After encouragement from her political science professor, Ariana Gallegos found herself sifting through a mound of free hijabs on a table outside the EMU, ready to wear one for her first time.

Wednesday was the fifth annual World Hijab Day. The UO Muslim Student Association fitted nearly 100 students and staff with free hijabs to celebrate their culture and create solidarity between cultures.

UO Student Mayra Elide Jaquez, a member of the Muslim student group, fitted Gallagos with a green hijab.

Jaquez, a romance language major, wore a black niqab, a piece of clothing that covered her whole face except her eyes. She said a common question asked by first-time wearers is about offending Muslims. Jaquez said she is “definitely not” offended when non-Muslim women wear hijabs.

Jaquez said World Hijab Day was created “for people who are either Muslim or non-Muslim who don’t wear it and would like to.”

“People just want to show their support and they want to see what it’s like to step in our shoes,” she said.

Some students attended a 4 p.m. meeting in the Multicultural Center in the EMU, where the Muslim Student Association held an open conversation with first-time hijab-wearers.

For Jaquez, she said wearing the hijab is actually a way of escaping oppression. When she wears the headscarf, she said she’s not looked at in a sexualized way or as a competitor with other women.

The headscarves are part of the Muslim dress code, according to Arabic Studies Professor Hanan Ahmed. Women wear them for modesty and devotion — a form of liberty that is often misconceived by western society as a form of oppression.

Ahmed gave a presentation to about 30 students who attended the meeting.

Some girls in the discussion said they noticed stares from the UO community, and it made them feel uncomfortable.

Ahmed compared the covering of a hijab to the robes of a nun. Both are meant to show modesty and devotion, but are viewed differently.

“Sometimes it’s a struggle in a country where it’s your choice,” Jaquez said. “You’re telling yourself you’re going to identify, not only internally, but externally as a Muslim. You’re letting everybody know.”

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The Eugene NAACP chapter is hosting a march on MLK day, Monday, Jan. 6, to honor the civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.

From 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the march will set off from Autzen Stadium and PK Park at the north gate. The march will end at the Shedd Institute, after which UO President Michael Schill will give a speech around 11:00 a.m., according to an AroundtheO article.

Several hundred people marched at last year’s MLK Day march at the University of Oregon.

Also on Monday, the UO Gospel Singers plan to host a free concert at Beal Concert Hall at 3:00 p.m., and it will be live-streamed via its website.

The post Students to march Monday for MLK appeared first on Emerald Media.

Update: The National Weather Service extended its winter storm warning and now predicts freezing rain until Sunday night.

“If status changes we communicate through UO alert, homepage, and alerts blog. If we are open, we do not message,” Dillon wrote in a email to the Emerald.

Snow and freezing rain approaches Eugene, set to hit Saturday, according to the NOAA. Up to half an inch of freezing rain is expected.

Krista Dillon, director of operations for UO safety and risk services, said the storm “does not look like an issue for Monday,” and expects no cancellations or delays for next week — the beginning of winter term.

UO’s decision to cancel classes relies on actions of other Eugene public institutions, such as Eugene and Springfield public works, Oregon Department of Transportation and other local schools, according to an AroundtheO article from 2013.

UO closed early on Wednesday and opened late Thursday, after being hit with a snowstorm that left up to four inches of snow in some parts of Eugene and Springfield, according to the National Weather Service.

Winter Storm Watch for areas in Blue Sat & Sun. T-2″ snow followed by freezing rain. 0.25″-1″ of ice accum expected. Highest E PDX/VAN metro pic.twitter.com/E2beYaPqse

— NWS Portland (@NWSPortland) January 6, 2017

The post [Updated] Snowstorm not expected to interrupt UO classes appeared first on Emerald Media.

Beneath the volcanology building on the University of Oregon campus is a colony that never sleeps. The laboratory, tended by Dr. Robert Schofield, has broken ground in the field’s knowledge of leaf cutter ants.

The Emerald has captured the sights and sounds of ant science in a multimedia story that explores the lab, its inhabitants and the mind of the man that made it all happen.

