“I have seen the library, I have studied a lot, I deserve my grades…..” these are the catchy lyrics of “Call Me a Duck”, the new single by On the Rocks.
Recently featured on the NBC show The Sing-Off, On the Rocks, or OTR is a University of Oregon men’s a cappella group known for their showery. UO is showing it’s pride in the group not by featuring works the group has done, or their website, but rather by showcasing OTR’s new single “Call Me a Duck” on the UO homepage.
It could be the graphing calculator, the globe, the line about how they’ve seen the library, or the appearance of Puddles, but the song seems like a shameless plug for UO created by the advertising department and not something written by the group.
Though the song may lure gobs of teenage girls to apply to the university, the single doesn’t hold a candle to other works by OTR, or for that matter, “I Love My Ducks”. If you really must watch the video (though I wouldn’t suggest it) see below:
My advice, skip “Call Me a Duck” and just watch “Bad Romance” over and over again (yes, I know Alex is probably wincing, but a girl’s got to support her ducks):
In an act of complete and utter idiocy, the principal of a Manhattan school severely restricted students’ access to bathrooms, purportedly because of two fights in the lavatories during class (WINS New York). It backfired a little bit — hundreds of the school’s 2,400 students responded by rioting, a the local CBS affiliate reported.
School surveillance cameras captured the scene. The typical chaos ensued as they swarmed the halls screaming and protesting. Some students identified in the footage are facing disciplinary action.
While bathrooms are merely a privilege afforded to students, this event leads me to wonder whether American schools becoming too authoritarian. What do you think?
The OSU community has seen quite a bit of action in the last week or so, here are the most notable events:
OSU closes early for Thanksgiving break. Snow? Nope, college doesn’t close for snow! Fire, on the other hand, will shut down campus. Wednesday morning the there was a fire in the underground steam tunnels causing campus to smell worse than usual, not to mention the electrical problems it caused.
“The University’s Corvallis campus is closing for the remainder of the day, effective at noon. Damage, smoke issues and other complications resulting from an electrical fire this morning in the university’s steam tunnels has caused widespread problems with electrical service, heating, smoke and network connectivity in a long and growing number of buildings. For the safety of our students, employees and campus visitors, please know that you may leave for the remainder of the day, though essential personnel are expected to remain on the job.”
Former OSU student, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, attempted to set off a bomb during the Christmas tree lighting in Portland, but instead got played by the FBI (props to the FBI!).
The Corvallis Mosque that Mohamed Osman Mohamud attended was set afire. FBI presume it’s related to the attempted bombing (you think?) and are offering a gratuitous sum of $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.
ASOSU sends e-mail to students encouraging them to hold hands and sing kumbaya in these troubling times. The e-mail proceeds to say that Mohamed Osman Mohamud’s involvement with the bomb is “sad” but that students should respect each other. Hmmm, ironic that the ASOSU is trying to teach respect when the bombing illustrates a complete lack of respect…..Here’s the text of the e-mail (emphasis mine):
“…OSU Students,
As some or most of you are aware, there was an incident this weekend in Portland involving a former OSU Student and an attempt to bomb the Christmas Tree Lighting in Portland’s Pioneer Square. At 2:15 Sunday morning, someone set fire to the Corvallis Mosque, a place of worship for the Corvallis Muslim community. It hasn’t been confirmed whether this was intentional or not, but it is assumed that this arson was in reply to the attempted bombing in Portland.
We want to make it clear to each and every student at OSU we operate as a community, a community that works and lives together as one, inclusive of race, religious orientation, sex, gender, age, size, class, or any other factor that might set us apart.
We need to respect everyone’s differences and we need to realize that the actions of one do not reflect the ideals of many. While the suspected “Christmas Tree” bomber did attend the Mosque that was set to fire, that person also attended OSU. We will not place unjust accusations upon groups of people or organizations of which this individual was a member. This individual made his own choices, choices that should not reflect that of our Muslim student population or our Corvallis Muslim community and we should not be putting them at blame. When it all comes down to it, we are all students. We are all striving at the chance for an education that many people do not get. We are all preparing for dead week and finals week and the stress of tests and projects. We are all part of the OSU community and we should all stand by one another.
