Resistance & Change | March 7, 2022

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • VOL. CXXVII NO. 06

CAMPUS

CITY

After two years of COVID-19, this timeline shows how the pandemic has changed life on the OSU campus. 6

The Corvallis Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 74th annual Celebrate Corvallis event on March 18 to commemorate local businesses. 16

Timeline of COVID-19 at Oregon State University

Celebrate Corvallis

Paola, Young win ASOSU presidency, election sees voter turnout of 17.93%

By RILEY LECOCQ News Reporter

By ZEVA ROSENBAUM News Contributor What do Corvallis, Ore. and Uzhhorod, Ukraine have in common? They’re sister cities.

Since 1989 and the founding of the volunteer-run Corvallis Sister Cities Association, Corvallis and Uzhhorod have shared a special relationship spanning decades of medical care, pen pals, exchange students, business training and other resources.

CSCA President and Oregon State University faculty member Robert Kokenyesi, who was born and raised in Uzhhorod, said the association between Corvallis and Uzhhorod is still as active as possible, despite setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war with Russia.

CSCA board member and Ta k e One Ukrainian Child’s Hand Project Co-Chair Alice Rampton said a TOUCH project delegation delivered $40,000 to Uzhhorod in September 2021, before the omicron variant limited travel again. She said they’ve already raised another $40,000 since then.

Past CSCA president and current member Pete Bober said there are three levels of relationships: colleagues, friends and family. He said after 20 years, the people of Uzhhorod are more like family. Bober also said OSU President Robert MacVicar signed and submitted the original incorporation papers with the state of Oregon.

MacVicar was president of OSU from 1970 to 1984.

Rampton said the CSCA was founded by a group of Corvallis residents who wanted to communicate with citizens of the USSR. They researched multiple

Ukrainian cities but ultimately chose Uzhhorod because it had a university, was located near mountains and a river and was in an agricultural area—much like Corvallis.

Rampton said in the 1990s, her husband, family p hy s i c i a n Dr. Mark Rampton, assessed the medical needs of the area and the CSCA shipped two 40-foot semi trailers full of medical supplies to Uzhhorod as the medical situation there was “destitute.” They had a milliondollar grant from the Oregon State Department to fund this endeavor.

According to Politico, thanks to their position on the western border, cities like Lviv and Uzhhorod have become an area of refuge for those fleeing the war in eastern Ukraine.

Rampton said Uzhhorod is “as far as you can get” from the danger.

According to the Council on Foreign Relation’s Global Conflict Tracker, this tension between Ukraine and Russia has been ongoing since early 2014. Though the two countries have been in a stalemate, threats of violence re-escalated as of spring 2021 and culminated in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion on Feb. 24, turning the situation from conflict to all-out war.

Patients and refugees have turned to the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod for services after attacks across eastern Ukraine damaged or destroyed numerous civilian centers.

SISTER CITIES Continued on page 15

The Associated Students of Oregon State University 2022-23 election concluded on March 4 with a 17.93% voter turnout, over double what it was last year.

Matteo Paola and Sierra Young won the president and vice president seats respectively with 1,541 votes, running on the campaign of #YourOSU. “We are very excited and honored to know the student body has chosen us to represent them as their next president and vice president!” Paola said. “We have an open door policy both in our current capacity as president/VP elect and once we are sworn in. We love to hear what issues are most important to students. Connecting with [students] to discuss problems and solutions will be incredibly important in our work!”

According to Dylan Perfect, the current ASOSU vice president, when voting for single seat elections such as president, vice president, Student Fee Committee chair and speaker of the house, the winner is decided by rank choice voting.

Rank choice voting means voters rank candidates as first choice, second choice, third choice and so on. The candidate with the most first choice votes, if the majority, then wins the election. If there is no majority, they then use the second and third choice votes to determine the winner.

Paola’s duties as ASOSU president will include conducting all administrative affairs of ASOSU and budget, policy oversight, representing the students and following the ASOSU statutes. The president is also allowed to sign or veto bills passed by the ASOSU Congress.

The duties of vice president are to assist the president, oversee executive officers and staff, follow the duties of ASOSU statutes, and preside over the ASOSU Senate. Both president and vice president positions commonly participate in or lead campus committees or boards as well as their outlined duties.

Paola is a fourth-year political science major and chemistry minor on the pre-med track and has been involved in the ASOSU House of Representatives for two years.

Currently, Paola sits on the Counseling and Psychological Services advisory board and Joint Projects committee where he has worked ASOSU RESULTS Continued on page 2

INDEX ASOSU RESULTS Continued from page 1 to establish two cultural centers for international and disabled students.

Paola’s running mate, Sierra Young, is a fourth-year student majoring in music and minoring in music performance. Young has been a part of the ASOSU Senate since summer 2020. She currently chairs the Joint student government committee and is responsible for rewriting the ASOSU constitution.

The team campaigned under #YourOSU and the platform hopes to expand the staffing and transparency of CAPS, bring more students to the SafeWalk program, negotiate carbon neutral plans at a university level, develop survivor center reform and continue to work on increasing wages for students.

Paola and Young also placed an emphasis on their campaign to continue working with the SFC to increase student involvement in the budget process and increase funds to units that best serve students.

“Our primary power lies in the fee-setting process,” Paola said.

“Where we think it is relatively easy to get things like higher wages and build cost of living raises into student fee funded positions. Getting a living wage for all student workers is significantly more challenging.

We look forward to working with groups like the Coalition of Graduate Employees and faculty union to form a powerful coalition, as well as organizing student workers to collectively fight for their rights.”

Voters eligible in the election are limited to students currently enrolled in a minimum of one credit on the Corvallis, Ore. campus, making 20,759 students eligible to vote.

Last year’s election had a turnout of 7.13% of the 21,248 eligible voters, while this year’s voter turnout jumped to 17.93% of the eligible voter base.

Paola said he thinks ASOSU outreach can still be improved.

“In order to fight for the student body, we need to first form easier ways of regular communication,” Paola said.

Other available positions on the ballot include ASOSU speaker of the house, SFC chair, four SFC at-large members, six seats in the ASOSU Senate, five graduate House of Representatives seats and 20 undergraduate House of Representatives seats.

Ballot measure 01.22, which proposed a new ASOSU Senate to act as a unicameral legislature, was also included in this election. The measure passed with 89.33% of voters voting for the adoption.

To view the full list of winners, visit the full story on our website.

FI ND U S O N SO C I A L M EDI A

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JASON MAY | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK The Associated Students of Oregon State University vice presidentelect Sierra Young (left) and president-elect Matteo Paola outside Austin Hall on Feb. 24. Paola and Young won the election by 223 votes.

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COVER: 4-year-old Belle Baxley holds a homemade sign while protesting in support for the people of Ukraine at the Benton County Courthouse in Corvallis, Ore. on Feb. 26. This is Baxley’s first protest. By Jess Hume-Pantuso, OMN Photographer.

2 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

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During war with Russia, the Barometer stands with Ukrainians

By BARO STAFF As the citizens of Ukraine fight for the right to their own land, the loss of life at the hands of Russian imperialism is felt here in Corvallis, Ore., as many residents have ties to their Ukraine heritage, and Corvallis’ sister city of Uzhhorod.

Here at The Daily Baro, we are working to provide the honest, unbiased coverage that this moment deserves. We are in contact with residents in Ukraine who are on-theground, providing us with updated information as time progresses.

Our cover story, written by Zeva Rosenbaum, goes into detail about the relationship between Corvallis and Uzhhorod over the years, as well as how Uzhhorod citizens have been holding up during COVID-19 and the war with Russia.

Our issue this month features photos of local Corvallis residents at two recent protests in front of the Benton County Courthouse. We have also made edits to our Daily Barometer nameplate in the upper left corner

of the cover by coloring it yellow and blue to emulate the Ukrainian flag and represent our support for all who have been displaced due to Russian interference.

We recognize that Russia’s invasion on Ukraine is a move of power from administration, and that it affects the citizens of both countries in unique ways. According to the United Nations, approximately a million Ukraine citizens have fled from their homes into neighboring countries while young Russian soldiers have been tricked into fighting a war they did not anticipate.

While our support is with Ukraine, we want to make it clear that our support does not equal a desire for the war. We have seen the extreme violence and loss that comes from war, and while we cannot stop history from repeating itself, we can do our part to better support those affected by acts of violence.

If you would like to do your part to help Ukrainians across the globe, donations are currently being accepted from organizations like

JESS HUME-PANTUSO | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Albany resident, John Kolck proudly displays a sign that reads “Freedom, Democracy and Peace in Ukraine. Stand with the World Against Tyranny.” at a protest on Sunday, March 5. Kolck mentioned that while he is in Corvallis, Ore. protesting, his daughter is abroad in Berlin helping Ukrainian refugees.

Doctors Without Borders, Global Giving—who funded the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund Page—the International Rescue committee, as well as any other organizations currently working to ensure the safety of fleeing Ukrainian citizens. We

have linked a list of other operating organizations in the online version of this story.

If you would like to be involved locally, you can subscribe directly to Corvallis Sister Cities Organization’s program, Take One Ukrainian

Child’s Hand, for project newsletters with updates about upcoming protests and ways to get involved.

The Facebook group “Corvallis Conversations” is also a forum for information used by many residents for promotion.

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MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 3

CALENDAR

MARCH 2022 SUNDAY

TUESDAY

MONDAY 1

6

13 Softball vs. North Dakota Kelly Field 1:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY 2

7

Music of Protest and Joy 8 Shout! by the OSU Wind Ensemble

9 Corvallis Housing Fair

14

15 Baseball vs. Grand Canyon

16 Baseball vs. Grand Canyon

LaSells Stewart Center, Austin Auditorium 7:30 p.m.

Goss Stadium 5:35 p.m.

MU Ballroom 11 - 4 p.m.

Goss Stadium 12:05 p.m.

Oregon State Science Pub Guest Speaker Virtual Event 6 - 7:30 p.m.

