10-2-23 Emerald Media Group - ODE

NEWSROOM

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Evan Reynolds

PRINT MANAGING EDITOR

Emma J Nelson

DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR

Romie Avivi Stuhl

NEWS EDITOR Tristin Hoffman

A&C EDITOR

Evan Huntington

SPORTS EDITORS

Nina-Grace Montes

Brady Ruth

OPINION EDITOR

Sophia Cossette

PHOTO EDITORS

Molly McPherson

Jonathan Suni

DESIGN EDITOR

Liz Blodgett

COPY CHIEF

Olivia Ellerbruch

SENIOR COPY EDITOR

Alex Woodward

VIDEO EDITOR

Anne Marie Armstrong

PODCAST EDITOR

Mirandah Davis-Powell

SOCIALS EDITOR

Alicia Santiago

VISUALS EDITOR

Stella Fetherston

BUSINESS

PUBLISHER & PRESIDENT

Bill Kunerth X317 bkunerth@dailyemerald.com

VP OPERATIONS

Kathy Carbone X302 kcarbone@dailyemerald.com

DIRECTOR OF SALES & DIGITAL MARKETING

Shelly Rondestvedt X303 srondestvedt@dailyemerald.com

CREATIVE & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Anna Smith X327 creative@dailyemerald.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Lola Tagwerker

Cori Caplinger

Cooper Gast

Taylor Baumgardner

ON THE COVER

Teammates Anna Emperador (3) and Alice Barbieri (23) celebrate the first Ducks goal scored at home for the 2023 season on Sept. 28, 2023. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

We’re launching an investigative team

The Daily Emerald is launching an investigative team for the 2023-24 academic year.

It’s an eventful and exciting time for student media. College media organizations have been at the forefront of some of the biggest breaking news stories in recent months – whether it’s the Stanford Daily’s coverage of scientific misconduct by their university’s president, the Daily Northwestern’s exposition of hazing rituals in university athletics programs or the Daily Tar Heel’s gripping and heart-rending coverage of the Aug. 30 UNC shooting.

Last week, our team broke the story that UO is being sued for alleged Title IX violations in women’s sports. It’s the first article our investigative team has published – but it’s far from the last.

Moments like these are both humbling and inspiring. At the Daily Emerald, our mission is to produce quality, student-driven journalism that serves the UO community. We see journalism as an essential public service and a necessary check on powerful institutions. But it can’t be done well without regular engagement with the audiences we serve and the issues they face.

Thus, we are expanding our news coverage to include long-form, investigative stories – regularly updated with new information and context – that can’t adequately be addressed in the scope of one or two smaller articles. Every story we look into will align with two central questions our team asks itself: who does this story serve? And why does it matter?

The Emerald’s unofficial mantra, driven by our push for independence from the university over 50 years ago, is to “f*ck sh*t up.” We can’t live up to that slogan if we don’t devote serious resources to unpacking the issues facing the campus community, and doing so with transparency and purpose. We hope you’ll follow along with us on the way.

Evan Reynolds Editor-in-Chief

Tips, pitches and other pertinent information can be directed to investigations@dailyemerald.com.

HOW IT’S REPORTED

BY EMMA J NELSON • DESIGNED BY LIZ BLODGETT

After being blocked by the Eugene Police Department in July, the Breakfast Brigade is once again serving meals Wednesdays through Saturdays from 9 to 10 a.m.

“OREGON

WOMEN’S SOCCER HITS RESET” BY

LILY CRANE

Lily Crane, a third-year journalism student, wrote about the youth of the Oregon women’s soccer team and what that could mean for the team’s future. Crane said that it can be difficult to be the best reporter for a sport that isn’t performing as well while writing for an athletics-focused readership.

“Sometimes it can be a struggle to find a good story,” Crane said. “But I’m also a little bit of an optimist, so I dug into why this team isn’t getting the best results right now.”

Crane wanted to find “a balance between telling the blatant truth and being positive,” she

said, so she looked past the youth of most of the team toward the experience of the rest. The fact that junior and senior players are typically the ones appearing in media interviews worked in Crane’s favor as her piece began to focus on the mentorship role they were taking on, she said.

Crane said she hopes the story will inspire readers to keep an eye on the women’s soccer team, because “even if it’s not a successful team at the moment, it could be better with more support and time.” Everyone loves an underdog story.

Crane has been a sports reporter for the Daily Emerald since September 2022 and this is her first cover story of a Daily Emerald edition.

