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ON THE COVER
Clara Lewin with her child (Tristin Hoffman/Emerald).
FEATURING
Top viewed story in the past week:
“Gunshots fired through apartment window on Hilyard Street early Sunday” By Alicia Santiago
(Gavin Gamez/Emerald)
Second most read story in the past week: “Oil from gas station spills into Millrace” by Alan Torres
Summary: Car Seat Headrest is an indie-rock band with over 1 million monthly Spotify listeners. They began releasing music in 2010 but had their breakthrough in 2011 with the release of their first album: Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror). Freshman environmental science major, Sandra Cronin, said their favorite song is “Hollywood” as it is musically different from their other work, but has the same feel.
Recommended by: Sandra Cronin. “He has a really funky voice that is not for all, but if you get it, you get it.”
(Alan Torres/Emerald)
Voices of UO
Scan here or visit the Emerald’s social media to participate in our next Voices of UO. “What is the most embarrassing gossip that you heard from someone?”
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(Maisie Plew/Emerald)
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Association, brought the board’s attention to LCC’s financial woes, including a $25 million debt held by LCC. Mitchell said this significantly impacts tuition rates as well as negatively impacts the viability ratio, which will make it harder for LCC to accrue more debt if necessary.
Pryor said the tuition raise is unfortunate. She said the board has two choices when creating the balanced budget mandated by the state of Oregon: raise revenue or cut expenses. “And administration has consistently recommended increases in tuition,” she said.
LCC tuition hikes are not a new financial challenge for students. In the last 10 years, between the 2012-13 and 2022-23 fiscal years, tuition rates have been raised by nearly 50%, going from $90 per credit to over $132 per credit. This has coincided with a steady decline in enrollment.
BY MATHIAS LEHMAN-WINTERSOn April 4, the Lane Community College board voted to raise tuition by 5%. An initial vote to raise tuition was voted down. However, after a condition was added that would allow the board to reconsider the issue if more state funding was
provided in the next several months, the tuition hike passed by a 4-3 vote.
LCC chairwoman Rosie Pryor said the motion was passed following a “very robust discussion” on the impacts of the tuition increase as well as the college’s fiscal state.
During the public meeting, Adrienne Mitchell, president of the Lane Community College Education
During the 2012-13 year, regular student enrollment was at a historic high due to the 2008 recession, over 18,000. Enrollment steadily declined to roughly 11,000 by 2020 and barely 6,000 in 2022. LCC’s enrollment experienced its first growth in over a decade during the 22–23 school year as enrollment grew to roughly 8,500, confirmed LCC’s External Affairs Director Brett Rowlett.
The overall decline in enrollment is likely a contributing factor in tuition increases, as the college wants to avoid cutting services, according to student demographic data gathered by LCC.
KLCC reported that the tuition increase had the support of LCC’s Student Government Association. However, Nikhar Ramlakhan, president of SGA, said this is a mischaracterization. The article now has an editor’s note saying SGA does not support the increase.
Ramlakhan said that he and other SGA members present at the meeting were caught off guard by the 5% hike. “We recommend an increase in tuition depending on state funding. Those recommendations are 2% and 3.5%, respectively,” he said.
Ramlakhan said that the primary objective of SGA is to advocate for student needs and that the tuition raise would make higher education less affordable for Lane’s low-income students, who are living paycheck to paycheck.
“For me, it’s more of a problem for the state itself,” Ramlakhan said. “And the government is not actually prioritizing higher education.” Pryor said LCC is not optimistic that there will be additional funding from the state.
LCC students and faculty are not alone in their belief that the state is not providing enough support for higher education. Public colleges and universities across Oregon are lobbying the state for more funding.
Oregon ranks 45th in the nation in per-student state funding of public universities.
Ramalakhan asks who is to blame for rising tuition rates: “Is it the colleges themselves? Or is it actually the state funding that’s not coming out the way it should? More often than not, it’s the state.”
Gossip is associated with bullies and high school mean girls pointing and giggling in the back of class, weaponizing negative information to ostracize others. Despite the stigma, we all gossip, even sometimes against our better judgment. As humans we are natural storytellers, and who makes for a better cast of characters than the people in our lives? What better settings than school, work or the bar?
Loose lips sink ships, but that won’t be enough to stop me from talking about Stacy from work, who won’t stop flirting with Jason even though she knows he has a girlfriend. Like everyone else, I love to swap secrets, talk smack and eavesdrop. Any conflict or embarrassing moment can create hours’ worth of conversation material among friends. And while the majority of my favorite stories come from my own life experiences, many also involve other people.