20 Baseball vs. Arizona State

21 OSU VITA Tax Assistance

22

23 Baseball vs. Seattle

27 Softball vs. Stanford

28

29

30

Goss Stadium 1:05 p.m.

Kelly Field 12:00 p.m.

Austin Hall Room 200 1 p.m.

4 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

Goss Stadium 3:05 p.m.

CALENDAR

COMMUNITY CALENDAR THURSDAY 3

FRIDAY 4

SATURDAY

EVENTS INFORMATION

5

Most Oregon State University

virtual and in-person events

10

11

require registration in order

12 Softball vs. Portland State

to attend or participate. All

Kelly Field 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

March events and event descrip-

Covallis Indoor Winter Market Benton County Fairgrounds 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Jackson Street Youth Services Benefit Concert Corvallis Community Center 7 p.m.

17

18

Baseball vs. Arizona State Goss Stadium 5:35 p.m.

19

Covallis Indoor Winter Market Benton County Fairgrounds 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Baseball vs. Arizona State Goss Stadium 1:35 p.m.

Track and Field OSU PNW Invite

tions, as well as registration information can be found on

the OSU Events Calendar

website or on the Oregon State

University Alumni Association website.

LEGEND

All day events

Doggie Adoption Day with Heartland Humane Shelter

OSU EVENTS

Common Fields 12 -2 p.m.

24

25 Softball vs. Stanford Kelly Field 6:00 p.m.

26 Covallis Indoor Winter Market Benton County Fairgrounds 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Softball vs. Stanford Kelly Field 5:00 p.m.

OMN EVENTS SPORTING EVENTS

OSU VITA Tax Assistance Austin Hall Room 200 1 p.m.

CORVALLIS EVENTS

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Use a QR code scanner or Snapchat to view Oregon State University’s Events Calendar in full

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 5

CAMPUS

COVID-19 pandemic timeline suggests ‘over time’ virus will become endemic

By HAYDEN LOHR News Reporter

Since COVID-19 first appeared over two years ago around Dec. 12, 2019, the resulting pandemic has altered many lives at Oregon State University, and the virus is likely here to stay.

Dec. 12, 2019: The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Wuhan, Hubei Providence, China, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These cases of pneumonia of unknown causes are all connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, according to the CDC. Jan. 20, 2020: The CDC reports the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States from samples collected two days earlier in Washington state. It is likely the virus

was circulating in the U.S. before the first case was identified.

Feb. 28, 2020: According to the Oregon Health Authority, the first case of COVID-19 in Oregon was identified from an adult resident of Washington County, who started feeling sick nine days earlier. Again, it is likely that COVID-19 was already circulating in Oregon before this point.

March 9, 2020: The first cases of COVID19 are identified in Benton County. Again, it is likely that the virus was circulating before COVID-19 cases were identified in Benton County.

March 12, 2020: OSU announces that all finals, if possible, will be administered online for the winter term of 2020.

March 30, 2020: OSU extends its spring break by one week, and allows freshmen to move out of the dorms if they desire over spring break. Classes go online for spring term

“where possible.” Students don’t yet know that classes will be online through summer term of 2021, over a full academic year.

“I was a senior at Tulane University in New Orleans,” said Katie Mannina, a masters student in public health at OSU. “I think it was March 11, 2020 that the university decided to add a week onto spring break. I went home and was there until June 2020, and I graduated during the pandemic.”

Around this time, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down not only large venues, but also schools, restaurants and small businesses.

March 27, 2020: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security act is signed into law, sending stimulus checks to most Americans and funding to universities, such as OSU, that was then given to students and staff.

July 1, 2020: Oregon begins its statewide mask mandate. Previously, masks were limited to only a small number of counties, but in an effort to slow the spread of the illness, Governor Kate Brown instituted the statewide mask mandate. For many, things have normalized and masks are now accepted as an item required to enter most businesses.

“Right when stuff started shutting down, I had plans to go visit family on Oahu, Hawai’i for spring break,” said Eli Winkleman, a mathematics major at OSU. “Because the shutdown happened, I ended up staying there for all of spring term… I stayed in Oregon for the next year basically, and then now I’ve come back to Hawai’i just in the past few months… For the first year of the pandemic, I did almost nothing with anyone.”

June 2021: During this month, the delta variant became the dominant variant in the U.S. This variant was unique because it was more infectious and deadly than

previous COVID-19 variants.

Aug. 25, 2021: OSU announces that most classes will be held in person for fall of 2021, with masks worn and distancing restrictions in place.

Dec. 1, 2021: The first case of the omicron variant of COVID-19 was identified in the U.S. This strain is significant because it was more infectious than previous strains, but also less deadly, resulting in less hospitalizations.

March 2022: By March 12, Oregon will lift its indoor mask mandate. March also marks two years since the COVID-19 pandemic started shutting down businesses and schools, including OSU, in Oregon and Benton County.

To date, over 434 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded worldwide—although the actual number is likely much higher—and at least 5.94 million people have died from COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted mental health and caused isolation and quarantines.

While the COVID-19 pandemic should decrease in severity, Dan Larson, the OSU vice provost for student affairs and OSU coronavirus response coordinator, said COVID-19 is likely something that will continue to affect the OSU and Corvallis communities.

“I do not see any indication from health authorities suggesting that COVID-19 is not here to stay, and likely over time will become endemic,” Larson said. “I am hopeful, as I think we all are, that the public health measures and tools that are in place—vaccines and treatments—will reduce negative health impacts in the future.”

Governor Kate Brown announced on Feb. 28 that indoor mask requirements will be lifted on March 12. OSU will also lift its indoor mask mandate on that same day.

HAYDEN LOHR | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK

HAYDEN LOHR | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK

A sign at the Learning Innovation Center on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, Ore. warns of the danger of COVID-19 and gives tips on preventing its spread to other individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has been present in Oregon since March 2020.

A sign at the Memorial Union on the Oregon State University Corvallis, Ore. campus informs students of the required face coverings. The OSU campus shut down in March 2020,and classes were online from spring term 2020 until the end of summer term 2021, over one academic year.

6 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

CAMPUS

ASOSU seeks to reform SARC through resolution

By SAM MISA News Contributor

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK FARLEY This photo shows the inside of the Marine Studies Building as it was being built in early 2020. The new building is approximately 72,000 square feet, and houses laboratories for research, classrooms, offices and an auditorium.

OSU Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building offers escape from tsunamis

By LARA RIVERA News Contributor The Cascadia fault line off the Pacific coast could potentially cause a record-breaking earthquake and tsunami in Oregon, and only one building on the Oregon coast is prepared for it.

This building, the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, was completed in summer 2020 with the goal of providing safety to all of the local South Beach in Newport, Ore. should an earthquake occur, said Robert Cowen, the director of the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

According to Cowen, Hatfield houses approximately 450 people, including university students, staff and federal and state agency partners as well as at least 22 buildings that are within a tsunami zone on the Oregon coast but would have been too costly to move.

The Marine Studies Building was built as a vertical evacuation center at Hatfield that can house up to 900 people on its roof with emergency supplies to sustain them until they can be escorted to a longer-term safety shelter, such as the Oregon Coast Commnity College in Newport.

The process of building this vertical evacuation center was very extensive, Cowen said.

It involved OSU hiring external engineers to look at the plans developed by architects and engineering firms.

“All of this was an open process because we wanted it to be a demonstration project as a university, so other communities going forward could look at what we did, the approach we took and they could follow it,” Cowen said.

According to Daniel Cox, professor of civil engineering at OSU with a background in coastal engineering, two big aspects that con-

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNON REED Robert Cowen serves as the director of Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore. The Marine Studies Building is one of the newest buildings at the Hatfield center and can serve as a vertical evacuation site in the case of a tsunami.

tributed to the design of the Marine Studies Building are the expected shaking of the building and other forces expected to affect it after the earthquakes.

Seismologists and engineers used computer simulations of earthquakes and tsunamis of the same magnitude in countries like Japan, Cox said, to calculate the effects of the Cascadia earthquake on the Pacific coastline.

Cox said he was involved in working behind the scenes and setting standards for the tsunami preparation of the Marine Studies Building through the American Society of Civil Engineers.

“As to the Corvallis campus buildings regarding seismic preparation, we are better prepared than we were,” Cox said.

Aside from being suitable as a vertical evacuation center, Cox said the Marine Studies Building is also used on a day to day basis for classes for students in Newport.

“If [my son] was studying oceanography out there, I would feel fine,” Cox said. “I would not lose sleep.”

Members of the Associated Students of Oregon State University have passed a resolution asking to make changes to the Survivor Advocacy and Resource Center.

While not a binding piece of legislation, the SARC resolution, called the Survivor Care Reform Resolution, is a list of demands sent to various people across campus in administrative positions as well as to local news outlets.

According to Matteo Paola, member of the ASOSU House of Representatives, the aim of the resolution is to establish SARC as the focal point of survivor care initiatives. Paola said ASOSU hopes to do this through increased funding and staffing within the organization to improve survivor care services, as well as by centralizing the services SARC provides.

Included in this resolution is a recommendation to expand SARC staffing since SARC currently only has two employees. The SARC resolution recommends the staff be increased to at least nine people, including a Sexual Health Coordinator, three Survivor Advocates and a Crisis Counselor.

“As it currently is, SARC is not like a center, you go there and you might be referred somewhere else,” Paola said. “Referring students to other services or other places where they have to set up meetings and deal with all that can make it difficult for people to get the help that they need.”

Unanimously passed by the ASOSU Congress, the SARC resolution asks for signatures from OSU students, faculty and staff, as well as from citizens of Corvallis, Ore. “There was no real pushback against [it],” Paola said. “I think pretty much everyone is generally in favor of it. I’ve not heard anyone,

SAM MISA | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Associated Students of Oregon State University members Matteo Paola (left) and Kate Rockey are two of the main advocates for the demands of the Survivor Care Reform Resolution. According to Paola, the aim of the resolution is to centralize survivor care initiatives.

student-wise or faculty, outside of the administration, that had any problems with anything we’re asking for.”