Follow the link to an Emerald E1 and enter the world of ants.

The post The Unseen Life of Ants appeared first on Emerald Media.

Ending a nine-month wait, the committee responsible for advising the UO Faculty Senate on student athletes’ academic performance and welfare received an overhaul during today’s senate meeting, the last of the year. The motion has been awaiting vote since April.

The newly renamed Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee has been called inefficient due to the regular absence of two Athletic Department members during meetings, which cut off the flow of information from the Athletic Department to the Senate. The changes are meant to improve current student athletes’ academic quality and student life.

“This is a good compromise in moving forward in engaging with student athletes,” said Laura Leete, current chair of the IAC — now the IAAC.

This new committee will contain fewer members than before and advise both the UO Senate and President Michael Schill.

According to the senate website, one of the current responsibilities of the IAC is to “promote and safeguard opportunities for student athletes to excel in academics and protect and ensure the academic integrity of student athletes.”

Senators discussed the obligation of the Faculty Senate, which mainly deals with academic affairs, to have an influence on student life because it ties in with academics.

One of the senators said the IAC “had not been an effective organization.”

In an interview with the Emerald, UO Senate Vice President Chris Sinclair said that the Senate is unsure whether an effective IAC would be able to prevent any of the recent misconduct from student football players — including three alleged acts of violence from tight end Pharaoh Brown, as well as a DUII and possession of methamphetamine from defensive lineman Austin Maloata — because the Senate is unaware of the Athletic Department’s actions.

The full motion of the new IAAC, which passed with 31 in favor and six opposed, is here.

The last hour of the meeting opened a discussion and presentation about “general education” at UO, classes outside of a student’s specified major. The presenters, Charles Blaich and Kathy Wise from the Wabash Center of Inquiry, study liberal arts education and have surveyed UO students and faculty for the past three days.

Some contributing comments from senators included integrating cellphones into higher education and teaching critical thinking.

President Bill Harbaugh also said the senate attendance has been steadily increasing in the past two years.

Harbaugh capped the meeting with a notice of a motion to improve course evaluations from UO classes. He did not provide any additional details.

The post New committee will bridge gap between UO Senate, President and Athletics Dept. appeared first on Emerald Media.

This story has been updated to include a comment from UO Athletic Department spokesman Craig Pintens.

The University of Oregon Senate issued a request on Sunday to launch an investigation into a possible free speech violation by the UO Athletic Department regarding its threat to limit Emerald press credentials during an investigation of a UO football player. The request called for UO General Counsel Kevin Reed to initiate the investigation.

The story, published Nov. 17, details three incidents of violence over the past two years allegedly committed by tight end Pharaoh Brown. According to the article, the athletic department did not discipline Brown and legal charges were not pressed. The story caught national attention and received more than 33,000 views on the Emerald website.

Shortly after publishing the story, Emerald Sports Editor and author of the article Kenny Jacoby appeared on John Canzano’s radio show, The Bald-Faced Truth, and discussed the UO athletic department’s policy regarding media access to players.

Before publishing the Brown article, three Emerald reporters working on the story held a discussion with Oregon Football Sports Information Director Dave Williford about contacting players outside of athletic department protocol. Over the course of reporting, Jacoby had called kicker Matt Wogan for comment, following a prearranged interview in which Wogan declined to speak on the issue. The department’s policy states that all requests for interviews with players must go through the athletic department, and by calling a player directly, the Emerald knowingly violated that policy. Williford said the Emerald‘s access to credentials for future events would be limited if reporters continued to contact athletes outside of athletic department policy, according to Jacoby.

The senate request, written by UO Senate President Bill Harbaugh and VP Chris Sinclair, calls for an investigation of the athletic department’s policy that prohibits contacting student-athletes directly. It asks Reed to address whether the athletic department’s policy violates UO’s policies on Freedom of Inquiry and Free Speech and on Academic Freedom. The UO Academic Freedom policy states, “The University’s responsibility to help students to think critically and independently requires that members of the university community have the right to investigate and discuss matters, including those that are controversial, inside and outside of class, without fear of institutional restraint,” according to the policy website. The request also asks Reed to address whether Williford’s threat to the Emerald of restricting access to student-athletes violates UO free speech policy.