It is sad that a former student of OSU was involved so heavily with a bomb plot in Portland, but we will not let this rip apart the community that we have created on campus. We are still students of OSU and we will continue to respect one another despite our many differences. We will not allow these incidents to cause a rift between students because of religion or any other affiliation. We will rise above this and we will show everyone that OSU is a place of diversity, a place that respects each and every student, each and every culture, each and every difference that we all may have.
ASOSU”
President Ed Ray releases a statement, which is then forwarded to students, saying he disapproves of the arson and condemns hate crimes. Effective President Ray, Effective-because extremists and arsonists are going to change their ways due to an e-mail from you. In addition, a candle light vigil was held today, why? Who the heck knows. From President Ray (who might need to consult the ASOSU, as their e-mail was actually more inspiring):
“While it is important to note that in the American criminal justice system our courts determine guilt or innocence, it is equally important to condemn the activities described in the FBI investigation of Mohamed Osman Mohamud as defenseless and reckless and having no place in civilized society. I share the outrage and shock expressed by others that anyone might have planned to cause such indiscriminate death and destruction.
We must not compound the harm already done by this incident but rather come together as a community here at Oregon State University and throughout the broader Corvallis community. With the support of that broader community we are educating our students to be global citizens and helping students learn about cultures, languages, histories and faith practices around the world. The fire reportedly set at Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center on Sunday is an act of hate and cowardice, and I condemn it in the strongest terms. Members of the mosque include faculty, staff and students at our university, as well as friends and neighbors and are an important part of who we are as a community. They deserve our most heartfelt regrets for this despicable act and our ready hands to help rebuild what has been lost….
There will be a candlelight vigil tomorrow evening, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center, 610 N.W. Kings Blvd. As other opportunities to support our friends and neighbors arise, we will share them through OSU internal media.”
It seems that our friends at OSU have been a little less than boring lately.
Want to do something entirely useful with your time instead? Well look no further. Click below for computer science’s greatest ever contribution to humanity. Happy studying!
The ASUO Senate is a public body that deals with $12 million in student money. Their emails are — surprise, surprise — public record.
So I put in a public records request for all emails from May 25, 2010 until now:
November 16, 2010
Mr. Fielding
Ombudsperson
ASUO Senate
EMU Suite 4
1228 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
Dear Mr. Fielding,
Pursuant to the Oregon open records law, ORS 192.410 to 192.505, I write to request a digital copy of all email correspondence sent to [email protected] or [email protected] from May 25, 2010, to present. If you do not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian’s name and address.
I agree to pay any reasonable copying and postage fees of not more than $5. If the cost would be greater than this amount, please notify me. Please provide a receipt indicating the charges for each document.
If you choose to deny my request, please provide a written explanation for the denial including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. If some of these records are disclosable and others are exempt, please provide the disclosable records and let me know the exemption(s) preventing disclosure of the rest.
Please understand that we seek these records for the purposes of public interest, and we hope that the spirit of openness in Oregon government will prevail.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Alyssa Diamond
Managing Editor
Oregon Commentator
EMU Room 319
1228 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
From Mr. Ian Fielding, I received this response:
Jubilant Jalousean Jannocking Journalists,
Ex-senator Diamond, you recently contacted me via a lovely letter to have access to all Senate emails from May 25th 2010 onwards. I ensure you that are [sic] senate conversations are absolutely enthralling. As a former senator, and current prestigious journalist, I can understand your lust for this information.
Franklin, you seemed to echo the aforementioned similar sentiments of Ex-Senator Diamond. After all, who would want to miss out on experiencing the exhilarating rush of deciphering senate emails!
I want to make sure both of your requests are fulfilled so you can join me, and my fellow senate members, in analyzing fun issues!
In order to receive this information we will need you both to fill out an official public record request for this information. I have taken the liberty of providing you a link to the appropriate webpage to do so:
We also will need you to cover the costs that it will take to provide you with this substantial amount of information. If the cost is inaccessible I will look to find ways to make it more accessible.