Our lives and those of people we know are filled with wild stories, ethical dilemmas and dramatic moments ready to be shared with friends. So here are my rules for how to ethically vent, gossip and tell secrets without ruining all the fun.
As a general rule, never tell anyone anything you wouldn’t want told to their best friend, significant other, or mom. Even after promising to keep a secret, any confidant will most likely tell at least one of these three people. The more juicy and salacious the gossip, the more difficult it will be for an individual to resist telling these parties, so it’s best not to ask them to do so. If the secret you wish to share pertains directly to your friend’s bff, significant other, mom or anyone close to these three people, it might be best to find a new confidant. Instead, if you want to keep a secret between you and the fewest number of people, try and pick someone with some distance.
Got into a fight with a friend? Have an awkward date with a classmate? You are free to discuss. Other parties involved can request you keep certain details private, but whether or not you oblige is up to your discretion. For better or worse, the trials and tribulations within your life are yours to share with whomever you wish, even if they involve painting others in a less-than-flattering light.
While your life is fair game, it is also best to avoid publicly embarrassing another person. While it might be alright to tell one person the embarrassing secret you found out about a coworker, it’s not alright to share it with a group of seven in the break room. In general, avoid airing someone’s dirty laundry in big groups or on social media. No one wants to be publicly humiliated, even if they aren’t there to witness it. If a story or secret involving another person must be shared with a group, avoid using names or identifying information. For any musicians, writers or influencers out there, do not stoke speculation about who a song/novel/storytime is about, even if it’s that ex that you hate.
4. It’s okay to exaggerate a story, but only under particular circumstances.
Sometimes, a few edits can take a story from good to great. As a storyteller, I wish to craft the most interesting listening experience for my audience. If the story I wish to tell is still mostly true, is it okay to exaggerate or leave out certain details? Am I allowed to paint myself as an unproblematic hero and leave out nuances that would make the situation a little more complicated?
It depends. If the story is about a heroic deed or impressive achievement, it is okay to exaggerate to make yourself look even better, provided your account has some basis in truth. If the story pertains to a conflict, throwing an acquaintance under the bus is also okay to make yourself
look better, especially if the said acquaintance is someone your confidant will most likely never meet. However, when discussing a conflict between you and a friend, it is best to be honest about what occurred, especially when discussing the incident with any mutual friends. In general, don’t directly lie while telling a story or answering any questions about it- omissions and exaggerations are the only acceptable forms of deception.
5. Take everything with a grain of salt.
Even the most trusted source is fallible. Therefore take what others say with a grain of salt. Don’t presume that anyone is being completely honest when they tell you about a conflict they had or how crazy their ex was. Never completely dismiss someone until you hear their version of events, as there are multiple sides to every story. Even when someone is being entirely honest when recalling a conversation, argument or interaction they had with another, memory is imperfect. Even the most impartial storyteller will leave out important context. Try to be kind to everyone, even when you learn unflattering details about them from others. You never truly know a person’s past or what they are struggling with. Most importantly, don’t join in on a dog pile, and avoid spreading rumors that can’t be substantiated.
Now that you are informed on the proper gossip etiquette, feel free to whisper, giggle and vent all you like! Just don’t tell me anything you wouldn’t want my mom or bestie to also know.
Erin McKay, amongst around 80 other patients at McKenzie Midwives, is on a strict deadline to figure out where to give birth after her primary birth service has been closed.
BY TRISTIN HOFFMANErin McKay is expecting her first child on July 20. She originally reached out to many OBGYNs in Lane for a birth plan, but their care was not what she was looking for. McKay experienced staffing issues with other birthing centers, which were too full and didn’t have the space for more patients.
“I was with Pacific Women’s Center and just wasn’t feeling like it was as personable as I was hoping,” she said.
Then, she found McKenzie Midwives — a service that provided a more personalized approach to prenatal and childbirth services that also had more availability for her. McKay eventually finalized her birth plan with the midwives after looking at other options in her community, she said.
“Having a birth in a hospital with a midwife instead of having to stirrup up was really important to me,” she said.
But on April 18, McKenzie Midwives & Lactation
Services announced it would close after three years of service, leaving McKay and many other mothers-to-be scrambling to find new birth plans on a strict deadline.
The clinic, in a public statement to patients and employees, said the closure will go into effect on July 7. However, the end of birthing services goes into effect on May 12, according to the front desk of the McKenzie Midwives Center. Postpartum care will no longer be of service on July 7.
This closing not only affects the midwives who have been let go, but the 80 patients who receive maternity care and their families who have birth plans with McKenzie Midwives as well, Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger said.
