6-3-24 Emerald Media Group - ODE

FIGHTING UO’S DECADES-LONG PAY GAP PAY GAP

Women

CRIKEY, MATE!

EDITORIAL CARTOON: GRIFFIN BAILEY'S DAY OFF

Pro-Palestine protesters interrupted UO President John Karl Scholz’s investiture on May 30, forcing part of the ceremony to be held virtually.

Baumgardner

Bruning/Emerald)

I hope Abe Froman is the commencement speaker... (Griffin Bailey/Emerlad)

CAHOOTS and HOOTS workers reached an agreement with White Bird Clinic to ratify their unionization.

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COMMUNITY PARK BREAKS GROUND IN SANTA CLARA NEIGHBORHOOD

COMMUNITY PARK BREAKS GROUND IN SANTA CLARA NEIGHBORHOOD

BY ANDRES BAISCH • DESIGNED BY ADALEAH CARMAN

A VOTER-APPROVED LEVY FROM 2018 FUNDS THE FIRST COMMUNITY PARK IN EUGENE’S SANTA CLARA NEIGHBORHOOD

As of April, the Santa Clara Community Park has officially broken ground.

A voter-approved 2018 parks and recreation bond and levy is funding the development of Phase One of the community park, located off of Wilkes Drive.

Phase One of construction will include a large playground, parking lot, outdoor community gathering space, picnic shelter and a multipurpose field.

According to Mark Kosmos, one of six landscape architects for Eugene, the first public meetings held for the park’s development were held before the pandemic. Kosmos explained how, while Santa Clara has a multitude of neighborhood parks, the need for a community park is what drove the project.

“Neighborhood parks are generally designed to serve people within a walking distance,” Kosmos said. “Community parks tend to be a draw for people all over Eugene, [they] typically have more amenities.”

Kosmos said that Phase One of the project was based on the need that the park was a priority for the neighborhood.

Compared to other neighborhoods in Eugene, Santa Clara is relatively underserved and underdeveloped. The absence of a community park can be attributed to property ownership in Santa Clara.

“Santa Clara is a mixture of county and city properties,” Kosmos said. “Streets are serviced by [Lane] County and not the city.”

Shawn Mogenson has lived in the greater Eugene-Springfield area for over 50 years. Mogenson cited the lack of a true community space as the reason that Santa Clara residents have to visit parks that are not within walking distance.

“It’s either Echo Hollow or Sheldon,” Mogenson said when speaking about the closest locations of a community park. “I just think [the community park] will give people other options, other places to take their kids.”

Kosmos said that city residents voting in favor of the bonds and levies are incredibly important in making these projects possible.

“We’re grateful that people in Eugene have supported our levies and bonds because

without that support, we cannot build the parks,” Kosmos said.

After Phase One of the project wraps up in 2025, the next phase will focus on bringing a community center and pool. The park will open when Phase One is completed.

“The real big picture of this park is that [Santa Clara] needs a community center,” Kosmos said.

Workers diligently construct the new Santa Clara Community Park near 860 River Loop 2 in Eugene, Oregon, on May 20, 2024. (Mason Cruz/ Emerald)

THREE WOMEN, THREE DECADES: UO’S SALARY ISSUE

Three female professors are alleging pay discrepancies between them and their male counterparts

For 34 years, Jennifer Freyd taught as a full-time professor at the University of Oregon’s psychology department. She said she didn’t realize that there were pay discrepancies between her male counterparts and herself until a fellow colleague, Margaret Sereno, brought it to her attention in the 1990s after acquiring public information about professor salaries within the department.

What the two women found in that data led to years of equity battles with UO.

Nearly three decades later, female professors are alleging the same pushback from the university.

When one of her colleagues back in the late 1980s and early 1990s showed Freyd the salaries of all staff in the psychology department, including her male counterparts, it revealed drastic pay discrepancies.

In the spring of 2016, the UO Psychology Department conducted a self-study and gave the study to the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. They found that the department faced millions of dollars worth of equity problems when it came to full professor-level salaries.

than their male counterparts, not including added recruitment benefits.