If you have any further questions or need additional aid in this process feel free to contact me!
Much love,
Ian Fielding
Senate Ombudsperson AKA The Sergeant in Arms
Hey journalism students — what’s wrong with this picture?
I spoke to Franklin today (ASUO reporter for the Ol’ Dirty) and apparently he went to Ian to whine about the fact that I got access to information he didn’t have, and thus I was able to scoop him. LOL to that.
My response to Ian:
Ian,
Uhh . . . that is a link to the department of corrections website. You sure that’s where you wanted to send me? The letter I sent you WAS an official public records request. With reference to the statutes and all.
Please let me know exactly what else you need from me. I am willing to cover costs up to $5 without any other correspondence, but if it is going to be more than that, you have to tell me why, and provide a reciept. Also, please keep in mind that I requested a digital copy, not printed copies.
Thank you,
Alyssa Diamond
Ran into ASUO Senate President Zachary Stark-MacMillan in the EMU a little while ago, and he said something about how the ASUO is an entity of the UO, so they’re going to have to run the request to UO’s general counsel.
So much for student autonomy, I guess. (Alternate statement here – wah wah wah wah wah.)
The Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee’s benchmark proposal has fallen into the Commentator‘s hands, and it includes 100% funding for OSPIRG at $117,000.
The benchmark includes increases for every contract except the United States Student Association. The largest increase, besides refunding OSPIRG, is for LTD, but that is a story for another day.
In response to The Great American Smoke-In tomorrow (noon in the EMU Amphitheater), ASUO President Amélie Rousseau has organized a Smoke-Out. (Is she going to get us high? I don’t think so.) [Emphasis in original.]
Hi all,
A tobacco-free campus is a comin’! We are excited that this campus policy change will soon be announced.
The ASUO and the Clean Air Project are organizing a UO smoke-OUT, this Thursday 12-1 in the EMU amphitheater. The smoke-out is in response to the ‘Coalition of On Campus Smokers’ smoke-in event at the same time. We will meet at 11:45 am by the silver chair in the EMU to distribute signs and t-shirts. Even if you can’t come for the whole time, please come for a bit!
We will be participating in a discussion and passing out information about health effects of tobacco, reminding people that 75% of students believe that the right to breathe clean air should take precedence over the right to smoke.
We are also having a sign-making party at the ASUO office, Wednesday from 4-5 pm, where we will be creating some beautiful, positive messaging! If you are artsy/have neat handwriting, please come!
I’m not even going to go into precedence of rights. You guys are smarter than that.
Also, I like that it was us taking action that influenced the ASUO to take action. This is already a victory.
But the most interesting part of all this is Rousseau’s claim that they are going to be “participating in discussion.” FINALLY. The most fascinating part of this smoke-free campus business is that we are the only ones who are talking about it. The Executive has made no effort to engage students in the discussion, and it took an event put on by the Oregon Commentator and the Coalition of On-Campus Smokers (which is barely a real thing) to get them to do anything at all.
So many of the things Rousseau has done this year were shady in some way or another. Why won’t the ASUO be honest and open with the students who elected them? Is it so hard to have an open forum to talk about things? What are they hiding? What are their intentions?
Point being, I’m glad she’s going to have a discussion. It’ll be the first of her administration, and it’s long overdue.
If you’d like to engage in that discussion, please come tomorrow at noon to the EMU Amphitheater. I don’t care if you go to the smoke-out or the smoke-in. It doesn’t really matter. Just force the ASUO to have the conversation.
[Author’s note: To quote a friend, “That’s, like, something Reese Witherspoon’s character would do in Election.”]
According to various news sources, the post office in the EMU will be shut down effective December 31st. This is going to be a large problem for international students, freshmen, students with disabilities for whom travel is no small task, students with no wheeled transport, and busy people in general.
