10-27-25 - ODE - Emerald Media Group

Language courses cut as university braces for budget reduction

By Sasha Love Senior News Reporter

Last summer, UO planned to cut all Swedish, Portuguese and Swahili classes following projections of a $25-30 million dollar deficit. While some classes remain, 100-level courses have been phased out and less commonly taught languages face uncertain futures.

The only Portuguese classes that are available this year are 200-level and above, with no new cohorts of students learning the language this fall.

Portuguese is spoken by about 265 million people, according to UNESCO. Beyond Portugal, it is the official language of Brazil and six African countries, including Angola.

“The Portuguese-speaking world is an important producer of literature, of political

After language program reductions, UO turns to University of Minnesota for Swedish instruction

Following

budget

reduction in the global studies department, some students must take language course online instead of in person.

By Sasha Love Senior News Reporter

Four days a week, six University of Oregon students crowd around a television screen in McKenzie Hall to take Swedish 201 with a University of Minnesota professor.

These students are part of a UO pilot project for participation in the CourseShare hybrid learning model promoted by the Big Ten Academic Alliance. They described themselves as the “guinea pigs.”

Students who had taken 100-level Swedish courses last year and planned on taking the 200 sequence this year were emailed this summer that their professor, Elizabeth Howard, had been laid off and their language class was cancelled. The notice caught

many of the Swedish students off guard.

“When they initially said they cancelled it I was like ‘I’m screwed, what am I going to do?’” Swedish student Anna Viden said. “And now that it’s online it just feels like a Band-Aid over a bullet wound.”

Swedish student Gross is a senior this year, she said not knowing what would happen to her language class for several weeks during the summer was “stressful.”

“We have very little time and wiggle room for our grad plans, and this threw a gigantic wrench in everything,” Taylor Gross said.

In July, students got an update from the head of the department of German & Scandinavian studies, Martin Klebes, alerting them of an opportunity to continue studying Swedish through an online hybrid BTAA

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Portland Trail Blazers coach arrested for alleged illegal gambling

Chauncey Billups was arrested on wire fraud, illegal gambling and money laundering following the Blazers’ opening night loss.

By Maria Weyne PDX Managing Editor

Portland Trail Blazers’ head coach and hall of famer Chauncey Billups was arrested Oct. 22 by the FBI, following the team’s opening night loss. Billups’ arrest was part of a large operation that alleges participants were involved in high-stakes poker games held by the La Cosa Nostra organized crime family.

Although the coach denied allegations, the National Basketball Association placed him on immediate leave. In response, the Blazers elected Tiago Splitter, a former NBA player, as interim head coach.

Billups appeared in court on Oct. 23, and was charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Miami Heat player Terry Rozier was also arrested by the FBI, he is currently being held on separate charges. Billups is also accused of sharing insider information and placing bets on basketball games.

According to CBS Sports, Billups is accused of being tasked with attracting other

high net worth individuals to attend games, dating back to 2019. The games allegedly had rigged shuffling machines, special eyeglasses and contact lenses that revealed premarked cards and x-ray tables that could read face down cards. The scam is alleged to have defrauded people of tens of millions of dollars.

Chris Haywood, Billups’ lawyer, issued a statement stating that Billups would not sacrifice his legacy, reputation or freedom for a poker game.

“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others,” Haywood wrote. “Chauncey Billups has never backed down. He does not plan to do so now. He will fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28year career.”

Billups is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 24 and is on conditional release. His release agreement required him to turn his passport over to the federal government and agree to not participate in any gambling activities.

Language courses cut as university braces for budget reduction

UO cuts three first-year language classes in what one professor calls a “de-facto closing.” Continued from page 1

thought and connections around Africa and around Latin America,” Millar said. “I think that even if a language is spoken by fewer people our students still have a right to know about those places, and have a right to pursue those interests, and have a right to a broad and diverse array of language offerings.”

Swedish is also being phased out this year. No 100-level courses are being offered, and 200-level courses are only being offered through an online hybrid CourseShare program via the University of Minnesota.

The slow decline of the Swedish program means students can’t fulfill Bachelor of Arts language requirements with Swedish, and it also puts the Scandinavian minor, which requires one year of Swedish. The German and Scandinavian studies major also has Swedish as an option to fulfill requirements.

“Now that we don’t teach the language it would be impossible to teach a class of, say, Swedish poetry because it would be impossible to teach without the language,” Michael Stern, associate professor of German and Scandinavian, said. “The very heart of the major which is learning to communicate, read and function in a target language, to understand a culture through the language it speaks and critically think of that culture in relation to your own, that connection is destroyed when we don’t teach the language.”

Stern said he is hosting two First Year Interest groups for German and Scandinavian studies to try to get students interested in Nordic language and culture, but he is “not sure” what the future will hold for students interested in learning Swedish for a minor, major or their BA requirement.

“They should either say it (Swedish) is gone, and be transparent, or keep funding it,” Stern said. “We are being dealt a hand we can’t win with.”

According to DuckWeb and faculty familiar with the matter, UO also cut first-year Swahili language classes. No one in the Swahili language program was available for comment.