“I went to the department head and pointed it out and he said, ‘Oh, you’re right we’ll fix it,’ and then I got a raise and basically a version of that happened several more times over the years,” Freyd said.

BY ALICIA SANTIAGO DESIGNED BY EVA ANDREWS

you keep falling behind.”

Freyd included a graph detailing the regression she formed of the full professor’s salaries in the letter to the dean.

Above the line were six men and one woman. Below the line were two men and five women. Freyd said that she believed this had been the case for her 27 years of work at UO she had put in prior to sending this letter.

“Even if I were to get a raise now that put me well above the regression line,” she wrote “it would be unlikely to make up for 27 years of this treatment.”

When comparing male full-professor pay to female full-professor pay in the psychology department on a graph, the study showed that the average difference between the two was about $25,000.

This means that over a 20-year span, female full professors in UO’s psychology department received at least half a million dollars less in salary

This routine continued to happen many times over the course of Freyd’s career at UO. A colleague would alert Freyd of a discrepancy, Freyd would go to the department head and then a small fix was made, such as a temporary salary raise.

But these temporary fixes never solved the root of the issue, she said.

“It was like you were running along on some track and your track has got something wrong with it,” Freyd said about her time at UO. “Every so often someone comes and picks you up and puts you where you might have been if you had a better track but you’re still running on that bad track so

In 2017, Freyd filed a lawsuit against UO after no substantial changes were made to better pay women in psychology to the same level as their male colleagues. She sued UO for sex discrimination under the Equal Pay Act, as well as Title VII and IX, two discrimination laws.

The court argued that male professors used larger equipment and had different jobs than other female professors.

Freyd appealed to the Ninth Circuit, and they ruled in her favor, stating in its opinion that discrimination cannot be made for work of “comparable character” and that requires “comparable” skills.

“Over the years I got lots of awards from the university and lots of pats on the head so it wasn’t like they didn’t know about my success,” Freyd said. “But it’s like they didn’t want to pay me the same way they would have paid me if I was a man.”

Freyd is not the only woman who has experienced these inequities during their time at UO.

Just a few years later in August 2023, Patricia Lambert, a professor in the College of Planning, Public Policy and Management since 2003, filed a complaint toward UO with a prayer of $549,986 regarding gender discrimination in her employment contract.

In the complaint, she cites that she is paid

substantially less than her male colleagues who “hold the same position, are junior to her and are no more accomplished.”

Lambert declined to be interviewed due to legal concerns.

In 2022, Lambert said she was “aggressively” recruited by the University of Florida, causing her to look into comparing salary data available on UO’s website. There she found PPPM’s salaries, which revealed that she was making significantly less than that of her colleagues.

“Additionally, two male associate professors, who were only recently promoted to the rank of full professor, had advanced above her in compensation,” the complaint reads.

According to the complaint, those two professors had five fewer years of seniority than Lambert at the time but had base salaries of $11,283, $4,315 higher than hers.

Lambert began her tenure track as an associate professor in May 2009. She also was UO’s director of the Center for Community Arts and Cultural Policy for nine years while working as an associate professor.

Based on that same data, Lambert was making anywhere between $58,331 to $4,315 less than her male counterparts.

According to the Daily Emerald’s salary guide, today there are four full professors in the College of PPPM. While Lambert makes $143,830, her male counterparts make $146,072 and $156,154.

Eric Howald, a UO spokesperson, said that since the filing of the case, the court has dismissed most of the claims in Lambert’s complaint, leading Lambert’s attorneys to file an amended complaint.

“As noted in the university’s Answer, the University disagrees with the allegations and will address them in the court proceedings,” Howald said in an email. “Due to the ongoing litigation, we cannot provide additional comment on Professor Lambert’s case.”

Margaret Sereno, Freyd’s previous colleague, is a current professor within UO’s Department of Psychology, who focuses on cognitive neuroscience.

