Braewood Hills residents push back against Videra Oak Meadow development
SPORTS
TJ Bamba: an unconventional path
Oregon basketball’s star senior guard averaged over 10 points a game for Oregon, but only started taking the sport seriously in 10th grade
By Jack Lazarus Sports Associate Editor
Recruiting players for college basketball has turned into the quest to get to players as early as possible.
AAU circuits and prep schools breed players from the time they are in elementary school to the time they are ready to take the next step. Athletes get offers as early as seventh grade in some cases, which is why Oregon guard TJ Bamba is so unique.
Bamba didn’t receive the same interest at a young age. In fact, Bamba didn’t even start taking the sport seriously until 10th grade, which comes as more of a surprise that he grew up in the Bronx — often lauded for its ability to produce some of the best basketball players.
“New York is a basketball state, especially in the city,” Bamba said. “We have Dyckman and Rucker (Park), so seeing that and feeling that energy, it moves you as a young kid. Especially because I had a lot of friends who played bas-
A guide to the 2025 ASUO presidential election
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Low turnout, big outcome: Inside ASUO’s quiet special election
Just 97 students voted in ASUO’s 2025 special election, where rankedchoice voting and other procedural changes were approved after the ballot measures were released one day before voting began
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ASUO RECAP
the ASUO candidate town hall in the
Crater Lake room on April 2, 2025.
(Alexander Hernandez/Emerald)
CAMPUS NEWS
A guide to the 2025 ASUO presidential election
On April 1, the Daily Emerald moderated a debate for the Associated Students of the University of Oregon presidential candidates. Then on April 3, The Emerald moderated the vice presidential debate. Each candidate running in the 2025 ASUO spring election spoke on their goals for the 2025-26 year.
By Jasmine Saboorian and Ysabella Sosa Campus News Editor & Campus News Associate Editor
From April 1 to April 3, the Daily Emerald moderated the Associated Students of the University of Oregon’s presidential and vice presidential debates and a candidate town hall, introducing over 50 candidates, including the four ASUO president and vice-president candidates for the 2025 ASUO spring election.
Each presidential and vice presidential pairing ran under a group known as a “slate.” The two slates for the 2025 election are Unite UO, led by Taliek Lopez-DuBoff and Madisen Kunkler and UO Student Power, led by Prissila Moreno and Jordan Ackemann.
Each slate ran on platforms including student representation, building relationships with student organizations and the use of the student Incidental-Fee.
Voting will begin on April 7 at 9 a.m. and will close on April 11 at 12 p.m. All UO students who have paid the I-Fee are eligible to vote.
There is a joint presidential and vice presidential debate on April 8 at 6 p.m.
Unite UO
ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Departments Finance
Representative School Year: Sophomore
During the vice presidential debate, Kunkler said that Unite UO is built to represent students.
“I hope that when you see Unite UO you know that there is someone you could relate to,” Kunkler said.
In terms of working to make ASUO more approachable, Kunkler said she would create a one-pager with all the important information student organizations need when approaching the ASUO Senate with a funding request.
If elected, Kunkler said she will focus on ensuring the process student organizations go through to get surplus funds is easier.
we’re able to do out there on campus,” Moreno said. “We’ve been fighting for climate justice, we’ve been fighting for racial equity and workers’ rights through campus for years, so we don’t just say that we hear you. We show up and we act with you.”
Moreno said that one of her goals is to bring together the student body and ASUO, especially during a time where some students are being isolated due to federal government regulations.
“In times like these, where there’s students being harmed already by federal orders and policies, I don’t think that ASUO can afford to be solely politically neutral…ASUO must be a force that stands with students, especially those most targeted, marginalized, and silenced,” Moreno said.
Jordan Ackemann
Position Sought: ASUO Vice President
Current ASUO Position: Senator for the Contracts Finance Committee
Taliek Lopez-DuBoff
Position Sought:
ASUO President
Current ASUO Position:
ASUO Speaker of the Legislature School Year: Sophomore
During the presidential debate, Lopez-DuBoff emphasized that his “day one priorities” would be to ensure that ASUO has people who are focussed on matters that are most important on campus, including basic needs and accessibility.
He also said that he will start his tenure by being “proactive with student organizations.”
“Everything starts with the relationship you have with somebody else,” Lopez-DuBoff said. “It starts with having individual relationships with (the ASUO) officers.”
In terms of prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion amidst the Trump administration, Lopez-DuBoff said that he will make sure ASUO is hiring individuals that represent the student body.
“We (ASUO/Unite UO) are going to look at majors and make sure we have people that can represent all different backgrounds,” Lopez-DuBoff said.
Lopez-DuBoff said the three largest changes that he plans to bring to ASUO are protecting spaces on campus like the Men’s Resource Center, student organizations receiving the funding they need and taking the problems on campus to UO, the Oregon legislature or if need be the federal government.