(Eric Becker/Emerald)

(Eric Becker/Emerald)

COSSETTE: DON’T HATE THE PLAYER; HATE THE GAME

Opinion: While the Ducks’ smackdown on Colorado exposed the Buffs’ on-field play as overrated, Coach Prime’s cultural impact on college football is anything but that

When our Oregon Ducks beat Colorado by a decisive 42-6 score in this season’s matchup, the sports world let out a collective sigh of relief.

Most hoped, even prayed, that a Colorado loss would stop the apparent love affair that sports networks were having with head coach Deion Sanders and the CU Football Program. Comments quickly flooded X, formally known as Twitter, to disparage the team and label coach Prime’s coaching powers fraudulent.

It’s inarguable that the Colorado football program and Sanders’ antics have become oversaturated on all sports media. However, I urge people to blame the networks and media for

BY SOPHIA COSSETTE • DESIGNED BY RYAN EHRHART

this overexposure and not let it distract from the importance of what coach Prime is doing. College football is a tradition and pastime that is deeply steeped in white American culture. First, the football programs in the top conferences are all from predominantly white institutions. According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport Division 1 FBS Leadership College Racial and Gender Report Card, 83.2% of Division 1 head football coaches were white in 2022.

Now, in comes coach Prime — Super Bowl winner, pro bowler and amongst all things unapologetically Black. When Sanders came to Boulder, he didn’t just improve the team; he created a cultural shift.

According to ESPN data, the Black viewership in Colorado’s first three games of the season was 77% higher than the average Black viewer ratings of college football games.

Many former and current athletes have spoken about the impact of Sanders’ time at CU, including Trevon Hamlet, a former

EDITORIAL CARTOON:

Colorado athlete.

“Being in a school that’s predominantly white, I’ve always felt that I had to change who I am to be successful,” Hamlet said in an interview with ESPN. “It’s so nice to see a Black man do what he’s doing — have so much influence, have so much power, so much authenticity — that shows that our culture does not have to be modified to be great.”

Coach Prime has not only added excitement to college football but also brought it into confluence with Black culture. Rappers Master P, Offset and Lil Wayne were in attendance at the CU vs. Colorado State University matchup, and many have taken to social media to dub the Buffs Black America’s new team. Sanders and his squad have also undeniably created a rise in the popularity of college football season.

The Colorado vs. Colorado State matchup became the fifth most-watched college football game in history on ESPN’s broadcast, and total college football viewing is up 14% this season, according to Fox Sports.

So sure, while we all know Oregon can beat Colorado any day of the week, I discourage Ducks fans from jumping on the coach Prime hate train. A rise in college football popularity benefits us all, and Black head coaches finding success in a predominantly white space is something everyone should get behind.

WINDING UP IN CONGRESS

BY GRIFFIN BAILEY

With many politicians showing their age once again, maybe it’s time to make the switch to digital. (Griffin Bailey/Emerald)

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders throws a football pregame. The University of Oregon Ducks football team defeat the University of Colorado Buffaloes 42-6 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Sept. 23, 2023. (Kai Kanzer/Emerald)

OREGON WOMEN’S SOCCER HITS RESET

OREGON WOMEN’S SOCCER HITS RESET

A Ducks team with new faces encounters a steep learning curve

BY LILY CRANE • DESIGNED BY RYAN EHRHART

It has been a difficult season for Oregon women’s soccer and many of its issues may be a result of the young roster.

The Ducks are dealing with a full-scale rebuild. After the 2022 season, 10 players graduated. This season there are 15 freshmen, 10 of them being true freshmen and five redshirts. There are no seniors on the roster and only one fifth-year player. Oregon is the fourth youngest team in the nation and the

second youngest among Power Five schools.

The team has so many new faces on the roster who are inexperienced and lack chemistry playing alongside other Oregon players. This was obvious in their non-conference slate in which they went 0-6-2 and scored only three goals in eight games.

Head coach Graeme Abel told the media that he believes the team is close to finding success but they “just haven’t put it all together yet.” He said that communication between the coaching staff and

players is especially important with a young team.