According to Paola, the administration, which consists of Student Health Services staff among others, has been the only source of pushback for the resolution.

“The back and forth between students and administration is so unproductive and immature,” said Kate Rockey, the ASOSU women and gender advocacy coordinator. “I’m doing my job. I’m just advocating for students. And it seems like all the barriers that are being put in place are like, why?”

“Referring students to other services or other places where they have to set up meetings and deal with all that can make it difficult for people to get the help they need.”

- Matteo Paola, member of the House of Representatives.

One of those sources of “pushback,” according to Rockey, is Dan Larson, the vice provost for Student Affairs.

Larson said he appreciated and shared the student interest in expanding the impacts of OSU’s interpersonal and gender-based violence prevention, response and support programs and services.

“It is my hope that, in advocating for greater impact, we do not at the same time erode the confidence in the support that is currently available to survivors,” Larson said.

Rockey said she wants to emphasize that both the administration and ASOSU still have the same shared goals.

“We just want to move forward so desperately with these efforts in any way we can, we want to be heard,” Rockey said. “We want to be communicated with, we want collaboration with administration who are the ones who will be making these changes.”

According to ASOSU Director of Programming Emile De Pooter, the demands of the resolution would essentially allow SARC to better address the needs of the community, not only through the ways mentioned above but also through increased student representation.

“I think it is essential that our student government helps support this initiative and works with the administration to get those changes implemented,” De Pooter said.

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 7

CAMPUS

RAFAEL QUERO JUAREZ | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Pictured is the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory that is located on the Southwest side of the Oregon State University campus. The OVDL specializes in identifying animal-borne diseases and surveys wildlife and domestic livestock for diseases that could be potentially harmful to humans.

OSU Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory provides tool to prepare for disease outbreaks

By KIRSTEN STEINKE Science Beat Reporter

Oregon State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is a testing facility that provides diagnostic services to identify animalborne diseases, including viruses such as the one responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The predominant theory for the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that triggered COVID-19, is that it began in bats and spread to humans when an infected bat came into close contact with a person.

According to Dr. Kurt Williams, incoming director of the OVDL, as societies encroach on the habitats of animals throughout the world, people are more likely to come into contact with different species of pathogens that might find humans to be suitable hosts for infection.

“In the course of human history, devastating diseases have frequently arisen from our relationship with other animals,” Williams said.

According to Williams, a common example of an animal-borne illness that can infect humans is influenza. This family of viruses first spread to humans through contact with animals. Most flu viruses that infect humans originated in birds, through the avian flu, but they have been found to originate in other animals as well, such as pigs, through the swine flu.

“The crossover [between humans and ani-

mals] is more than a lot of people might realize,” said Dawn Dirks, lab supervisor for molecular diagnostics at OVDL. According to Dirks, OVDL does a significant amount of surveillance for diseases in wildlife and domestic livestock. She emphasized the importance of lab facilities like OVDL for tracking the emergence of potentially harmful zoonotic, or animal-borne, diseases.

Dr. Justin Sanders, section head of molecular diagnostics at OVDL, said the lab is currently providing testing for animals that may be infected with COVID-19.

OVDL also assisted in providing COVID-19 testing for people when there was lower testing availability throughout the community, Sanders said.

OVDL is a partner of One Health, a collaborative approach by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that aims to better understand the interconnectedness between people, animals, plants and their environment.

According to the CDC, understanding the biological relationships between animals and humans is critical for preventing and monitoring diseases. “[One Health] is a public health concept and the recognition that veterinary medicine can really help recognize a lot of these potential outbreak situations and also assist when these outbreaks occur,” Sanders said.

Viruses are the most common culprits for

8 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

zoonotic diseases, according to Williams.

Viruses are made up of a nucleic acid package surrounded by a lipid envelope obtained from its host cell.

“Their aim is to infect cells,” Williams said.

“They can’t even replicate themselves without a host cell.”

As viruses infect different hosts, they replicate so that they can survive, Williams said.

This process leads to random mutations within their genetic code that can cause different strains of a virus to emerge. The more hosts a virus is able to infect, the higher the probability is for new viral strains.

Sanders said animals can serve as hosts for viruses and that it is important from a public health standpoint to monitor their spread among a population.

According to Williams, domesticated and agricultural animals are more likely to be sources of infection for humans because of their integration into societies. “[OVDL] does a significant amount of surveillance testing in wildlife and domestic livestock,” Dirks said. “Some of the pathogens we test could infect humans.”

Dirks emphasized the importance of molecular diagnostic facilities like OVDL for monitoring emerging or mutating zoonotic pathogens that pose a risk to humans. The testing done at OVDL works to identify pathogens and mitigate their effects among animals, humans

RAFAEL QUERO JUAREZ | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK An Oregon State University student who works at the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Labratory takes samples. The OVDL tracks the emergence of animal-borne diseases, such as COVID-19.

and the environment.

According to Dirks, facilities like OVDL are critical for preventing the spread of infectious diseases that, if left unchecked, could potentially lead to the next pandemic.

“The work we do [at OVDL] touches on companion animal care, ensuring protection of our food supply, protecting the health of our wildlife and in many cases, helping to diagnose and contain illnesses that directly impact human health,” Dirks said.

CAMPUS

Oregon State University expected to offer free period products on campus

By SAMUEL ALBERT News Contributor

After delayed compliance with the Menstrual Dignity Act, Oregon State University will install menstrual product dispensers in at least two restrooms per building, free of charge.

House Bill 3294, passed by the Oregon legislature in 2021, required all public schools to provide free menstrual products in at least two bathrooms in every building on campus

by July 1, 2021.

An initial delivery of 200 dispensers arrived at OSU in November 2021, with 289 more expected to arrive by the end of January.

OSU has started installing these dispensers, beginning in buildings with the greatest student intake.

“It was brought to my attention last term that the university was not in compliance with this House Bill that was put forward… Nothing was happening at the administrative level,” said Maya Sonpatki, the accessibility and wellness coordinator at Associated Students of OSU. “It was a little unclear when we could expect to see [dispensers] all over campus… Between the students at the Period Chapter at OSU and those at ASOSU, we wanted to encourage the administration to get this done.”

According to HB 3294, menstrual dispensers and products must be implemented in all restrooms—not just two­—in buildings providing educational services to students by July 1, 2022.

OSU failed to meet the requirement of having a dispenser in two bathrooms in every building by July 1, 2021 but is now trying to meet the requirement of having a dispenser in all restrooms in all buildings

by July 1, 2022.

Dispensers requiring coins will be converted into a payless operation, and temporary baskets or containers will be provided in lieu of dispensers until more arrive.

“There are still some final rules that still need to be set… That’s being set by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, they’re charged with the rulemaking for this bill, but the final rules won’t be available until late spring or summer of 2022,” Sonpatki said.

According to Sonpatki, the primary goal of her collaboration with other on-campus groups is keeping the pressure on the university and ensuring they follow through with the process.

Specifications surrounding the Menstrual Dignity Act can be accessed through the Menstrual Dignity Toolkit, a set of community standards and procedures outlined

by the Oregon Department of Education in November 2021.

“Within the club, I do a lot of the education committee role, so the secretary and I, we both work together to put on educational events toward topics like period poverty and menstrual equity,” said Sonia Nair, vice president of the OSU Period Chapter. “I was invited by some of the Oregon Period Chapter leaders to help with the Menstrual Dignity Act and their toolkit, so I’ve been working on that and actually helping draft and edit the toolkit as well.”

Nair encouraged students to send in pictures

of any dispensers they find around campus to members of Period at OSU. Their most recent Instagram post includes three pictures of different dispensers in female and gender neutral bathrooms, as well as instructions on how to use them.

“The current models of each of the dispensers are very different,” said Emma Gilmore, vice president of public relations at Period at OSU. “Because we’re not used to having these free menstrual dispensers, I know a lot of people go to the bathroom without even noticing it or even recognizing them.”

The terminology used by the Oregon

Department of Education in the Menstrual Dignity Act does not specify for the sole implementation of period products in female and gender neutral restrooms, according to Gilmore.

“It’s up to the institution to decide where the greatest need is and where those dispensers will go as they’re arriving, and my male peers personally have not seen any in their restrooms,” Gilmore said. “This is really important to know because not everyone that menstruates is female, and the bill requires free pads and tampons for all menstruating students.”

JESS HUME-PANTUSO | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Maya Sonpatki, the accessibility and wellness coordinator at the Associated Students of Oregon State University, poses for a photo in the Memorial Union on the OSU Corvallis, Ore. campus on Jan. 23. Sonpatki is trying to encourage OSU administration to push forward Oregon’s Menstrual Dignity Act at the university.

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 9

CAMPUS

VITA volunteers available to file tax returns

By LARA RIVERA News Contributor

Student volunteers, alumni and community members at Oregon State University offer tax assistance through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which started Feb. 12 and lasts until April 18.

VITA, a nation-wide IRS program that offers free, simple tax return preparation, is made up of an array of volunteers from different majors, alumni and community members. At OSU, approximately 30 volunteers meet with people interested in VITA every Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon through April 18 in Austin Hall, room 200.

People who want their taxes prepared

by VITA volunteers need to schedule an appointment and should bring the necessary tax documents, a driver’s license and a social security card for proof of identity for their appointment.

According to Brandon Holbrook, the VITA director at OSU, after an individual drops off the necessary documents, the tax returns will be ready in about one week.

Any Corvallis, Ore. community members

ANGELA TAM | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK ARCHIVES Pictured is Austin Hall, home to the College of Business at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore. On Tuesdays and Saturdays through April 18, VITA volunteers will be available to file tax returns for students and Corvallis community members in room 200 of Austin Hall.

or OSU students are able to receive assistance from VITA, as long as their income is less than $60,000. Holbrook said international community members, international students and students who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are also wel-

come to the VITA program so long as they meet the same income requirement.