“ASUO is really inaccessible and people don’t know who we are or what we do on the campus,” Kunkler said. “The way we can build a relationship between ASUO and the student body is starting from the ground up with those people who are just new on campus.”
Kunkler said that she will continue to sup- port unions amidst labor activity on campus.
UO Student Power
Prissila Moreno
Position Sought:
ASUO President
Current ASUO
Position:
ASUO
Senator
School Year:
Junior
During the presidential debate on April 1, Moreno emphasized in her opening statement that she is running because she feels that ASUO has not played its part in supporting students coming together and acting as a “political force.”
“I believe that our student government can be more than just a budget manager. It can be a political force. (UO) Student Power is running on labor rights, multiculturalism, basic needs and academic services,” Moreno said.
When asked how UO Student Power differs from her opposing slate, Moreno highlighted the student organizations that her members have been involved in and how that shapes her slate, like OSPIRG and Climate Justice League.
“In the past couple of days, we’ve had over 700 conversations, and I think that’s a testament to the organizing that
School Year: Junior
During the vice presidential debate on April 3, Ackemann said in his opening statement that his goal for ASUO is to bring the organization to students instead of letting students come to them.
“It (ASUO) could become an organization that goes to students instead of forcing students to come to it,” Ackemann said. “The core policy is the student power. It’s the root of the issues on campus.”
Ackemann touched on all the vital issues that he and his slate believe need changing into the upcoming year, and these are: labor rights, multiculturalism, basic needs and academic services.
“We must use the very political resources and structures of ASUO to turn it into a political force,” Ackemann said.
Ackemann also mentioned his opinion on the abundance of “red tape” rules by ASUO that he feels need to be cut down on.
“We really need to cut down on whatever (red tape) rules we can to make it easier for students,” Ackemann said.
Ackemann said that the most significant future potential policy that he and his slate are most looking forward to enacting is about labor rights and labor unions on campus.
“Working with unions, advocating with unions as best as we can, not just in a way where historically they’ve taken administration or the Board of Trustees or president and ran with it,” Ackemann said.
ckemann said UO Student Power’s solution to easing labor organizations’ worries is by hiring labor organizers for the unions and working to create relationships between them and the university.
“...Also hiring labor organizers as best as we can… and I don’t think there’s an issue with hiring folks who are doing organizing on campus that is labor related if they are also part of the union.”
Madisen Kunkler
(Miles Cull/Emerald)
(Saj Sundaram/Emerald)
(Miles Cull/Emerald)
(Julia Massa/Emerald)
Braewood Hills residents push back against Videra Oak Meadow development
Residents of a Southeast Eugene neighborhood are organizing to prevent a local meadow from being developed
By Kellan Quinn City News Reporter
Videra Oak Meadow, a small undeveloped property with wetland areas, is the center of a fiery dispute between residents of the Braewood Hills neighborhood in Southeast Eugene and Piculell Properties, an Arizona-based developer.
The company intends to build 38 residential lots on 15 acres of the Videra Oak Meadow. Some members of the local community strongly oppose this development, claiming that the plans would encroach upon and harm the meadow’s ecosystem.
“This is a truly special piece of property, not just a vacant field,” Julie Butler, secretary of the Save Videra Oak Meadow organization, said.
In an email statement to The Daily Emerald, which Butler described as a compilation of responses from members of the organization, Butler shed light on what makes the property worth fighting for and said the plans for wetland mitigation ask for permission to remove 70% of the existing wetlands.
According to SVOM, the land is made up of Oak savanna. It was once the dominant ecosystem within the Willamette Valley, but now takes up 2% of the area it used to cover. Most of the Oaks in the Willamette Valley today are over 100 years old.
Butler’s said that the local ecosystem has a “sponge effect” where the wet-
lands absorb and slow stormwater flow, insulating a nearby creek from erosion and ensuring consistent flow during the dry summer months.
Another benefit of the area is its presence as a source of clean water for the Amazon Creek, which the Videra Creek flows into. SVOM also cited the property’s utility as a natural fire break due to the nature of the native Oregon white oaks and the area’s geography.
The Eugene City Planning Commission tentatively approved the project in February, 2025. The commission determined the approval hinged on the property’s designation as a Goal 5 resource, which means Piculell Properties will not have to follow Eugene’s tree preservation and removal standards.
“(The City of Eugene) has poorly written land use codes with loopholes any developer can dance through,” Butler said. “The city is trying to prove that the area is Goal 5 by using a map from 1978.”
Butler said the city pointed to the map’s claim of the meadow containing “prominent and plentiful vegetation” as its justification for why the area meets the requirements.
Another grievance with the development cited by SVOM is the high cost of the planned housing. The parcel of land is located high in Eugene’s southwest hills with no access to public transportation and there are no shops or restaurants within walking distance.
“This is unlikely to address the middle income housing shortage nor does it do anything to lessen the issue of homelessness,” Butler said.