In December 2019, Sereno filed a Title IX claim to UO’s Department of Investigations and Civil Rights Compliance, citing pay inequities she found in public salary data within the psychology department. At the time, Sereno was an associate professor and had been working at UO for 28 years alongside Freyd.

The Emerald has reached out to the investigations department, but they were not able to be reached for an interview.

UO spokesperson Howald said in an email to the Daily Emerald that there are multiple avenues that the university takes to ensure equitable pay, such as reviews and “pay milestones.”

He also said there are avenues for managers and employees to take to request a review of their pay, including formal complaint processes, such as the one Sereno took.

Sereno found in her research that in the spring of 2019, her salary ranked below most assistant professors.

“The highest assistant professor salary was $5,270 above my salary,” Sereno said in the claim. “The

lowest assistant salary was only $1,425 below my salary.”

She added that despite these numbers, some of the faculty members had been at UO for less than a year and only one of the associate professors was senior to her at the time.

Sereno stated in the claim that the associate professor salaries that were above her ranged from $9,506 to $18,402. The second-lowest-paid associate professor was also female, this being the only other female associate professor at the time, to $18,402 above her salary.

About a year and a half later in May of 2021, the university responded to her claim, stating that Sereno’s pay was not discriminatory. The response came from Vanessa Crakes, UO’s current Title IX coordinator.

Crakes found that Sereno was not treated differently than any other faculty member “on the basis of a protected characteristic including, but not limited to, sex,” she said in the claim.

“The university talks about DEI, the ‘e’ is for equity,” she said. “Your action speaks louder than your words.”

Sereno then responded to Crakes, stating that the analysis was not substantial.

She claimed that Crakes did not take into account pay compression when the salaries of tenured or long-term employees are not far off from newer hires and that her academic record was stronger than all of the associate professors whose salaries were at or below hers.

This dispute continued until she was promoted to full professor, this being her first year as such. According to Sereno, new salaries have yet to be released.

“And the collective bargaining agreement between United Academics and the university

prescribes equitable raises at various employment milestones,” he said in an email. “The combination of these mechanisms offers multiple mutually supportive avenues to ensure equitable pay.”

Howald said that the university is committed to supporting faculty successes and creating a culture of equity and inclusion.

Despite these equity issues present on campus, some say it can be hard for faculty members to speak up about the mistreatment they might be experiencing.

Mike Urbancic, senior instructor in UO’s economics department and president of United Academics, UO’s faculty union, described the impact that pay discrepancies can have on faculty members.

“Even the employees themselves might be unaware that they’re in that situation…and it’s not like campus is going to tell them,” Urbancic said.

He also said that not everyone chooses to go to UA to remedy their problems, but that a handful of faculty do come to the union per year regarding equity issues.

“My guess would be three to five,” he said about the number of faculty who come forward with gender equity concerns per year.

Despite legal action being taken by some, the effects of the systemic issues are tolling. For Freyd, she said she still wonders why the equity issues happened in the first place.

“I don’t think they ever really expressed to me any kind of acknowledgment or apology or anything like that nor did they pledge to fix things for future people,” Freyd said, “which is unfortunate.”

Jennifer Freyd is a former UO psychology professor. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Freyd)

‘TIL BOMBS DO US PART’ SHEDS LIGHT ON RESILIENCE, UNDERSTANDING

UO student Sophia Barghouti’s journey from childhood memories to published narrative unveils layers of resilience, privilege and the quest for empathy in the face of war-torn realities

BY LIZZY SOLORZANO • DESIGNED BY GABRIELA MARTINEZ

Originally starting as an essay for a college class, “Til Bombs Do Us Part” became a published book regarding bombing experiences. The book is based on real experiences from UO freshman Sophia Barghouti’s journey to Beirut, Lebanon.

The story follows the narrative of a 9-year-old girl who witnesses the struggles of her family and the city during a bombing and captures the moments in vivid detail.

The narrator reunites with her family, but they soon face the chaos and terror of civil war, experiencing poverty, destruction and the fear of losing loved ones. In this experience, the young girl confronts her own privilege and the harsh realities of war.

