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 September 24
Oregon Students Start University Year In New Housing
Oregon Public Broadcasting: When Oregon's public university students start their first day of classes today, many of them will roll out of bed in brand-new rooms. The University of Oregon opened its first new dorm since 2006 to 450 students. The Global Scholars Hall is geared for students learning foreign languages. And University Pointe is Portland State University's new 16-story downtown student housing building. PSU sophomore Sabrina Wilken moved in Friday, after living at home in Hillsboro her freshman year. "Basically, it's easier to get to class, like if I have to turn in a paper last minute, or do something, see a teacher, I don't need to drive an hour and a half," she says. "I can just literally walk five minutes, which is a huge benefit." But Wilken chafes at the rent she pays at the privately-managed building. She pays just under $500 a month which is actually the lowest rent in the building. The student housing represents a shift away from PSU as a commuter school. The high-rise means 10percent of PSU's 30,000 students can now live on campus.
Latinos Barely Represented On Elected Bodies
Boise State Public Radio: Across the Northwest, Latinos make up nearly 12 percent of the population. Yet our research estimates only two percent of the region’s elected officials are Hispanic ... “That really kind of sets up this lack of formal participation within political institutions,” says Gerardo Sandoval, a public policy professor at the University of Oregon. He's written about Latino civic engagement. He says beyond just voting, lack of citizenship even keeps some Hispanics from showing up at City Council or school board meetings ... But Sandoval says the Northwest is on the cusp of a major change. In Oregon, for example, more than one in five public school students is Latino. That percentage has more than doubled in the past 15 years. And those kids are growing up.
The Register-Guard: Catherine Sedun remembers binge drinking among students when she attended college about a decade ago. Despite an influx of programs to combat the problem in recent years, she says it remains a top concern on many campuses. ... A year ago, using 2009 data, the U.S. Department of Education ranked the University of Oregon No. 3 among more than 200 comparably sized schools for the rate of students referred by housing, public safety and other campus officials for violating drug rules, and No. 4 for the number of students referred for violating alcohol rules.
EDITORIAL: The Knights’ latest gift
The Register-Guard: Oregon Health & Science University doesn’t have an athletics department. That underlines the fact that the philanthropic interests of Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, extend beyond sports. Last week the Knights announced that they will give $125 million to OHSU for a cardiovascular institute, building on their $100 million gift to the medical school and research center for a cancer institute in 2008 ... The Knights are the biggest single donors to the University of Oregon as well as to OHSU. In Eugene the largest gifts have been sports-related ... But the Knights have been generous donors to the UO’s academic programs as well, having made substantial gifts to the university’s library, law school and endowments.
Editorial: College football injuries need greater transparency
The Oregonian: College football coaches are famously myopic. So it is not surprising that much of the discussion over whether player injuries should be disclosed to the public has focused on whether it would give any team a competitive advantage ... Oregon coach Chip Kelly guards the information ... Dr. Gregory Skaggs, director of athletic medicine at the University of Oregon, said trainers log all injuries at practices and games, every treatment and the number of practices and games missed by injured players ... But those efforts take place behind the scenes. When the most prominent and powerful people involved in college football -- the coaches at high-profile programs -- treat injuries as an undiscussable topic, it sends the wrong message.
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Media mentions for September 23
The new facts of life: death and student debt
The Register-Guard: Too many high school seniors are starry eyed -- and too many parents are blindly hopeful -- when students take on college debts that can hobble them for decades, if not a lifetime, financial aid publisher Mark Kantrowitz says.”Students should be apprised early on,” said Roger Thompson, the University of Oregon’s vice provost for enrollment management. “This is what you’re borrowing. This is what your payments are going to be. This is how long it will take you to pay the loan back.”
Bob Welch speaks with UO athletic director: Ducks’ success carries a price
The Register-Guard: As Rob Mullens, the University of Oregon athletic director, considers the question in his corner office on Thursday at the Casanova Center, you can’t help but notice the juxtaposition ... “I understand, and agree, that the loyal fans, particularly in this community, have contributed a great deal over a long period of time to allow us to arrive where we are today,” Mullens says. “At the same time, I also know there’s an expectation that with this recent success that we maintain that success. And so how do we make that happen? How do we continue the momentum to be a Top 10 football program?”
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Media mentions for September 22
K-12 Educators: Get Your Kids Involved in the Presidential Election Through Engage2012.Org
The Huffington Post: If we want to know what voters are really thinking about the issues facing the presidential candidates, ask the kids. They always tell it like it is ... Engage2012.org is for students in K-12 and is run by the non-profit Media Arts Institute ... The Engage in Democracy 2012 Student Journalism Challenge was founded in the spring of 2012 by leaders and educators from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication ... The project will be administered by educators from the University of Oregon, Baruch College, the Media Arts Institute and by student leaders from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.