“It’s not been consistent mistakes that have hurt us. It’s been a mistake here that we were maybe a little bit naive with in regards to this piece or we need to do a better job as a coaching staff to coach that piece. We get that piece taken care of okay, and then something else,” Abel said in the middle of a four-game losing streak earlier in the season. “It’s not been the same thing consistently happening. So it’s lessons we take in. It’s lessons we continue

Grace Mensah (6) splits two Buffalo defenders to get to the ball first and maintain pressure in the Colorado zone. The University of Oregon Ducks soccer team falls to the University of Colorado Buffalos with a score of 3-1 at Pape Field in Eugene, Ore., on Sept. 28, 2023. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)

to teach as coaches and so we’re hoping that as we continue along here, those get less and less.”

The Ducks immediately improved when Abel took over as head coach in December 2019. In 2020 and 2021, Oregon posted its first consecutive winning seasons in 40 years with him in charge. In 2021, the team had its best record since 2006 and barely missed out on a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Last season, however, the Ducks finished with a 4-8-7 record. Oregon regularly faces programs such as UCLA, which won the National Championship in 2022, and Stanford, which always rosters future United States National team players. Injuries within the Ducks’ squad made it difficult to find success in a strong Pac-12 conference. The results of the 2022 season greatly impacted how the team recruited ahead of 2023.

“I always reference back to the ‘21 season. We really got kind of the program over moving in the right direction,” Abel said. “We had patience up top and that was the thing that was able to hurt teams. And so we recruited that. We went after that piece and we looked at that, so I think being able to press the teams up the field and being aggressive, that’s what we gotta get back to.”

Abel called this team “the most athletic group” that Oregon has had. It’s evident through the positive stretches of games that the Ducks have a decent amount of young talent. The problem is that Oregon may have added too many new faces, which has led to the lack of results.

With over half of the team being freshmen, sophomores and juniors have had to step into leadership roles. Players like Alice Barbieri and Anna Phillips, who have now been with the program for a couple of years, have embraced the new players. They’ve taken on the job of not only cleaning up their own mistakes but also guiding the freshmen.

“I’ve taken it upon myself and so have a few of

the other girls to really try and teach the freshmen how we play soccer around here. I think it shows because the freshmen are doing so well and they’ve picked it up like no other super quickly,” Barbieri said at a press conference earlier this season. “So we’re really proud of them and what they’ve done in the time that they’re putting in off by themselves watching film. It’s awesome to see.”

Several of the veteran players and Abel spoke about how impressed they were by the freshmen

their social lives may be a struggle for some of the players, on top of being away from home for the first time. The veterans have been in that position before and are ready to put their arms around the new players.

“Because there’s so many underclassmen, we kind of have to give advice because they haven’t been in college before,” Snyder said to the media. “So we just give them advice, not even about soccer, just communicating with each other. If you have a little disagreement, it’s finding ways to communicate even just outside of soccer.”

The veterans also benefit from freshmen. Depth, especially among the frontline, is something that the team needed after the injuries it went through in 2022. This season Abel can rotate his squad more which will give other players the opportunity to rest. Barbieri said that it will give her and her teammates fresher legs when they’re on the field.

“I think we have so much depth in every position which isn’t something that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Barbieri said. “It definitely allows for rotation and we have so many different girls with so many different assets that it allows us to rotate it based on something that we need on the field.”

early in the season. The newcomers are aware of what film they need to study between games and how to bring more energy to the roster. They also don’t shy away from asking questions, whether it has to do with soccer or not.

Both Barbieri and Jordan Snyder, the only fifth-year player, expressed how they want to be someone players can come to if they’re dealing with something off the field. A lot of the team is new to not just college soccer, but college life in general. Balancing their sport with classes and

The silver lining for Oregon is that it won’t have 10 seniors graduating following the conclusion of the season. Only Snyder is expected to exit the squad, as well as any players who decide to enter the transfer portal. The team will be full of players who have several years of eligibility left and will have had experience playing with one another.

The 2023 season might not end up looking like a successful season for the Ducks in the standings. However, the valuable experience the young players will gain may still prove to be instrumental for steering the future of the program in the right direction.

The winless Ducks line up next to a far more successful team in the Colorado Buffaloes prior to the start of the match. The University of Oregon Ducks soccer team falls to the University of Colorado Buffalos with a score of 3-1 at Pape Field in Eugene, Ore., on Sept. 28, 2023. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)

I’ve taken it upon myself and so have a few of the other girls to really try and teach the freshmen how we play soccer around here. I think it shows because the freshmen are doing so well and they’ve picked it up like no other super quickly,”

ALICE BARBIERI, junior midfielder

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

This week’s editor’s picks...