The story emphasizes themes of resilience, empathy and strength of family.

Barghouti was raised in the U.S. with Middle Eastern heritage and said she became aware of the disconnect from her relatives in Lebanon due to the privilege that came with living in America. Unlike her family, she had a safe place to sleep at night and never faced threats like bombings. She also acknowledged her American perspective on Middle Eastern issues. With this realization, she sought to share her experiences to promote understanding in the community.

“People can listen for so long but they can’t just have facts thrown at them,” she said. “They have to hear it from a person who has actually gone through it.”

Growing up with annual summer trips to Lebanon to visit family, she experienced rising tensions firsthand. The year after, at age 10, she learned she could no longer visit due to the escalating danger in the region.

Her family was all too familiar with the effects of war, enduring frequent power outages that necessitated a routine of lighting candles. Bomb explosions would shake the house, imitating an earthquake and sometimes continuing for hours. This stark contrast to her own life had been an eye opener for Barghouti. At nine years old, she recognized for the first time the profound inequality in the world, realizing that while she lived in safety, her relatives lived in constant fear.

“It’s important to recognize, while the U.S. has its problems, it also is a safe option,” she said. “It may not recognize everyone’s identities, but at least I have a bed to sleep on at night without worrying about bombs exploding all around me. In the story, that is their normal.”

Barghouti’s story was initially an assignment to write a detailed scene. Because the memories were ingrained in her brain already, she wrote the essay aiming for a high grade. It wasn’t until she read it aloud to her classmates that she realized its emotional impact. The room fell silent, her peers’ wide-eyed and sad expressions revealing their connection to her words.

Having never seen a reaction like this before, she quickly realized that people were willing to listen and appreciate her vulnerability. With the encouragement of her professor, she self-published her story on Amazon as an e-book to spread the theme of hope to a wider audience.

“I don’t want them to feel pity,” Barghouti said. “I’m not looking for the satisfaction of someone saying ‘I’m sorry you went through that.’ I’m looking to help others know that at the end of the tunnel, there is light. It may be a very long tunnel but there’s an end.”

She hopes her story will guide those facing similar traumatic experiences, showing them how she navigated those troubling times. For readers who can’t directly relate, she aims to foster an understanding of others’ perspectives in how they experience the world.

Barghouti said that many people from diverse backgrounds experience a

multitude of feelings, and one can never know what they have been through. It’s important to listen to their stories as they can give others a better understanding of how to adapt or respond to various situations. She adds that while we may not understand at first, learning from others enables us to share that knowledge and teach others.

Writing the story has also been therapeutic for Barghouti. Although she relives the traumatic experiences, she finds that by putting pen to paper, she can control these memories, making them less painful each time she revisits them.

“In a sense, this is my therapy and people just so happen to be reading it,” she said. “I can’t control anything else but I can control what I write. This is a therapeutic way for me to stop the flashbacks because as I started writing more, they slowly went away.”

Given current conversations regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Barghouti believes that her story remains relevant and can greatly contribute to the conversations by fostering empathy.

“I want people to know that there’s hope,” she said, “even if you feel hopeless at times.”

UO first-year Sophia Barghouti began writing “Til Bombs Do Us Part” in Writing 121, where she felt inspired to be vulnerable in her writing. (Colleen Bogdan/Emerald)

GAMLEN: PROTESTS OF THE PAST

Opinion: If you walked past the encampment and wondered where the idea came from, what the end goal was or if it was effective, read on

BY MILLY GAMLEN • DESIGNED BY GABRIELA MARTINEZ

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen or heard about the UO pro-Palestine encampment, which took place on the Memorial Quad and in front of Johnson Hall from April 29 to May 23. The goal? For UO to stop using student tuition to fund Israeli companies, including ones funding the weapons and surveillance in Gaza.

But where did this idea sprout from? What influences have students across the country and many parts of the world relied upon to guide their plans?

