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D A I LY E M E R A L D . C O M
⚙ MONDAY
FREE SPEECH IN
SAFE SPACES THESE ARE REPORTS FROM ACTUAL STUDENTS AND CAMPUS COMMUNITY MEMBERS submitted to the Bias Education and
Response Team, which takes these reports and often tries to start a conversation with the offending party. Now, some faculty say the team is restricting free speech on campus.
W E I R D A L T O P E R F O R M I N E U G E N E O N F R I D AY
I N T E R N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S C U P R E C A P
C A N W E P R E V E N T P O W E R O U TA G E S O N C A M P U S ?
đ&#x;‘? ENTERTAINMENT When satire eclipses the thing it was meant to spoof, it’s especially poignant. Take, for example, when you hear the nimble strings from the 1876 ballet “Dance of the Hours.â€? You likely don’t think of Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli, but rather Allan Sherman’s perky lines: “All the counselors / Hate the waiters / And the lake has / Alligatorsâ€? from “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.â€? In the case of “Weird Alâ€? Yankovic, who’s visiting the Cuthbert Amphitheater this Friday, his parodies supplant the original all the time. On YouTube, his 1998 song “Amish Paradiseâ€? has more than twice the plays of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.â€? When Weird Al’s career began, he was considered as a one-hit wonder with his early tracks such as “My Bolognaâ€? or “Eat Itâ€? (parodies of The Knacks’ “My Sharonaâ€? and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,â€? respectively). And it’s still easy to pigeonhole Weird Al as some kind of bygone act, but that would be just as delusional as his early critics; in fact, his career has never been more pronounced and successful than it is today. By keeping a finger on the pulse of pop music, Yankovic has effectively insulated himself from cultural irrelevance. In 2014, Yankovic released his most recent album Mandatory Fun, on which he puts the likes of Lorde, Pharrell, Robin Thicke, Cat Stevens and Iggy Azalea. The album reached no. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts and was the first comedy album to do so since Allen Sherman’s My Son, The Nut (which features “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.â€?) in 1963. Mandatory Fun also won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album, which marked Yankovic’s fourth Grammy since 1985. Al said he’s prone to receiving suggestions from fans, who sometimes pitch him song parodies of their own. “That was the bane of my existence,â€? he told
(Courtesy of the Artist)
WEIRD AL
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the Emerald, “walking down the street or in the supermarket and somebody says, ‘Oh, I’ve had this great idea since the third grade and I finally got a chance to share it with you ‌ ’ And it’s almost always something horrible.â€? He added that since the advent of YouTube, he’s been pitched much less often. “Now if someone has a great idea,â€? he said, “they can just go do it themselves.â€? At the start of his career, Al was a college student studying architecture at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, but soon realized that his major wasn’t his passion. “What I learned is if you’re not passionate about something, don’t do it if you can help it,â€? he said. “You’ve got to eat. You’ve got to pay for the macaroni and cheese. But I figured out about my third year in architecture school that it wasn’t my muse.â€? Still, Yankovic’s career skyrocketed, spanning music (both parody and some great originals), film, television and children’s books. His impression is everywhere in our culture. Just consider Don McLean, who wrote “American Pieâ€? before Yankovic changed it to a ballad about the Star Wars prequels (“The Saga Beginsâ€?). Allegedly, McLean’s children have played Yankovic’s version for him at home so often that it’s messed him up while playing it live. After Chamillionaire took home the Best Rap Song Grammy for “Ridin’,â€? he allegedly approached Yankovic on the red carpet to thank him for his parody “White and Nerdyâ€? on 2006’s Straight Outta Lynwood. Maybe in the future, we won’t be able to remember Pharrell’s “Happyâ€? without thinking about Al’s “Tackyâ€? behavior: “I would live-tweet a funeral, take selfies with the deceased!â€? One can hope.