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4

EDSC Wellness: How Can I Start to Meditate? Find some peace of mind in your week.

Once a month, Eugene Dental Sleep Center hosts a guest speaker to educate attendees about different wellness methods. This month, Jim Adamik will “provide an introductory session in mediation incorporating Tai Chi and Qi Gong.” The hope is that all attendees will walk away knowing how to begin a meditation practice and a couple 5-minute meditation sessions. The event will go from 6 to 8 p.m. We hope you can use these practices in the upcoming weeks.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6

First Friday ArtWalk

The best that local artists have to offer.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

Free Compost Workshop

Move that dirt!

Whether you want to learn a new hobby, expand your backyard garden expertise or help save the environment, the free compost workshop hosted by the City of Eugene in conjunction with the OSU Extension Service. The workshops will be taught by “knowledgeable backyard composting information specialists” at the GrassRoots Garden Site behind the St. Thomas Episcopal Church. You’ll learn enough about what composting is, what materials work best and the different kinds of compost bins available that you’ll be able to start your own composting journey in no time! You’ll just have to get your hands dirty first.

SUNDAY,

OCTOBER 8

Adult Craft: Moon Phase Hanging

Don’t wax and wane on your attendance!

On the first Friday of every month, an artwalk is hosted by Lane Arts Council in Downtown Eugene to celebrate local artists. You can pick up a guide for the walk for free at the Farmers Market Pavilion. From there you’ll stroll through a variety of different artists galleries and enjoy live music, crafts and an artist marketplace. The evening concludes with the mayor of Eugene hosting an arts award show. The event goes from 5:30 to 8 p.m., but since the tour is self-guided, you can arrive at any time.

Have you ever looked at the midnight sky and just thought, “Wow, the moon is so pretty. I wish I could hang it on my wall.” Well now you can! The Eugene Public Library is hosting a craft event for adults in preparation for the solar eclipse on Oct. 14. From 4 to 5:30 p.m., you can use “wood discs, paint and beads to illustrate the monthly phases of the moon” alongside other moonstruck Eugenians. All materials are provided, and you’ll get to walk away with a glorious, hand-crafted wall hanging that honors the phases of the moon.

(Marissa Willke/Emerald)

UO ALUM’S POST-APOCALYPTIC NOVEL EXPLORES THE STAGES OF GRIEF

UO alumnus B. F. Galligan breaks cliches in

his newly self-published novel “Sovereign Citizen: Solitude”

BY HANA DUSSAN • DESIGNED BY ESTHER SZETO

It’s a quiet night. From inside her studio apartment, the outside noises are drowned out by the gentle whirring of the air conditioner. Her pajamas are on and the comforter is warm; yet sleep eludes her. The restlessness becomes maddening and the twisting and turning becomes violent as the comforter is manipulated and pulled in ways it was not designed to.

Then, inspiration strikes. She settles down, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath as she wills her mind to explore the dark recesses of her imagination that only dare to be touched when reality is too daunting. Fake scenarios — some that could be plausible and others that involve magic and wings — become a welcome distraction that will eventually lull her to sleep. There are those of the musical prodigy, the potential conversations with a crush that is not aware of her existence and — of course — the classic apocalyptic scenario. Would she survive? Well, it depends on the type of apocalypse. There’s zombies, alien invasions and deadly viruses. Take your pick and the answer is probably still no. Yet for the sake of her sanity she is willing to imagine the impossible and improbable in order to get a decent night’s sleep.

In UO alumnus B. F. Galligan’s novel “Sovereign Citizen: Solitude,” he explores exactly this. In an apocalyptic scenario akin to “Avengers: Endgame,” all humans abruptly disappear — except one. “He” is a man with no name living in a postapocalyptic reality with no explanation as to what happened.

This novel does not fall into the science fiction or action adventure genres. There is no explanation for the apocalypse throughout the entirety of the book, nor is the protagonist referred to as anything other than his pronouns. In this way, Galligan is able to take a cliche scenario and add a twist that I have never witnessed before.

Taking away these additional factors allows the reader to have a more personal experience while reading the book, almost as if they stepped into the shoes of this middle-aged man. It consequently allows further exploration of the human processes of grief and acceptance.

There is hope in the beginning of the novel, that perhaps it was just a bad dream or a psychotic break. There is paranoia in the thought that aliens are behind the sudden disappearances, with no guarantees that they won’t come for him next. There is numbness in the abandonment of social norms that have

no point of existing without a society to enforce them. And there is acceptance of his new reality and the death of his previous one.