A significant student protest that has been brought up is the student protests against South African apartheid. While these protests occurred in 1985, their impact was widespread. For example, students at UC Berkeley began a sit-in, where they reclaimed Sproul Hall and slept in sleeping bags in the outside plaza of the building, which they renamed “Biko Plaza” after South African activist Steve Biko, who was killed by South African security officers while protesting.

The tents and sleeping bags were a representation of the brutal living conditions being forced onto South Africans on a daily basis.

When officers began arresting students who were protesting, 10,000 students boycotted classes, and celebrities like Alice Walker came to the campus to express their belief in freedom of speech.

The result of all of this was a $3.1 billion divestment from companies and businesses associated with the apartheid. Pretty successful, to say the least.

An even earlier example of U.S. college students exercising their right to peaceful protest on campus is the 1968 protests fighting against the Vietnam War. As with current events, Columbia University was at the forefront of those protests as well. In fact, five campus buildings were overtaken at Columbia alone during those protests.

The end result of that protest? Columbia University’s disaffiliation with the IDA (Institute for Defense Analyses).

In both cases, the aftermath was the students’ demands being met, so how much are the protests of the

past informing current students?

Diego Duarte is a UO sophomore and was a member of the UO pro-Palestine encampment. According to Duarte, his group was calling for UO to disclose its investments; “divest in any military industrial company that is contributing to the genocide in Gaza”; boycott products on the BDS list, specifically ones heavily used on the UO campus; establish a Middle Eastern studies building on campus; and finally, for the students involved to not be punished.

When I asked about a connection between the 1985 protests and current ones, Duarte said that the UO encampment protest took “a lot of inspiration from the apartheid divestment movement.” He declined to comment when asked if there were any current attempts for government intervention in UO’s investments, like what happened during the apartheid protests.

Throughout history, college campus protests have made a difference. They do make a difference. They are a crucial way that students ensure that their voices are heard.

Pro-Vietnam War demonstrators rally in the Erb Memorial Union. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Archives) Complementary of Special Collections and University Archives, UA Ref 3 University Archives Photographs, Box 115 Folder “Student Activities - Protests”.

This week’s picks...

PAUSE FOR PAWS (6/3)

Who doesn’t love some cute doggos? Take a study break and hang out with some furry friends from the Greenhill Humane Society! Head to McCaslin Lawn from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. this Monday, and learn about volunteer opportunities.

2024 PRIDE FESTIVAL (6/5)

It’s officially Pride Month! LGBTESS and 20+ campus/community organizations are hosting the annual Pride Festival. On Wednesday from 12 to 6 p.m. at the EMU Green, join them for a day full of activities, games and celebrations!

(Image: Molly McPherson/Emerald)

DUNGEONS AND DRAG QUEENS CONQUERED EUGENE

The violin swells and three mythical figures appear. Ready to take on the baddies in their large boa, dragon wings and a pink wig, the queens enter.

Dungeons and Drag Queens is produced by the Dungeon Master Paul Curry and accompanying violinist Carson Grubb. The show originated in Seattle, and the Queens came to WOW Hall on Friday, May 24.

Tinashea Monét is based out of Seattle and has been a queen for the show since its inception. She said for each of the stops of the tour they usually audition local queens and pair them with a permanent member of the cast.

“There’s a lot of rules with Dungeons and Dragons, and we want it to be an easy storytelling adventure, but it’s also a comedy show,” Monét said.

Monét plays Tinashea the Fey, “The Sorceress

BY JOSH BERK DESIGNED BY EVA ANDREWS

The traveling troupe of fantasy roleplaying queens put on a spectacular show at WOW Hall

Supreme, born with the utmost knowledge of different dimensions.”

The locally casted queens are Shirley Mental and Wanda Aqua Flora — portraying Shirley the Mentalist, “an elf mage whose goals in life are to serve fierceness, slay, have a really gorgeous boa and serve”; and Wanda/Aqua of the Flora, the “erotic and aquatic Dragoness from the woods, druid who snatches hearts and occasionally breaks them, but always repairs them.” Both of these queens are sisters at the Haus of Blunt in Eugene, performing at Spectrum Bar.

