The UO Campus Planning Committee will be holding a public hearing to consider an amendment to the University of Oregon’s Campus Plan.
The purpose of the proposed amendment is to integrate findings from the Biennial Capacity Plan and Framework Vision Project recommendations into the Northeast Campus, Northeast Central Campus, Academic Center and Historic Core, and Southeast Campus Design Areas. This amendment addresses finding #6 from the 2021-2023 Biennial Capacity Plan (BCP)available online at: https://cpfm.uoregon.edu/sites/cpfm2.uoregon.edu/files/2021-23bcp_report_.pdf
Please refer to the University of Oregon Campus Plan for Design Area locations and descriptions, available online at: https://cpfm.uoregon.edu/ campus-plan. The public hearing will be the first agenda item at the Campus Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, starting at 3:30pm at the Erb Memorial Union (EMU) Rm 231, Cedar Room, and online via Zoom.
Please contact the Office of Campus Planning at uplan@uoregon.edu or 541-346-5562 for the Zoom meeting link if attending remotely and additional information.
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ON THE COVER
(Left) Walton Hall lays in disarray during its demolition. The University of Oregon’s most affordable residence hall, Walton, began being demolished in 2019. (Will Geschke/ Emerald)
PeaceHealth announced the closure of Eugene’s University District Hospital on Aug. 22, leaving the city without a hospital
BY MATHIAS LEHMAN-WINTERS • DESIGNED BY LIZ BLODGETTOn Aug. 22, the Washington-based notfor-profit healthcare system, PeaceHealth, announced that it would begin closing its University District Hospital in Eugene. Its remaining services, most notably the emergency services, will be transferred over to PeaceHealth’s RiverBend location in Springfield by November. PeaceHealth says that the ambulatory and behavioral health services will remain in operation in Eugene “until there is a sustainable alternative in the community.”
PeaceHealth said in a statement that the closure of University District Hospital is due to falling patient volume, with fewer than 16 patients being admitted per month on average as inpatients and the hospital losing approximately $2 million per month.
PeaceHealth claims that it remains committed to providing quality healthcare to its patients and that its RiverBend location will provide an “enhanced care experience.”
Critics of PeaceHealth’s decision, such as Kevyn Paul, a member of the ONA and a University District Hospital nurse, said at a Sept. 11 rally in opposition to the closure that the reason for the University District Hospital’s unprofitability is because PeaceHealth pulled more profitable services from the hospital.
The closure will leave Oregon’s second largest city without easy access to emergency services, a move that local elected leaders and the Oregon Nurses Association says will cost lives.
Lucy Vinis, the mayor of Eugene, said that the city was not consulted by PeaceHealth about their plans to close the University District Hospital. It was informed about the closure only a week prior to PeaceHealth’s public announcement.
“We had no warning this was coming,” she said.
emergency department estimated that the average round trip for an ambulance traveling from Eugene to the PeaceHealth Riverbend location would increase from 25 to 30 minutes,” Vinis said. “Think about what that means to a person in west Eugene who has a heart attack, or a house fire, or another life threatening crisis, lives will be lost.”
Vinis also expressed her concern for citizens’ access to emergency services if there is a natural catastrophe, such as a Cascadia event, warning that a major disaster could destroy or block infrastructure such as bridges that are used to cross the Willamette, leaving many Eugenians stranded on “the wrong side of the river.”
At the rally on Sept. 11 in opposition to the closure, Ann Tan Piazza, the executive director of the Oregon Nurses Association, accused PeaceHealth of “putting profits over patients” and jeopardizing the health and safety of the community. Tan Piazza also said that the ONA will remain committed to “bringing the full strength of our resources and membership to fight and hold PeaceHealth accountable.”
Carson Houchen, a third-year student at UO who lives near the University District Hospital, said he was happy to see that behavioral health facilities would remain open. However, he expressed concern that “a lot of students will have a much harder time getting care in Springfield,” but added that “it didn’t seem that a lot of students were getting care at the University District location anyway.”
This statement is backed up by the fact that only 16 patients on average were being admitted per month.
(Molly McPherson/Emerald)Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis declined to seek re-election on Sept. 12, instead endorsing architect Kaarin Knudson to replace her in 2025.
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Vinis said she was under the impression that the city and PeaceHealth had a mutual understanding that having emergency services on the south side of the river, where most of Eugene’s population resides, was a priority for the city.