đ&#x;“… CALENDAR THIS WEEK IN THURSDAY, JULY 28TH
MONDAY, JULY 25TH
➥
JOSHUA POWELL AND THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY AT HI-FI MUSIC HALL (44 E. 7TH AVE.) AT 9 P.M. TICKETS ARE $5 AT THE DOOR
BRAEDON KWIECIEN
ADULT PAINTING SESSION WITH ALAN M. CLARK AT THE EMERALD ART CENTER (500 MAIN ST.) FROM 7 P.M. TO 10 P.M. — $15
When Joshua Powell started playing music in Anderson, Indiana, his style was a mix of high school heavy metal and Jimmy Buffett flavor. But Powell’s band is constantly changing, and the musician and poet will bring his more current brand of happy folk tunes to Eugene with his fourman band.
The Emerald Art Center’s weekly gathering provides aspiring artists with experience, advice and community. On Thursday, artist Alan Clark will mentor artists with their acrylic work, drawing or any other kind of illustration work. You can bring art that you are currently working on or come ready to start a new piece.
FRIDAY, JULY 29TH
TUESDAY, JULY 26TH
‘WEIRD AL’ YANCOVIC AT THE CUTHBERT AMPHITHEATER (2300 LEO HARISS PKWY.)
CANNABIS SCIENCE PUB! AT WHIRLED PIES PIZZA (199 WEST 8TH AVE.) FROM 6 P.M. TO 9 P.M. — FREE
GATES OPEN AT 5:30 P.M., SHOW STARTS AT 7 P.M. — TICKETS START AT $33 FOR GENERAL ADMISSION
Interested in the cannabis industry now that it’s legal? The topic of this monthly gathering is industrial hemp growing and management. This special event offers trivia, educational presentations from a panel of experts and an opportunity to grab a beer and network with other cannabis connoisseurs. All ages are welcome regardless of the 21-and-up topic.
From his humble start with the accordion at age seven, musical comedy legend Weird Al Yankovic now comes to Eugene’s Cuthbert Amphitheater to remind us how “white and nerdy� he really is. The Emerald spoke to Yankovic about his new, record breaking album Mandatory Fun and his North American tour of the same name (see page two). The last candidate for chief of the UOPD will visit campus on Monday and answer questions from students.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27TH FUNK JAM AT HI-FI MUSIC HALL (44 E. 7TH AVE.) AT 9 P.M. — FREE. 21+ It’s easy to get your groove on this Wednesday night at the Funk Jam hosted at Hi-Fi Music Hall. Dressing for the occasion is recommended, so bring your funkiest outfit and your dancing shoes.
The Emerald is published by Emerald Media Group, Inc., the independent nonprofit media company at the University of Oregon. Formerly the Oregon Daily Emerald, the news organization was founded in 1900. VO L . 1 1 8 , I S S U E N O. 6
GET IN TOUCH EMERALD MEDIA GROUP 1 2 2 2 E . 1 3 T H AV E . , # 3 0 0 EUGENE, OR 97403 541.346.5511
EUGENE SATURDAY MARKET ON THE CORNER OF 8TH AVENUE AND OAK STREET FROM 10 A.M. TO 5 P.M. — FREE
MONDAY, JULY 25TH UOPD CHIEF CANDIDATE VISITS EUGENE AT THE KNIGHT LIBRARY BROWSING ROOM (1501 KINCAID ST.) FROM 11 A.M. TO 3:30 P.M. — FREE The third and final police chief candidate for the UOPD is visiting campus on Monday, July 25. Brenda Trobaugh, current Deputy Chief of Police at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo will be holding a public forum for students from 11 to 11:50 a.m. to kick off the day. She will then give a public presentation and hold a Q&A session from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. and a presentation for faculty and staff from 3:40 to 4:25 p.m. These presentations will be held in the Knight Library browsing room.
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SATURDAY, JULY 30TH
This open air marketplace offers fresh produce, handcrafted wares and an international food court boasting the world’s most delicious flavors immigrated to Eugene. Go for breakfast, lunch, gifts or simply to pass the time in the summer sun. The market also invites local artists to perform live, and this Saturday will host six local musical acts.
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This illustration took student submissions from the Bias and Education Response Team’s 2014-15 report and adapted them into firstperson statements. Illustration by Mary Vertulfo.