“I reached out to Paul, and then when the Eugene edition came about, he said, ‘Do you want to do it?’” Aqua Flora said. “I canceled every other gig I had and cleared my schedule. It’s been really cool that I get to be a part of this and I feel very honored to be a part of the history of the show.”

One of the most immersive elements of the show was the live violin accompaniment done by Carson Grubb.

“Music is a language. I’ve been speaking this language for a long time, for most of my life, and I have a certain vocabulary that I put together,” Grubb said. “I try to use individual intervals and motifs to tell the story that’s going on onstage, underscore things, heighten things and play up Paul.”

The live accompaniment certainly heightens the intensity of battles, but also creates an atmosphere for more low-tempo moments, like when the crew is exploring their setting.

Another immersive aspect of the show was how interactive it was, allowing the audience to get engaged, like when someone in one of the front rows became a hairdresser incorporated into the show.

“I like to treat the audience as a crowd because then it’s kind of more immersive for them,” Curry said. “The more you tear the walls down of the world and the more I have to scramble to build it back up; I just think it’s so fun.”

The show flowed so well that it felt almost scripted at times, but that can largely be attributed to the

talent the Dungeon Master and the queens have for comedy and performance. The aforementioned hairdresser Emily ended up being melted by lava in an important battle.

“Getting someone pregnant was not something I thought was gonna happen,” Mental said. She is referring to Emily’s reincarnation through male impregnation, something the queens and Curry came up with on the fly through the use of spells.

In Monét’s free time, she likes to play Magic: The Gathering, another game by Wizards of the Coast, D&D’s publisher. This is not her personal favorite fantasy game, but she enjoys getting on stage and performing it to these audiences.

“I think the whole art of drag in itself is not to be taken too seriously,” Monét said. “We’re supposed to be able to take a lot of serious topics and be able to bring them around. You should be able to use your drag in your art to make it light, fun and approachable.”

The blend of drag performers and D&D works so well together that it feels like an obvious conclusion to come to. Taking on a new persona or character is a key aspect of both drag and roleplaying games like D&D.

“It’s a big escapism thing, too. A lot of queer people use it as an escape. I did in high school, and I feel like because of that it feels very powerful,” Mental said.

Dungeons and Drag Queens is the perfect night out for fantasy enjoyers, drag enthusiasts and anyone looking for a good time.

“If you are looking for a night filled with entertainment, comedy, drag and absolute foolishness, I would say go nowhere else but your local stop at a tour near you, in a city near you, for Dungeons and Drag Queens created by Paul Curry Comedy,” Monét said.

Curry credits Seattle writer Matt Baume as the first person who did D&D with drag queens. Once inspired, he created his own version with Grubb and a few queens including Monét.

“Everyone has taken such a large role in shaping what the show is that we’ve all kind of helped create it in a sense,” Curry said.

If you missed out on the WOW Hall showing, the next closest stop will be in Portland at Alberta Abbey on June 14, 2024. I promise you won’t want to miss it.

(Noa Schwartz/Emerald)

CROSSWORD

31 Barroom fight

Squeaked (by)

Spanish “I love you”

Barnyard baby sound 49 What sounds like a circle, but isn’t a circle? 53 Unhelpful RSVPs 55 Flatbread served with chana masala 56 Louisville Slugger product

“All good on my end”

Shade trees on the National Mall

to the core

Fundraisers with tickets

Pre-K song subject

White part of citrus fruit

__ butterfly: one with a busy calendar

Give a weather report, essentially 10 Fond du __, Wisconsin

Lower leg joint

Mental flashes

Parliament conservative

Big sandwich

Not dark

Relaxed gait

Diamond unit

Republic in the Himalayas

Duck sauce for egg rolls, e.g.