“There are approximately 4,500 trips to an emergency room in a year. The city’s
This is not the first time PeaceHeath has faced backlash over cost cutting measures. In April, they announced that they would be reducing bed capacity at both the RiverBend and University District locations. PeaceHealth’s outlined plan to close the University District Hospital by November is still pending regulatory approval by the OHA, although it is unclear when that approval will, or will not, come.
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This summer, the UO Thermal Systems Task Force was supposed to be receiving input from the student body on which of its four university thermal system options they would most prefer. The task force carried out this questioning in an effort to decarbonize the university’s heating systems.
However, the task force has made these decarbonization efforts difficult. There’s also a fear that President John Scholz may choose to not change anything, because that’s one of the choices that UO’s Thermal Systems Task Force gave itself.
First, we have to talk about the four options that the task force has presented to the university.
“OPTION ONE: Business as Usual” had the highest emissions by far, but had a low initial cost and a moderately-high annual cost.
“OPTION TWO: Electrode Steam Boilers” had the highest annual and initial costs by far, but the lowest emissions.
“OPTION THREE: Heat Recovery Chiller” had a high initial cost but the secondlowest operating cost and only moderate emissions reductions.
“OPTION FOUR: Heat Recovery Chiller – Alternate Source” had the highest initial cost, but the lowest annual cost of all the options, and the second-lowest emissions.
But what was Option One again? Well, it’s officially called “business as usual.” In other words, “don’t do anything.”
The university has said that state regulations by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality — called the “Climate Protection Plan” — will inevitably reduce the school’s emissions no matter what.
This would be fine and dandy, except for the fact that utility and fossil fuel companies like Northwest Natural are hard at work filing lawsuits to weaken the Climate Protection Plan or render it ineffective altogether. Both are efforts UO is fully aware of.
Additionally, these natural gas companies are almost certainly hoping President Scholz will choose not to transition the university off of their energy. After all, don’t underestimate these utility companies — it was due to Northwest Natural’s lobbying efforts that the Eugene fossil fuel ordinance was reversed only a few months after its passage in early 2023.
This leads me to another point: transitioning UO off fossil fuels is not only about reducing our emissions, but also reducing the power of fossil fuel interests. We shouldn’t give them an inch.
Luckily, UO has allowed student input in public hearings. One was held in spring 2023, where, thanks to the efforts of ASUO and the Climate Justice League student group, students filled the hearing.
The first hearing was for the task force to brief the student body about its four plans, their costs relative to emissions and gauge interest via papers and Google Forms at the end. However, during the hearing students were only given vague descriptions of each option and an unbelievably simple graph of the initial costs versus annual operating costs and their emissions.
At the end of the spring meeting, the Thermal Systems Task Force asked all of us which option we preferred. Now, each person had their own opinion, I’m sure, but to everybody I talked to after the hearing Option Four seemed the most preferable, based on the minimal amount of information we were given.
Despite the meeting, no student groups officially endorsed any option, likely because of the vague information. However, it’s safe to say that most student groups would support any option other than Option One: Don’t Do Anything.
President Scholz is set to make his recommendation to the Board of Trustees during fall term.
The university is in a rare position here to make the choice to retool its thermal heating systems away from fossil fuels.
And if it decides not to transition off fossil fuels, the university will look irresponsible for its decision to shirk the duty it gave itself. A decision to maintain business as usual will be at odds with UO’s environmentally friendly appearance, and it will be a stain on its moral reputation.
Other schools have been making similar changes successfully. So why can’t UO?
In the university’s final year with the Pac-12, UO students should savor the geographic convenience and longstanding traditions of the conference before it’s too late
On Aug. 4, the university officially announced its move to the Big Ten Conference. Many other universities in the Pac-12 will be joining the Big Ten as well, and by the time next school year rolls around, Ducks sports as Oregon students currently know it will be vastly different.
Since its early roots as the Pacific Coast Conference in 1915, the dynamics of the Pac-12 have been beneficial to both student-athletes and student fans. For athletes, travel within the conference was short, and the geographic proximity of teams within the Pac-12 created great rivalries and traditions for fans and students alike.
In the university’s press release statement on the conference switch, President Scholz stated that UO will try to maintain said traditions.
“In coming years, the UO will prioritize the long-held traditions, including competition across all sports with Oregon State University,” Scholz said.