Will there be a protest? Will there be an outcry? Unlikely, as no one at UO enjoys protesting things that have an actual impact on student’s day-to-day lives. Did the Phil Knight just gift the University a 41.7 million dollar moated glass brick in order for athletes to more effectively copy their homework? Yes. But, lets be real, no one really gives a shit about anything but sports at this school, so why would they spend on anything else?
A map with directions to the University’s new post office location will be posted whenever we can figure out where exactly the “Southside Station” is.
At tonight’s ASUO Senate meeting, President Rousseau announced that the ASUO is moving forward with a smoke-free campus policy. The Executive received an $800,000 grant to be spent over a number of years from PacificSource Health Plans as part of their Healthy Campus Initiative. The plan would be implemented over two years, starting with a “Great American Smoke Out” in November. The money from PacificSource will go to the hiring of three staff members, one full time and one part time, to deal with creating a healthy campus. Rousseau stated that a Tobacco Free Campus would be the primary issue those people will work on, specifically a promotion and education plan. Rousseau mentioned adding signage promoting a smoke-free campus and taking down the smoking stations, but there would be no enforcement of the policy other than peer pressure and a culture change. The idea is to educate new students that UO is a tobacco-free campus, so that is their expectation when they become students. Rousseau also mentioned that Oregon State University is implementing a policy in January, and she would love to do it first.
Other campuses in the country do this, including Arkansas and Kentucky. Should Oregon be added to that list? Comment it up, kids, I want to know what you think. Then I’ll tell you what I think (although I think you already know).
P.S. Smoke-in next week. More details with the next post.
So, in case this blog is your one and only news source (as it should be,) some Duke graduate took too many of her roommate’s Adderall and made a PowerPoint presentation detailing the sexual performance of every guy she fucked in college. It’s understandable, really, who hasn’t created an intricate digital record of their conquests, including bar graphs, photos, and a “Memorable Moments” quotes section?
Karen F. Owen’s only real mistake was emailing to her three best friends, who, as any Lifetime movie can attest, will take every chance to humiliate you on a national scale. The list went fully viral after the blogs Jezebel and Deadspin posted the full presentation, and it’s been getting attention from The Today Show and the New York Times.
Owen has pussed out, saying she regrets the list “with all my heart. I would never intentionally hurt the people that are mentioned on it.” This writer, however, sees this document as a valuable teaching tool, not only for the men on the list, but for the sexually inept everywhere. Subject 7 gives a lesson in neediness when he texts “…?” exactly every 13 minutes, and Subject 3 shows the importance of praise with his post-blowie high fives.
The subjects themselves are not too pleased with Owen’s report, no lawsuits have been filed yet but Deadspin had to redact the names of the subjects and blur faces after getting too many angry emails and phone calls, some from the subject’s parents. But every filthy cloud has a silver lining, within 12 hours of posting the story Jezebel received emails from William Morris Endeavor talent agency and HarperCollins, who called Owen’s the “female equivalent of Tucker Max, and I admire his sense of self-empowerment!” Obviously she hasn’t read the Tucker Tries Buttsex story. A movie producer contacted Deadspin for Owen’s email address, explaining his interest in the story by mentioning his last successful movies, “Friday” and “You Got Served.”
This is not the first time in American collegiate history that a fuck list has been concocted. In 1977, two MIT students, Roxanne Ritchie and Susan Gilbert, published their own “Consumer Guide to MIT Men” in an MIT alternative weekly. The guide rated 36 men on their sexual prowess, but, even at the height of the sexual revolution, the girls were nearly kicked out of the school and over 200 students signed a protest petition against the article. Given that at the time MIT was probably overwhelming male-populated, the ladies’ table-turning exercise was probably doomed from the start.
Personally, my favorite part of this whole debacle is the media’s decision to name it “the fuck list.” So many other choices were available, “penis presentation,” “jizz journal,” “dick diary,” but even the old media was unafraid to stand up and call a spade a spade, and for that I salute. Now if only they could be this honest about Christine O’Donnell (yes, she is a witch.)
As you may know, the ASUO Executive hired a new Chief-of-Staff from within, without a search as dictated by their governing documents, the Green Tape Notebook. Because they received a bypass approval from the ASUO Programs Administrator (also on the Executive staff, for the record), they were technically within the rules with their action.
Is what they did shady? Sure. Ben Eckstein, the newly-appointed Chief-of-Staff, won’t begin work for another couple days. When the executive is citing timely transitions as the reason for appointing from within instead of going through a formal hiring process, this raises a red flag.
But it was within the rules. If someone wants to change the rules that allow the Programs Administrator to allow programs to bypass hiring processes, they should. At very least, they should stop texting me asking me to write about it. Because honestly, there isn’t much to write.
I love it when it’s “everyday students” who start railing against the ASUO, and not those who are watching their every move.
As an addendum to Rockne’s post below, here is the video of Amélie’s convocation speech (this is the whole convocation, her speech starts at 12:30). It is, as Rockne professed, embarrassing, and incredibly disrespectful to those who allowed her the microphone in the first place.
There is a certain level of responsibility that goes with the title of ASUO President. When you speak in public, you are speaking on behalf of more than yourself and the little office you work in. You are speaking on behalf of every incidental fee-paying student at the University of Oregon.
This poses a considerable problem when you are charged with making a speech to introduce a batch of around 4,000 brand new students to the University. As ASUO President, you have not made any headway in trying to deduce how students feel about any particular issue — mostly because students are not informed about most things happening on campus. It is for this reason that most convocation speeches (at least in the last few years) by ASUO Presidents have been largely apolitical, for fear of misrepresenting student views and being disrespectful to students in the process.
It becomes much harder when you decide to throw all of your responsibility out the window and flat out lie to those sitting before you. Amélie’s description of the riot on September 25th — that the Eugene Police Department started taking action because of one person throwing one beer bottle at one cop car — is completely absurd. The crowd was asked to disperse because they were blocking traffic and being loud, and when they did not disperse, actions were taken. And then, in a stunning display of putting the cart before the horse, she goes on to talk about arming the Department of Public Safety. What? DPS was nowhere near the incident, as it was not in their jurisdiction, and the proposals for DPS do not include arming them — at least not at the moment.
Her criticisms of President Lariviere’s New Partnership proposal were just as absurd, if not more. I’m not even going to address this one, because you can all read the white paper and see for yourself just how misinformed she is. I wonder if she’s even read it yet.
The worst part about all of this is the 4,000 freshmen who believed every single word she said. I have encountered those people, and no matter how many letters run in the Ol’ Dirty Emerald, there is going to be a large group of people who believe what she says and continue to do so throughout the year.
If any University undergraduates are reading this, please do your part to get informed about issues on campus. Especially when it comes to the ASUO, titles are meaningless. Just because a president says it, doesn’t mean it’s always true.
Then again, just because a managing editor says it, doesn’t mean it’s always true either.
ASUO President Amelie Rousseau will likely not be excited to read page two of today’s Oregon Daily Emerald. In a letter from 14 undergraduates, Rousseau’s speech at Convocation was picked apart and shamed as turning a moment of celebration and unity within the University community into an opportunity for the lowest kind of political grandstanding.
According to the group’s account of events, Rousseau first apologized for EPD’s use of tear gas during the riot of two days earlier. “She then took that moment in her Convocation speech to encourage the audience to think critically about allowing the Department of Public Safety to become a full-fledged police department, asserting near-explicitly that the result would be more incidents like that Friday’s” Between this and her comments regarding UO President Richard Lariviere’s plans to separate UO from the rest of the Oregon University System, Rousseau seemed to be doing her best to upstage the Lariviere, the keynote speaker. Come on, Amelie, you can’t beat a hat that classy. Why even try?
Headwear aside, picking a fight over campus politics with the University President at Convocation is distinctly lacking in taste. If Rousseau wanted to rake Lariviere over the coals for his planned changes, I’m sure the ODE would have been happy to provide her the column inches to do so. Instead, she decided to wax poetic about how awful DPS and the UO administration are to a captive audience of people who are hearing about these issues for the first time. A student government president’s speech to freshman should deal with what’s really important for someone about to embark on the adventure of post-secondary education. To Rousseau, that message seems to be “cops are bad.” I don’t know if Rousseau’s performance was just a side effect of being without her Political Director, Robert D’Andrea, whose resignation had been announced in days prior, or just a lack of any kind of tact on her part, but I, for one, am embarrassed. Apparently at least 14 other students feel the same way.
Though the go-ahead was granted, the votes were so narrow, and the debate was it such a deadlock, that the senators decided not to file the paperwork to receive the stipend.
They figured it was in the best interest of the group to leave the money alone. They agreed to meet twice a month, unpaid, through the entire summer.
Though their decision was morally sound, it was very risky.
In the past, summer senates were not paid. Sen. Jeremy Blanchard said this lack of pay caused them to struggle to accomplish things.
…
The pay was, by no means, 11 senators asking for a raise, or demanding money for a new pair of shoes.
Rather, it was a way to pressure the summer senators to attend and do work worthy of students’ mandatory fee money.
Without payment, the resulting summer senate was clumsy at best.
“It went pretty quickly to a fail,” Lange said. Summer senate met quorum less half of the time.
Senators often left early, skipping out because of other summer time commitments. Some even ignored repeated texts and e-mails from other senators that questioned their whereabouts.
I would like to make a correction to the Editorial Board’s statement: The ASUO summer senate this year met quorum ZERO times. Because there were no official resignations from summer senate, every meeting was invalid. Oh, and when they did meet, they didn’t take minutes — at least I haven’t seen any. Last year’s summer senate at least had legitimate meetings, and — WOW — didn’t get paid.
Additionally, there’s this fancy document called the Stipend Model that most ASUO folks don’t understand and thus choose to ignore. This document outlines who gets stipends in great detail, from how much per month to how many months per year for each specific program. Senators would do well to look at documents that pertain to them, even if they’re difficult to read and understand. Stipend model outlines basic student senator stipends as $150/month for 9 months (Sept-May or Oct-June, depending), with NO money for the summer. These are things to keep in mind.
Finally, there’s this from the ASUO Constitution:
4.6 Conflict of interest prohibited. No member holding an elected position on the Student Senate, the ASUO Programs Finance Committee, the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee, Department Finance Committee or the EMU Board may vote on the budget of any ASUO or EMU program in which they will be holding a paid position during the year the fiscal budget is in effect. This section shall be construed so as to prohibit conduct that creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, as well as an actual conflict of interest.
This would disallow the ASUO Senate from voting on anything having to do with their own budget — including summer stipends.
The end of the article is my favorite. Lots of LOLz to be sure, but this takes the cake:
This year’s summer senate was a poor showing, but it did manage to accomplish a couple goals; including establishing a table at Intermingle on Sept. 24 from 5 p.m. to midnight, approving various special requests, and creating a project committee designed to scout the campus for concerns and issues to be addressed fall term.
HOORAY, you got a table at Intermingle! Clearly we should be evading rules to pay you for all your hard work.
So we all know that Canada sometimes deals with municipal issues in an . . . interesting way. In my humble opinion this monstrosity takes the cake:
Today, West Vancouver officials will roll out a new way to keep drivers alert and slow them down: a little girl speed bump. A trompe-l’œil, the apparently 3D girl located near the École Pauline Johnson Elementary School is actually a 2D pavement painting . . .
In what sounds like a terrifying experience, the girl’s elongated form appears to rise from the ground as cars approach, reaching 3D realism at around 100 feet, and then returning to 2D distortion once cars pass that ideal viewing distance. Its designers created the image to give drivers who travel at the street’s recommended 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour) enough time to stop before hitting Pavement Patty–acknowledging the spectacle before they continue to safely roll over her.
This is SO CREEPY I can’t even imagine. Isn’t it more likely than not that after these traffic calming devices are implemented drivers are actually going to hit more little kids? Like the boy who cried wolf, “Pavement Patty” will lull drivers into a false sense of security, creating more accidents than already existed.
Thanks, Canada, for the innovation. Let us know how it works out.