The notification of closure gave patients less than a month to find other birthing services. The midwives were notified on April 7, giving them three months to find other employment.
McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center wrote in a statement that, with approximately 10 births per month and six midwives, the clinic was no longer sustainable.
The private, for-profit hospital is owned by Quorum Health, a corporation based in Tennessee. Quorum recently filed for bankruptcy in 2020, in efforts to reduce debts by $500 million.
Midwife care has historically cost less for patients and hospitals due to lowered risks of cesarean-section (C-section) deliveries, reduced health risks and shorter maternal stays in hospitals according to a 2017 study published in the National Library of Medicine.
On April 25, supporters of McKenzie Midwives spoke in front of the Lane County Board of Commissioners to share their opinions on the closure. That morning, the room was full of pregnant women, children, families, midwives, doctors and some emotional testimonies.
Katie Sontag told commissioners she gave birth with the help of McKenzie midwives in December 2021, even with certain health complications during her pregnancy.
“I don’t know what I would have done without them,” Sontag said through tears. “I wasn’t someone able to do a home birth or not have the kind of care they gave me. Not only did they prescribe me the medication I needed, but they also listened to me. They held my hand when I was scared. I’m so sad for all of Lane County for losing them.”
Most testimonies involved speaking upon the positive prenatal, birthing, postpartum and women’s care experiences with the McKenzie Midwives.
The McKenzie Midwives are a team of “kind, compassionate midwives” who offer midwifery care in hospitals, said Victoria Tippen, a former patient with McKenzie Midwives who now runs her own childbirth education company.
“They provide women and birthing people options supportive to achieving a low intervention birth. The McKenzie-Willamette cesarean rate is reasonable, likely due to midwifery care access,” Tippen said.
Availability is limited at other birthing centers around Lane County, people said in their testimonies.
McKay said she looked at other facilities before reaching out to McKenzie Midwives. She reached out to Our Community Birth Center, a non-profit midwifery birth center, and said she found it was full at the time.
“The birth centers available have one to two midwives each, even though the official statements online say that there’s plenty of room for our community to absorb,” McKay said.
Birthing with a midwife is an alternative birth option to OBGYN-assisted births. There are still birthing centers available across Eugene and Lane County, but these centers involve doctors, obstetricians, gynecologists and a high paycheck at the end of services. McKay noted lower costs of services with McKenzie Midwives than with other services without midwives.
Some birthing people prefer midwives due to them being medically trained and having a natural approach to serving pregnant people’s needs, said McKay. Midwives approach childbirth with the understanding that every body is different, rather than “going by the book” in the way a doctor or OB/GYN might, she said.
“The World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, United Nations, and the American Academy of Public Health have stated that midwifery-led care has proven to reduce preterm birth, low birth rate, c-sections, and greater patient satisfaction,” Colleen Forbes, a licensed directentry midwife and certified professional midwife with experience of 25 years in midwifery practice, said.
McKenzie Midwives & Lactation Services closure sheds light on a nationwide issue of women’s care being left behind in the healthcare system. Over 200 maternity units have been closed in hospitals since 2011 throughout the nation, 13 of these closures being within the past year. Studies have shown an increase
in maternal mortality within the past four years, as well as 36% of US counties living within maternity care deserts.
Abortion laws have been changing within the past year as well, with 12 states ruling near-total abortion bans, according to Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health rights research organization.
With maternity units closing at higher rates and stricter abortion laws put into place last year, potentially more pregnant women are left without the proper care needed for pregnancy.
The patients at McKenzie Midwives are working with their midwives on where to transfer to at this time, according to McKenzie Midwives’ online statement. Many other similar birthing centers to McKenzie Midwives across Eugene and Lane County are either at capacity or are not what the patients would hope to work with.
“Eugene is a population with a huge community seeking [midwife] care. It’s astounding that we would not have certified nurse midwives in the EugeneSpringfield area, above all places,” Dr. Claudia Knight, a physician OB/GYN in Eugene said.
McKay’s plans for where to transition to next are still up in the air, she said. Although being in her third and final trimester, McKay has experienced other local birthing centers requesting for her to pay for their services at a flat-rate price, as if she were in her first trimester continuing on until birth, she said.
“I felt so confident that I would be [with McKenzie Midwives] for the rest of the haul, so I’ve been trying to problem solve past that,” she said.
Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis is where McKay might ultimately birth at. She lives in Veneta, which is almost an hour’s drive to Good Samaritan.
“I feel completely ignored by the people who made this decision, but amazingly supported by the people of this community as it comes together to deal with this,” said McKay.