However, without the conference-standing implications of the annual UO vs. Oregon State games, the history and meaning behind the rivalry will fade. Similarly, other great geographic Pac-12 traditions and rivalries will be lost as well, such as the tree chopping in the annual Big Game between Stanford and Cal or the Apple Cup rivalry between Washington and Washington State.
Not to mention, the shift away from geographic conferences will have lasting negative effects on UO’s student-athletes.
Following the announcement of Oregon’s move to the Big Ten, many UO softball players took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their discontent with the added travel and stress of the move.
“Tired of being an overlooked sport,” KK Humphrieys, a UO softball infielder, tweeted. “It’s an upsetting day for the Pac-12 lovers and people who love the sanity of student athletes’ mental health.”
BY SOPHIA COSSETTE • DESIGNED BY ESTHER SZETOInstead of playing teams in the neighboring states of Washington and California, Oregon teams will travel as far as New Jersey and Maryland for conference games. Travel times will grow, and the rigorous schedule for student-athletes will become tougher.
A key driver behind many schools’ decision to leave the Pac-12 was to gain bigger television and media deals for the programs.
According to the LA Times, the Big Ten grossed $768 million in revenue during the 2019-20 season, while the Pac-12 only grossed $533 million. University athletic programs are out for monetary gain, yet once again, there is little prioritization for athletes’ academic success and mental well-being.
As the final year of the Pac-12 now rolls around, I encourage students to savor and celebrate the amazing collegiate sports atmosphere the conference has created.
Many of collegiate sports’ greatest moments have occurred in Pac-12 games, not to mention the myriad of this country’s most poignant and influential athletes that have gone through the conference, including Tiger Woods, Jackie JoynerKersee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Alex Morgan, Steve Prefontaine and many more.
The Pac-12 is labeled the “Conference of Champions,” as it has won more NCAA championships than any other conference in collegiate athletics history. The Pac-12 conference also has the most Olympic athletes and medal-winners of any conference in the history of the Olympic games.
While a large part of the conference’s beauty was about convenience — games just a few hours away create optimal travel for fans and athletes — the Pac-12 also created an incredibly special college sports environment.
By fall 2024, when the university begins its time in the Big Ten conference, there will no longer be students road-tripping in droves to cheer for their schools at away games, and the legendary rivalries and traditions will be lost. Conferences built upon the logical geographic proximity of schools will always benefit student-athletes and their fans, and UO’s decision to remove itself from the Pac-12 should be continuously questioned and criticized.
As UO enters the 2023-2024 academic year, there are new advancements to campus that incoming freshmen and current students will experience, including the New Residence Hall and New Apartment-Style Residence Hall.
The New Residence Hall and the New Apartment Style Residence Hall will be available for residents in the fall and are part of phase two of the Hamilton Walton Transformation Project. Phase one included the demolition of Walton Hall and the creation of Unthank Hall. Phase two includes the New Residence Hall and the New Apartment-Style Residence Hall. The New Residence Hall will be a traditional freshman dormitory, while the New Apartment Style Residence Hall will contain apartment-style residences designated for upperclassmen.
BY JASMINE SABOORIAN DESIGNED BY RYAN EHRHARTAccording to Director for University Housing Michael Griffel, the New Residence Hall has many amenities that the other dormitories at UO do not have.
“We have a new faculty member who is living in the building and new academic residential communities including the Clark Honors College, which has moved from Global Scholars and Justice Bean,” Griffel said. “Performing Arts has a new ARC in the building with a special floor designated for people who dance and has really nice spring action.”
Additional amenities in the New Residence Hall include faculty offices and spaces, multipurpose spaces, music practice rooms and a new service center that will provide mail and package services for people in that section of campus, according to Griffel.
Bryson Beck, the interim assistant director of residence life for occupancy and systems, said the service center will be different from all other service centers on campus.
“The new building has a package locker system that we’re really excited about, especially our Housing Service Center team,” Beck said. “They’ll use an app and get a message that they have a package, scan their phone at the kiosk and it’ll pop the door open to grab their package.”
According to Griffel, the New Residence Hall and Unthank Hall have very similar structures and amenities, as they are both part of the same Hamilton Walton Transformation Project.
“The new transformation project buildings were designed as one section of campus that are replacing Hamilton Hall and Walton Hall,” Griffel said. “They are intended to all fit together to enhance that section of campus, but they are nearly identical to each other as far as bedrooms go.”