SVOM also contends that the city is more interested in helping the development than ensuring the current residents’ well-being.
The statement from SVOM espoused a hope for a better future than what is currently outlined for the area. Their ultimate goal is to purchase and preserve the property.
“Once purchased, we would donate it to the city as an addition to the current park and create a natural scenic space for everyone to enjoy,” Butler said.“Our hope is that the residents and neighbors will all contribute to ensuring the protection of Videra Oak Meadow for everyone to continue to enjoy and appreciate.”
Local non-profit Neighbors
Feeding Neighbors continues to serve meals without permits
Neighbors Feeding Neighbors has sought legal representation with a local attorney to defend their initiative of serving meals without permits
By Jess Coronado City News Reporter
The non-profit group Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, a faith-based organization, has taken constitutional legal defenses as justification for its lack of permits. The organization, formerly known as Breakfast Brigade, serves the community by providing free meals to people in need.
In December 2024, NFN was threatened with arrest and citations by the Eugene Police Department for operating without a permit. NFN has continued to serve meals despite not having the permits to do so.
According to Marion Suitor Barnes, Public Affairs Manager with the City of Eugene, the permits NFN applied for were appealed and subsequently denied in September 2024. The permits would have permitted them to serve food in the southern part of Washington-Jefferson Park.
“There is some pretty decent legal precedent for the fact that serving the hungry as an expression of your faith is something supported by the First Amendment,” Board President for NFN, Lisa Levsen, said.
NFN’s primary defense lies in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which refers to the freedom of speech. NFN has also used Article I sections 2, 3 and 26 of the Oregon constitution, which relate to freedom of freedom of worship, religious opinion and to assemble in a peaceful manner for the common good.
NFN announced during its press conference on Jan. 28 that it would continue to serve meals at Washington Jefferson Park through the constitutional rights it claims and through the representation of attorney Matthew Watkins.
In a legal letter sent to city officials, including Mayor Kaarin Knudson, Watkins stated, “In performing its work, NFN and other members of the community assemble together in a peaceable manner to consult for their common good. NFN believes that by feeding the needy, its members are engaging in their natural right to worship the Almighty, according to the dictates of their own consciences.”
Watkins added, “If the city continues its
current attempts to limit, restrict or prohibit NFN’s performance of its mission, the organization intends to use every legal tool at its disposal to seek relief from the city’s actions.”
According to Levsen, EPD has stationed “guardian trailers” in Washington Jefferson Park since December 2024 to survey the area where NFN serves its meals.
Melinda McLaughlin, EPD’s public information director, stated in an email that “guardian trailers” with cameras are placed when there are issues, neighborhood complaints, concerns or if the area is determined to need attention through data collection.
McLaughlin stated that EPD did not have any new information to share about future enforcement activity regarding NFN.
“I’m always nice to the guardians,” Levsen said. “Matt referenced the harassment of not only the police circling the blocks while we were doing our press conference, there were four police cars that circled the blocks filming us, as well as the guardian trailer filming us.”
Levsen said the day after Watkins acknowledged EPD’s presence, which she described as “troubling,” the guardian trailer was removed from the area and NFN hasn’t seen it since.
Levsen said NFN not having proper permits was due to miscommunications with city officials regarding NFN not having certificates of insurance, despite their attempts to obtain them. Levsen said she attempted to appeal the permit, but was denied in September 2024.
According to Levsen, the response from the city was to make NFN pay for a permit which would cost over $75 per day, which would amount to over $15,000 per year for the four days they serve food each week.
“We don’t raise that much money as a nonprofit. Maybe we can this year because we are fundraising, but we have never raised more than, I don’t know, $8,000 in a year,” Levsen said.
Low turnout, big outcome: Inside ASUO’s quiet special election
By McKenzee Manlupig Investigative Reporter
Of the roughly 23,000 University of Oregon students who were eligible to vote in the 2025 Associated Student of the University Oregon’s Special Election, 97 did. The election, which brought major structural and financial changes, happened quietly with the voter guide being released one day before the 48-hour election period began.
Total Number of Participants:
Question 1:
This measure eliminated all references to the EMU and the EMU Board from the ASUO Constitution and redistributes EMU-Specific Officer Positions on the ASUO Legislative Branch.
Question 1:
This proposed amendment to the ASUO Constitution refines election timing, streamlines processes, and introduces Ranked Choice Voting
Question 2:
This measure eliminated the ability for organizations who are legally distinct from the University of Oregon to utilize the initiative and referendum process to secure Incidental Fee Funding.
Question 2:
Senate Academic Committee & Seat
This proposed amendment to the ASUO Constitution updates the structure of the ASUO Student Senate seats and codifies bylaws for the Senate Academic Committee
Each year, ASUO holds a winter term special election to vote on technical changes to the ASUO constitution. The planning for this year’s election began on Oct. 16, 2024 when ASUO Senate President Taliek Lopez-Duboff introduced the call for a work group to determine what would be on the ballot for the election. The working group was adopted soon after on Oct. 30, 2024, officially launching the election cycle.