McKay has helped create the “Save McKenzie Midwives” website, which has information about the closure, resources for patients and recent happenings with everything to do with the closure.
“Since these closures seem to keep happening, I hope the website will last as a resource. Even if we fail, the midwives themselves feel incredibly supported and the community has come together in a way that’s super hopeful,” she said.
She discussed her hope for Lane County’s Board of Commissioners to create a new community birth center that has in its contract an obligation to give potential closing notices at 9 months. She also suggested a tax on hospitals that do not provide midwife care.
“That’s just dreaming,” McKay said. “That’s just trying to look past what’s happening currently to hope for something better for the next people who have to deal with this”
When I was 13 years old, I went to the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, and that was the first time I realized how deeply people care about abortion rights. I’ve supported abortion access since I first learned about it, but that day, I witnessed firsthand how contentious the issue is. Since then, it’s safe to say that abortion legislation has been on my radar. You can’t be a young woman in this country and ignore the issue, especially if you value making your own choices. After learning about the long path to Roe v. Wade protecting abortion access around the country, it was disheartening (to put it mildly) to see the Supreme Court reverse that decision with the Dobbs ruling.
None of that is quite what this article is about. If you keep up with the news, and even if you only skim headlines for a few seconds once a week, you’ve likely heard about the recent decision of one federal judge in Texas to block access to mifepristone, an abortion pill, nationwide. When I first pitched this article, the Supreme Court had just extended their pause on ruling on this case and I was in a frenzy. This pause announced
Sadie is an opinion columnist for the Daily Emerald. She is a second-year English student from Portland. In her free time she reads and plays music, and she likes to write about little inconveniences and trends that disproportionately bother her.
by Justice Alito, one of my least favorite backwards old men, didn’t fill me with confidence. And announcing their decision on a Friday evening after people — reporters included — had gone home for the evening? It looked like the perfect setup for depriving half the country of a basic right. Of course, that’s not how it went that afternoon. When the actual ruling was announced, the Supreme Court protected access to the pill “for now.” While I’m grateful to still be able to buy the pill, I’m insulted by having my rights constantly in limbo. How ridiculous is it that one judge in Texas was almost able to make such a personal decision for every American?
I can’t find the words to perfectly express how annoyed I am that I live in a country full of old people who don’t trust me to make choices about my own health and future, and who are completely willing to yank my rights away when it’s convenient for them, but here’s my best shot. All I want is the absolute bare minimum: to control my own body. Who said that could be decided by some smarmy old man? It’s offensive to be treated like an adult in most regards (I could go to war, get married or make terrible financial decisions right now) but then be told that I’m not responsible enough to control my own body and a clueless old galoot who thinks women get late term abortions for fun should do it for me. Can you imagine the nerve?
And I’m certainly not the only one who feels so strongly about this issue. As UO student Katie Fendick sees it, abortion pills are “necessary and it shouldn’t even be a conversation.” It’s so alarming to have such a useful, vital right constantly up for debate. The idea that access is protected “for now” isn’t reassuring at all. We’ve learned not to trust that a right we currently have will be protected in the future.
“Abortion rights are not at all constant these days,” UO student Lauren Grover said. “Once Roe v. Wade was overturned and individual states were able to regulate abortions, we as a country have been stuck in a state where we’re never really sure of our rights since they’re constantly in motion.”
I know I’m lucky to live in Oregon, where abortion access is ensured by state law. Governor Kotek even recently secured a years-long supply of mifepristone. But what if I lived in a state like Mississippi, with abortion bans both locally and in all surrounding states, and I had the misfortune of accidentally getting pregnant? The abortion pill could be my only safe hope. It’s not talked about as much as abortion itself, but it’s a fundamental bright spot in a wave of rights restriction. Being forced to carry an unwanted, unaffordable pregnancy to term helps no one, and it’s time for lawmakers to stop pushing deadlines back and hiding behind the phrase “for now.” Protect a right and commit to it.
If legislators are really in support of children the way they say they are, these conservative politicians should stop trying to ruin women’s lives and focus on actually having some kind of positive impact in the world. The mifepristone pill works during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, so it’s not as though it’s “killing a baby,” as they seem to love to phrase it.
If they’re so concerned about infants, they should take the countless available opportunities to help living, breathing children in foster care. They should make healthcare affordable so that giving birth isn’t prohibitively expensive for people who want to go through with it. They should be in favor of nationwide sex education and free birth control so accidental pregnancies don’t happen as often. If they really stand for what they say all the time, there are plenty of positive paths forward for them. But will they choose any of them? Not while they’re still in the middle of this power trip.