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES NICOLE ADKISSON LINDSEY SMITH
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đ&#x;“– COVER
FACULTY WANT TO AMEND THE BIAS EDUCATION AND RESPONSE TEAM
➥
WILL CAMPBELL @WTCAMPBELL
In May 1999, a University of Oregon student said to his class that Hispanic people have a poor work ethic. The campus exploded in a controversy that led to a protest, a sit-in and the arrest of 31 students. This upheaval gave birth to what is today the Bias Education and Response Team. Now, if you see or hear something offensive on campus, you can report it to BERT; their mission is to start a conversation before a situation like what occured in May 1999 happens again. BERT is a team of staff that receives and reviews reports of bias or racism on campus by “offering support, referral and opportunities for dialogue,� according to its mission statement. Administrators designed BERT as a team of educators, but faculty leaders are worried BERT is interfering with free speech. After 17 years of operation, faculty members are trying to change the way BERT operates.
The History of BERT
BERT was created in May 1999, when a comment made by a student sparked a protest that resulted in the arrest of 31 students, according to an Emerald article from 1999. The ignition point was a presentation on Hispanic communities in which a UO student said Hispanic individuals have poor work ethic and blamed their culture. In the heated discussion that followed, students took to email to criticize or defend the statement. Eventually, a student threatened three women in the class. He said to one Asian student over email that if she didn’t shut up, “you will see what racism truly is.� Former president Dave Frohnmayer didn’t expel the student. A rally at the Erb Memorial Union followed, and 75 protesters went to Johnson Hall to stage a sit-in. When they stayed after-hours on the floor of Johnson Hall, 31 were arrested for trespassing. Students demanded action after the arrests. One demand included the formation of a “discrimination response team� that would “notify authorities, provide victim support and ensure due process for the accused discriminator.� This discrimination response team evolved into the Bias Response Team, which was recently renamed the Bias Education and Response Team.
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People are afraid to speak up.” DR. KYU YOUM UO journalism professor, leading expert on free speech
Racism is not as blatant today, said Quantrell Willis, the assistant dean of students at UO and chair of BERT. “Racist organizations have figured out, ‘Maybe we don’t need to do this on TV and in public,’” Willis said. Controversy arose when BERT released its 2014-15 public report, UO spokesman Tobin Klinger notes. The report includes over 80 case summaries ranging from offensive posters to sexist comments to physical assault. None of these reports named specific people or departments — only where the incident took place. On each of these cases, the report describes how BERT responded; many reports were simply submitted so there could be a record. But on some, BERT sent case managers to meet with both sides. In one case, when graduate students said there was a lack of “cultural competency” in their department, BERT set up a conversation between 12 students and 14 staff and faculty members. Discussions and trainings aren’t obligatory, Willis said. However, there are situations listed in the BERT report where departments hosted cultural competency trainings because of a complaint. It’s unclear if these were required; Willis could not discuss specific cases.
Points of contention
BERT needs oversight, Dr. Kyu Ho Youm thinks. Youm is a leading expert on free speech and holds the Jonathan Marshall First Amendment Chair at UO’s School of Journalism and Communication. BERT doesn’t have a set of specific guidelines and has intimidated Youm’s colleagues, Youm said. “People are afraid to speak up (against BERT),” Youm said. Youm’s fear is that faculty members, especially non-tenured employees, are at risk of losing their jobs due to BERT’s unchecked actions. BERT says in its mission statement that its purpose is not to investigate the reports it receives. UO Senate President Bill Harbaugh says administration shouldn’t have influence over what goes on in the classroom. Youm believes the culture BERT creates keeps students from the “real world” by coddling them. “Being offended is part of intellectual growth,” said Youm.
Willis says BERT doesn’t want to police people on what to say, but educate them on how to say it. “Sometimes we just don’t know the things that we say could harm someone,” Willis said. BERT helps measure bias and racism at the University of Oregon, Willis said. BERT has not yet released a report for the 2015-2016 school year, but Willis expects more cases because of the current presidential race.