VITA offers language services for English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean, according to Holbrook. However, if a person needs assistance in a language not included,

they must notify VITA while making their appointment so volunteers can plan for language assistance.

Holbrook communicates with the IRS to coordinate the training and exams for volunteers to be certified by the IRS for tax preparation.

Tax-preparation training happens every year as soon as December, when the IRS finishes the training guides and exams due to yearly tax-law changes. VITA volunteers learn basic tax laws and have access to a free tax software provided by the IRS to prepare simple taxes and taxes for individuals with low income.

“We’re a group of volunteers, we learned how to do taxes and we do free taxes for people who need help,” Holbrook said.

Rain Scarborough, a student in the design and innovation management major in the College of Business and member of VITA’s marketing team, is in their first year as a

VITA TAXES Continued on page 11

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CAMPUS

SAT to move online in 2024 amid growing number of colleges no longer requiring exam

By HAYDEN LOHR News Reporter The SAT exam will become online in 2024, however, many colleges, including Oregon State University, already do not require it for admissions due to controversy surrounding the idea that the exam is biased.

According to the College Board website, the SAT is a comprehensive exam that identifies students’ readiness for college. The SAT is a multiple choice exam that takes three hours to complete with a reading and writing section, a mathematics section and an optional essay section. The test has a maximum score of 1600.

According to the Princeton Review, a college admission services company that offers tutoring, test preparation and other services, most college admissions require either the SAT or the ACT, another exam that tests for college-readiness.

In 2024, according to an announcement from College Board on Jan. 25, the SAT will move online in order to stay relevant and to modernize. The material, however, will go through minor changes. The exam—excluding essay section—will be shortened from three hours to two, and the math section will allow

HAYDEN LOHR | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK This photo shows prepatory materials for the SAT exam offered by Collage Board. However, there is increasing evidence to suggest that students with more money can perform better because of SAT prep classes and advanced materials.

VITA TAXES Continued from page 10

VITA volunteer. Initially, Scarborough said they felt VITA would not be “within [their] reach” because it dealt with taxes but decided to attend after the first meeting.

“The leadership made it sound really

calculator use throughout its entirety.

According to College Board data from 2013, SAT scores are highly related to family income, as households earning less than $20,000 a year consistently score lower than households earning $200,000 or more. This is likely due to people with more money investing in the test preparatory system, which had a $2.5 billion market in 2009, according to Nyack News & Views.

In 2021, OSU became one of the colleges and universities that recently stopped requiring SAT exams for admission.

“The research shows that [the SAT] disadvantages students who are already disadvantaged,” said Noah Buckley, the director of Undergraduate Admissions at OSU. “If you are a student of means and your parents have gone to college and those sorts of things—you have access to test prep, you probably come from a more educated family, all those things give you an advantage when you take the test.

If we are using a test score, in part at least, to determine who gets in and who doesn’t, we are immediately going to disadvantage students who don’t do as well on the tests as a whole.”

According to the 2013 College Board data, in addition to the financial bias, Asian and white students score higher than other ethnicities, while Black and Hispanic students have lower scores.

According to Haily Betts, an agricultural major at OSU who did not take the SAT before coming to the university, it is good that OSU has stopped using the test for admissions.

“I think we should get rid of the SAT, it just doesn’t make sense,” Betts said. “We have grades from high school, extracurriculars and so many other ways to decide [college admissions].”

According to The Washington Post, there are concerns about academic dishonesty in an online SAT exam, but College Board said it can offer the SATs online and maintain the integrity of the test.

Although The Washington Post said the new format for the SAT will still take place in test-

ing centers due to concerns over long term broadband access, according to The Guardian, concerns still exist due to youth being more familiar and using tech better than adults.

“I think whoever made this decision to put it online would know that people will cheat,” said Hunter Mckenzie Calvert, an environmental science major at OSU. According to Buckley, it doesn’t matter to OSU how academically honest the SAT is since it is not used in admissions.

“Another thing to remember with OSU is

that historically we have had the capacity to admit any student that we think could be successful here,” Buckley said. “You think about a more highly selective school, they can’t admit all students who qualify, they traditionally have looked for anything they could use to distinguish between students—when all applicants are 4.0s, what do you have? All you have is test scores. But we’ve never really been in that situation where we needed to turn away students who could be successful. So to us the whole test score thing was kind of easy.”

accessible because of all the training,” Scarborough said.

Kara Nagato, a second-year accounting student and returning VITA volunteer who will also be a site coordinator this year, said she is dealing with more administrative work than she did last year.

“I do like helping people, and doing taxes is not as difficult or hair-pulling as everyone makes it out to be,” Nagato said. “Since you don’t need to be a business student or an accounting student, I think it’s a good oppor-

tunity for anyone to learn about taxes.”

According to Holbrook, VITA is approaching its third year at OSU and volunteers aim to prepare at least 300 tax returns, 200 more than last year.

Despite COVID-19, volunteers are meeting with community members in person, but these individuals must fill out a form so volunteers can evaluate if they can do their taxes.

“From a COVID-19 perspective it’s very good,” Holbrook said. “We’re minimizing the amount of contact.”

According to Holbrook, VITA at OSU stands out to the IRS because it has the backing of OSU and the College of Business. VITA volunteers have been given a room for two months for meetings with students and community members, a computer lab and help from information technology professionals at the College of Business.

“These people every year who don’t think they need to file their taxes are missing out on the money,” Holbrook said. “It could be $1,000 or more.”

HAYDEN LOHR | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Jordan Mahr, a third year biology major at OSU, models studying SAT preparatory materials. The SAT exam is considered by many students to be one of the most important tests and factors in regards to college admissions.

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 11

SPORTS

Former KBVR-FM commentator makes his dreams reality

By SAM MISA Sports Contributor

What started as a chance meeting between Josh Worden and his idol ended up helping Worden realize his dreams of being a professional broadcaster could be a reality.

According to Worden, his interest in sports broadcasting began a decade ago in 2012 when he was still in high school. For Worden, he had no idea how to become a broadcaster—all he knew was he wanted to become one.

“It was just sort of a pipe dream because I didn’t know what a sports broadcaster is,” Worden said.

When a charity bid to have breakfast with Mike Parker, a 20-year veteran commentator for Oregon State University, occurred in the summer of 2012, a friend of Worden’s father won the bid. According to Worden, that friend intended to bring along his nephew to the dinner.

“His nephew never made the time or it just never worked out,” Worden said. “When I became interested in sports broadcasting, my dad’s friends suggested, ‘Well, how about you?’”

Not long after, Worden would end up eating with Parker at the restaurant formerly known as Broken Yolk, now known as WiseCracks Cafe in Corvallis, Ore. This was the first time Worden ever met Parker, and according to Worden, he still has a photo with Parker from that day. “[Parker] just said to stick with it and thought that I could be good at it, encouraged me and was very conscientious and kind,” Worden said. “I grew up in Corvallis and I was a Beaver fan as a kid, and to meet the guy I’d heard so many times on the radio was awesome.”

From 2012 to 2022, Worden worked his way from high school to college level broadcasting, building up his experience and portfolio. This included four years working at Orange Media Network while he went to OSU. This year, Worden is closer to accomplishing his dreams than ever before.

While his major in digital communication arts was helpful in learning about media productions, to Worden, the best knowledge he learned was outside of school.

“The most helpful stuff was definitely the experience at the radio station with both [KBVR-FM] and the newspaper with The [Daily] Barometer.”

According to Worden, he thought making it to where he is now would take him much longer. As a matter of fact, he thought he would be in his 30s or even middle aged by the time he would be broadcasting for a Power-Five school.

Power-Five refers to the group of conferences—the Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and Pac-12—that generate the most athletic revenue in the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA].

“My goal in 2012 when I started was to be the next Mike Parker,” Worden said. “But I didn’t really think that was realistic. And it still is a dream. And I have no expectations of doing Oregon State sports long term. It’s not guaranteed to me.”

According to Worden, what he does now for a living isn’t necessarily easy to describe.

“This gig I’m doing right now is just a part time thing with Learfield,” Worden said. “They contract with Oregon State to broadcast the football, men’s basketball and baseball games.”

Learfield is a networking organization that hires people such as Parker and now Worden to commentate on sports. According to Worden,

Learfield reached out to him in August about his current assignment following years of Worden trying to connect with Learfield to let them know he was open to working with them.

“They asked me to do the baseball game, the first quarter of the baseball season while Mike Parker’s still doing men’s basketball. Worden said. That was the first opportunity I’ve ever

The most helpful stuff was definitely the experience at the radio station with both [KBVR-FM] and the newspaper with The [Daily] Barometer.”

- Josh Worden, former KBVRFM announcer and Daily Barometer writer

had to do Oregon State on the network radio broadcasts.”

As a broadcaster, for Worden, the most important thing to focus on is telling the story of what’s happening in the game.

“Sometimes I tell too many stories,” Worden said. “To be fair, it’s usually a three and a half or four-hour broadcast. And so I want to fit in as many stories as I can because there’s a lot of time to fill.”

In terms of what Worden plans to do in his future, he hopes to stay involved with OSU. For him, that means trying to get as many games near Corvallis as he can, as well as getting to broadcast for Oregon State as much as possible as well.

For anyone hoping to become a professional broadcaster, Worden said to make a full hearted attempt for it. However, Worden also said to not make broadcast your whole life.

“You get out what you put in and effort you put in,” Worden said. “The more you’re thinking about it in ways that are real and treating it like it’s a big deal, the more you’re going to receive.”

Worden’s time at Orange Media Network * Fall 2013-Spring 2017: worked at OMN * Sept. 7, 2013: First football game Worden broadcasted: Oregon State vs Hawaii * 62 total broadcasts, mainly for football and men’s basketball *Beat reporter for football, men’s basketball, and softball for four years as Barometer writer 12 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSH WORDEN Former KBVR-FM play-by-play announcer and Barometer writer Josh Worden preparing to call the Oregon State baseball games in Surprise Stadium in Surprize, Ariz. on Feb. 18. While Worden was broadcasting the games, the Oregon State baseball team went 4-0, defeating the University of New Mexico Lobos and the Gonzaga University Bulldogs.

