UO E-Clips is a daily report prepared by the Office of Communications (http://comm.uoregon.edu) summarizing current news coverage of the University of Oregon.
Media mentions for December 6
UO instructor’s ‘threat’ at heart of suit
The Register-Guard: Former American Sign Language instructor Peter Quint filed a federal lawsuit last year, saying his UO School of Education supervisors failed to respond effectively to his request for help dealing with some disruptive students in the class. Those students reportedly defied his policy that all communication be in sign language during the class. Instead, he alleged, they “talked continuously” and made derogatory comments about him, disrupting other students. In the UO’s motion to dismiss the suit, it argued that the school’s interest in “promoting efficient education services outweighed Quint’s interest in asking students, ‘You want me to take a gun out and shoot you in the head?’ ”
UO musicology professor wins Noah Greenberg Award
The Daily Emerald: University of Oregon associate professor of musicology Lori Kruckenberg received the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicology Society on Nov. 3, according to a UO School of Music and Dance news release. The award recognizes her work on a project entitled “Sounding the Neumatized Sequence,” a fusion of academia and performance ... Kruckenberg has been at the UO since 2001 and has taught survey courses on music history from the medieval and Renaissance periods, as well as specialty courses in the history of music theory and early music notations at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Streetcar fare cheats take a hike
Portland Tribune: “I never used to pay before they got those guys.” William Barnes, well-dressed in tie and sport jacket this Thursday afternoon, is pointing down the streetcar aisle toward Ticole Waller. Waller is Portland’s first streetcar officer. He’s checking fares ... Bill Harbaugh, a University of Oregon economist who studies the intersection of human behavior and public policy, says the deterrent effect can be distilled to a simple mathematical formula. “What works,” Harbaugh says, “is the product of getting caught and the fine if you do get caught.”
Beta Theta Pi releases additional statement on graffiti incident
The Daily Emerald: Beta Theta Pi made an additional statement Thursday concerning the graffiti that appeared Tuesday on the large University of Oregon sign facing Franklin Boulevard Thursday afternoon. The graffiti on both sides of the sign appeared to reference the fraternity. “This vandalism against the UO was also vandalism against the Beta fraternity. Although we had no involvement in this terrible behavior, we want to do our part in helping correct it. To that end, we will help defray the financial cost of cleaning the University sign and will make a contribution of $500 on behalf of the entire UO Greek system to a charity to be agreed upon. The Beta Rho chapter of the University of Oregon wants to make it clear that we reject the behavior that lead to this vandalism and that when our name is involved in anyway, we will defend our reputation and do what’s right to maintain a positive university community.” The University of Oregon Police Department is continuing the investigation.
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Media mentions for December 5
Police search for vandals of UO sign
The Register-Guard:University of Oregon police are trying to track down whoever wrote obscene graffiti on the new main UO entry sign on Franklin Boulevard late Monday or early Tuesday. The UO will press criminal charges and seek damages if it finds those responsible, UO police spokesman Kelly McIver said. If the culprits are UO students, they might also be punished under the student code of conduct, he said. Part of the graffiti states “Phi Kai Phi” and “King Beta,” possibly references to one or more fraternities. Student leaders with the UO chapter of Beta Rho issued a statement saying they neither condone nor encourage such defacement. Catching graffiti culprits can be tricky, McIver said, especially “if this is a one-time thing and doesn’t repeat itself.” However, sometimes informants with leads step forward, he said. He urged anyone with information to call 541-346-2919. The sign was installed earlier this year to replace a smaller, less visible UO sign at a different spot on Franklin.
KVAL: Students were surfing simulated waves at the University of Oregon campus during finals week when a group that appeared on the ABC show “Shark Tank” a few moths ago hosted classes at the rec center. While the students may not have actually been hanging ten in the water, they were getting a fun workout while riding on surfboards that were designed to recreate ocean-like conditions ... “It's definitely a challenging workout, something different,” said Haley Britt, a University of Oregon Senior in the business school. “It takes that cool surfing vibe, it's definitely hard to get to, and brings it into a classroom. I think that's a cool aspect of it.”
Students assist in recovery of stolen laptop
The Daily Emerald: Two students have been recognized by the University of Oregon Police Department after following a suspected thief and recovering a stolen laptop on campus. Robby Brown and Alana Rogers were studying at the Knight Library Sunday night when they saw what appeared to be a man stealing a laptop. The two students called police, while following the man out of the library. As the man fled, he threw the laptop into some bushes just as a UOPD officer pulled up and apprehended the suspected thief. “I can’t say enough about people getting involved like this,” said Pete Deshpande, UOPD Police Captain. “It’s so important for folks to let us know about what’s happening and where it’s happening.” The two students received a certificate of thanks from UOPD, and personal thanks from UOPD interim Chief Carolyn McDermed and Captain Pete Deshpande.
Yahoo! Finance Singapore: Just remember: “For better or for worse” also applies to housework. Makers of big household cleaning products are keeping close tabs on an important behavioral change inside American homes--the slow but steady reapportioning of domestic chores, as more men wash dishes, mop floors and do laundry ... Today, men on average do almost a third of housework, says Scott Coltrane, an author, sociologist and dean at the University of Oregon. That's up from an average of less than a fifth in 1965, when men mainly took out the trash and tended the yard. Data suggest the changes will last, Dr. Coltrane says. “Gender roles fall away when they no longer make sense.”
Right-to-work opponents claim bill is uneconomical
Daily Tribune: Opponents of “right-to-work” measures maintain there is no statistical evidence to show that the bills will stimulate the growth of Michigan’s economy. Gordon Lafer, a labor research professor at University of Oregon, said Wednesday that claims right-to-work legislation will actually spur growth are dubious at best in an era where manufacturing jobs are more likely to move from Michigan to Mexico, Vietnam or China than they are to South Carolina or Alabama. One of the arguments behind right-to-work is that it can help employers control labor costs. Lafer said that might have been true in the ’60s, ’70s and even ’80s, but enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 changed the situation.
End of the World - December 21, 2012 News
Latinos Post: To some, the looming 'apocalypse' is an omen of mortality and the limited time we are given on this earth; but for others, it's about the spectacle. University of Oregon Professor Daniel Wojcik refutes the question of whether or not the world will end, but instead dissects why we believe it. “I sense that a lot of people who are interested in 2012 are just plain interested because it is entertaining and weird, a new and alternative apocalyptic angle, and the ideas are so X-File, esoteric, and all over the map of belief, that you can find whatever you want in it, and then add your own doomsday ingredients to the millennial stew. There is not only good old doomsday fear here, but also the hope of worldly transformation.”
Tucson Weekly: In Rosemont Copper's alternate reality, a nature-adoring mine has already become fact, and big-money jobs lurk just over the hill--in this case, in the Santa Rita Mountains south of town. Within such mystical realms, appearance is everything ... The “partners” snafu only deepens Rosemont's substantial credibility gap, and may prove self-defeating, according to Tiffany Gallicano, an assistant professor of public relations at the University of Oregon. “One of the worst things you can do,” she says, “is alienate organized groups of people by pretending that you have their support without their permission.” She calls it green-washing “by pretending to have support that you don't have. It's also 'astro-turfing,' which means fake grassroots.” Either way, Gallicano says, “It's a huge abuse of trust.”