There were two questions on the 2025 ballot, according to the voter guide. Question One, the “ASUO Elections Reform Package,” and Question Two, “Senate Academic Committee and Seat Names,” were both approved by voters.
Question One, which introduced the largest changes for students, codified standardizing spring election dates, made amendments to Elections Board procedures and adopted ranked-choice voting — a system that had previously failed to pass in a statewide initiative during the 2024 election.
Assistant Professor of Political Science at UO, Chandler James, said the system gives voters a wider chance to accurately show their beliefs by ranking each candidate, rather than just picking one.
“It’s a more accurate reflection of the electorate’s beliefs,” James said. “However, one of the drawbacks is that not everybody knows how to use ranked-choice voting or is familiar with it, and so it can be costly in terms of the transition.”
Lopez-DuBoff said implementing ranked-choice voting was an important change to avoid lengthy runoff elections as seen in prior years.
A runoff election occurs when one candidate fails to secure 50% of the vote. Since oftentimes there are multiple candidates vying for the same ASUO positions, runoffs have drawn out the spring elections process for days and sometimes weeks. In the 2024 elections, 77% of elections went to a runoff.
“There were a lot of issues with the runoffs and ASUO elections last year. It gets kind of messy, right?” Lopez-DuBoff said. “We wanted to find a way to streamline that (and) make the elections more accessible to students.”
Ranked-choice voting will effectively eliminate runoff elections by allowing students to rank their choices, ensuring a majority winner is determined in a single round of voting.
“When you have three, four, five (or) six candidates, you’re going to get a runoff. That’s just how numbers work,”
Elections Board Member David Mitrovčan Morgan said. “You’re just accepting that you’re gonna have two elections every time. No voter wants to deal with that.”
Voter turnout has been a consistent issue for ASUO elections. While just 1,476 students voted in the 2024 special election, that number was significantly higher than this year’s turnout — 97 votes or about 0.004% of the student body.
“I haven’t heard anything about the ASUO special elections, even though I receive communication from UO in multiple formats like email and Instagram,” Avery Smith, UO junior, said.
When asked why voter turnout was so low this year, Mitrovčan Morgan said “controversy” was the difference.
Mitrovčan Morgan referenced the 2024 special election campaign that modified the way student organizations receive funding. Oregon State Public Interest Research Group took issue with the proposed measure, starting a “vote no” campaign. Soon after a “vote yes” campaign rivaled it.
“Two strategic and motivated campaigns competing against one another offers voters an alternative. It offers them a choice between two options,” James said. “They are strategically responding to each other with the goal of obtaining a majority of winning and they’re trying to build diverse coalitions.”
The higher turnout according to Mitrovčan Morgan was the controversy over the measure — something he said was missing from this election season.
This year’s ballot had no bills that were “controversial” and “no campaigns whatsoever,” he said.
“It was mostly a procedural edits of procedure,” Mitrovčan Morgan said.
Mitrovčan Morgan cited that the ASUO has to stay neutral in the ballot measures, saying it limits their options to boost voter turnout or promote voting.
“The board has to stay perfectly neutral. The best that we can do is, ‘Hey, there’s an election going on, it’s important, you should vote,’” Mitrovčan Morgan said. “Which is not anything compared to a candidate or a campaign manager.”
One main avenue for the ASUO to announce and educate voters on the ballot is through the voter guide, which explains the various proposed reforms. While, Mitrovčan Morgan pointed to a lack of controversy as the cause of low turnout compared to last year; another potential cause was that ASUO published the 2024 Voter Guide two weeks before the election, while in 2025, it was released just one day before.
According to Mitrovčan Morgan, the late release was because the ASUO members themselves didn’t know what would be on the ballot until a week before the election.
The five member judicial branch, which is the ASUO Constitutional Court, must approve all ballot measures before going on the ballot; those members take two recesses throughout the school year.
“The board has to stay perfectly neutral. The best that we can do is, ‘Hey, there’s an election going on, it’s important, you should vote.’
- David Mitrovčan Morgan, Head of the ASUO Elections Board
“According to the court’s rules, winter recess begins on the first Monday in December and continues until the second Monday in January.
In 2025, Constitution Court came out of recess a week early, Lopez-Duboff said, publishing their ASUO Reform Package Jan.8.
The resolutions crafted by the working group, however, specifically called for the special election to take place
during week three of the term, giving the Election Board 13 days to publish what was going to be on the ballot.
“We were faced with the decision of, do we make all the deadlines prior to that recess so that we don’t have to figure anything out, right? Or do we try to jam everything into three weeks of procedures?” Mitrovčan Morgan said.
Lopez-Duboff said he called for the election to be earlier in the term to make sure the Election Board had time to prioritize both the special and regular election.