SPORTS

OSU’s spirit squad: Beaver Cheer comes together to raise energy for gamedays

By GEORGINA PAEZ Sports Contributor

For some sports fans, cheerleading is a sport that fans are able to enjoy during brief breaks during any athletic event or during halftime.

But for the cheerleaders themselves, the sport is their heart and soul, their outlet during stressful moments, and the sport that has given them a sense of direction and purpose.

The Oregon State University cheer team practices twice a week, making sure that on game day, they are able to perform well and keep the energy high for Beaver Nation, all while improving their representation in the media.

Being such a close group, the love of the sport could be felt all around by the coaches, assistants and the student athletes themselves.

But all this positivity starts at the head of the team with Cheerleading Coach James Underwood.

When it came to taking on the position as head coach, especially during the pandemic,

LILY MIDDLETON | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Oregon State dancer Sarah Kurd cheers for Oregon State’s Men’s Basketball team when they faced off against the University of California Golden Bears on Feb. 9. Like other OSU athletic programs, the OSU dance team has a schedule of games where they will make appearances.

Underwood knew that there was something he needed to do in order to bring love back to the world of athletics.

“My motto was, ‘Whatever we do, let’s do it really well,’” Underwood said. “So whether we have a small group or a larger group, we want to make sure that every game—we give it our all… You know, for us, [a sporting event] might be our twelth game, right? But for some little girl or boy in the stands, it’s the only game they’ll go to this year. So for them, it’s like the most important Friday night of their year. So for me, the one thing that I talked about as a coach a lot is [that] I really want to make sure that, every time we go out, we feel like we leave 100% out there.”

Underwood also knew that his studentathletes and the sport of cheerleading itself were underrepresented. From a lack of funding, to a lack of attention, to a lack of a webpage on the OSU Athletics website, Underwood has worked to give the cheerleading team the attention they deserve.

“I think we’re really active on social media,” Underwood said. “That seems to be the biggest bang for our buck, we get a lot of our traffic that tends to drive through there.”

Underwood said when he first became coach, one of the questions he asked the cheerleader captains was what they wanted.

“They said they wanted to feel like they’re being recognized more,” Underwood said. “So I made a commitment to bring in photographers. I consider myself a very B-level photographer. I’ve found people would rather have a B-level photo than nothing. You’ll always see me on the sideline, taking pictures. And I think ... what the cheerleaders have really wanted is just the opportunity to be out there and doing what they love. And I always tell them, if we do that, people will notice you, everything else will take care of itself.”

In regards to his leadership goals, Underwood said inclusivity is his main objective for the cheerleading team.

“One of my favorite quotes is from Gandhi, and it’s, ‘There’s room for all of us,’” Underwood said. “And I love it, because I think I’ve always tried to coach that—even though I’m very competitive—I’m always of that mentality that everybody deserves an opportunity to shine. And so one of my messages to the cheerleaders is always, ‘If you work hard and show up on a regular daily basis, I have no choice but as a coach to find an opportunity to showcase you and feature you.’ Sometimes I think what happens is people feel like ‘If someone else’s light is shining, it’s dimming my light.’ I think there’s room for all of us to shine.

As a cheer coach, especially because we’re

LILY MIDDLETON | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Oregon State’s co-ed cheer team works together at their practice to perfect a new skill inside Gill Coliseum on Feb. 17. Like other OSU programs, the OSU cheer team have set practice days where they go over different skills and routines together to perform on gameday.

the spirit squad, I’m easily able to feature one cheerleader maybe during the first half, but I can feature somebody else at a different time.”

This type of mindset has rubbed off on multiple Oregon State cheerleaders, including senior and team captain Taylor Johnson, senior Benjamin Hutkoff and junior Andrew Weaver. “[Cheer] has brought me to figure out all these crazy athletic abilities that I guess I didn’t know I had,” said Weaver. “But it feels like a safe haven. Like if you have a bad day, you may have cheer practice, but you leave it at the door.

You don’t have to worry about anything.”

Johnson said one of the biggest impacts cheerleading had on her is the connections she has made.

“I’ve met so many amazing people through cheer,” Johnson said. “Especially alumni, we’re really close with our alumni... And I literally love everybody in Beaver Cheer. And you can always connect with people.”

Hutkoff said there is a lot that goes into the sport of cheerleading that Beaver Nation may not know about.

“Cheerleading itself is a very dangerous sport,” Hutkoff said. “We have a lot of injuries that we have to avoid and when an injury does happen, it’s heartbreaking because everyone is so needed on this team, and when we have someone gone it’s hard to replace them.”

Johnson said she feels cheerleaders often

get a bad reputation for thinking they’re better than other people.

“But it’s not that way at all,” Johnson said.

“We just want everyone to feel included and want to be here and support our teams and stuff. And no matter how good or bad our teams are doing, we all just love what we do.

Even if we are down 20 points, all of us just like to be here.”

“I think... what the cheerleaders have really wanted is just the opportunity to be out there and doing what they love... and I always tell them, if we do that people will notice you, like, everything will take care of itself. ” - James Underwood, OSU Cheer Coach

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 13

SPORTS

Athletes explore their options with NIL

By RYAN HARLAN Sports Contributor Oregon State University is one of the universities that has revolutionized the Name, Image and Likeness landscape for student-athletes.

Before NIL laws were passed by the NCAA in 2021, Oregon State already had programs to help student-athletes succeed after graduation. Now, OSU‘s Athletics Department has been helping student-athletes such as wrestlers Devan Turner and Gary Traub take advantage of new NIL rules.

These rules have now allowed for college athletes at every level across the country to monetize their name, image and likeness when they previously weren’t allowed to under NCAA rules.

This is important because the NCAA has long prohibited athletes from accepting any outside money from any third party. If they violated those rules, they could have been suspended or lost eligibility.

One of the programs created by Oregon State is expOSUre, which is an educational program and tool kit designed to help all 475 studentathletes across the 17 athletics programs maximize their name, image and likeness.

The Oregon State Athletics Department partnered with the College of Business and Opendorse, which is a software that allows student-athletes to grow their own personal brands. This allows athletes access to resources such as industry-expert training, educational resources and personal brand assessment to prepare them for NIL in college.

KAYLA JONES | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Devan Turner wearing his “Sweet DT” t-shirt outside of Gill Coliseum which he sells on the Just Heart Apparell website as well as Storenvy.com. Turner has been involved with a variety of t-shirt designs and works with his own personal fashion brand called, “WestWest.”

Devan Turner, a sixth-year wrestler on the Oregon State wrestling team, was satisfied with the rule change.

“I think we always should have been able to use our name and stuff to get endorsements,” Turner said. “If an energy drink company reaches out to me, I always should have been able to be like, yeah, I’ll use my name to help promote this… I think they should have been doing that, it is unfortunate that we could not do that before.”

Turner did have his own clothing brand back in eighth grade, but had to stop sales when he came to Oregon State, which hurt business opportunities for him.

“I had to put everything on complete hold and lost, you know?” Turner said. “You lose customers, you lose connections with the people you were using, and the brand really was just stagnant, so I couldn’t do anything with it.”

Under the new rules, Turner signed with an agent and has partnered with different brands, earning sponsorships from supplement companies and has even released his own shirt, which he released in collaboration with Just Heart Apparel. After the design process, Turner ended up deciding on a graphic tee design that played off his nickname, “Sweet DT.” “If I was to make my own design right now, I would still make it like that graphic tee, I would have the sweet DT, big,” Turner said. “I would have something like 50% sugar, 50% faith and I would have a tea on it, a sweet tea. I would’ve tried to make a more comedic, humorous type, playing off Sweet DT.” Turner isn’t the only other wrestler on the Oregon State Wrestling Team that has his own NIL deals and t-shirt. Turner’s teammate, Gary Traub, is a graduate student wrestler and also has his own shirt with his image on it. Traub transferred to Oregon State after four years at Ohio State University.

“It was kind of weird,” Traub said. “When I found out about it, I was kind of in limbo.

I was in the [transfer] portal already and I wasn’t going to meetings at Ohio State with the wrestling team. I heard rumors that NIL stuff was coming through, I was like, ‘Oh that’s not going to happen this year or when I’m here.’”

Traub mentioned that it wasn’t until he transferred to Oregon State that he learned about the recent passage of updated NIL rules that would allow him to make money off the new rules.

Traub partnered with Barbarian Apparel to design a couple of t-shirts, one of them playing off his nickname “Gas Tank Gary” from his time at Ohio State. Traub had a personal connection with the owner of Barbarian Apparel and reached out to the owner once the NIL deals were passed by the NCAA. “I feel like having a relationship with the

14 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

KAYLA JONES | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Gary Traub poses in his “Gas Tank Gary” t-shirt outside of Gill Coliseum which he has sold online at barbarianapparel.com since Aug. 2021. Traub has two designs of his signature shirt with the one pictured above, as well as a design with “Gas Tank Gary” written across the front of the shirt.

guy before he designed the t-shirt made it really easy for me to give my input,” Traub said. “The first design he showed me, I loved it—the first one, the one of the caricature of me in my wrestling stance. I think it was in the first design they were red, I had to tell him you got to change it to orange now. The other one that says ‘Gas Tank Gary,’ it was originally just the letters, big letters, and it was his idea to change the A’s to little gas cans.”

Traub said OSU’s resources have been beneficial as he has been to examine and understand the NIL contracts that businesses offer him.

“The app makes it really simple,” Traub said. “It lays out a prompt for you: this is what they want from you, this is how you’re going to get paid. You can negotiate or take it as is and terms for each endorsement, it’s a good substitute for people that need that.”

The long-term impacts of NIL in college athletics remain to be seen as there are not a lot of rules that regulate how the money is distributed, once earned by the athlete. The amount of money earned by athletes using NIL is not always equal as more popular college sports may lead to more money in contracts than sports that do not bring in as much revenue.