Amid program reductions, some faculty complained of a lack of “collaborative discussion” with university administration.

“I think there are creative ways to make sure that (class) options are still offered even with enrollment pressures and the financial needs of the university,” Millar said. “And my understanding is that many of those options just weren’t discussed or weren’t discussed openly.”

Despite the reductions, a recent $25 million gift from philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer helped UO’s language programs expand into new territories and add an International Relations major.

The major is currently “under development” and ongoing curriculum and administrative approvals, according to UO spokesperson Eric Howald.

Stern said he would have rather seen that money go to existing programs — like Swedish — within the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.

“I feel the Schnitzer gift should have been used to buttress what exists and build out,” Stern said.

Several Swedish students, including Eliza Blank, agreed. “They’re doing all these shiny things that people can see and the people that came to this school to pay thousands of dollars to take a very specific course are forgotten about,” Blank said. In the same UO comment, Howald said “allocation decisions must honor the specific conditions outlined in the gift agreement,” but did not specify what those allocation decisions were.

Languages not starting a new cohort of students might end up being incorporated into the Self Studies Languages Program at the Yamada center, according to Director of the Yamada Language Center Robert Elliott.

This “accessible” program offers students a chance to practice a less studied language with a native speaker for 1 credit per term, but does not often fulfill language requirements for graduation.

Harinder Khalsa, Yamada Language Center Self Study Language Program coordinator, said that although the program doesn’t fulfill requirements, it still provides a valuable educational experience.

“We all come together to develop those skills, so it is a program where everyone learns something from someone else all the time and I love that aspect of it,” Khalsa said. “It’s a very collective community-based, student-centered learning and teaching experience.”

Elliott said that the center offers linguistic diversity for lesser-taught languages that might face enrollment struggles.

“There have been students that have been forced to take French or Spanish to fulfill their requirements but more and more there is that recognition of linguistic diversity and that (other) languages count as languages,” Elliott said. “So I think that representation of people that have been traditionally left out or marginalized has a huge role in offering these diverse languages.”

That said, the long-term financial feasibility of the Self Studies Languages Program also remains similarly uncertain.

“The budget is getting squeezed everywhere and we are unsure of the number of languages we will be able to offer,” Elliott said.

Another way smaller language programs might be continued is through a Big Ten Academic Alliance hybrid online CourseShare program.

UO said when it comes to choosing whether or not to continue a course, “enrollment thresholds set by the university play a key role.”

The 100-level Portuguese courses enrolled 22 students last fall, 16 students last winter and 13 in the spring.

The 100-level Swedish courses enrolled 24 students last fall and winter, and 18 in the spring. According to Stern, 20 students were enrolled in this term’s Swedish 201 course before it was cut.

The Swahili language program has not met any of UO’s enrollment thresholds over the past two years.

Tea for Women: the social and legal implications of new gossip app

A new gossip app, designed for women to post about men’s “green” or “red flags” has spread across campus.

By Elle Kubiaczyk News Reporter

Tea for Women, a gossip app for only women that is widely used on the University of Oregon campus, draws defamation and slander concerns from students. It has been removed from the Apple App Store due to privacy concerns.

Tea for Women is centered on women’s safety while dating, allowing women to post about men they know with

(Noa Schwartz/Emerald)

either a “green” or “red” flag. Concern with Tea stems from fear of defamatory statements being posted anonymously.

Users must take a selfie of themselves to “verify” their identity as a woman. However, students say the verification process can be easily dodged.

Once accepted into the app, one can enter their zip code and proceed to search men by first name. A continuous stream of photos of men in the nearby area will appear. Accompanying the green and red flags is commentary that ranges in tone from encouraging to accusatory.

“If all we’re seeing is all the negative, or there’s an incentive to post the negative, whether it’s true or not right, what does that do to people’s reputations?” Bryce Newell, Faculty Director of the School of Journalism and Communications Honors Program and lawyer, said.

Key components of defamation are falsity, publication, identification and fault.

Fault falls into two categories: negligence and actual malice. Actual malice only applies when the defendant is a public figure or entity, a private person wanting punitive damages or a person who knowingly published false information.

Negligence, would likely apply to the private, anonymous defendant on Tea:

“The person who claimed defamation would only have to show that the person was negligent, a lower legal standard,” Newell said.

As a result of the 1996 Communication Decency Act, social media companies can not be held liable for content posted on their sites. The anonymous nature of the apps

prolongs the process, as the plaintiff, after initiating a lawsuit, must demand that the platform, Tea for Women, turn over the personal information of the Jane Doe defendant (IP address and location).

“It’s not uncommon for these sorts of things (lawsuits) to take a couple of years,” Newell said.

Director of the UO Domestic Violence Clinic Robin Runge’s largest concern with the app is “that it could falsely give someone a reason to believe that they’re going to be safer by using it.”

Runge worries if a user names a previous abuser, stalker, or “someone who has previously harmed them in any capacity” on the app, and this person gains access to her information “that places them in great risk.”