The main differences between Unthank Hall and
the New Residence Hall are that Unthank Hall has a dining space and the Student Welcome Center, while the New Residence Hall has the service center and the package pickup.
The rates for rooms in the New Residence Hall show increased prices for rooms with fewer amenities than rooms in other halls.
The lowest rate for a room in the New Residence Hall is a triple with a bath with a yearly rate of $13,059 per person.
This price is equivalent to a triple in Living Learning Center and a triple with a bath in Unthank Hall. It is $1,615 more expensive than the price of a triple with a sink in Carson Hall and $1,434 more expensive than a double in Hamilton Hall.
With this rate of $13,059 in the New Residence Hall, the quality-of-life comparison with the more inexpensive Carson Hall and Hamilton Hall is different. In the New Residence Hall, these students would have the amenity of their own full bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink.
In Hamilton Hall, the bathrooms are shared on the floor, and in Carson Hall, the rooms come with a sink, but not a full bathroom.
The second lowest rate in the New Residence Hall is for a large triple with bath at $14,087 and is equivalent to a large triple with bath in Unthank Hall.
Since the New Residence Hall and Unthank Hall are part of the same Hamilton Walton Transformation Project, they are set to be almost identical builds, according to Griffel. Therefore, the prices are pretty much equivalent for most of the rooms.
The most expensive rate in the New Residence Hall for a large double with bath is $17,170 and is the highest price for any type of double in UO residence halls, excluding two-person suites in
As two new residence halls make their debut for fall term, some seniors are looking back at their own freshman experiences
•A parked car is decorated in celebration of a student’s journey from Los Angeles to the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Ore. on Sept. 25, 2020. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald)
Living Learning Center and Global Scholars Hall. The living amenities for a large double with bath in the New Residence Hall includes an increased living space size to normal doubles and a full bathroom. Most doubles with baths have standard living space sizes, but the most expensive rate in the New Residence Hall comes with extra space and a bathroom.
This rate is more expensive than a two-person suite with a bath in Riley Hall at $16,750, and doubles with baths in Barnhart Hall and Global Scholars Hall at $16,020.
According to Griffel and Beck, many prices of the available rooms in the New Residence Hall are equivalent to rooms in Unthank Hall. The more expensive rates reflect the new detail, amenities and work that have been put into the construction
and model of the new building.
Madeline Anderson, an incoming junior and the director of PR and marketing for the Delta Delta Delta sorority, has worked closely with her team of incoming seniors and has spoken with them about how they feel with the new amenities and services the classes below them have that they did not.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to has been a little disappointed that the students after them got better amenities in their freshmen years, such as Unthank [Hall],” Anderson said. “I get it, a new dorm building and new dining hall the year after you leave the dorms feels like a missed opportunity, especially with Unthank’s huge popularity.”
Another factor the class of 2024 had to endure was the effects of COVID-19 on campus and the limited availability of activities at UO.
“It was a tough time for everyone,” Anderson said. “Especially the seniors who didn’t really have much to do at all.”
According to Griffel, UO has been on a path of continuous growth and tries its best to stay in touch with the students’ needs.
“The class of 2024 clearly had all the issues of the pandemic, but prior to the pandemic, the services, programs, care, support and facilities were geared towards meeting their needs,” Griffel said. “Now with the class of 2027, we have that continued progressive growth and enhancement of programs and services.”
Although UO is updating buildings and residence halls on campus for incoming freshmen, Griffel said, it is also updating programs and services continuously for all students and is constantly adapting to fit the needs and wants of all students on campus.
“Coming to your first year in college during quarantine was a hard time for the class of 2024,” Anderson said. “But that was what they started out with. When their second year came around it became hard to adjust to a real, in-person school environment that I don’t think administrators took into consideration as well as they could have.”
According to Beck, UO is a campus that is continually evolving for generations to come, and although incoming seniors and past students see these changes for incoming students, he feels it should be exciting to see their campus continuously changing and advancing.
“It is amazing just to see how much the campus has changed since I moved here and how much the university is pushing for,” Beck said. “Evolving and advancing to serve the students that are on campus for housing and with academic programs is an exciting sight to watch, and it should be exciting for all students and faculty, too.”
“Coming to your first year in college during quarantine was a hard time for the class of 2024, but that was what they started out with. When their second year came around it became hard to adjust to a real, in-person school environment that I don’t think administrators took into consideration as well as they could have.”