“We are asking that you investigate this incident, and the relevant UO Athletic Department policies, practices, and procedures, and give a report to the senate giving your interpretation of whether or not the UO policy on Freedom of Inquiry and Free Speech and the policy on Academic Freedom, or relevant State or Federal laws, have been violated,” the request states.

UO President Michael Schill, during a prearranged Q&A with the Emerald on Monday, said he thought it was interesting that the senate would pursue this matter, considering the senate’s official duties are regarding academics, not student life, according to Schill.

“We have to look at it and figure out whether that’s appropriate,” he said.

Schill said that he supports free speech and transparency, but isn’t fully familiar with the norms of relations between press and the athletic department.

“My initial reaction was, not having ever been on a team and fully understanding it, was that reporters should be able to ask people questions of any sort,” said Schill. “You should have the right to do that and I shouldn’t be able to penalize you for that.”

The deadline set by the senate for a responsive report from Reed is Jan. 10, 2017.

Reed was not immediately able to comment.

Update: UO Athletic Department spokesman Craig Pintens wrote via email in response to the Emerald on Monday: 

“There are no restrictions on speaking with our student-athletes.  In order to properly coordinate his or her requests with actual availability and avoid reporters contacting students incessantly, we have all requests for students and staff go through our athletic communication staff.  We give our students the right to be available or not be available for media availability.

In the sport of football, we grant more access to media outlets to our student-athletes and coaches than the majority of our Power Five counterparts.

It is erroneous to portray the athletic communications staff as pulling any credentials for a story that is written.  In this instance, the Daily Emerald met with Mr. Williford to discuss contacting student-athletes outside of the proper protocol and also contacting parents of students without going through the proper protocol.  This was brought to our attention by multiple student-athletes and one set of parents.  It was mentioned that the recourse could be the reduction of one credential for the Oregon State football game played in Corvallis.  Mr. Williford admitted that he had thought about imposing such restriction, but added he was not going to do so.  He never truly threatened to reduce one credential.”

Pintens said the UO Athletic Department would be taking no action regarding the senate’s submitted request.

Cooper Green and Kenny Jacoby contributed reporting to this article.

The post UO Senate calls for investigation of athletic department for possible free speech violation appeared first on Emerald Media.

The University of Oregon Senate passed three resolutions that could determine the future of student life in Wednesday’s meeting. One motion passed a draft on sexual assault mandatory reporting policy. Two additional motions make efforts to provide a “sanctuary” for students who feel unsafe and threatened after the recent presidential election results; one motion caused tensions to run high when it was met with resistance from a few senators.

The Student Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Violence Complaint and Response policy will divide UO faculty and staff into three tiers of reporting duties. The tiers include designated employees, who will report an offense under any circumstance; student-directed employees, who will report with the student’s wishes; and Confidential Employees, who will report with the student’s wishes, but have an added level of confidentiality.

The Senate met the passing of the new policy with applause. The new sexual assault reporting policy has been in the works since August. The emergency policy required almost all faculty and staff to report a sexual assault, regardless of the reporter’s wishes.

The new policy will go to UO President Michael Schill, who will have 60 days for review and approval. The policy will then be sent to the Department of Educational Civil Rights, who will approve or amend it and send it back to the Senate for approval.

Merle Weiner, chair of the committee responsible for drafting the policy, said the new policy “meets the needs of students who want to report, but also students who don’t know if they want to report. The mandatory policy took away that option.”

The Senate voted to suspended its rules, which is uncommon, in order to discuss and vote on two additional resolutions that were introduced on short notice.