Turner acknowledged the discrepancies in how NIL revenue can be distributed by sports and popularity.

“Majorly it’s going to be football players, basketball players and maybe some baseball players, but it’s the sports that most people watch and it’s going to be the big names,” Turner said. “The reason it hurts non-revenue [generating] sports like wrestling, baseball

and swimming, all those sports—it hurts us because now, instead of donors donating straight to the athletic department at Oregon State, they’ll donate strictly to one of the star players on the football team.”

However, even with these uncertainties, NIL will impact and change the college athletics landscape for years to come. Many athletes such as Devin Turner and Gary have found it exciting that fans, friends, and family members have been able to buy their merchandise under these rules.

“I know my dad was really excited about it, when it started, he ordered 15 shirts. giving them out family,” Traub said. “It’s been cool seeing pictures of people wearing them.”

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CITY SISTER CITIES Continued from page 1

During a CSCA Zoom meeting on Feb. 19, residents of Uzhhorod offered their perspective on the situation. Over 70 people attended the meeting.

Pavlo Bilak, who served as interpreter and coordinator for the 2015 United Nations University delegation to Corvallis, called in from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city. He said the Russian army had amassed along the Ukrainian and Belarusian borders in order to put pressure on Ukraine as a country.

“For us Ukrainians, this is not new,” Bilak said. “We have been living more or less in this situation [since] 2014.”

Russia’s invasion is predicted to have a huge impact on democracy and diplomacy, and the situation has become globally relevant thanks to the recent escalations, Bilak said.

“The scale of [the situation], the hype around this invasion, is something new,” Bilak said.

Following Russia’s attacks on Kyiv, Bilak has evacuated to Uzhhorod with his family.

Andriy Kurasov, another CSCA member, said in his opinion, Putin doesn’t believe Ukraine can or should be different from them.

He said Russia wants many things from the U.S. and has tried to use Ukraine as a bargaining chip of sorts.

Kurasov compared Russia and Ukraine to a bear and a mouse, saying that things would inevitably get “bloody” if all-out war took place. He said there is “no excuse” for Russia’s invasion of any country and brought up the Budapest Memorandum.

The memorandum was signed in 1994 by the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. The memorandum provided assurances against use of force or threats made to Ukraine; in response, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan gave up their nuclear weapons.

Russia’s 2014 initiation of violence against Ukraine violated the terms of the memorandum, and their declaration of war has destroyed what semblance of peace remained between the two countries.

Since the war began, Vasyl Chubar, Uzhhorod resident and TOUCH director, has provided further updates via the TOUCH newsletters. Some of these updates have been summarized in The Daily Barometer articles.

Vlodymyr Dankiv, another Uzhhorod resident, said Ukraine has two main enemies: corruption within Ukraine and Putin. Dankiv said Ukraine’s failure to maintain and develop their army and economy has been an issue as well.

Anastasiya Cherkis, Uzhhorod resident and one-time CSCA exchange student, said the situation is extremely stressful for kids and teenagers in Ukraine, but Uzhhorod has a psychologist helping them at a local level.

“I’m just a mom, just a woman who is living with this, all these times,” Cherkis said.

ZEVA ROSENBAUM | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK The Corvallis Sister Cities Association sign showing the distance from Corvallis, Ore. to Uzhhorod, Ukraine and Gondar, Ethiopia, respectively. The sign sits below the Ukrainian and Ethiopian flags in Central Park in Corvallis.

It’s important to remember that it isn’t the Russian people who want to invade, and that Russian people are being told Ukraine wants to invade Russia, Cherkis said.

“I know that my kids are asking, ‘Mom, what is going on? What are the Russians doing?’”

Cherkis said. “Because every time they hear about the Russians, they are threatened.”

Marika Radetski, Uzhhorod resident, English teacher and former Uzhhorod CSCA president said she may not be panicking, but she is scared of what may happen despite the good news. She said it’s difficult to survive in situations like this. Despite everything, however, she said she is an optimist.

Despite the state of the war and COVID-19, there are many opportunities for Corvallis residents and OSU students to get involved with the CSCA and help the sister city.

Bilak said the U.S. has a lot of influence over the outcome with Russia and one way to help is by writing to U.S. congresspeople and asking them to show their support for Ukraine.

On Feb. 24, the Corvallis City Council approved a resolution to support Ukraine and Uzhhorod, and on Feb. 26 and March 5, Corvallis residents gathered outside the Benton County Courthouse in support of Ukraine.

The CSCA is working to set up a GoFundMe to assist Uzhhorod, and many other people and organizations have come together across the country to support Ukraine as a whole.

The International Rescue Committee is tak-

ing donations, as is Razom, GlobalGiving and Doctors Without Borders. All of these organizations are working to provide emergency supplies including food, water and medical care to the people of Ukraine.

As for involvement beyond the RussianUkrainian war, the CSCA is open to helping facilitate OSU students, faculty and others who want to connect with Uzhhorod, according to Rampton. Rampton said there are university connections available in fields from medicine and dental school to agriculture, business and more.

“It would be great for us to have an influx of new ideas, how to connect on the student body level,” Kokenyesi said. “We would welcome ideas, opportunities and participation.”

The TOUCH project, as part of the CSCA, works with children in Uzhhorod via five programs intended to sponsor and meet the specific needs of Ukrainian children in terms of education, disability support and more.

They always value and appreciate sponsors and donors.

Bober said he would love to set up an event to watch and discuss American movies with OSU and UNU students, as well as other virtual activities.

Rampton said UNU’s Professor Ludmilla Symochka, who holds doctorates in biology and microbiology, would love to collaborate with someone at OSU on work related to biology, ecology, climate change or any other relevant field.

ZEVA ROSENBAUM | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Corvallis Sister Cities Association President and Oregon State University faculty member Robert Kokenyesi in front of The Valley Library on the OSU Corvallis, Ore. campus. Kokenyesi was born and raised in one of Corvallis’ sister cities, Uzhhorod, Ukraine.

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 15

CITY

MADISON STINES | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK The Corvallis Chamber of Commerce building in Corvallis, Ore on Feb. 14. The Corvallis Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 74th annual Celebrate Corvallis event to commemorate local businesses under the theme “Maskerade.”

Corvallis Chamber of Commerce to host 74th annual Celebrate Corvallis event Event returns after COVID-19 hiatus with theme “Maskerade”

By KATTERLEA MACGREGOR News Contributor The Corvallis Chamber of Commerce will hold its 74th annual Celebrate Corvallis event on March 18 to honor local businesses and community members at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center on the Oregon State University Corvallis, Ore. campus.

At the event, accolades are presented to local businesses and community members by the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce.

Each recipient will receive a “fancy trophy,” according to Simon Date, president of

the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, and time to give a speech. There will also be time during the event to reflect on obituaries. In total, the event is planned to be about two hours long.

Voting will open in the next few weeks as the event gets closer and be available via the Chamber’s website.

Tables at the event were previously sold to raise funds for the Chamber. These funds will be reinvested into Corvallis to support local businesses and other philanthropic endeavors.

“For us, it’s a big deal because it’s going to be the first big event for the community,”

16 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

Date said. “It’ll kind of be like the first dog shot into outer space; we’ll see how it goes.

Everybody’s excited about it.”

Last year’s 2021 event was canceled b e c a u s e o f COV I D - 1 9 . T h i s ye a r ’s event embraces t he pa nde m ic with a “Maskerade” theme.

“It’ll look like a normal event, just with less people,” Date said.

Accolades include Small, Medium and Large Business of the Year as well as First, Junior First and Senior First Citizen of the Year. There are also categories for Business Person of the Year, Patron of the Arts, Sustainable Business of the Year,

Entrepreneur of the Year, Nonprofit of the Year and People’s Choice.

Nominations opened about three months prior to the event. The local community was invited to nominate businesses for each of the selected categories. Nominations are then sifted through by the Chamber to assure each nominee fits the requirements. Five nominees are selected for each category, besides Nonprofit of the Year and CELEBRATE CORVALLIS Continued on page 17

CITY CELEBRATE CORVALLIS Continued from page 16

People’s Choice, which have 10.

Nominations are left anonymously. For some business owners, like Adrienne Fritze, being nominated can be a surprise. Fritze is the co-owner of Conundrum House, which consists of a library of mystery books, a game room and a gallery that showcases both Fritze and co-owner Mark van der Pol’s artwork. Fritze is also co-founder of Remarkable Arts, a place where Frtize and van der Pol share their passion for using technology and art to transform the human experience. Conundrum House is nominated for Small Business of the Year, and Fritze is nominated for Patron of the Arts.

“Just being nominated is such an honor,” Fritze said. “I didn’t realize anybody knew what I was doing.”

Each category will be reviewed by a different selection panel. Altogether, there are 47 people involved in deciding the recipients of these awards.

Receiving these accolades could also help businesses and nonprofits gain more awareness from the public.

“It would open people’s eyes to exactly what we do,” said Michelle Robinson, executive director at Furniture Share, which is nominated for Nonprofit of the Year. “It

would just get our name out there… It will also open the doors to new grants… Open the door to be able to serve more families in need.”

Furniture Share is a local nonprofit that redistributes donated furniture, runs a Beds for Kids Program and provides food boxes. They also provided rapid response to intense fire damage during the

“Just being nominated is such an honor. I didn’t realize anybody knew what I was doing.”

- Adrienne Fritze, co-owner of Conundrum House, cofounder of Remarkable Arts.

summer of 2021.

Gaining local awareness from receiving these awards could be the next big break in some businesses’ entrepreneurial success.

“Then we can start to hire people, get some jobs going in this world around here related to playing games, creativity, writing, design,” Fritze said. “We could contribute more than we do now.”