MADELINE ANDERSONOregon junior and
director of PRand
marketing for tri-DeltaElle Reyes (left) poses with her dad before moving her belongings into a residence hall on Sept. 25, 2020. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald) Nick Fitzpatrick (left) moves his belongings into a residence hall with the help of his mom on Sept. 25, 2020. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald) Salome Goldberg unpacks her belongings from her family’s car. First year students moved into University of Oregon residence halls on Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald)
The raunchy teen comedy starring Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri has expanded nationwide following its initial success in limited release
archetypal popular-girl attitude.
The school football team, helmed by the selfobsessed Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine) and his loyal righthand man, Tim (Miles Fowler), poses a significant threat to the club and its relationships. Though these jocks are unsurprisingly aloof and manipulative, their utter delusion and obsession with each other is ridiculously entertaining. Galitzine is dramatic, sassy and confident in this role; he brings Jeff a refreshing comedic energy with a character that so easily could have come off as stale.
Cinema is an art form; a means to express creativity and resonate with an audience united by place and time. Though rarely thought of as high-brow or particularly consequential, the teen comedy is undoubtedly one of the most influential interpretations of the medium. Ranging from the ‘90s classic “Clueless” to 2000s heavyweights “Mean Girls” and “Superbad,” the genre consistently showcases its generation-defining power.
Now that we’re comfortably into the decade, the 2020s has finally welcomed its teen comedy darling. “Bottoms” is a deliciously raunchy and distinctly modern sophomore feature from writer/director Emma Seligman. Its gutsy comedic identity and ardent queer representation deliver an instant classic.
Beginning her career with the exquisitely tense “Shiva Baby,” Seligman returns to the big screen with money to spend and complete creative control. “Bottoms” follows lesbian teens PJ and Josie (Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) in their ambitious quest to lose their virginities to their long-time crushes, cheerleaders Isabel and Brittany (Havana Rose Liu and Kaia Gerber). In the guise of self-defense, they start a fight club, gathering other high school girls eager to protect
themselves while secretly attempting to hook up with them. Amid the lies and deceit, the club evolves into a genuine, chosen family, placing PJ and Josie in a complicated position.
In a movie so impressively dense and teeming with charm, Sennott and Edebiri prove their leading ability with two perfectly captured performances. Their personalities are glaringly different yet mesh with each other effortlessly. Sennott’s over-dramatic delivery and unabashed vulgarity once again solidify her as a leading comedic voice of the future. Her culturally in-tune acting style is a necessary breath of fresh air in a modern high school setting. Edebiri, continuing her remarkable breakoutsummer hot streak, is endlessly charismatic. Her awkward allure is as magnetic as ever, and her limitless range is on full display.
Liu and Gerber play excellently off the leads, providing another sharp contrast in personality and effect. Seligman allows their characters to evolve as the film progresses, slowly introducing the audience to new aspects of their originally one-note characters. Liu starts cold and submissive before growing warm and hilariously chaotic — my favorite supporting performance in the film. In comparison, Gerber is classically careless, channeling an
In a casting choice entirely out of left field, club supervisor and generally unhinged teacher Mr. G is brought to life by former Seattle Seahawks superstar running back Marshawn Lynch. Improvising the bulk of his lines, Lynch had my theater in shambles with his consistently funny delivery. His character is completely ludicrous in the most amusing way possible.
I have to shout out the production design team led by Nate Jones. The school is plastered in visual gags via posters and paintings in the background that serve as a cherry on top for the film’s constant jokes. “Bottoms” succeeds because it is paced so perfectly. Seligman doesn’t waste any time establishing our characters and placing them inside a plot that builds to the grand finale: a rivalry football game that is constantly referenced. The film starts fast and earns its slow, dramatic and even steamy moments that occur later down the line. The ending is such a satisfying payoff and rocked me to my core.
Led by Sennott and Edebiri’s excellent performances and Seligman’s growing expertise, “Bottoms” is the bold and bloody teen comedy we’ve been waiting for — and it’s about time.
(Maddie Knight/Emerald)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Save the BEE 5K
It’s time to “run for bees (not from them)”!
The seventh annual Save the Bee 5k hopes to bring families and bee enthusiasts alike to Richardson Park in Junction City to raise funds to protect our pollinating friends. If you plan to participate in the race, register at the Save the Bee website — $35 for adults and $25 for seniors (65+), veterans and those under 18 — now. If you don’t want to race, there’s still plenty to do! You can eat food, participate in children’s activities and dress for the chance to win Best Bee Costume. Don’t worry; your dog is welcome, too, as long as they remain on lead.
