pride through the Black community. 

This year’s celebration comes as laws to reverse diversity, equity and inclusion practices are being enacted in the United States, resulting in several University of Oregon Black leaders speaking out about education, connection and support.

“Especially at a time where diversity, equity (and) inclusion (are) a prominent discussion topic in our politics as well as in everyday life, Black History Month is important (for) recogni(zing)… how much impact Black folks and Black culture has on the United States specifically, but also globally,” Aris Hall, inaugural director for Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center, said.

According to Hall, this theme of recognizing Black people’s contributions in all aspects of life inspired the BCC’s 2025 Black History Month mantra, “Black Mosaic: The impact of Black culture on America.” 

Throughout the month, BCC is hosting several events and speakers to support this theme, including keynote speaker Bimma Williams, a marketing educator who worked for Nike. 

UO’s Black Student Union is also hosting events, including a movie screening of “The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X.” 

Liyah Hall, the outreach coordinator for the Black Student Union, said educating people on the role of the Black community in American and world history can help people understand and shift current political narratives. 

“I think it is so important for us, not just as BSU but for the whole campus to celebrate (Black History Month) especially because of everything that is happening in the world (with) all the erasure that is going on. It is a good time for us to learn about history and spread awareness,” Liyah Hall said.

Meera Bowman-Johnson, the communications manager for UO Division of Equity and Inclusion, said it is important to look to historically inspirational Black figures to move forward.

“By choosing to reflect on and acknowledge the ways Black Americans have impacted history as a campus community, we are afforded the opportunity to take pride in our collective strength,” Bowman-Johnson said.

The BCC is named after an influential local Black woman, Lyllye Reynolds-Parker, who was an acclaimed UO academic advisor from one of Eugene’s first Black families. The center honors her legacy by hosting events and resources to support UO’s Black community. 

“(Black History Month) is all about learning from what they (famous Black figures) did and I think that shows in our naming of who we are, our space of Lyllye Reynolds-Parker and what she did for the community (and) her family,” Hall said.

The post BSU, BCC and Office of Equity and Inclusion celebrate Black History Month appeared first on Daily Emerald.

On Feb. 14, around 20 members of several University of Oregon organizations, including UO Muslim Student Association, UO Arab Student Association, UO South Asian Cultural Alliance and others, hand-delivered a letter to UO President John Karl Scholz requesting for the administration to establish a cultural center for students of South Asian, Southwest Asian and North African ethnicity. 

“The SSWANA Center would provide a vital space for University of Oregon students to promote community and intellectual growth,” the letter read. “This center aims to promote interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural solidarity while also enhancing the visibility of students from the SSWANA region on our campus.”

At 3:15, the members, carrying a large banner saying “Students Demand a South Asia, Southwest Asia and North Africa Cultural Center,” walked from the Multicultural Center in the Erb Memorial Union to Johnson Hall, the administration building. 

Iman Zarlons, a member of the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine, read the letter out loud inside Johnson Hall to a secretary who accepted the delivery. 

“I think the delivery is a great action for us to carry out because it puts pressure on admin and informs students of the progression of these events, which gives us more leverage in our goals,” Zarlons said. “This is something that can very easily be pushed under the rug or not taken as seriously as it should be when there is not a public vision on it.”

Co-President of the Muslim Student Association, Mohammed Shakibna, helped lead the delivery. He said the cultural center would help break down cultural barriers at UO.

“A lot of people from the SSWANA region are stereotyped negatively and this is a way that can help reverse those stereotypes and get people to understand the different cultural aspects of our community,” Shakibna said.

According to Shakibna, Portland State University and Oregon State University both have similar cultural centers for students of Asian and African regions, so he believes UO should “meet the moment” and follow their lead.

The Associated Students of the University of Oregon were amongst the multiple organizations that co-signed the letter, including: 

• UO Muslim Student Association
• UO Arab Student Association
• UO South Asian Cultural Alliance
• UO Access Ability Student Union
• UO Black Student Union
• UO Native American Student Union
• UO International Student Association
• UO Mixed Student Union
• UO Korean Student Association
• UO Black Male Alliance
• UO Muxeres
• UO Asian Pacific American Student Union
• UO Coalition Against Environmental Racism

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University of Oregon scientists and partners published a study on Jan. 13; the study said they found an aquifer running underneath the Oregon Cascades, which indicated to be many times larger than previously estimated — at least 81 cubic kilometers.

“It’s (aquifer) around three times the size of Lake Meade when full,” Alex Simpson, UO graduate hydrogeology student and co-author of the study, said. “It’s on the scale of Lake Tahoe and Lake Geneva and we (scientists) didn’t really know about it at all.”

According to the study, the aquifer is trapped beneath the surface by porous volcanic rock, which accumulates over time and helps regulate climate, river flow and more. 

The study also said the scale of the discovery has implications in several disciplines including agriculture, a field increasingly utilizing groundwater for irrigation.

“(The aquifer) will definitely attract a lot of people, a lot of farmers. Of course people will want to increase their farm, acres, etc., etc.,” Jean Faye, instructor of natural sciences, said. “There’s a lot of talk that Oregon will become the next California in terms of agricultural productivity.”

According to Simpson, there has long been a consensus that water lies beneath the surface, but the scale of the discovery was significant. 

“We’ve known (since) the 1900s about some weird hydrology (in Oregon),” Simpson said. “The new discovery was that (the aquifer) far surpassed our previous expectation.” 

According to Simpson, the aquifer lies partly beneath the United States Forest Service land, but the rest is mostly in agricultural territory. 

This could impact farmers, roughly half of whom draw water from underground in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Surface water is not enough. If you want to irrigate acres and acres of agricultural land, it will require more water because… agriculture is not just reli(ant) on the rain to irrigate,” Faye said.  “Most of agriculture in the U.S. taps into the groundwater to irrigate the crops.” 

Leif Karlstrom, UO associate professor in earth sciences and co-author of the study, said the recent study provides a good starting place for understanding the hydrology and geology of the area.

“What we’re doing is sort of providing the context that maybe allows decisions (about water use) to be made in a more intelligent way. Because knowing (how much water is in this aquifer) could certainly have an impact for all those things downstream like habitat and agriculture,” Karlstrom said.

According to Simpson, the study was limited by drilling methods, which could mean the estimated scale is lower bound and the true size of the underground reservoir could stretch beyond the Oregon borders.

“There (are) also similar systems in Northern California, around Mount Shasta, Mount Lassen… and then there could also be some (groundwater) in the Northern Cascades, like Washington,” Simpson said.

Karlstrom said there is “a lot of potential for additional data collection work” to determine the precise boundaries of the reservoir.

“We took a very rough cut at volumes so that could be better estimated (by using) better imaging (and) trying to understand the patterns of stream flow and spring flow,” Karlstrom said.

The study could have implications for the landscape and water resources. Faye expressed a need for caution if water extraction is increased for agriculture or other industries.

“How much we are taking… versus how much is being replenished is a balance (that) needs to be taken into consideration (because) what is happening is we’re taking more than is able to replenish because groundwater level is really slow to replenish,” Faye said.

Oregon now stands at an inflection point. Half of the state is experiencing a severe to exceptional drought, and according to Faye, this aquifer could “revolutionize this part of the country.” 

“It’s not very often that you find this huge reservoir of water that people can use for the greater good of society,” Faye said.

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