One resolution, proposed in reaction to president-elect Donald Trump’s controversial statements on immigration, declares the UO a “sanctuary campus.” According to the UO Senate website, the following resolutions will be requested for the administration to enforce to the fullest legal action:

1. Develop a protocol to make UO a Sanctuary Campus, in order to protect the safety and security of our students, faculty, staff, and the broader community.
2. Protect student privacy by restricting the release of information about students’ immigration status to law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
3. Instruct campus police to refrain from collaborating with ICE for the purposes of immigration enforcement.
4. Refuse access to campus to federal immigration officials for the purposes of immigration enforcement, except in exigent circumstances.
5. Assign a specific administrative office to assist our Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students and other students who lack the protections of citizenship on a strictly confidential basis.

The full resolution is here.

“This is a time of disruption. The universities — when they work well, when they’re beautiful, they occupy a role of intellectual and moral clarity during these times of disruption,” senator Chris Chavez, journalism professor, said. “This is that moment for me.”

Chavez said, “If we hedge on this one, what are we telling out students?”

The other resolution, passed under the suspension of regular senate procedures, reaffirms the UO’s principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, echoing an open letter to the campus sent by President Schill on Wednesday morning.

Senator Chris Phillips, mathematics professor, was unhappy with the wording of one of the resolutions, which specified it would “protect members of our community who have been rendered particularly vulnerable by the bigotry and climate of the recent political campaign.” Phillips wanted to clarify that students would be supported regardless of their political belief or affiliations. He said people may misinterpret the resolution as being partisan. The senate collectively disagreed and voted to approve the motion.

The forum on the senate website received a high number of comments, many of which were in support of the resolution.

Gyoung-Ah Lee, assistant professor in Anthropology, wrote in the online forum, “We need to demand the UO administration to support our students who are most vulnerable and also international communities at the UO with various types of visas.”

“This election result is a wake up call, mildly put, and I hope we are moving toward a constructive and inclusive direction for the better future,” she wrote.

The post Sexual assault reporting policy, ‘sanctuary’ campus resolution meet UO Senate approval appeared first on Emerald Media.

University of Oregon students will soon see a new major in the geography department called Spatial Data Science and Technology, and review will continue on the effectiveness of the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee’s charge over student-athlete academic performance and well-being. It’s all thanks to the University Senate meeting that occurred in the Gerlinger Lounge on Wednesday.

The Senate approved a motion to create the Spatial Data Science and Technology bachelor’s degree. The proposal will be forwarded to the UO Board of Trustees, the Provost’s Council and the Higher Education Coordinating Commission for approval, according to the motion.

Another motion to change the charge, or purpose, of the IAC was the most discussed item on the agenda. It proposed the new name to be the Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee.

Human Physiology professor Andy Karduna, also the former chair of the IAC and sponsor of the motion, expressed discontent with the IAC at the meeting, noting its ineffectiveness on adhering to former motions passed by the senate.

“In a lot of ways, the IAC as it’s written right now sounds good but it’s not been implemented. I would also argue that it really hasn’t effected any change, at least since I’ve been on the committee,” Karduna said.

The current IAC charge is about 11 years old but its scope has changed; UO Athletics has grown drastically with new athletic buildings and a budget that has more than tripled, according to Karduna.

The meeting also included a discussion on sexual assault reporting policy. Senate members will vote on a permanent responsible reporting policy proposal during their next meeting.

Some of the UO Board of Trustees members gave an update. Two of the members’ terms expire in June of next year. Board member Kurt Wilcox told the Senate he wants the board to hear from the UO community on general matters and aims to make the board more transparent.

The Senate also unanimously voted to pass a proposal to reform the Committee on Committees, which will allow classified UO employees to serve. Classified staff are union represented.

The next Senate meeting is marked for Nov. 16 in the Redwood Auditorium, EMU 214.

The post University Senate approves new degree, questions committee on student-athletes appeared first on Emerald Media.

Tuesday marked Robin Holmes last day as vice president for student life after serving at the University of Oregon for 25 years.

She accepted a position as the vice president for student affairs with the University of California system, according to her announcement.

Her position will temporarily be filled by Kevin Marbury, the current director of physical education and recreation at UO.