The future
The rupture in perspectives caused faculty members to form their own team to audit BERT. On June 30, University Senate formed a task force responsible for observing the Bias Education and Response Team, and will be chaired by journalism professor Chris Chavez and math professor Chris Sinclair. The task force aims to see what BERT has been doing, Sinclair said. This includes what BERT investigates, what materials it collects, what it does with those materials, whether there has been disciplinary action and what impact BERT has on freedom of speech in the classroom. The task force and Willis are willing to work together: Both sides advocate for some kind of resource for students who feel they’ve experienced bias. Sinclair said he doesn’t expect a complete dissolution of BERT but a more transparent and structured policy. Bias response teams can be found at some other universities in the U.S., such as Chicago University and University of Northern Colorado, but Youm thinks that this task force is the first in the nation to address free speech concerns. The task force has not yet held a meeting but is in the process of recruiting members. The first meeting will be held before the start of fall term, Sinclair said. After an investigation — however long it takes — the task force will make recommendations to the office of the Dean of Students. Willis says administration will be as transparent as possible when changing BERT. He says he wants to hear ideas from the community. “This is not something we’re trying to hide,” Willis said.
Examples of Bias reports, word for word: A student reported that a guest lecturer characterized a group of people in a biased and discriminatory manner. Bias Type: Race Location: Classroom Response: A BRT Advocate met with the reporter, and a BRT Case Manager facilitated a conversation between the student and the professor. A staff member reported that a poster featured a triggering image. Bias Type: Body Size Location: Housing Response: Reported for information only. A BRT Advocate offered support to the reporter. Response: Reported for information only. A BRT Advocate offered support to the reporter. An instructor reported that a student called them a derogatory slur in a course evaluation. Bias Type: Gender, Gender Identity/Expression Location: Online Response: A BRT Advocate spoke with the reporter, and a BRT Case Manager met with the registrar, who was able to have the slur redacted from the evaluation and is exploring the possibility of preventing this in the future. Source: bias.uoregon.edu
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đ&#x;“Ł OPINION
Want to reach the UO Community?
SOLUTIONS:
HOW DO WE PREVENT THOSE
PESKY POWER OUTAGES?
(Brandon Montes-Nguyen)
A power outage struck a significant portion of campus in the afternoon on July 13, cutting electricity in 19 buildings. It wasn’t a major disaster, but students, faculty and staff felt the consequences of the six-hour affair. The library closed, classes ended early and unsaved work vanished. It caused more than a few of us to wonder: With today’s technology (and enough of our tuition money), shouldn’t the University of Oregon be better at preventing outages — or, in the least, getting power back quicker? To sum my post-investigation answer: yes and no. In some respects, power outages are inevitable. The one that occurred Wednesday was caused by a great and terrible — drumroll please — rat. According toTony Hardenbrook, UO Director of Utilities and Energy, the rodent made contact with an exposed 12,500-volt circuit on Sunday. It died immediately but left a fault that overheated a spliced feeder cable a few days later when the campus was using more electricity. This cable was 35 years old — a senior citizen in electrical years — but it had been tested about a month before and deemed safe, Hardenbrook said. When unplanned power outages happen, trained utilities staff respond with systematic, safety-first precautions. Certified electricians walk the five miles of electrical tunnels under campus “to inspect the electrical connections, to make sure there hasn’t been a fire and to ensure all the equipment is intact,� Hardenbrook said. “And then during the troubleshooting portion, we have to do it all over again.� So there are some aspects of power outages, unfortunately, that no one can reasonably eradicate. The good news is that these types of outages don’t happen often. According to Hardenbrook, the last unplanned, utility-level outage was in December of 2014; it was part of a city-wide failure of a grid powered by the Eugene Water
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and Electricity Board. The Oregonian reported the failure was the result of “severe weather,� which cut electricity to over 40,000 homes across Oregon. The even-better news is that the Utilities Department is implementing tools to predict failures early and take action before there’s an impact to campus. The department recently hired an engineering firm to assist with a master utility plan, which includes predictive maintenance and testing, higher equipment standards and a plan to phase out old utilities such as the spliced cable that caused the recent outage, Hardenbrook said. By the end of this year, the department also hopes to launch an Enterprise-wide Asset Management System, a software-based program that, among other things, will help calculate the operational lifespan of equipment and systems. Hardenbrook said the department also hired two new electricians and invested in better training. Under the leadership of Vice President for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt, these changes are being made with the help of four other departments, and they’re being made in a financially-prudent (read: not tuition-raising) way. By raising the efficiency of utility equipment, operating costs should go down, Hardenbrook said. He added that every dollar his team saves “lessens the pressures placed on tuition or the general fund.� “It’ll take three to five years to really get traction and see definitive levels of failure reductions,� Hardenbrook said. “We’re not up to speed yet, but all the things are falling into place.� In the end, campus power outages are a problem, but this is one of those rare cases where the solution is simple: Be patient. There’s a team of experts working on it.