Another major priority of the election board is increasing the number of candidates participating in the spring election. Moving away from a system that allows more than two candidates to run was “step one”, Mitrovčan Morgan said.
“When I was just a commissioner last year, there was no considered effort of, how do we advertise to people that they can run?” he said.
This year for the spring elections, the campaigning period has been expanded to 53 days from Feb. 17 to April 11, in order to give candidates time to interact with voters. In 2024, campaigning opened April 1, and with run-offs concluding April 11, giving students just days to learn about campaigns.
“What gets people to vote is candidates going out there and campaigning, two weeks is not enough for any campaign,” he said.
With the goal to remove barriers of entry that were “unnecessary”, the need for signatures to run for Senate positions was eliminated, and the election board began various workshops to get candidates interested and voter information.
ASUO spring elections will occur from April 7-11.
*Voting results of prior and current elections are accessible to view for UO students through the Engage platform with their UO login.
(Anna Liv Myklebust/Emerald)
(COVER) David Mitrovčan Morgan, head of the ASUO Elections Board, watches and listens carefully to the Vice Presidential Debates. Mitrovčan Morgan and the Elections Board oversees each election as
(Saj Sundaram/Emerald)
(ABOVE) Chandler James (right), a political science assistant Professor at the University of Oregon.
A merit-based America? Or one of nepotism and bias?
Donald Trump claims he wants to make America a country based on merit, and that’s why he’s gutting DEI programs. But he has the wrong focus, DEI is not the problem that he’s making it out to be.
By Milly Gamlen Opinion Columnist
President Trump has made a lot of changes and ruffled a lot of feathers in just the first few weeks of his second term in office. One of his recent actions that sparked outcry was his executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, claiming that he wants to make America a country that is solely “merit-based.”
So, let’s look at what DEI is and why you should care.
While it has become a sort of token term, it’s important to establish a definition of what DEI is meant to demonstrate. Diversity, meaning that there should be a diverse spectrum of viewpoints in a workplace or school. Equity, meaning that there are certain obstacles that people may need help overcoming in order to get those jobs or school opportunities. Lastly, inclusion, meaning that there needs to be an environment to ensure that once these people land these positions, they feel safe there.
So, why is DEI being vilified by our president?
First, many people feel that these programs foster an environment of reverse racism or sexism. The argument here is that the use of quotas for certain groups of people, even with something as simple as the hiring process, hurts the chances of other groups, like white men. Many people opposed to DEI initiatives feel that
they are less likely to get certain opportunities because they are not “diverse” enough.
On the other hand, because certain groups of people have historically been oppressed and discriminated against, they deserve a shot at these opportunities, introducing the need for a system that ensures that people who have historically been ostracized from opportunities have a chance to interview for these positions as well.
“It (DEI) has become something to many Republican politicians, including Trump, that is tantamount to reverse discrimination,” Chandler James, assistant professor of political science at University of Oregon, said.
One side argues that the people who have certain privileges (white rich men) are discriminated against by having to put in the work only to get passed over for someone who seems less qualified. While the other side believes that people who belong to different minority groups are just getting a shot at opportunities they have historically been shut out of, and that if they receive the job or scholarship, it is because they are the best fit with DEI policies giving them the chance they deserve. The flaw with the first idea, is that DEI policies do not mean that people who aren’t qualified are being hired, they mean that everyone gets a shot at the job regardless of background. In other words… based on merit.”
“There’s different connotations of this term,” James said.
Trump has launched an executive order dis-
mantling DEI programs. This will be an order that revokes actions taken by President Lyndon B. Johnson. These orders come after a previous order claimed that President Biden had forced “discrimination” programs into many aspects of the federal government.
I find President Trump’s remarks during his inauguration about the need to “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based” ironic considering his daughter and son-in-law work in the White House and two of his sons work internationally on behalf of the Trump Organization.
If Donald Trump is so laser-focused on making America merit-based, then his efforts to erase DEI techniques from the federal government is not only misguided, but just blatantly wrong. He should be questioning instead whether his children are the most qualified people for such positions of power over millions of other applicants.
Milly is a senior at UO majoring in Journalism with a minor in Sustainable Business. She has been writing for the opinion desk for three years and likes to write articles about drugs, politics, and societal issues.
The progress of women’s sports still lacks in some areas
D is an Opinion Columnist for the Daily Emerald.
Originally from Las Vegas, D is a third year student and loves to write about topics that matter to her and the wider University of Oregon community.
Despite women’s dominance in many sports, especially soccer, sports pubs and bars fail to recognize their accomplishments and tend to highlight only men’s teams
By D Ortega Opinion Columnist
Working at an indoor soccer place has been a sanctuary for me. I love sports. I grew up playing soccer and am a multi-sports fan. I’m forever grateful that there were people who looked like me — women — who fought hard to gain attraction to women’s sports. Every now and then, I’ll take a look at the
sports memorabilia that decorate a building. More often, I find men’s professional sports teams littered with support. However, I always see a lack of women’s teams filled with the same support, even through the rise in the popularity of women’s sports.