Opinion: Holding such an important right in limbo is unconscionable.One of the many student made posters to advocate for fundamental rights. Take Back the Night a survivor-centered event held a rally on April 27, 2023. (Kemper Flood/ Emerald).
Eduardo Olivares has lived in Eugene since he was 5 years old. Growing up, his parents not only worked full-time jobs but did everything they could to make ends meet. His father worked as a welder while also working on cars and his mother was a seamstress that sold jewelry and perfumes on the side. Olivares’s parents worked hard for his future and inspired him to pursue his passion for clothing.
In January 2021, Olivares opened The Neighborhood Eugene Sustainability Team (N.E.S.T.) with his business partner Harrison Stevens. The N.E.S.T. sells vintage University of Oregon merch but has since expanded to sell streetwear. The store is located next to campus on the corner of East 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street. The N.E.S.T. is also currently partnering with Oregon Sneakers to sell at The N.E.S.T. It is open 1-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
The N.E.S.T. hatched when Olivares was still a third-year advertising major and a sports business minor, but it was cultivating much before then. In 2019, as a freshman, he created his thrifting company: BounceBack Thrifts. Soon after, he met his future business partner, the then-junior Stevens, who already had his established brand of Stanley Thrifts. Olivares usd to sell clothes from his own home as he had a brand without a store, but that would soon change once he and Stevens came together.
“I was driving down from Portland, and I called Harrison, and he said he was down, and then we got to work,” Olivares said. “I remember I found a for lease sign on the window, and I called it without
thinking, and we kind of just made it happen.”
What was once a side-hustle became a full-time job for Olivares. Being in school was definitely a hindrance but proved to also be helpful. He would get out of class for the day and be able to implement what he learned to build The N.E.S.T.
“I was learning skills in my classes that I would take and utilize to build the brand so it went handin-hand,” Olivares said.
Originally, Olivares and Stevens scavenged local thrift stores for vintage clothing that fit their brand
to sell. With the increase in pop culture interest in vintage wear during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became easier to find clothing and business boomed.
Now, The N.E.S.T. sources from wholesalers, warehouses leaving “no stone unturned,” Olivares said. Anyone can take part in buying, trading and selling of clothes at The N.E.S.T. making it a hub for campus fashion.
“The brand as a whole was created by students for students. We wanted to create a community here that we didn’t see,” Olivares said.
The group displayed its ability to come back as it prepares for the postseason.
BY LILY CRANEOregon softball is gaining momentum heading down the stretch of the season. On Sunday, April 23, it came back to defeat Arizona 7-4 for its ninth straight win, the longest of the season for the Ducks. The program also swept two straight Pac-12 series for the first time under head coach Melyssa Lombardi.
Ariel Carlson continued her strong series against the Wildcats. She drove in three runs and went 1-for-2 at bat. Karissa Ornelas also came up big with three runs batted in.
It was a shaky start for the Ducks, as they struggled to get a base hit in the first three innings.
The Wildcats took the lead in the second. They had their first lead of the series after scoring three runs. A solo homer to center field in the third forced Oregon to make its second pitching change of the afternoon.
“It was nice for us to be tested early in the season because when you get to the postseason teams are going to be tough and teams are going to put runs on the board against you,” Allee Bunker said. “Being able to show early on that we can come from behind is really good and it kind of just goes to show how confident we are in each other.”
The Ducks didn’t surrender. In the fourth, Carlson barreled the ball to left field for her second homer of the series. Carlson also drove in two runs to get the Ducks back into the game.
Kedre Luschar was hit by a
pitch in the sixth. With the bases loaded, the play ended up scoring the tying run.
Ornelas delivered the victory later in the inning. Ornelas, who came on as pinch-hitter, doubled down the right field line and scored Luschar, Carlson and Terra McGowan.
It was the second time in the series that Lombardi called on Ornelas to come on with the bases loaded and she came up clutch on both occasions.
“She never gets too high or too low,” Lombardi said. “I think she’s made for those moments and continues to clutch up for us.”
Lombardi was pleased with her team’s overall performance. She expressed how everybody in the lineup is starting to find their rhythm at the right time. That, combined with the ability they showed to come from behind, will prepare them for the postseason.
“Getting into the end of the Pac, getting into the postseason, anybody can get hot,” Lombardi said. “Anybody can come up and be big. It’s just trusting and believing and sticking together as a team.”
The Ducks will look to continue their winning streak last weekend as they hit the road. They dominated against Pacific on Thursday before finishing their three-game series against the University of California.