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⚡ SPORTS Paris Saint-Germain walks on to the field before the start of the game at Autzen Stadium. (Kaylee Domzalski)
ATTENDANCE FALLS FLAT FOR MATCH BETWEEN PSG AND INTER MILAN AT AUTZEN STADIUM ➡ JARRID
D E N N E Y, @ J A R R I D _ D E N N E Y
After months of hype and promotion — as well as the stripping of Autzen Stadium’s turf — a highly touted International Champions Cup match between futbol super clubs Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain was played in Eugene on July 24. When the match was announced in the spring, University of Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens stated that the Oregon athletic department and ICC parent company Relevant Sports hoped to draw a sell-out crowd to Autzen. They didn’t even get halfway there. In the 84th minute, just before Serge Aurier scored his second goal of the day to give PSG a 3-1 lead that would hold as the final score, the official attendance flashed across the Duck Vision scoreboard: 24,147 people showed up to watch. The average attendance of an Oregon football home game in 2015 was 57,324. “The crowd was good,” Inter Milan defender Davide Santon said. “It was a little small during the match. Obviously in Italy there’s a little bit more people in the stadium.” Fans traveled from locations all over the world to watch a top-caliber brand of soccer that they may never have another chance to
see in person. Tickets were reasonably priced — some were listed for as little as $25.00 in the week leading up. But at slow points during the match, the stadium fell grave-quiet and the emptiness of Autzen was obvious. Victor Ferral, a fan from Boise, Idaho, traveled to Oregon with a group of friends for a “soccer weekend” to watch the Portland Timbers and Los Angeles Galaxy play in Portland on Friday and then the ICC match on Sunday. While he thought the ICC draw was more enjoyable because of the caliber of players, he also felt it lacked a certain atmosphere. “I think Portland and L.A. was much more intimate,” Ferral said. “It was the same amount of people, but the stadium is much smaller than Autzen and Portland’s fans are attached.” The ICC match was part of a 10-team annual tournament in which some of the world’s top club travel around the U.S. and Europe to prepare for their respective domestic leagues while giving fans pre-season glimpse. In the past, tickets have sold remarkably well for some matches. When Manchester United and Real Madrid played in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 2014, 109,000 fans packed “The Big House” on the University of Michigan campus.
For some reason, the match in Eugene didn’t result in the same sort of fanfare. “[Eugene] would probably never be one of the cities where, off the top of their head, they say ‘let’s go visit Eugene,’ but this gives people an excuse to visit, as well as fans from all over the country,” Charlie Stillitano, chairman of Relevant Sports, said. “There may be a Paris fan from New York coming out to see the game.” Stillitano said that both PSG and Inter Milan’s affiliation with Nike played a large part in each side being selected to play in Eugene, but the selection also left the match without a true megastar who is recognizable to non-soccer fans. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t playing. Lionel Messi wasn’t playing. PSG’s Ángel Di María is arguably the most well-known player for either side, and spent all but nine minutes on the bench. Neither Relevant Sports nor the University of Oregon athletic department have announced if Autzen will host another match next summer. But if attendance is any indicator, Eugene’s soccer community isn’t interested in meeting the lofty attendance expectations that Mullens and the athletic department hold.
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START COMMANDING ATTENTION. START OUT ON TOP. START RAISING THE BAR. START HIGHER. START ONE STEP AHEAD. START MOVING UP. START STRONG FROM DAY ONE. START STRONG.
There’s strong. Then there’s Army Strong. Want to be a leader in life? Joining Army ROTC at UO is the strongest way to start. You’ll learn leadership skills, and can earn a full-tuition, merit-based scholarship. After graduation, you’ll also be a U.S. Army Officer. To learn more, visit goarmy.com/rotc/fn37.
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As a student in Military Science, you’ll be eligible for a 40% discount while living in university housing. Please stop by our office on the corner of 17th and Agate Street or contact Darren McMahon at 541-346-7682 or mcmahond@uoregon.edu
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