The National Women’s Soccer League was established in 2012 and has grown in viewership over the past few years. The league is the equivalent league of the men’s side, Major League Soccer.
Additionally, the rise of Caitlin Clark brought great attention to the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the increase in recognition made a major impact on the industry. But when are we going to see endorsements and recognition as an effect of the equality for which women athletes have continued to advocate?
University of Oregon freshman Sarina Stone discussed Clark’s effect on the legacy of women’s sports.
“I think after Caitlin Clark had a massive effect on viewership of both college and professional basketball, women’s basketball has definitely been advertised more,” Stone said. “But I don’t think that applies to all women’s sports, and I believe that this is only happening because of Caitlin’s success.”
It was interesting to hear from Stone that Clark’s effect is built on her popularity, which I partly agree with. I think it’s important to highlight the history of players before Clark, such as Sue Bird and Candace Parker, who fought from nothing and made it into opportunities that Clark now has.
Another UO student, senior Greta Lips, discussed her own experience witnessing the growth of women’s sports.
“Since women’s sports have increased in popularity, I’ve noticed female athletes getting more recognition. But I haven’t noticed more promotion of women’s sports, nor have I noticed them playing women’s sports in restaurants or pubs. Additionally, men’s sports posters and merchandise are still the majority displayed,” Lips said.
The recognition of women’s sports has grown, but not enough.
Located in Portland, The Sports Bra is one of the most exciting sports bars established in the past couple of years. The doors opened in April 2022, and “the front door is plastered with a mural of women athletes.”
Paving the way for women’s sports doesn’t just happen within the game but with the help of supporters.
If we begin to create and open up more spaces for women’s sports, this change may help increase the opportunities for women’s sports. Everyone is aware that women’s sports are finally on the map, but what will it do to honor and cement the legacies of women of the past just as it has been done for the men’s side?
Though we’ll probably wonder at this question for a long time within this society, for now, I’ll have to support The Sports Bra to experience an atmosphere full of sports fanatics just like me. I want to encourage that we must support these spaces to create an enthusiastic culture for the growing industry of women’s sports.
Female athletes deserve the recognition they have fought for and continue to fight for. As supporters, engaging and solidifying the impact of women’s sports can help drive this change to something beneficial for everyone.
(Noa Schwartz/Emerald)
(Noa Schwartz/Emerald)
ARTS & CULTURE
Life on the hill: JoAnna O’Neill reflects on 12 years as a ski patroller
When she was 15, JoAnna O’Neill became the youngest ski patrol at Pajarito Ski Area in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Twelve years later, she returns to Pajarito to patrol whenever she can.
By Jess McComb Arts & Culture Editor
When JoAnna O’Neill moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico in second grade, the Pajarito Ski Area ski patrol room became her second home. Her dad had been hired as a patroller, and she said she “pretty much grew up hanging around the patrol room.”
When she turned 14, O’Neill took the Outdoor Emergency Care Course and at 15 she became the youngest patrol on the mountain. During her senior year of highschool she was named Young Adult Patroller of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Division of the National Ski Patrol.
For the past 12 years, patrolling has been a constant in O’Neill’s life. During her undergraduate at Western Washington University she patrolled at Mt. Baker for a year and after graduating she returned to Pajarito Ski Area in Los Alamos where she patrolled part time. Now, as a second year graduate student pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at University of Oregon, O’Neill patrols when she can — typically during breaks from school when she returns to Los Alamos.
“When people ask me what my life plans are post grad school I like to joke around and say, ‘Maybe I’ll just go back to being a ski patroller,’” O’Neill said. “Who knows? I could just be the most educated dirt bag. There are a lot of people I grew up ski patrolling with who had full careers and were still involved in ski patrol for decades.”
A typical shift starts at 7 a.m. and finishes up at 6 p.m. Patrollers will watch the sun rise and set during their shift in the winter months. O’Neill said some of the most special moments she’s had as a patrol have been on dawn patrol — scanning the mountain for hazards as the sun rises.
“I’ve only done it like a handful of times, but it’s such a special, whimsical experience,” O’Neill said. “The sun is rising and you’re alone on an empty mountain.”
O’Neill said the best skiing she’s ever had was during the morning shift lapping the mountain before it opens.
When she was a youth patrol, O’Neill’s duties were no different than they are now. Every pattroller must take the same ski and medical tests, so there isn’t a watered down version of the program for younger applicants.
“They do a really good job of preparing you. You’ll never be put in a situation that you don’t have the training for,” O’Neill said. “I think more than anything it would just be kind of awkward, for lack of a better word, when you’re 15, 16 and you’re in charge of say, a 60-year-old man that just tore his ACL. Sometimes you can feel your patient’s apprehension, like, ‘Oh, who’s this little girl coming to give me medical attention.’”