Women may be sharing prior harmful experience for the first time behind the presumed security of an anonymous account.

“The decision to seek help for someone who’s experienced this or disclose it to anyone is really difficult. In fact, that is the most dangerous time for that individual – when they disclose,” according to Runge.

Sean Molt, a family and lifestyle medicine physician at University Health Services said using these types of apps can have several mental health impacts.

“It’s this idea of kind of a social media consciousness of you never know when somebody is going to post a picture of you or write something about you, and so you always have to be kind of camera ready,” Molt said.

Presley Malech, UO sophomore, comments, “the anonymous aspect is what makes them (gossip apps) so enticing. By implying that both apps are anonymous, I think the messages, pictures, etc. on these apps have crossed a line.”

Vendors return to street faire after spring cancellation

By Billie Corsetti News Reporter

The Street Faire, organized by the Associated Students of the University of Oregon, returned to the university’s campus after its cancellation last spring term due to reported safety concerns related to the UO Student Workers Union strike.

The biannual event has been a staple of student engagement and campus life for over 50 years. The Fall Street Faire was open from Oct. 15-17, with over 80 booths and 52 community vendors total.

Students were particularly excited for this year’s Fall Street Faire because of the cancellation of last school year’s Spring Street Faire.

The cancellation of the Spring Street Faire was announced to students last May in an email, amid the UOSW strike.

“It was definitely sad for sure. It’s a tradition; it starts a school year and it ends a school year,” Ava Coffman and Bren O’Donnell, both juniors, said. “Not having it sucked, (but) we’re both just happy it’s back.”

For some smaller vendors that applied to sell at the Spring Street Faire last year, the cancellation was a big financial hit.

“My biggest revenue is from commis-

sions, so (the fair) allows me to get in front of folks as opposed to just doing online marketing. So I definitely felt it, because this is one of my biggest advertising campaigns that I do throughout the year,” Ben Cardenas, owner of BR Customs, a local woodshop business, said.

Heather Sterling-Minder, a local Eugene artist, said she missed out on three days of revenue from work. “Even though we got reimbursed for the initial fee for the booth space, it was still quite a bit of income (lost). At that point, it’s too late to apply to another venue.”

Despite the sudden cancellation, many vendors still returned this year.

“I would say we got a large majority of our vendors that still applied back (this term). A couple didn’t, and it was hard, with the faire being canceled in the way it was in that short period of time, it can absolutely harm that relationship,” Cash Kowalski, last year’s ASUO secretary of engagement, said.

“So we’ve done as much as we can to check in with vendors and repair that relationship to the extent to which it may have been damaged in the past.”

For new vendors, this year’s Fall Street Faire provided them the opportunity to enjoy the good weather, good

The Associated Students

The University of Oregon

their bi-annual Street Faire.

food and good company.

“Everyone’s been very nice, and everybody seems to like the food. It’s been great serving the community here, I’ve loved doing it,” Isaiah Sweed, a worker at Wrapped, said. It was the business’s first time vending at the event.

Kyle White, owner of Kyle White Glass, was a former student at the university who used to attend the Street Faire.

“Being on the other side of the street, vending to the students, it’s a really cool experience. I find it really fun and enriching to talk to the students and share my craft. I’ve really enjoyed the experience and I think it brings a lot of the community together.”

This term’s faire marks the 54th year since the event started on campus in 1971, according to Kowalski.

“I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to help put it on again… It’s really special to be a part of the lineage of this kind of event, affecting students in a really special way.”

After language program reductions, UO turns to University of Minnesota for Swedish instruction

CourseShare program through UMN.

According to department faculty and students, of the 20 students originally enrolled, 14 dropped the course. According to their peers, some could not fit the new class times with their schedules, while others simply did not want to take the class through the hybrid model.

In a statement, UO said it “made every effort to reach out to the students registered for the Swedish 201 fall course.”

Ally Kirk, a student who had to drop the class for scheduling reasons said “there’s been a whole load of uncertainty” regarding her language credit requirements.

“I don’t know if I’ll have to restart my obligatory two years of language or if I can find a workaround. I’m hoping so, considering I finished half of the requirement and then the program was taken away by the university,” Kirk said.

UO did not directly respond to a question regarding academic requirements for students in Kirk’s situation but said students who did not respond can take a placement test to determine eligibility.

“Academic service unit staff are reaching out to all students in Swedish to assist with their scheduling,” UO said.

The students still enrolled started the course at the beginning of September, on UMN’s semester system.

UO paid for their textbooks and helping to accommodate with adequate technology, but ultimately the students said it is a situation they should not even be in.

Student Eliza Blank described the CourseShare as “horribly dysfunctional,” and said her classmates strug-

gle to discern body language over the screen and ask questions while stuck on mute.

“I’m working so hard to keep up with the awkwardness of Zoom I feel so discombobulated,” Lauren Gross said. “It is genuinely like night and day in terms of your ability to learn.”

According to UO, when it comes to choosing whether or not to continue a course, “enrollment thresholds set by the university play a key role.”