CELEBRATE CORVALLIS NOMINATIONS SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

MEDIUM BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

JUNIOR FIRST CITIZEN

High Quality Gillott Home Team Papa’s Pizza Corvallis Custom

Rev. Jennifer Butler Ashlee Chavez Kierra Woekel Jamie Ely Jason Dorsette

LARGE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

FIRST CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR

SENIOR FIRST CITIZEN

Queen B Organizing Terra’s Tastee Treats 10D Tech Hendrick & Kellison CPA Running Princess Athletic Conundrum House

Henderer Design + Build NuScale Block 15 2 Towns Cider House Central Willamette Credit Union Citizen’s Bank

Bre Miller - Corvallis Knights Michele Dobson - Gillott Home Team Michelle Goodrick - Lift Marketing Kourtni Rader - Seoul Sisters Boutique Dane Happeny - Healing Motion PT Kate Porsche - City of Corvallis

PATRON OF THE ARTS

Irene Zenev - Benton County Historical Society Jennifer Moreland - The Corvallis Mural Project Jen Hernandez - Jen Hernandez Art Adrienne Fritze - Remarkable Arts

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR G. Christianson Construction Raw Hair Society Furniture Share Soft Star Shoes Dev Northwest MADISON STINES | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK OSU student Maria Moreno enjoying local businesses in downtown Corvallis, Ore. on Feb. 14.

Local businesses are being recognized during the Celebrate Corvallis event on March 18, which can help bring awareness from the public about these businesses.

Diego Irwin & Kathleen Marie Zia Burrito Marti Strapans Barlow – Hospitality Vision Andrew Grenville – Inpria Group Marty Fulford – Town & Country Realty

Lorena Reynolds Chris Quaka Michele Colomb Melissa Carter-Goodrum Rebecca Yu Inge King Kate Caldwell Ilene Kleinsorge Carol Mason Hal Pritchett

NON-PROFIT OF THE YEAR

Chintimini Wildlife Center The Arc of Benton County Pathfinder Clubhouse Jackson Street Youth Services Corvallis Sewing Brigade Heartland Humane Society CARDV Unity Shelter Grace Center for Adult Day Services Corvallis Public Schools Foundation

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

Healing Motion Physical Therapy Common Fields High Quality Seoul Sisters Valley Rock Gym Central Willamette Credit Union Squirrels Corvallis Knights Baseball Haugen’s Galleri Running Princess Athletic

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 17

CITY

Corvallis businesses evolve to persist through COVID-19, available funding

By HAYDEN LOHR News Reporter

The outlook for Corvallis, Ore. small businesses continues to change with alterations in COVID-19 restrictions, weather and available funding.

The COVID-19 pandemic has passed the two-year mark. As of March 7, over [updated number] million people have died worldwide due to COVID-19. However, with mask mandates lifting around the United States and case rates declining, to some people, it seems the end is in sight.

Coupled with the warmer months approaching, Corvallis businesses are hoping for a return to normal. While there has been relief for some businesses, others have continued to struggle, according to William McCanless, the owner of Interzone Cafe.

“I really think I’ll make it just fine, I just gotta make sure I don’t bankrupt myself before things get back to normal,” McCanless said.

“Two out of three restaurants in this town did not get that Restaurant Revitalization Fund…

They underfunded it and they overgave—they were going to offer me four times the amount that I needed… The funds just went dry.”

The RRF was established through the American Rescue Plan Act to help restaurants and other eligible businesses stay open by providing “funding equal to their pandemicrelated revenue.” McCanless said he is living on loans rather than grants right now.

“I’ll be fine, I can dig deep, I can borrow again, but I don’t want to,” McCanless said.

“I’ve been doing this long enough that I don’t

think I’m going out of business, but going out of business is all relative. I have a stake into this even more than most businesses in that I’m halfway through buying this building… I have enough ego that I don’t want to go under.”

According to McCanless, Interzone is down 5-10% in revenue from the last Oregon State University school quarter, and that quarter, fall term, was down 25% from pre-COVID-19.

“I’m operating within my budget,” said McCanless. “In the past, my mornings paid for my nights. But if my mornings are barely paying for the days, like right now… I keep thinking that the finish line is here.”

Some businesses were able to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions in different ways, with the ability to move services online.

“I had moved to all lessons using Zoom when this hit, when we were doing lockdown,” said Daniel L. Lowery, owner and chief instructor of Corvallis Martial Arts. “I held onto as many folks as I could up until some people dropped off. A lot more of the children, as opposed to adults, and a lot more people that just got started, as opposed to people that were already invested and several belts in. After the lockdown, where they allowed in person but distanced out [interactions], I was having small classes in person, and once the weather broke last summer, we moved outside. As any variant would hit or miss, it has always been distancing, masks on—all of the above.”

According to Lowery, he qualified for a disaster loan for damages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He took out the amount that was forgivable, rather than the whole amount, to stay debt-free. Lowery said he was fortunate enough to not have needed to take out any other loans.

Last month, the Oregon House Democrats passed House Bill 4015, which will expand the state’s Entrepreneurial Development Loan Fund. This could raise the amount of money that small businesses with 25 employees or less can receive in grants from $100,000 to $1 million per year if fully passed.

The biggest help throughout the pandemic, according to Lowery, has been his students.

Students would pay several months ahead of time, and because he was one of the few businesses operating in-person, he was able to get a fair amount of business, rather than businesses like restaurants that were more restricted on space.

“A lot of people ask a lot of different things like, how did you survive?” Lowery said. “I think that is an attitude of wanting to succeed and not giving up… I have never ever let politics enter my business, religion and sports as well... I adopted that attitude with this pandemic. I knew how people felt, but I always tried to keep this location as a neutral location, to focus on martial arts.”

HAYDEN LOHR | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK A sign to wear masks outside of a barber shop in downtown Corvallis, Ore. on Feb. 14. Small businesses are trying to constantly adapt to alterations in COVID-19 restrictions.

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For better or worse, most students cheat in remote-learning education Hayden Lohr F*ck it, real talk

M

any students have admitted to cheating in small ways for their classes, but this lowstakes level of cheating is normal, especially in remote-learning classes.

Remote learning started as just another Zoom class. Students needed the credits, but their classes didn’t help with their degrees, or they were stuck in a class that everyone is required to take, like HHS 231 or COMM. Either way, most students cheated. Not a lot, and not in a way they deemed unnecessary, but nonetheless, most students have been academically dishonest.

Maybe this is because it is easier to cheat in an online class. Really easy. Like, ridiculously, stupidly easy. Maybe it’s because everyone’s mental health plummeted when we were unable to see our friends, go out or travel for over a year. Or maybe it’s because many of us lost loved ones to a pandemic.

I would argue all of these reasons contributed to breaking the norm of academic dishonesty, and when historical norms are broken, they often don’t return.

Not only is it reasonably difficult to cheat in an in-person course, the consequences are also far more apparent. You are face-to-face with instructors and students in a quiet room, where a pin dropping is a deafening cacophony.

There is no statistical evidence to back up that cheating is more prevalent in Ecampus versus in-person courses, but Zoom cours-

SHANE LYNETTE | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Emma Mateo, Makenna Jones and Clara Barnes in Austin Hall on the Oregon State University Corvallis, Ore. campus. Austin Hall houses the College of Business and includes various study spots for students.

es—or remote learning—have been found to feature more cheating than in-person classes.

Ecampus has been playing this game for a while, and it’s clear they have a pretty good lock on it.

“We encourage faculty to not to design classes with one or two high stakes assessments, but rather a lot of lower point assignments,” said Shannon Riggs, executive director of academic programs and learning innovation for Oregon State University’s Ecampus program.

“If a course has students writing a paper, then the way to approach that would be to have that paper done in stages where there are multiple drafts… Just having to go through that process and show your work along the way can prevent academic dishonesty and it’s just good practice, too, because it’s better learning.”

Considering that OSU’s Ecampus program was recently found to be one of the best in the country, I think it is safe to say that, as far as our education system goes, Ecampus is doing alright. This is likely because Ecampus has had many years to slowly figure out online learning, rather than being rushed into it like most professors were for remote learning.

The big problem here is most professors just took their original, in-person course plans, made a few minor modifications and then threw them online. We were expected to act like students in a classroom while laying in our beds. And because of this, cheating increased—a lot.

When professors put an exam online that is worth 50% of a student’s grade and tell them they aren’t allowed to use the internet, those students won’t listen.

I would argue cheating isn’t as simple as a “No, cheating is bad.” It depends on the class, the material, the test and often mental health.

I would also argue that a pandemic that has killed 5.9 million people worldwide so far, not including the mental health effects of isolation, is a pretty massive event, and students deserve perhaps a little slack.

“I think I’ve caught four students cheating on finals,” said Stephen Redfield, senior instructor I of electrical engineering and computer science at OSU. “Catching someone cheating on a final exam, especially remote, that’s tough… If students are taking an unproctored final exam online, how are you going to catch that in the first place? The student would have to be really foolish about how they are cheating to be caught in those circumstances.”

My argument is, like it or not, students cheat. Students cheat now more than ever, and nearly everyone does it because the temptation to cheat, regardless of consequences, is extremely high.

SHANE LYNETTE | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Clara Barnes works on her laptop in Austin Hall on the Oregon State University Corvallis, Ore. campus.

Stephen Redfield, senior instructor of electrical engineering and computer science at OSU, said it can be difficult to monitor unproctored exams that take place online.

“Ideally you write an exam that does a good job assessing the things you want it to assess,” Redfield said. “Then you must construct the exam in such a way that it is difficult to cheat on, then you have to eliminate any confusing things, present the information in an organized method so students understand what the heck you’re talking about, and then you have to grade the exam.”

It takes a lot of time for instructors to make exams that are difficult to cheat on, but that’s the only real way to stop cheating. But not all cheating is created equal.

“How bad cheating is would depend on what degree of cheating,” said an anonymous student at OSU. “Chegg is a site most have been on to view an answer… I need to know how to do it for the exam so I will learn how to do it by following Chegg. Is it academic dishonesty?

Yes. But I view it as more of a resource.”

The vast majority of students interviewed had only cheated on classes not particularly useful for their major, albeit by their own definitions. Most of that cheating was not largescale, but small-scale cheating on homework.