Marbury earned his Ph.D. in higher education administration at the University of North Texas in 1992. Holmes was formerly the director of recreation and wellness at Old Dominion University and vice president for student life at Edward Waters College.

The Emerald could not reach Marbury for comment.

The vice president for student life office encompasses many departments outside of the classroom. These departments include the Career Center, the Counseling and Testing Center, the Office of the Dean of Students, the Erb Memorial Union, the University Health Center, the Holden Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, University Housing, and the Department of Physical Education and Recreation, according to the Division of Student Life.

In an interview with the Emerald, Holmes said she sees the move to the UC system as an upgrade because she hopes to influence youth to pursue higher education in a way that reflects shifting demographics.

Among her notable achievements as vice president for student life, Holmes listed building a strong strategic plan. Holmes said the school had an “almost anti-strategic plan” when she accepted the position of vice president for student life 10 years ago.

“Although that leads to a lot of creativity and innovation and a feeling of freedom, it doesn’t lead to much success,” she said.

Holmes also united various departments at UO and pushed the effort to renovate the Erb Memorial Union and the Student Recreation Center.

Holmes said she wishes her time at UO would have allowed her and the administration to build a stronger and more fluid relationship with the student government.

“We’ve had years when it’s been really tough,” she said.

Holmes responded to the Shasta Lake littering incident earlier this year, which made national news and sparked outrage. She said she thinks there are missed opportunities in fraternity and sorority life and wishes she was able to do more to push students to use student life as leadership experience.

Holmes closed her Eugene clinical therapy private practice, which consulted with universities and corporations on diversity issues.

She said the future of student life will be “less clear and direct” because of staff turnover, but said she is confident in the abilities of her successor.

“Choosing a provost is among the most important decisions a president will make for a university,” University of Oregon President Michael Schill wrote in an open letter after the current provost, Scott Coltrane, announced retirement in June. The Provost Search Committee is tasked with helping Schill in that decision.

The committee, chaired by UO Professor Geri Richmond, took a step forward on Monday by holding a public input session, during which the group discussed diversity, budget expertise and problem-solving skills as desirable traits in a candidate. About 20 people, mostly members of the 18-person committee, were in attendance.

The UO provost is second-in-command to the president. The position oversees all things academic, including research, budgets, curriculum, faculty tenure promotions and admissions, according to the provost website.

“People recognize how important this position is,” Richmond said, pleased with the public input.

Richmond will release the updated formal job description within the next week, she said. The committee, along with an external search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, currently seeks recommendations for provost candidates.

Members in the forum stressed diversity as an important factor in choosing the next provost. More than half of the forum attendees were women, and nearly all committee members received bias-awareness training.

One of the Provost Search Committee members, math professor Chris Sinclair, said it’s hard for women and minorities to break into the “old boys network.”

Sinclair explained the network as a feedback loop, in which letters of recommendation — vital to any application for a position such as a provost — are written by white males and favor white males. The letters use subtleties in vocabulary, like differentiating a male as a “go-getter,” opposed to a female as one who “plays well with others,” Sinclair said; the former is more favorable than the latter.

“It’s a self-reinforcing system,” Sinclair said. He hopes to shift away from this with the next choice for UO’s next provost.

Another discussed trait for a provost included experience with budgets, reflecting the cuts and tuition increases that could loom in UO’s future.

“There may be cutting of departments,” Richmond said. “We need a provost who can make those decisions.”

Other traits brought up in the forum included the ability to improve tenured promotion, integrate engineering and medicine into UO curriculum, negotiate with unions and connect with the larger Eugene community.

The university hired Russell Reynolds Associates to assist with the search and hiring of the next provost. Richmond said she has previously worked with Russell Reynolds and was impressed with them. One of their consultants skyped into the forum from Washington D.C. to receive public input.

The committee meets next in November, after which all further provost search matters will be kept confidential to conceal candidates.

“Often we have to do interviews behind closed doors because candidates may be fired if their employers know they are interviewing with others,” Richmond said.

According to an announcement from Schill, Coltrane departs on July 1, 2017, when the new provost will step in.