UO did not explicitly specify what these thresholds are. The Swedish 100-level classes enrolled 24 students last fall and winter but 18 in spring.

UO’s Swedish students acknowledged the low class-size numbers but said the move to suddenly end the in-person 200 courses this year, instead of waiting for their cohort to move through the system and complete their two-year language requirement, was “completely insulting.”

For some of the students, the transition to an online hybrid course model takes away the cultural value they felt they gained from the in-person class last year.

“For so many of us (learning Swedish) is a way for us to feel connected to our families and that is something that the university took away and hasn’t replaced,” Viden said.

The Swedish students said the in-person class had provided a “niche community” where they felt represented.

One example of this was the class’s participation in the Midsummer celebration, a traditional Swedish festival with singing, dancing and food.

“(The) Midsummer festival… for me was a very special

moment and I was genuinely so happy I felt like I could have cried, and Dr. Howard organized all of that,” Viden said.

But after Howard’s layoff notice was sent out, it felt as if that sense of connection was taken away.

“I seriously have never felt so comfortable in a classroom. I was so heartbroken (when she was laid off) that I literally cried,” Lauren Gross said.

Robert Elliott is the director of the Yamada Language Center. He has been helping the class transition into the hybrid format. He said that despite the setbacks, the class is functioning as well as possible.

“It is never quite as good online, but it’s much better than nothing and we are working with the (UNM) teacher really well to try to make sure the student experience is as good as possible,” Elliott said.

Elliott said he thinks that the program could grow and help expand linguistic representation.

“There have been students that have been forced to take French or Spanish to fulfill their requirements, but more and more there is that recognition of linguistic diversity and that (other) languages count as languages,” Elliott said. “So I think that representation of people that have been traditionally left out or marginalized has a huge role in offering these diverse languages.”

UO provided a similar response.

“Despite lower enrollments, the university wants to support less commonly taught languages. The Yamada Language Center also offers self-study opportunities in sever-

al additional languages for students seeking independent learning options with tutors,” the university said in a statement to The Emerald.

Ingela-Selda Haaland, UMN’s professor who is teaching the UO Swedish students said the CourseShare program provides a more “distracting” environment for students but she also thinks the expansion of the program is inevitable.

“Is it a way that small languages can survive in a culture where the financial support is decreasing? Yes. Does that mean that it’s a good idea to continue with hybrid classes?

Anna Viden Swedish student “ “

And now that it’s online it just feels like a Band-Aid over a bullet wound.

teaching is all about being flexible.

She said she thinks having the UO students all in one room can prove more technologically difficult, but gives everyone a more accessible way to practice with their classmates.

“The difficulty lies in giving the best classroom situation for everyone involved,” Haaland said.

Despite Haaland’s opinion, for many of the Swedish students, going through the loopholes of enrolling and taking the CourseShare class has been complicated. Taylor Gross called the process a “giant waste of time and money.”

“I pay too much money to be doing an online Swedish course,” she said, “I am an out of state student, (so) I pay almost $50,000 a year to go here. It’s just, like, ridiculous.”

Last spring, UO administrators, caught off guard by lower out-of-state enrollment numbers and state funding than planned for, predicted a yearly budget deficit of $25 - 30 million until at least fiscal year 2030. Following this projection, UO considered cutting or reducing language programs throughout the summer.

While UO ultimately decided against cutting entire language programs, faculty and class reductions across the language department have occurred.

“In FY25, CAS needed to reduce its budget by approximately $3.5 million to close a structural budget deficit. A number of factors were considered in deciding where reductions would be made. The Swedish language program was slated for reduction because of low enrollment,” a statement from UO to The Emerald read.

The president of UO’s faculty union, Kate Mills, said she was concerned that the decision to transition languages into a hybrid model might have an “impact on the viability of the program.”

“(UO) is not providing the full scope of what students need and it is not going to be as attractive to students and I don’t know why I would want to come to a school to study something if it didn’t have the full scope of the classes I needed,” Mills said. “These decisions are made and they might not be as egregious as cutting the program … but they could still have this impact of making a program less viable over time,” Mills said.

Swedish student Paige Palmarini said that no matter what happens to the future of UO language programs, the BTAA CourseShare is “not a solution.”

“The guinea pigs are telling you: don’t do this,” Lauren Gross said.

It’s a way to make it possible for hybrid classes to continue,” Haaland said. “Do I personally think it’s a good idea? No. Does my neighbor? Yes. It depends on the instructor.”

For the past three years, Haaland has been teaching through CourseShare, and this year all of the language pro grams she teaches follow the hybrid model.

No matter if the or in-person,

Haaland said

Despite the financial uncertainty faced by the university, Associate Professor of German and Scandinavian Michael Stern said he thinks UO is not upholding their academic mission.

“The administration thinks of this as a financial crisis, I es us to cut classes there is a knowledge crisis for the people coming from Oregon and the people coming from out-of-state that we are charging up the wausau. They are not having the same possibilities for learning,” Stern

(ON THE COVER, LEFT, BELOW ) Lauren and Taylor Gross, both left, listen intently to University of Minnesota professor Ingela-Selda Haaland during a lesson on Oct. 20, 2025. Part of the University of Oregon’s summer budget cuts included moving the UO Swedish language class to a hybrid CourseShare program through the University of Minnesota.