The large events were under no circumstances on classes important to a student’s major.

According to Redfield, he encourages stu-

dents to come to professors for help before resorting to cheating.

“It sucks to catch people cheating, it really sucks,” Redfield said. “A lot of our teachers here at OSU really care about students. If you approach a teacher and say you are really struggling with this… Say you need help, just try.”

Students don’t want to cheat, but feel pressured to, and the fact is that most students do, to some degree, cheat. Instead, we need to address the causes. Discipline is not the answer.

We need to evaluate our education system and ask the hard questions, why do students cheat? And how can we help students? I would argue we need a two-faced approach.

Professors need more time to design better tests and classes or, better yet, to remove final exams entirely.

New research suggests that finals don’t evaluate student performance, instead they lead to unnecessary stress for answers that students forget after exams. To fix our education system, we need to design better classes. Students want to learn, but often, there is too much pressure placed on them to do so.

Until next time, safe travels.

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 19

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Masks are easier donned than duffed LARA RIVERA Here’s the Tea

“

It will take a lot for me to stop wearing a mask,” said third-year Oregon State University student Sydney B., who did not want her last name used for privacy reasons.

Oregon’s mask mandate is set to expire on March 12.

April Holland, public health director of Benton County Health Department, said the county is looking at data to support the lifting of the mask mandate, including hospitalization rates, overall vaccine rate, availability of therapeutics, community transmission, vaccination eligibility for six-month infants to four-yearold children and equity.

What is perplexing is that we know that masking works to reduce transmission and lifting a mandate that works sends us very mixed messages! Why are we lifting a mandate that works when we had an average of 1,024 hospitalized cases from COVID-19 as recently as Feb. 17?

Benton County is almost at the 80% mark of fully-vaccinated residents at 75% as of Feb. 28.

One of the considerations for removing masking is the availability of therapeutics in our local hospitals. According to Holland, we have monoclonal antibody treatments and newer antiviral therapies available, but these are limited… We are only comforted by the fact that the supply is expected to increase by the time the mask mandate is lifted.

If there is a new variant that spreads and is more severe once the mask mandate is lifted, “state and local health officials will review the impact on communities and consider options for targeted masking requirements,” Holland said.

We have been in this pandemic for two years.

It has cost 5.98 million lives all over the world, and 955,290 deaths in the United States. Why are we willing to lose more lives to indulge in a short-term sense of “normalcy”?

Community transmission appears to fluctuate. According to the Feb. 15 Benton County Board of Commisioners meeting, the week of Feb. 6, Benton County had gone down 37% in positive case rates relative to the previous week, and over 50% relative to the two week period before that. Relative to the rest of the state,

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Benton County had a testing positivity rate of 11.5%. Out of the 36 counties in Oregon, there were only five other counties that had a testing positivity rate higher than ours.

For reference, the moderate community transmission category is within 50 to 99 cases per 100,000 people.

On March 1, OSU sent an email informing students that they would follow Oregon Health Authority guidance and lift masking requirements beginning March 12.

“I know there are people who still do not have the vaccine, and will still refuse to get the vaccine,” Sydney B. said. “And there are also a portion of people who cannot get the vaccine. I think more of the people who can’t get a vaccine—that if we all stopped wearing masks how that will affect that population.”

I remember the last time we lifted the mask mandate during the summer of 2021, believing we were on our way out. It was short lived and honestly not worth the confusion. This looks to me like we are repeating previous mistakes, especially when cases and hospitalization rates are higher.

This feels like an act of treachery from Oregon authorities who are just giving up on equity for those of us who are considered

vulnerable. I’m not buying the “shift-outcrisis-mode” path they are following, as it undermines all the public health efforts we have been asked to do for the past two years.

Those who cannot shift out of crisis due to underlying diseases in the community may not have the resources to do so.

“Masking is an important layer of protection, and community-wide indoor masking is an effective way to reduce transmission in a surge,” Holland said.

I’m not impressed at our lack of preparation leading up to the expiration date of the mask mandate, and lack of evidence to back up the mask mandate lift.

ASHTON BISNER | ORANGE MEDIA NETWORK Hannah Weiderman making a beverage for a customer on Feb. 14 at The Dam in the Learning Innovation Center. The mask mandate is set to be lifted at Oregon State University on March 12.

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Frog World: Stewart the Intern

BY ALEX KOETJE

Swissmiss: Busy Beaver

BY HAILEY TOEDTLI

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 21

FORUM Gumbo: Ready

BY JACOB RAMIREZ

YAYS & NAYS The Barometer lists OSU’s favorite and least favorite things this month.

YAYS •

Yay to spring break.

•

Yay to Women’s History Month.

Ham Creek: Quark

BY HELEN WHITE

•

Yay to Pisces season.

•

Yay to campus in bloom.

•

Yay to St. Patrick’s Day.

•

Yay to March Madness.

•

Yay to the end of winter term.

•

Yay to Pi Day.

NAYS

Lost in a Warehouse: Round and Round

BY ALICIA ROBERSON

•

Nay to rain.

•

Nay to spring allergies.

•

Nay to finals week.

•

Nay to not being able to get an appointment with your advisor.

•

Nay to starting to stress about looming graduation.

•

Nay to freezing temperatures.

22 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022

PUZZLES

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HOROSCOPE M ONDAY M ARCH 7 TH , 2 0 2 2 Aries (March 21– April 19)

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22)

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19)

Today is a 9 — Lucrative possibilities arise in conversation. Develop practical inroads.

Strengthen basic structures.

An epiphany awakens you to what’s most important.

Invest in your own success.

Today is an 8 — Connect with your team to resolve a challenge. Gather support for your project. Patience and humor help with misunderstandings. Pull together for an unexpected

Today is an 8 — Handle

Today is an 8 — Clean messes.

administrative tasks with

Envision positive outcomes.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22) Today is a 7 — Abandon a professional preconception.

Patiently unravel a tangled mess. Clarify communications. Edit and refine. Respectfully repeat until you get through.

Emphasize the mission and

Today is a 9 — Imagine bagging the prize. Provide leadership, initiative and energy. Take advantage of a lucky break. Simplify and reinforce basic elements.

Smile for the cameras.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

Today is a 7 — Schedule for peaceful productivity in private. Slow to reconsider plans, strategies and options.

Strengthen foundations. Aim for practical priorities and possibilities. Listen to intuition.

opportunity.

shared accounts. Manage accounting, banking and finance, legal or insurance matters. Plug any leaks.

Strengthen communication around a challenge.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) Today is an 8 — The patience and empathy that you share with your partner saves time and avoids upsets, overall. Grab a spontaneous opportunity

Romantic ideals can fade.

Notice hidden silver linings.

Patiently listen and support beloved people. Love is good medicine.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18)

Today is an 8 — Take care of domestic matters. Stick to comfortable favorites.

Make home upgrades and improvements. Grab an exceptional bargain. Pamper

to advance a collaborative

your family and self.

vision.

project.

Pisces (Feb. 19– March. 20)

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22)

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21)

Today is a 7 — If creativity

Today is an 8 — Review routes before embarking.

Have backup plans.

Research to avoid traffic, risk or delay. Old assumptions get challenged. Use your own good sense.something delicious.

Today is a 9 — Prioritize health

seems blocked or distracted,

and wellness. Slow around

focus on solving obvious

obstacles or limitations.

practical problems.

Strengthen and build support.

Reinforce basic structures.

Listen to experts, doctors and

Take spontaneous action

coaches. Nurture your body.

to advance a dreamy

for the expansion of the Baro:

#fundbarolegacy

participating in College Media Madness Fundraiser March 13 - April 5

find more information at:

possibility.

CROSSWORD

S U D O K U LEVEL 1 2 3 4

Across 1 Has a balance due 1 Book of maps 6 Pots’ cookware partners 10 Read, as a bar code 14 Not dry, as a cake 15 Rectangle calculation 16 “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie 17 Word with bear or vortex 18 Put in order 19 Single __ whisky 20 *”Come to your senses!”

23 So-so grade 24 Chicago Bulls’ org.

25 Stallone’s boxer 27 Cellphone bill statistic 30 __ Artois: Belgian beer 32 Dadaist collection 33 Hourly charge, e.g.

35 Mustard named for a French city 38 Pitcher’s goof

39 Hunting dog’s pickup 41 Response to “Marco!” in a pool game 42 “Ghostbusters” goo 44 Raggedy doll 45 Rubber-stamped 46 Popular Campbell’s soup 48 Window sections 50 “You’ve got to be kidding” 51 Ruby or emerald 52 Airport safety org.

53 Kit Kat bar slogan ... and hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues 60 Corrosive stuff 62 Small-town parade street 63 “__ no choice” 64 Farm building 65 Voting against 66 Spooky 67 Bear in two constellation names 68 Dieter’s beer choice

69 Stuffy-sounding Down 1 Concert blasters 2 Bart Simpson, e.g.

3 Country singer McCann 4 “I need it now!” letters 5 Stiff, as a drink 6 Ziti, for example 7 Suffix with buck 8 Spongy ball brand 9 Stephen Colbert device 10 “Cheers” bartender 11 *Do some stand-up 12 Bowling venue 13 Musical scale part 21 Taxi alternatives 22 Let the cat out of the bag, so to speak 26 Pre-tied tie, e.g.

27 Eurasian range 28 *Debate tiny details 29 Dad’s punting words

30 Shorthand ace 31 Work the bar 32 Core muscles 34 “Never try to outstubborn __”: Heinlein 36 World Cup cheers 37 Wordless consent 40 Ultracompetitive personality 43 Online periodical 47 Zoo inhabitant 49 Sleep aid brand 50 Hollywood award 51 Fabled lamp occupant 52 “Forbidden” perfume 54 __-pedi 55 Catcher’s glove 56 Actress Seehorn 57 Corn units 58 Reebok rival 59 Boat backbone 61 Forensic evidence

MARCH 7, 2022 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 23

24 • DAILYBAROMETER.COM • MARCH 7, 2022