Minor mistakes

Speechify

UFO pilots

Trademark in an arcade game name

Trials and tribulations

Leaf-gathering tool 30 Take to court

SUDOKU

35 Welcome sign at a cash-only market

36 Complain 37 Minor holdup

39 Refuse to obey 41 “Who, me?”

42 Saudi Arabia neighbor

45 Cottontails

47 Alphabet read with the fingers

50 Come together 51 “Thumbs down from me”

52 Ewe’s mate

53 Taj __ 54 Pong Quest maker

56 Covertly includes on an email

58 Lyft rival 59 Spanish appetizer

61 Correct a verb tense, perhaps 62 Dreidels, e.g.

64 Knock sharply 65 Long. crosser

© 2023 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

Since Day 1 over 100 years ago, student team members have been an essential part of our team. Their time with us ranges from seasonal to part-time and more, providing them with new skills and perspectives, and preparing them for a future beyond The Duck Store.

We’re proud to be a part of our team members’ University of Oregon experience, championing their potential both now as students and into their futures. Join us in celebrating our graduating team and Board members at tds.tw/tdsgrads24

GEAR UP FOR NCAA TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

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RUTH:ROAD THE END OF THE

The

chance to cover the final Pac-12 Tournament was an unforgettable experience

During my freshman year, the Pac-12 hosted its inaugural end-of-season baseball tournament. It was the beginning of something the conference hoped would last for decades. Instead, because of conference realignment, there would only be three Pac-12 Tournaments.

Regardless, during my freshman year, a dream was born.

A dream to cover my favorite sport with my favorite teams from my favorite conference in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona.

The news of Oregon heading to the Big Ten came with a surprising realization: this would be my final

one I couldn’t pass up. After Oregon won the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament, the Ducks had a titledefense chip on their shoulders.

The Ducks had a good chance of making a decent run on paper. They entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and were placed in a favorable pool with two teams that Oregon had dominated in the regular season.

Obviously, the outcome was far from ideal. Oregon lost to both No. 7-seeded Utah and No. 4 USC 4-2 on back-to-back days. The offense was 2-14 with runners in scoring position and tallied just four runs on the weekend.

BY BRADY RUTH • DESIGNED BY LIZ BLODGETT

ended on a walkoff hit from Arizona’s Tommy Splaine. The final Pac-12-sanctioned event — possibly ever — was sent off in style. As the No. 1 Wildcats rushed the field, it meant the end of the season for USC and the conclusion of a storied conference.

Arizona, Oregon State and Oregon all made the NCAA Tournament and will play (at least) two more games with the Pac-12 logo on their sleeves. But for everyone else, that chapter is over.

As incredible as it was to sit in the press box for all of this, that sinking feeling wouldn’t go away. The week was incredibly bittersweet, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

The only thing I would change about the week would be Oregon’s play. The team just looked flat, going 0-2 in the tournament for the second time in three seasons. Last year, the Ducks won the tournament as the No. 6 seed. The other two years, they were two-and-done.

Maybe it’s me.

During my time at the Daily Emerald, I’ve been able to provide away coverage for an Oregon vs. Washington game in Seattle, the 2023 Pac-12 Championship game in Las Vegas and the final Pac-12 Baseball Tournament. The Ducks are 0-4 with me in a visiting press box.

The attendance in Scottsdale was far from what I hoped. I thought many would make the trip to see the conference come to a close. Arizona and Arizona State were obviously well-represented. Oregon State had a pretty big turnout — though, they too were eliminated in pool play. USC and Oregon had pretty scattered attendance; none of the remaining schools had much of a fanbase at all.

What I’ll take away most won’t be the Oregon games. Sure, it was cool to see the Ducks play in a tournament — even if they looked awful. But sitting there witnessing the final Pac-12 game in history immediately became a core memory.

I was able to provide coverage for the Emerald, dive deep into what went wrong for Oregon in the final tournament and watch the sun set on over 100 years of West Coast history.

It was painful and it was predictable, but it was perfect. While the Ducks may not be able to say the same, my final memories of the Pac-12 will be incredible ones, professionally and personally.