At Pajarito Ski Area, patrol duties are mainly isolated to injuries and other emergent situations like chair lift evacuations. Avalanche patrol and rescue isn’t common at Pajarito, but when she patrolled at Mt. Baker O’Neill took two avalanche courses for certified rescue personnel.
Luckily, O’Neill has not been in or had to rescue someone from an avalanche, but she makes use of her certification skiing in the backcountry. She has backcountry skied all over New Mexico and Colorado, most
memorably in Silverton, CO, where she and one of her best friends paid $30 for a helicopter drop into the backcountry.
O’Neill said one of the biggest perks of ski patrolling is the friends she’s made through the program. “Finding really good ski buddies is a lot easier through ski patrol,” she said. “You’re surrounded by a bunch of people that shred, and that can make you a much better skier.”
Whether it be to find ski buddies, lap the mountain before opening or give visitors the ride of their life in a toboggan, O’Neill plans to continue to patrol whenever she can. Her 12 year journey is not over yet.
Shake off winter with three crisp spring salads
Ditch the winter soups and dig into three fresh, seasonal salads that taste like spring
In Eugene, spring is salad season, but that doesn’t mean boring bowls of lettuce. With crisp radishes, tender asparagus, earthy beets and fresh herbs from local markets, these three salad recipes will bring new life to your lunch or dinner table using seasonal ingredients.
Spring Bean Salad
Protein-packed, flavorful and perfect for meal prep . Enjoy this hearty, herbaceous salad all week long — it gets better as it sits!
Ingredients:
- 1 can chickpeas, drained (save 1 tablespoon of liquid)
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 can white beans (cannellini or navy), drained
- 3 large radishes, diced
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced
- 1/4 red onion, finely chopped (or 2 scallions for a milder bite)
- 1 small cucumber, diced (optional, for crunch)
- 1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 handful fresh mint or dill (or both), chopped
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2–3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes (optional, for heat)
- 1 tablespoon chickpea liquid (aquafaba)
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions:
In a large bowl, mix the chickpeas, black beans, white beans, radishes, red onion (or scallions) and cucumber if using.
Add the minced garlic, lemon zest and chopped herbs.
In a small jar or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, cumin, smoked paprika, chili flakes, chopped herbs, chickpea liquid, salt and pepper until creamy and well blended.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to coat.
Let sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to develop.
Spring asparagus salad with lemon vinaigrette
This light and zesty salad highlights Oregon spring produce and brings a bright pop of flavor to any meal.
Ingredients:
-1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
-4 radishes, thinly sliced
-1 stalk green garlic, minced (or substitute 1 garlic clove)
-4 cups mixed spring greens
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Optional: shaved Parmesan or toasted almonds for topping
Instructions:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch asparagus for 2 minutes until bright green then transfer to an ice bath to cool.
In a large bowl, toss the greens, radishes and cooled asparagus.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, green garlic, salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine.
Top with cheese or nuts if using, and serve chilled or at room temperature.
Classic Spinach beet salad with farro
Classics are classics for a reason. In-season spinach and beets just work with goats cheese and crunchy toasted walnuts. If you are looking for a filling salad, the farro turns this dish into a full meal!
Ingredients:
- 4 cups fresh spinach, rinsed and dried
- 2 medium beets, roasted, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup uncooked farro
- 1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Cook the farro according to package instructions. Drain and let cool.
To roast the beets, wrap them in foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes until tender. Let cool before peeling and slicing.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, cooked farro, roasted beets, goat cheese, walnuts and red onion. In a small jar or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to coat. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
(Noa Schwartz/Emerald)
By Fern Peva, Arts & Culture Writer
Crossword
8 Resting place?
9 Brand of nasal spray
“You __ loved”
“Cool beans!”
Dish that may accompany a main course, and what can be found at the start of 17-, 25-, 38-, or 53-Across?
10 Creates pleats in, as pie crust
11 Hospitality entrepreneur
12 Building with little curb appeal
13 Mayday call
18 Gear tooth
22 Width counterpart
24 J’adore fragrance maker
26 Hair-curling aids
27 Pull one over on
28 From dawn __ dusk
30 Protected, nautically
34 Skin layer with hair follicles
36 Heart of the matter?
38 Alton Brown cooking show
39 Souls and Rios
40 Figs. near baggage claim
41 “So cute!”
“__ Flag Means Death”: Max comedy with pirates
42 May who was prime minister during Brexit
46 Banded stones
48 Tamp down
50 Winding ski race
Sudoku
51 Sport with belts
52 All four members of ABBA, e.g.
54 Atlanta university with an Oxford campus
55 Before, poetically
59 On the briny
61 Bother repeatedly
62 Matching pair, perhaps
63 Wedding vow
64 Theater chain with ads featuring Nicole Kidman
Former Oregon women’s basketball stars return
WNBA Champions Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally are set to play a game in Eugene on May 12
What
to know: No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling at No. 1 Baylor
Big Ten OverviewSoftball
How does the Ducks’ new conference shape up?