Relax with a beverage and a board game at Beergarden!
End your Monday with a chill evening of Beats & Boards at Beergarden, the family-friendly purveyor of “fine food carts and a taproom with 42 taps and hundreds of bottles of craft beer, wine, cider and kombucha.” Every Monday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., a new DJ performs, and though you may not request songs, you can view the Facebook group hosted by Beergarden to see who is performing next. You can either bring your own game or play one of the free, first-come-first-serve games provided by Beergarden. Participants and players are welcome to join in on on-going games after asking. The community atmosphere is very important to Beergarden, and you are encouraged to make new friends.
Take a chance and roll the dice on a new gaming experience!
Hear ye, hear ye! Calling all Eugene adults! Join the Eugene Public Library for a fantastical experience and learn the basics of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. You’ll play prefabricated characters, learn the rules of the game 50 million people are playing worldwide and participate in an introductory session. Sign up now on the Events page of the Eugene Public Library website for the Sept. 20 or Sept. 27 session, both taking place from 4-6 p.m. We wish you the best of luck on your quest!
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Spend your day with good people and even better dogs!
Are you missing out on some well-deserved dog time? Join Communal Canine, an organization that supports the wellness of people and their pups, for a day of dog yoga and tea at the North Shelter of Island Park. The dogs will be provided — and adoptable! — but yoga mats and mugs will not. Yoga begins at 10 a.m., and tea will be provided by Emisha Wellness. Register for the event on the Communal Canine website for $15 or pay $18 at the “door” to participate.
A culture battle has raged recently in the United States over restrooms, centered on the issue of who has the right to utilize what facilities in publicly-accessible buildings according to their gender identity. In more conservative-leaning states and local jurisdictions, the trend has been to codify such restrictions into law, mandating that people use restrooms aligning with their “biological” sex/gender.
These political debates and policy decisions have been a reaction to the increasing visibility of the transgender and non-binary population and their demands to be treated with equality and dignity. The Republican Party, at both state and national levels, has gone so far as to adopt planks in their official policy platforms aimed squarely at restricting the rights of this community. Some states, such as North Carolina, have actually enacted such policies.
In more progressive areas, there has been pushback to this reactionary trend. Blue states and localities are expanding the infrastructure of gender-neutral/gender-inclusive accommodations; Prominent among these states is Oregon.
Oregon has no laws restricting the use of public restrooms on the basis of gender. While the tradition of having “men’s” and “women’s” restrooms largely continues, there are more and more gender-neutral, or “all gender,”facilities popping up in public buildings. The University of Oregon proactively follows this practice.
“For our campus facilities, the goal is to provide places where all people can have privacy and personal space,” Angela Seydel, the director of issues management for university communications, said. She said that there is a map of “all-gender restrooms” which “gets updated every year, just before fall term.” The university is in the process of completing this annual update, and Seydel expects it to be ready by the end of September.
The Dean of Students’ web page contains guidance on how to advocate for “all-gender or single-stall restrooms.” The DoS statement reads: “The costs of creating an all-gender restroom are paid for by the department housed within each building … currently, no university fund exists to pay for updating facilities for all-gender restrooms.” Restrooms can also be designed to be single-occupancy and therefore readily designated as gender-neutral. According to the Dean of
Students, adding all-gender restroom signs is the cheapest option, followed by renovating a multi-user gendered restroom to multi-user allgender. The most expensive option is adding new restroom facilities to an existing building.
A.C., a third-year English major who requested to just use their initials for this story, identifies as genderfluid. “When I can, I will absolutely take advantage of the school’s gender-neutral bathroom facilities instead of awkwardly wandering into a gendered public restroom,” they said. “If I have time, I’ll purposefully seek out a building with gender-neutral restrooms, but sometimes I’ll have to make do with the gendered ones.”
All-gender locker rooms and changing rooms are rarer. In the Student Rec Center, according to Seydel, there are currently “six all-gender bathrooms/changing rooms,” three of which have showers. There are just the two customary gendered locker rooms, though. The residence halls are more varied and inconsistent, and students must seek out specific information depending on where they reside. However, more all-gender and LGBTQIA+ dorms are becoming available, with inclusive restrooms and shower facilities.