Bennet Thompson (16) ignites PK Park with an eighth inning home run. The Oregon Ducks baseball team was defeated by the Utah Utes 9-7 on May 5, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (Kai Kanzer/Emerald)

FOR JESSICA DRUMMOND,

THE WORK IS JUST BEGINNING

A DREAM JOB HAS TURNED INTO A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR OREGON LACROSSE’S BENCH BOSS

Deep down, Jessica Drummond is just a coach at heart.

See, she’s faced with about as unenviable a position at her “dream job” as she could have. About a month into her head coaching career, the Oregon alum received news that the team would be entering the toughest lacrosse conference in the world.

To the untrained eye, the players that have driven 14-time national champion Maryland, eight-time national champion Northwestern and two-time national champion Penn State, might just be plain better.

The dizzying skill that led Rutgers’ Cassidy Spilis to 74 goals in 18 games might be too daunting. Michigan goalie Erin O’Grady’s .568 save

percentage — good for second in the nation — might just be too much to overcome.

But as Drummond insists, the comparatively tame Ducks really aren’t that far away.

“It’s all things that we can control!” she said with a laugh.

If only it was always that easy. The work, for Drummond, is quite literally just beginning.

At the time of this interview within the windowed confines of Oregon’s Hatfield Dowlin Complex, the Ducks’ NCAA-mandated “dead week” off of practice was nearly over. Drummond had just completed her end-of-year meetings and was about to begin ramping up to resume practices due to Oregon’s unique schedule that gives the Ducks about five weeks after the season to continue practicing before summer.

“This time [is] so valuable,” Drummond said. “Especially with other schools already being done.”

After nearly a month of shorter, more conditioningbased practices, her team will all return home.

Drummond knows some of her players from the hotbeds of East Coast will play organized lacrosse, and the others will likely remain practicing and in shape in

Drummond’s sentiment on the topic is about the same as any coach ever: “Whatever you are doing,

Oregon celebrates Anna Simmons’ (30) goal in the first quarter. The Oregon Women’s Lacrosse team walks away with a win over Merrimack College 18-3 in their first game back from being on the road at Papė Field in Eugene, Ore., on March 6, 2024. (Alyssa Garcia/

BY JOE KRASNOWSKI DESIGNED BY ADALEAH CARMAN

if you go to the park with friends and bring a stick that’s great, too, just play… but it is nice for them to have a summer since we are essentially going from fall to spring every year!”

But for Drummond and her B1G problem, the work — and the issue — is about as unique as any coach in the country.

Drummond can preach conditioning, competition and effort all she wants. The “Team Winning Values” that she instills of pride, discipline and alpha can be ingrained into her players from the moment they step into Papé.

But, inevitably, she knows the stats don’t lie; the best teams have players with the best skill.

Northwestern lacrosse — a team likely coming to Papé next year — had three players tally 80 or more points. The Ducks’ highest-scorer, Morgan McCarthy, had 49. Rutgers — the worst team in the Big Ten yet a squad that beat Oregon 15-7 — had a team save percentage of .459. The Ducks? A combined .405.

The discrepancy is too much to ignore.

And until Drummond’s recruiting is really all her own — this incoming freshman class was all recruited by her predecessor — she is determined to win the margins she can.

The process to the top will be long, to say the least. Michigan — a team whose success Drummond says she’s looked up to — wallowed in mediocrity before a 16-4 outburst this season.

“We know there is a ton of work to be done,” Drummond said. “But I’m so excited. Can’t you tell?” But for now, as she sits inside that windowed room, Drummond remarks on her team’s season, which suffered a bevy of painful losses, mainly an upset to Arizona State in the Pac-12 Tournament and a last-second loss to Cal at home.

“I want us to remember how those losses feel,” Drummond said. “Go back and watch the Tournament game. Please go back and watch the Cal game. I know we will, but I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

The work falls on Drummond, too; she knows what work has to be done.

But for now, to fill that void of skill, talent and hard work from the best of the best, Drummond will control what she can: her team’s effort.

“I can’t wait to take us to the top.”

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