(Corey Hoffman/Emerald)

Nag: Underpaid, undervalued

and unequivocally important

Opinion: Federal workers are what keep this country running and make sure that our cities, counties and states have what they need. We cannot use the government shutdown as a downsizing initiative.

By Aishiki Nag Opinion Columnist

On Oct. 1, the first day of the government shutdown, the Trump administration notified the nation that it planned to cut up to 4,000 federal positions. Pay continues to be withheld from two million workers, and 750,000 workers could be furloughed due to the lapse of the federal budget.

On Oct. 15, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order during the government shutdown. Labor unions such as the American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and

Municipal Employees have also filed lawsuits, challenging that these mass firings are an unlawful misuse of power.

The shutdown has impacted an estimated 10,000 of Oregon’s 30,000 federal workers. Oregonians rely on federal workers for an array of services, such as the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture.

“Public service workers are the backbone of our communities,” Joe Baessler, executive director for Oregon AFSCME, said in a statement to The Emerald. “We ensure the roads are safe to drive on and our water is safe to drink.”

Public servants are caught in this unique dichotomy where they are recognized as essential workers but are also seen as wasteful or undeserving. Public servants have also been historically left out of major labor protections, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, and did not qualify for Social Security protections until the 1960s.

President Trump took to Truth Social to discuss his plan to make cuts to “the many Democrat Agencies” during the shutdown, which he has deemed to be a “political scam” to justify cuts in agencies such as the Department of Education. No federal agency has partisan ties, with all federal positions being bipartisan offices. Federal agencies and public servants are there to serve the entire nation, both blue and red states alike. These are invaluable services and deserve to be protected.

“They’re in their jobs as civilians, and the jobs themselves are apolitical – and this administration is politicizing those jobs and agencies and the people in those jobs,” Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger said.

Trieger touched on how the proposed budget would have severe impacts to important programs the country delivers, such as Women, Infants and Children, a nutrition

Aishiki Nag is a senior studying political science and global studies. She likes to cover state and national politics, and international peace-building efforts.

supplement program for pregnant women, households with children under five or new parents who are breastfeeding.

Due to the lapse of funding, an estimated 750,000 Oregonians could be left without SNAP benefits in November, impacting many students who rely on food stamps.

“People in (public service) need their paychecks to pay their rent and their utilities and buy their kids a winter coat, and so when you lay people off from their jobs, that’s a problem,” Trieger said. “And this whole notion of waste, fraud and abuse is just terrible… it’s smearing an entire workforce of people who’ve just been showing up everyday to their work.”

Lane County and Oregon continue to face impacts from the government shutdown, both through the workforce and through proposed budget cuts.

One of the most visible impacts of federal workers is TSA and air traffic controllers the Eugene municipal airport currently has TSA and ATC workers who are being asked to work through the shutdown without pay. They must continue showing up to work due to the sheer importance of their job, but these efforts are often unrecognized by the federal government.

As the shutdown persists, it’s crucial to remember the everyday workers who continue to show up and do their jobs. They are undervalued and usually go unnoticed, but they unequivocally keep the government running.

Oregon American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations President Graham Trainor, said, “Oregon Labor’s message to the administration is clear. Stop the Trump shutdown. Fund the government. Stop the illegal firings. Restore protections for health care, and prioritize working people instead of political games. Our families, our communities and our democracy depend on it.”

Brewer Knight: A pay-to-play education

By Maddox Brewer Knight Opinion Columnist

In college, the sky is the limit.

At least, that’s how I felt when I arrived on campus as a freshman, my imagination stirred by the glossy fliers passed around at orientation. The mossy brick buildings housed a wealth of opportunities. There were art studios, science laboratories and even a morgue, which I, as a squeamish humanities major, would thankfully never set foot in.

As I browsed through the course catalog for my fall term, I felt overwhelmed by the available classes. While my first term was swallowed up by general education, I promised my future self that I would squeeze more fun, frivolous classes into my schedule. After all, some courses, like lower-level athletic or arts electives, require little work outside of class, intended to expose students to a new subject rather than count toward their major or GPA.

When my first bill appeared, however, the wind was punched out of my sails. I hadn’t realized that I would be charged per credit hour. As a student trying to make ends meet, I began to view any nonessential class as a luxury I just couldn’t afford.

As a result, I have still never learned Portuguese or metalsmithing. Even though I have received a well-rounded education, it has been noticeably

Opinion: The University of Oregon’s pay-per-credit tuition system discourages students from academic exploration.

limited to my major requirements. My peers report the same concerns: when each credit hour comes with a price tag, we feel disincentivized from exploring and venturing outside our disciplines. We are reluctant to pay for classes that might bring us joy but aren’t explicitly “useful.”