A.C. has had some uncomfortable experiences.
They said the gendered shower facilities in the dorm where they lived were not private enough. Also, when renting a locker in the Student Rec Center, they were asked which locker room they intended on using. While not stating which one they chose, A.C. elaborated that “it was always a little awkward changing in there” and that they “tried to time it so I could be there when there weren’t a lot of people.”
Cassia Williams, an incoming first-year journalism major who identifies as non-binary, was “pleasantly surprised that the dorms for IntroDUCKtion had gender neutral restrooms,” at least on the floor they were on. Williams will be living in the New Residence Hall with two cisgender women.
“To be honest, I don’t really pay attention that much anymore ‘cause a bathroom is just a bathroom and I try not to let it bother me when there’s no gender-neutral option,” Williams said. As a general matter, they use “whatever’s nearest to me, and if that happens to be a general-neutral bathroom then that’s awesome.”
Having been assigned female at birth, though, Williams often defaults to utilizing a women’s restroom, “because I feel safer there and the men’s restroom grosses me out.”
While Oregon women’s soccer has struggled to start its 2023 season, one positive aspect has been the play of goalkeeper Maddy Goldberg.
The Ducks are without a win through nonconference play where they went 0-6-2. Part of the issue has been that the team is welcoming a large number of new faces. Of the 29 players on the roster, 15 of them are freshmen.
Goldberg is in her third year with the program, but had only played in three games prior to this season. It hasn’t looked like her first season as a starting goalkeeper with the confidence and strong performances she’s had.
“Oregon produces good goalkeepers and it’s the environment here that makes them,” head coach Graeme Abel said following the season opener against Baylor in which Goldberg recorded seven saves. “She stayed committed to it and she did really well.”
Goldberg is not the first goalkeeper that has
been a silver lining for a Ducks team with a losing record. Her predecessor, Leah Freeman, will go down as a program great.
Freeman transferred to Duke after spending three years with the Ducks. During that time, she broke multiple school records, including the lowest goals-against average (1.05). She became the program leader in shutouts (18) and was named Pac-12 goalkeeper of the year in 2022. Freeman set a new standard for what the level of goalkeeping should look like at Oregon.
“We have a really good goalkeeping environment and I give all credit to [Freeman] because we have a good relationship off the field,” Goldberg said. “So on the field that comes on. Whoever’s in goal, we root for them but at the same time in practice, it’s competitive. You know, we want each other’s spot.”
Goldberg has competed for the spot with Anna Solomon, Leah Parsons and Julia Richards. Even though Goldberg is the most experienced of the four, each of them has different strengths.
Richards, who’s a sophomore, played the most minutes prior to the season. Solomon is a redshirt freshman and also has experience being in the squad in 2022. Parsons is a freshman but has a lot of experience playing at the youth international level for Canada.
The competition was good enough that Abel and his coaching staff still hadn’t named a starting goalkeeper until a few days before the
2023 campaign began. The other players are still fighting for that starting position despite Goldberg’s performances.
“Typically we take two [goalkeepers] on the road. We’ve been taking three of them on the road to keep the competition good,” Abel recently said. “So Maddy has been doing well but the three behind her have been pushing her as well.”
The other goalkeepers have helped Goldberg to continue to raise the level of her play during the season. Even though she’s tallied 43 saves so far this season, she still takes accountability for the shots she wasn’t able to stop.
“I mean, when things go wrong in the backline that’s on me too,” Goldberg said. “I’m the one organizing back there. So it needs to be better from all of us.”
Abel said that Goldberg has been good with overall shot-stopping and defending set pieces, but communication with her defenders needs to get better.
“I think that control overall over a backline and the space behind the backline needs to continue to improve,” Abel said. “Goalkeepers have to get a hold of their two center backs, get a hold of the two outside backs and make sure they can control the space between themselves and that back four.”
The Ducks’ attention now shifts to drastically improving their record in conference play. The chances of making the NCAA Tournament are currently slim, but a shot at Pac-12 glory is still within reach. But as Oregon looks toward the future, it needs the rest of the team to match the mentality of its goalkeepers.
“WE HAVE A REALLY GOOD GOALKEEPING ENVIRONMENT AND I GIVE ALL CREDIT TO [FREEMAN] BECAUSE WE HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP OFF THE FIELD”
MADDYGOLDBERG, Oregon Goalkeeper referring to her predecessor, LEAH FREEMAN