By Joe Krasnowski Sports Reporter
Oregon softball has exceeded any expectations any realistic fan could have put on the Ducks going into the 2025 season. Somehow, a group that had to replace seven everyday starter seniors has gotten better — hosting a regional is absolutely not out of the question for Oregon, and frankly, should be the expectation.
There have been faces both new and old contributing, and a lineup that had six newcomers to start its season has often picked up its pitching staff and vice versa.
With all that being said, let’s take a look at where the rest of the conference stands while giving some historical context to some of the Ducks’ new foes.
The contenders — Oregon, Northwestern, Michigan, Nebraska, UCLA, Ohio State
The Ducks easily fall into this category here. Lyndsey Grein (0.98 ERA through her first 93 innings) and four Big Ten Freshman of the Week honorees are a big reason why.
There’s a clear power dynamic in the Big Ten — there are these seven schools, and then everyone else. UCLA and Michigan are the conference’s only champions this decade, with Washington making the championship in 2018. It’s also noteworthy that the Ducks will avoid a good number of these programs in the regular season — Oregon will host UCLA and Michigan at the Jane later this season.
The middle — Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Penn State, Minnesota
Washington is the program most likely to rise a tier here, with the Huskies able to beat up on most of the Big Ten’s lower tier teams. UW gave Oregon its first conference loss of the season and boasts an impressive freshman class that could see the program rise.
It’s worth noting that Minnesota (2017) is the only non-Michigan or Northwestern school to win a conference championship since 2014, so there’s a pretty clear lack of parity between the best and the rest.
The bottom — Maryland, Michigan State, Indiana, Illinois, Rutgers
These are tough times in the cellar for these programs. Rutgers is the one team here that is having an outlier 2025 season — the Scarlet Knights were third in the conference standings a year ago.
It’s notable that Oregon has played both Illinois and Rutgers in two of its first three conference matchups. It’s also worth considering that the Ducks (31-3) have the best record in the conference through their first 34 games.
Overall
While there’s a pretty clear disparity between the best teams in the conference, the world of NIL can change everything quickly in college sports. It’ll be interesting to see whether Oregon or UCLA can top the conference in their first year, or if one of the top dogs can keep or reclaim their championship spot.
SATURDAY
April 12, 2025
Oregon vs. Maryland The
TJ Bamba: an unconventional path
ketball and were good.”
Bamba noticed the life-changing opportunities that those he knew were getting by playing basketball, and knew he had the ability to work to that level.
“I wasn't good, I wasn’t taking it seriously yet. Seeing the opportunities they started to get and how it could change their situation with their families or the trajectory of their lives,” Bamba said. “I needed to go somewhere where I can put my head down and learn at my own pace.”
So, at the age of 15, he moved in with his Aunt and Uncle in Denver to attend Abraham Lincoln High School.
“I felt like I could be good at (basketball) if I put my mind to it,” Bamba said.
Bamba credits a lot of that confidence to his religious upbringing, especially the more than three years he spent learning at a boarding school in Senegal that centered its teachings around Islam. His family felt that faith should be an important pillar in Bamba’s life, which led to their decision to send him to Senegal when he was just seven years old.
As would become a theme for Bamba, he blossomed.
“It was a culture shock, learning a new language, different type of food, different type of curriculum, so at the time I didn’t know what I was going through. Being able to get through it by myself as a kid helped set me up to have the skills in life now,” Bamba said. “I can go anywhere and be successful. Me being a person that’s heavily religious and faithful, I know anywhere I go, god is with me.”
Bamba took his talents out west for his final years of high school, which also allowed him to make the best decision for the “greater good”. A lot of the time, that came with sacrific-
ing being close to family, which was something Bamba had to become okay with in order to succeed.
“I got an opportunity to train differently, get coached differently and really expose me to the real basketball world and what it would take for me to become a great basketball player,” Bamba said. “The Senegal experience prepared me to sacrifice family time or being close to home for the greater good.”
The gamble ultimately paid off. Bamba was not a nationally-ranked recruit, but he received an offer from one power-five program — the Washington State Cougars.
“I didn’t have many other offers at places where they believed in me and I felt like (Former Washington State head coach Kyle) Smith and them believed in me,” Bamba said.
Bamba eventually broke out and averaged 15.8 points per game in his junior season in Pullman, which finally drew interest from the national powerhouses. For his fourth year, he signed up to play for Coach Kyle Neptune at Villanova University. After the Wildcats’ lackluster season and a dip in the NBA draft waters, Bamba decided to bring his talents to Eugene.
“I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without being used to traveling or going away from home,” Bamba said.
Bamba, now out of college eligibility, will prepare for the draft back home in New York, but given his experience, he will be perfectly fine wherever he ends up. Continued from page 1