However, this pay-to-play system isn’t the only way to structure our education. Many nearby public universities, such as Washington State University and the University of Washington, charge a flat quarterly rate for full-time students taking under 18 credits, with added fees only for credits exceeding this cap. To the south, most UC schools have a flat tuition rate for all full-time students.

AJ Dullum, a junior majoring in psychology, agreed . “Being charged per credit has definitely stopped me from taking more than 16 credits a term,” they said. “I’ve talked about this with my brother at Brigham Young University, because they pay a flat rate per term, and he tends to take on more credits than average because of that.”

As the first person in their family to attend a payper-credit university, the revelation struck Dullum as a shock. “When I first realized UO was pay-percredit, that was something I really worried about,” they said. “There was a term when I only had 12 credits. I was glad it didn’t cost as much, but I also felt like I wasn’t making the most of my time.”

For other students, this payment system doesn’t pose such a challenge. Veronica Derner, a sophomore who transferred to UO from UCLA, said that paying per credit actually alleviated pressure.

“Compared to paying a flat rate at UCLA, it’s actually way cheaper, but I’m coming from a school with super expensive out-of-state tuition,” Derner said. “It also makes me less worried about class scarcity, because if I don’t get into the classes I want, I will end up paying less instead of just losing out on the tuition value.”

As tuition rates skyrocket and a bachelor’s degree becomes the diploma franca of the job market, college tends to lose its sparkle. However, as an institution of higher education, UO should encourage students to study outside their comfort zones, not restrict them to rigid paths paved by financial necessity.

I believe that switching from a pay-per-credit system to flat-rate tuition is worth consideration. In the meantime, I encourage students suffering from major-induced tunnel vision to take advantage of the free opportunities on campus. Try out a new club, attend a free evening lecture or sign up for a cheap exercise class at the rec. Because let’s face it, when else will you have anthropology, art history and astronomy all within your reach?

is an opinion columnist

the Daily Emerald. She is a thirdyear CHC student pursuing a double major in English and Spanish. As a lifelong Oregonian, Maddox cares deeply about confronting social issues both within UO and in the greater community.

4-legged black halloween

Tiny instrument seen in the Oregon Marching Band

Potato variety that’s a Canadian territory + a

a small look

Description for a cactus

black halloween

1 Undercover agent 2 Lucy of “Presence” or “Elementary” 3 Doc ___ (Spider-Man villain) 4 Ice cream vessel 5 School subject with the quadratic formula and functions 6 Michael Myers-sounding idiom for “attempted” 8 Editing site for the Daily Emerald, for example

Embellishes

Allow 13 Attention grabbing whisper 14 The Phantom of the ___

Metric weight around the same as lbs.

Clean Air Act org.

Streaming service for White Lotus or Game of Thrones

Former NBA star Ming

ARTS & CULTURE

UO Outdoor Program’s A Night at the Barn is back

The University of Oregon Outdoor Program had their first live music event of the year, A Night at the Barn, on Oct. 16.

By Everette Cogswell Arts & Culture Writer

The University of Oregon Outdoor Program hosted A Night at the Barn, their first live music event of the year, on Oct. 16. The night was filled with student bands, dancing and moshing

This event was held at the Outdoor Program Rental Barn, located on East 18th Ave. and University Street. The barn is a beautiful venue with open air and mood lighting that set a really nice ambience. The gathering was free for all students with a student ID, and all attendees were greeted with a smile at the door.

The music, bands and artists vary each time the Outdoor Program hosts this event. From indie pop, rock and folk/bluegrass, every band that performed put on a fantastic show. Bands were interacting with the audience, and artists and attendees were all enjoying themselves. This time around, the bands were Kellen, Junkyard Divas, DogPlaysDead, Matt Roome Trio and 10 or 11 Deer.

The general vibe of the night trended toward indie rock, and each band put on a unique show that drew in students from across campus. “It’s nice to see people show out for local music on a Thursday,” Avery Ahmanson, the bassist for DogPlaysDead, said. “It’s cool that there’s such a community here.”

And community there was; this event was highly attended, and the audience was filled with uplifting energy. Whether or not students were involved with the Outdoor Program, it didn’t matter here; the barn was filled with positive energy. “It’s super fun to have these big

events like this. I feel like it’s a good outreach opportunity, especially for younger students,” Kate McConley, a freshman environmental science major at UO, said.

With string lights illuminating the room and big garage doors open for airflow, this space was a great alternative to the more common backyard shows held around Eugene. Cozy with a little taste of grunge, the barn is a must-see in this environment.

“I don’t go to a lot of concerts, but I heard about this one happening tonight, so I thought I’d check it out. I’m really liking it,” Michael Germain, a UO Senior said. “Tunes are good, people are cool and the venue is nice.”

A Night at the Barn is a way to get more involved with campus programs like The Outdoor Program. It’s easy to meet other people who are in the organization, or just to spend time with people who all share a common interest: their love for music.

“These events specifically mean a lot to me because my long-term partner is the bassist for one of the bands,” Violette Creel, a senior said. “It’s great to be able to know the community personally, but also to constantly be meeting people who are mutual through the bands.”

( LEFT) Tiara of the Junkyard Divas lets it all out for the crowd. The University of Oregon Outdoor Program hosted A Night at the Barn, a free-for-students, live music performance with 5 different bands playing throughout the night on Oct. 16, 2025. (Fred Hall/Emerald)

( BELOW ) Dog Plays Dead performs for the large crowd.

72 HOURS TO SCARE

By Amelia Fiore Arts & Culture Writer

Could you terrify a crowd of hundreds with just three days’ worth of work? From Thursday, Oct. 16 to Sunday, Oct. 19, dozens of filmmakers gave it their best shot.

Eugene Film Society’s 72-Hour Horror Film Competition has returned for its tenth year. Over 40 teams of Eugene filmmakers had 72 hours to draft, write, plan, shoot and edit a three-minute-long horror film for the chance to win a variety of prizes and awards.

After premiering at the Broadway Metro theater in downtown Eugene in 2015, the Eugene Film Society was born, and the competition’s legacy began. Edward Schiessl, a founding member and current board chair of the Eugene Film Society, has been administering the competition for the past several years.

“It was a way to foster growth and an attitude of collaboration and competition among local filmmakers and just kind of give people that nudge they need to go up and create something,” Schiessl said.

A behind-the-scenes look at this year’s 72-hour horror film contest’s talented competitors.

It is standard that the films must include a certain piece of dialogue and a prop chosen by the EFS. This year, the line of dialogue is “It’s unrelenting. Every day there are changes,” spoken by Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle from the 1986 film, “The Fly.” The prop is a tape measure.

For some filmmakers participating in this challenge, particularly students, the technicalities of scaring an audience aren’t as simple as they may seem.

Walter Wagner, a junior studying cinema studies, heard of the competition through an Instagram post from the department. UO’s cinema studies sponsored a handful of students this year, waiving the registration fee and awarding free tickets to five student filmmaking teams.

Wagner’s film, “Brain Rot,” focuses on topics related to mental health, including agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He said his team took inspiration from the 2011 Ari Aster short film, “Beau.”

Filming took place inside his apartment, which was engulfed with clothes, bananas taped to walls and mounds of “trash” to set the scene, including fake mold created with a sponge and a black Sharpie. Wagner, being the only cinema

studies student in his group available to work on the project, was the only person authorized to handle the rented equipment, leaving him as the sole crew member.

This, along with some other slight hiccups, made the filmmaking process slightly overwhelming. “I’ve been a bit behind on homework, just because I’ve been thinking about this nonstop, but I did spend several hours this morning catching up on stuff. But it could be worse,” Wagner said.

“Filmmaking is my passion. I’ve been doing it forever, since I was a little kid. And even if I don’t win anything in the competition, which is likely, I’m still going to be proud to participate in it.”

At the festival, there will be several award categories. The film winning the “Audience Award” will receive a $666 cash prize, and the winner of the “Jury Award” will receive a $1,134 cash prize. The event will take place at the McDonald Theatre, and tickets can be purchased on their website.

SPORTS

Wide right: looking back at Oregon’s unreliable kicking

Oregon volleyball goes as its freshmen go in Big Ten play

FRIDAY

Oct. 31, 2025

Oregon vs. University of Washington The

Kiara Romero Leads No. 4 Ducks To SecondPlace Finish At Stanford

By Harry Leader Sports Writer

On Oct. 19, the No. 3 ranked Oregon women’s golf team took a short trip down to California to compete in the Stanford Intercollegiate tournament at Stanford Golf Course. The Ducks would finish second overall behind the tournament hosts, No. 3 Stanford.

Oregon shot an overall score of 838, 14 under par, which was 19 strokes behind Stanford, who set a new program record at Stanford Golf Course with 817, 35 under par. Kiara Romero dominated in the tournament, especially in her final round where she tied UCLA’s Meghan Royal for the tournament best score of 6-under 65.

Romero finished in a three-way tie for second with a score of 204, or nine under par, only a stroke back from the individual winner of the tournament, Megba Ganne of Stanford. This result marks the Ducks’ second runner-up finish of the season.

“This was a really good effort by our team this weekend,” head coach Derek Radley said to GoDucks. “This was a really big and really talented field so to shoot 14-under par and place second is a really good achievement for our ladies. Kiara was really locked in and kind of carried us through the final round today but I thought all five of our Ducks played well and had some really good moments this week-

Romero’s second-place finish highlight of Ducks’ visit to the Bay Area.

end. I’m excited to see how we can continue to grow and get better as we finish up the fall season.”

Sophomore Tong An and freshman Sophie Han finished tied for 20th place with a final score of 212, or one under par overall. Han and An’s finish is nothing to overlook considering that Oregon was one of only three teams to have three players in the top 20.

Freshman Shyla Singh finished with an overall score of 218, or 5 over par. Her poor performance in the first round ultimately kept her out of the top 20. She shot a 77 in the first round, but finished strong in the final two rounds, shooting a 70 and 71 taking her from 50th to 46th place.

Similar to Singh, Darae Chung had a great overall performance spoiled by one bad round after she shot an overall score of 220, or 7 over par. She had a strong opening two rounds shooting a 69 and 70, but in her final round she shot an 81 which sent her into a free fall to 53rd place from 15th.

Oregon will look to take this winning energy into its next tournament on October 27 in Atlanta. A strong performance in the East Lake Cup would give the Ducks a massive boost in momentum as they head into the winter break. The tournament will be televised on the Golf Channel.

(RIGHT) O regon women’s golfer Kiara Romero (Photo courtesy of Oregon Athletics)

Savannah Bananas to stop at Autzen Stadium in June

Harlem Globetrotters, Savannah Bananas to play in Autzen Stadium next summer.

By Rowan Shea Sports Writer

You may have seen the recent announcement flash across the jumbotron at Autzen Stadium that Banana Ball will be coming to play at Autzen Stadium in June of 2026. Yes, a baseball team will be playing in a football stadium, not the other way around. But what is a Banana Ball? How is it different from baseball? Why are they playing in a baseball stadium?

The Savannah Bananas have been playing their version of baseball, called “Banana Ball,” for seven years. Jesse and Emily Cole took over the team in 2015, initially as a college summer baseball team. Making no money and seeking change, the Savannah Bananas were born.

The Savannah Bananas are just like the Harlem Globetrotters: they are a traveling exhibition team who play another traveling exhibition team. The Globetrotters play the Washington Generals, and the Savannah Bananas play the Party Animals, the Firefighters, the Texas Tailgaters, the Loco Beach Coconuts and the Indianapolis Clowns. All of these teams travel and play each other, but the two biggest are the Bananas and the Party Animals.

Starting in 2018, the first game being played in 2020, with each season, the Bananas have gotten more and more fans. From playing at universities, then in Minor League ballparks to Major League ballparks, the Bananas have grown so much in popularity that they are now playing in football stadiums.

The Bananas bring in a decent amount of money each year. They are projected to be making $100 million this season and are loosely valued at $500 million. They still rake in a lot less cash than their MLB counterparts, but for an exhibition team based on trends, their popularity is undeniable.

What makes the Savannah Bananas different from other baseball teams is that they play by a new set of rules. While the basics are still the same (three strikes you’re out, three outs an inning), Jesse Cole has made some very interesting changes to the game through nine new rules:

1. Every inning counts

a. If you score more runs than the other team in an inning, you get a point. The first team to win five innings, or get five points, wins the game.

2. Two-hour time limit

3. One-on-one shakedown

a. No more extra innings. All position players will leave the field, it will just be a batter and a pitcher. The batter must score, or the pitcher must strike him out. Wherever the batter hits the ball, the pitcher must run after it and get the batter out before he scores. If the pitcher gets the batter out, now the team that the pitcher is on will go hit, and the hitting team will pitch. This keeps going until one team scores.

4. Walks are now sprints

a. If the batter draws a walk, he may sprint to as many bases as possible. During this time, the catcher must throw the ball to every position player. Once that happens, the ball becomes live, and if the batter is in between bases he can get tagged out.

5. No bunting — bunting sucks

6. No mound visits

7. Batter can steal first

8. A fan-caught foul ball is an out

9. The batter can’t step out of the box

The Bananas focus on a fun and sporadic new form of baseball – one that promotes crazy antics rather than staunch traditionalism. There are countless videos across YouTube, Instagram, X and TikTok showing their antics, including, backflips that players are doing when making plays, the TikTok dances the entire team does before the pitch, a player wearing stilts for the whole game and moments in the game where the lights go off but players are wearing glow in the dark uniforms and using glow in the dark bases, bats and baseballs. The goal is to make the game as interesting, fun and memorable as possible.

The Bananas and the Party Animals play in the biggest venues. The Bananas started playing beyond MLB and MiLB (Minor League Baseball) stadiums last season when they played where the Clemson Tigers played, Memorial Stadium, the Tennessee Titans stadium, Nissan Stadium and the Carolina Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium. For the 2026 season, they have announced they are playing in nine football stadiums, two NFL and seven college football, one of which is Autzen.

Finally, in order to appeal to the local fans, the Bananas bring out local legends to either pitch an inning, play an inning or take an at-bat. They also bring out internet celebrities like Mr. Beast, who heads the most popular channel on YouTube and was just brought out at PNC Park in Pittsburgh to give away $50,000 to a randomly selected fan competing against another. The Bananas have also brought out Austin Schultz, a former professional baseball player turned TikTok sketch artist.

That begs the question of who could show up at Autzen Stadium. For athletes, those who show up are always retired, but there are plenty of names that could be thrown around, including: Eugene native, ex-Toronto Blue Jay and member of three NBA teams over a 14-year career, Danny Ainge; two-time World Series winner, Jacoby Ellsbury; and member of the 2002 Oakland A’s “Moneyball” team, Scott Hatteberg, to name a few.

The only way to truly know who will be coming to town will be by going to the games. The Bananas will be occupying Autzen from June 26 through June 28.