In all honesty, this book was not a light read. Unlike most post-apocalyptic movies, this novel forces the reader to confront difficult emotions. Galligan did a hauntingly realistic job articulating the complex processes of anger, loneliness and grief. With that said, the novel had a slow start. I could not predict the plot and often wished it would speed up. Then again, the unrushed pace added realism to “His” character development, which ultimately gave this novel my recommendation.

This is the first of five volumes to be released and can be found online and in Barnes & Noble if you wish to support a fellow Duck!

(Ellyce Whiteman/Emerald)

PREVIEWING THE OREGON DUCKS MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM PREVIEWING THE OREGON DUCKS MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

The Ducks look to improve after missing March Madness two years in a row

The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team has now posted two straight disappointing seasons compared to their preseason expectations. The 2022-23 season marked the second year in a row that the Ducks began the season ranked inside the Top-25, then finished the year by missing March Madness. With 68 teams making the NCAA’s tournament each season, a Top-25 preseason team missing out on the tournament completely can only be the result of extreme underperformance.

With the eyes of Oregon faithful watching this year’s team, the expectations of an improvement are looming. Here are some of the key things to watch for with this year’s Ducks squad, and some key improvements that must be made.

REPLACING KEY PLAYERS

The Ducks enter this season after losing two of the top five scorers from last season’s team. Will Richardson graduated and Quincy Guerrier transferred to Illinois for his final season of eligibility.

Richardson was the third leading scorer of last year’s squad, averaging 12.2 points per game, and also led the team in assists. He was named to the second-team All-Pac-12 in his final season and was the starting point guard for the Ducks. His replacement seems poised to be freshman Jackson Shelstad, a huge recruit for the Ducks coming from West Linn High School, an Oregon school. Shelstad averaged 28.2 points per game and added 3.5 assists per game during his senior season. He will be tasked with leading the offense and trying to replicate the playmaking that Richardson provided for the Ducks.

Guerrier served as both a starter and sixth man for the Ducks last season, starting 22 of his 36 appearances. His average of 9.0 points per game was good for fifth on the Ducks in scoring. His replacement seems to be Jadrian Tracey, a transfer portal addition who is coming from Florida Southwestern State. He averaged 14.4 points per game last season, and did so while shooting 43.3% from 3-point range.

The Ducks also added freshman small forward Mookie Cook from Jefferson High School in Portland, Ore. Cook is 6-foot-7 and a massive scoring threat from the wing. Although Tracey seems likely to begin the season as the starter at the small forward position, Cook could easily challenge for that job as the season progresses.

STAR POWER DOWN LOW

Oregon is projected to start both N’Faly Dante and Nate Bittle in the front court. Dante, who averaged 13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game last season, earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors previously and looks to build on that incredibly impressive junior season this year.

Dante will likely be the best player on the roster this season and will be the major fulcrum in how this season plays out for the Ducks. His frontcourt mate Bittle will be a prime candidate for improvement for this season. Bittle averaged 7.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game during his sophomore season, and seems poised to see those numbers take another jump up this year. If the two big men are able to protect the paint on defense, dominate the boards and impose their will on the offensive end, the Ducks will have a high ceiling for their play this coming season.

PAC-12 COMPETITION

Realistically, if the Ducks want a shot at making

BY JOE MOORE • DESIGNED BY ESTHER SZETO

the NCAA Tournament, they need to dominate the Pac-12. Oregon finished fourth in the Pac-12 last season, and lost in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on their way to missing the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks went 12-8 in conference play last season, a number that needs to improve if Oregon wants to make a big turnaround.

There is some stiff competition in the Pac12 this season which will make it difficult for Oregon to stand above the rest of the conference. However, Dante seems poised to be a matchup nightmare for many big men in the conference and could be just the advantage the Ducks could leverage to improve their chances of a good showing in the Pac-12 this season. UCLA left an opening by losing a few key players from last season, and an opening is all the Ducks could need to rebound for this upcoming season.

Even with a powerhouse like Arizona still being a threat in the conference, the Pac-12 is more open than it has been in a few years, and the Ducks could potentially take advantage of that in their final season with the league.

Stanford’s James Keefe (22) goes for a shot as blocks come from all directions from Oregon’s Nate Bittle (32) and Kel’el Ware (10). The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team takes on the Stanford Cardinal at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore., on March 4, 2023. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU