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MAY 10, 2021

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FREYD vv.. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON UO’s defense against one professor’s pay discrimination lawsuit could ‘gut’ the Equal Pay Act, the court says.

NEWS

KRATOM POPULARITY RISES IN EUGENE PG 2

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NEWS

KRATOM POPULARITY RISES IN EUGENE

More convenience stores and gas stations are selling kratom around Eugene. The plant has potential as a substitute for opioids, but issues with kratom addiction and a lack of regulation cause concern.

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BY ALEXIS WEISEND • TWITTER @WEISEND_ALEXIS Signs advertising kratom outside of corner urinalysis if they were in treatment, and then markets and gas stations line Eugene’s streets. ended up discovering that it was just as addictive The plant used to treat pain is centuries old, but as other things that they’d been using,” she said. its popularity is recent, with newfound usage and Swogger said a minority of kratom users new concerns about a lack of regulation. develop an addiction, but “if it’s being used as “Kratom is a plant in the coffee family native a substitute and a person has a substance use to southeastern Asia,” said Dr. Marc Swogger, a disorder, it’s not unlikely that they will become clinical psychologist researching kratom. “We addicted to kratom.” found that people were reporting that kratom was Joanna Bernstein, a first year Ph.D. student at useful for pain, anxiety and getting off of opioids.” UO who has written about the opioid epidemic, His research shows how kratom can cause said she used kratom briefly. similar effects to opioids, helping to wean people “The main reason that I used it was either to off of other opioids like Vicodin and heroin. try to taper off of oxycodone when I was hooked Neighborhood Market, a grocery store in on that or to try — when I was relapsing — to try Eugene, began selling Sunstone Organics’ kratom to not go that far,” she said. “So I’ve used it for a capsules a year ago. Cashier Gabby Grewal said bunch of different reasons.” people buy kratom from the store every day. She said one of her main concerns is the “A lot of people are transitioning from pain potential presence of other harmful substances medication and using it for weaning off opioids,” in kratom. “The thing about the kratom that’s sold she said. Grewal said in these gas stations is, you kratom is popular with really don’t know what you’re middle-aged and older getting,” she said. “I know people, and that she somebody who ended up doesn’t sell very often to getting a form of toxic metal UO students. poisoning because they were However, the lack of addicted to kratom.” regulations surrounding In 2019, the U.S. Food and kratom makes it entirely Drug Administration tested legal in Oregon with no various kratom products for legal age requirement. UO heavy metals. Its subsequent freshman Quinn Spear report found “significant said he used kratom often levels of lead and nickel at in high school, mixing it concentrations that exceed into his morning tea. safe exposure for oral daily “They help with anxiety,” drug intake.” he said. “They would just Swogger said the keep me calm for pretty impurity stems from a lack much the entire day.” of regulation, and that no He said kratom is just science suggests that pure as noticeable as the buzz a kratom will produce toxic person feels after drinking metal poisoning. coffee. “It’s the opposite He said that people of that. You get a tranquil should make sure they are feeling rather than a buzz,” receiving kratom through he said. Spear said that he places that practice good only took kratom in small manufacturing. “If people amounts. select their kratom from Maureen Jenne, a those vendors, they’re not clinical director at going to be getting metals,” Emergence Addiction he said. and Behavioral Therapies Sunstone Organics, the in Eugene, said kratom kratom provider for many “initially has stimulant Eugene stores, recalled properties and, as the some of their products in person’s tolerance 2019 due to a salmonella increases and they use contamination, according to more, then it has opiatean FDA report. like impacts.” Many politicians in She said more people Oregon have backed House have sought treatment Bill 2646, which would for kratom addictions at establish “regulations for Emergence recently. kratom products, including “Neighborhood Market located on W 1st avenue is one of “Sometimes people testing standards, labeling many stores in Eugene selling kratom. The store began have used it hoping requirements and minimum selling capsules of kratom last year amid the plant’s growing to avoid detection in age for sale.” popularity to treat pain.” (Alexis Weisend/Emerald)

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Around OR REGIONAL AND STATE NEWS OREGONIANS WELCOME TO SUGGEST SOLUTIONORIENTED INPUT FOR 2022 FOREST PROJECTS: The Oregon Department of Forestry is taking input from the public for 2022. Until June 21, Oregonians can comment on planned projects, timber sales and other management activities in Oregonowned forests. Some projects to take place in 2022 include timber harvests, reforestation and trail improvements. – JANE GLAZER NO. 11 OREGON BASEBALL HITS ROUGH PATCH: The Oregon Ducks came off an impressive 13-0 win over Washington State to improve to 27-9. However, the Ducks struggled in the final two games of their three game series. They lost 11-1 on Saturday as Cullen Kafka conceded four home runs and dropped Sunday’s game 11-6 as the Cougars tallied 16 hits. Oregon will look to bounce back this weekend with a three-game series against the Washington Huskies at PK Park. – AARON HEISEN

(Kevin Wang/Emerald)

REVISING OREGON’S STATE SONG: A bill to revise the state song, “Oregon, My Oregon,” passed in the Oregon House earlier this year. Oregonians have long advocated for changing the song’s lyrics, and Rep. Sheri Schouten has described them as “outdated, racist and white supremist language.” Bill HCR11 removes descriptions of Oregon like “Conquered and held by free men” and “Land of the Empire Builders,” replacing them with new lyrics written by professional singer-songwriter Amy Shapiro. – SARAH-MAE McCULLOUGH

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NEWS

STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS TO RETURN SUMMER 2021 GEO is bringing back travel-based programs in 12 different countries while following rigorous health and safety procedures and requiring students to be fully vaccinated. BY ERYN MCGUIRE • TWITTER @ERYNMCGUIRE_ After a year of travel restrictions and canceled plans, summer study abroad programs are back. Global Education Oregon, the University of Oregon’s travel abroad program, is holding 30 programs in 12 countries this summer, working closely with UO’s incident management team, travel advisory group and university leadership to ensure student safety regarding COVID-19 throughout each program. For each destination, GEO’s health, risk and safety team has closely monitored safety criteria, including hospitalization rates, intensive care unit capacity and testing availability. The team takes these into consideration when approving programs. The team assesses risk based on 19 different criteria on a weekly basis. UO’s International Travel Advisory Group reviews each program and Provost Patrick Philips approves them. They have also been looking at classroom density, transportation and excursion availability, Dean of Global Engagement Dennis Galvan said. “A big part of what makes study abroad great is that, if you go to London, you also get to go to the Globe Theater, or you might go up Scotland,” he said. “We want students to have the full experience, as safely as possible.” GEO launched a very limited study abroad program in winter 2021 with a handful of students traveling to South Korea. A few more students are currently studying in London. For these programs, GEO required students to quarantine on arrival, present a pre-departure negative test and be tested every week. Now, with the widespread availability of the vaccine, international travel will be made much easier, Galvan said. This summer, GEO requires all students to be fully vaccinated before departing. “The biggest game changer is that the vaccine rate in the U.S. is so high now that countries that just four months ago were like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, Americans, why don't you guys stay home a little longer,’ have changed their minds because vaccinating people is the one thing we've done well,” Galvan said. Programs are subject to change if enrollment is too low, or if a destination becomes unsafe. GEO is less worried about countries changing their position on letting Americans in, and mainly preparing for a situation in which case numbers and hospitalization rates in a country become too high, Galvan said. GEO will be continuing the No Passport Needed programs implemented in 2020 when it canceled summer study abroad programs. These programs are fully remote and allow students to experience some elements of studying abroad without leaving home. UO faculty and instructors from around the world lead the courses, featuring guest speakers and virtual tours. No Passport Needed courses are the same price as regular UO classes, and all students who enroll this summer will receive a $1,000 grant on a future in-person study abroad program. UO sophomore Malia Mulligan is planning on participating in No Passport Needed to fulfill the intercultural experience requirement for her global studies major. Mulligan will be taking a six-credit course focused on environmental and social justice in South America led by UO professor Derrick Hindery and two professors in Bolivia. No Passport Needed works best for her schedule, allowing her to get a global experience in a shorter period of time. PA G E 4

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“I know that now they're starting to open up some real study abroad options, but I'm glad that they're kind of keeping these virtual ones as well,” she said. When GEO canceled all in-person study abroad programs last year, many students opted to defer their trips to 2021. UO sophomore Maisie Topping planned to study abroad in France last year and had the opportunity to defer her program when it was canceled. As a French minor, she planned on traveling to Angers to attend a French immersion program for two months. When the program was cancelled, Topping got her deposit fully refunded. As the year progressed, she realized that studying abroad this summer may not be worth it, and she chose to defer again and go in summer 2022. “In my program everyone else would also be vaccinated, so for me, safety wasn't the biggest factor,” she said. “I just didn't think I was gonna have very much fun because France is super shut down right now.” Galvan said that GEO has had a surprisingly high level of interest in study abroad this year, especially in their pre-freshman programs in London and Shanghai. Many applications for this summer are still open and students are encouraged to apply and look into financial aid opportunities. “The university wants every student to have an open pathway to get to know the world,” Galvan said. “Becoming global citizens is a really important part of our education because we have to know the world in order to live in it and manage it.”

(Eleanor Klock/Emerald)

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COVER

‘THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY’

Former University of Oregon professor Jennifer Freyd’s four-year legal battle with UO can now go to trial after a federal appeals court overturned a previous decision to throw out the case BY JOANNA MANN AND SILAS SLOAN

(Courtesy of Jennifer Freyd)

Recently retired University of Oregon psychology professor Jennifer Freyd is one step closer to bringing her pay equity lawsuit against the university to trial after years of convincing the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that her case deserves to be heard. Freyd v. University of Oregon is a landmark case which — should UO win — would “gut” the Equal Pay Act for all professionals seeking to settle their pay discrimination cases in the future, according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals majority opinion. A four-year battle Freyd filed the lawsuit in March 2017, after learning that men of her own rank and seniority in the department PA G E 6

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were making tens of thousands of dollars more in salary than she was, according to an outside study conducted by ECONorthwest economist Kevin Cahill. She said she tried to resolve the situation internally for three years, but resorted to suing the university when her deans told her nothing could be done. Freyd took her case to the Eugene U.S. District Court under the Equal Pay Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the U.S. and Oregon constitutions and other related laws. In May of 2019, Federal Judge Michael McShane dismissed Freyd’s claims on summary judgement, meaning he did not need a trial to decide that Freyd did not do equal work to her male comparators. The university and the district court agreed that Freyd could not prove that her

work was equal to or better than her peers because they conducted different types of research and sat on different committees. Psychology Department Chair Ulrich Mayr called Freyd’s pay gap “glaring” in a 2016 letter to UO College of Arts and Sciences deans Hal Sadofsky and Andrew Marcus that unsuccessfully attempted to convince the two to give a retroactive promotion raise to Freyd. Freyd appealed the decision, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially agreed that Freyd held the same “common core” of tasks as her male colleagues. Nonetheless, the court argued that the pay disparities were not due to outright gender discrimination by the university, but to retention raises — salary bonuses given to faculty members being pursued by other

COVER universities as an incentive for them to stay. In March 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court found that Freyd had enough evidence to proceed with a lawsuit against UO for pay discrimination. The university’s request for hearing by the full Ninth Circuit was denied in April 2021, opening a 90-day window for UO to seek Supreme Court review. However, according to a letter from Vice President and General Counsel Kevin Reed, the university does not intend to take this to the Supreme Court and will instead proceed to trial. A settlement conference is scheduled for June 29, and then a trial date will be set. Freyd’s attorney Jennifer Middleton described this as a victory. “I think it's encouraging that the University of Oregon is willing to come to the negotiating table now,” Middleton told the Emerald. “I'm looking forward to having a frank conversation with them about how to resolve this case.” Pay disparity from retention raises The Ninth Circuit did not deny that men were making more money than women in the psychology department; however, the court attributed the pay gap to the university’s practice of retention raises. A 10-year external review of the UO psychology department conducted by Cahill showed a “significant equity problem with respect to salaries at the full professor level” because of how the university conducts its retention raises. The analysis revealed that 81% of retention raises in the department granted from 2007 through 2017 went to male faculty. Once retention raises were taken out of the equation, the pay gap between men and women went away. In a statement to the Emerald, the university said Cahill’s study showed an “anomaly” and that the majority of retention packages campus-wide have been negotiated with women and faculty of color over the past five years. “Mr. Cahill’s analysis is on a set of only around 20 retention cases that occurred in a single department at the university over a decade,” the statement read. “This is simply too small of a data set to draw a reliable conclusion on a matter of such importance.” According to a declaration to the District Court, Cahill said the study analyzed every retention raise offered to tenure-track faculty in the psychology department over a decade. Twenty-one out of the 26 retention raises were given to men and only five to women, which Cahill said resulted in a “highly statistically significant” pay gap between men and women. UO spokesperson Saul Hubbard said the university’s stance on this issue is also reflected in Reed’s letter — that UO believes and operates knowing that discrimination is wrong and is prohibited on the basis of gender. Reed said in a letter that the “most successful” faculty members in the psychology department happen to be male and so a gender imbalance in retention raises was “fully justified.” Freyd proposed that the university change its current practice of retention raises by offering individuals of the same rank and seniority a raise when one person in the department is offered one for retention purposes. This would equalize the salary disparity between men and women, she said, as studies show that men have traditionally received and considered more outside offers than women. The university rejected this idea, saying it fundamentally disagrees that retention practices are impacted by gender bias. UO echoed Ninth Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke’s statement that Freyd’s proposed solution would hinder its ability to compete with universities and cause a “brain drain,” meaning all the best faculty would leave if retention raises were conducted in this manner. In a statement to the Emerald, the university wrote that the proposed alternative was “unworkable and

unaffordable.” UO Law Professor Beatrice Dohrn said this is no excuse. “In pure legal terms, ‘can't afford’ is never a justification for discrimination. More importantly, it's a pathetic argument to say it's too expensive to not discriminate,” she said. “The university's making all these efforts about diversity, equity and inclusion; well, this is equity.” ‘Gutting’ the Equal Pay Act Ninth Circuit Court Judge Jay Bybee wrote in the court's majority opinion that a UO victory in this case would “gut the Equal Pay Act for all but the most perfunctory of tasks.” According to Middleton, the university’s proposed argument would not only affect university faculty but virtually all professions. “The same idea would carry over to most professional jobs,” Middleton said. “There might be two different criminal defense lawyers, but they work on different cases, they work in different jurisdictions... nobody's job is identical, unless maybe you're on a factory floor.” In her 34 years as a UO professor, Freyd said she was constantly compared to her colleagues through required performance evaluations, merit review processes and promotion processes.

“...it's a pathetic argument to say it's too expensive to not discriminate.” BEATRICE DOHRN

UO law professor “I had a meeting with the deans when they gave me a series of reasons that they didn't want to change my salary, and nothing remotely like this idea of different jobs came up,” Freyd said. “So my experience was very disorienting and almost gaslighting, like: ‘What do you mean? You're always comparing me.’” In a statement to the Emerald, the university said that while the Equal Pay Act applies to faculty, Freyd must prove that her work is equal to the four higherpaid faculty members she compared herself to in the department. Freyd argued that she had the same job duties as her comparators, and the university maintained that there were significant differences in their work. The Court of Appeals determined that it would be best for a jury to decide. Dohrn said the university’s argument is outrageous and she believes it is “selling out.” “I don't understand the university taking an anticivil rights position like this,” she said. “And I frankly don't understand them getting away with it in the sense that women don't speak up more and make more of a fuss about it.”

A new chapter In January 2020, Freyd wanted to retire from the university and dedicate more of her time to the Center for Institutional Courage, a nonprofit organization she founded that aims to create more equitable and accountable institutions. But the organization wasn’t the sole motivation for her retirement. “The way the University of Oregon has, at times, failed to make me feel welcome has played a role in my own decision-making about what's best for me and how I can most help the world,” she said. But when she attempted to accept her retirement package, there was a catch. The university would only allow her to accept the package if she dropped her suit. But after 68 faculty members, students, research assistants and equity coordinators wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees, the university reversed its decision and allowed Freyd to continue with the suit and accept the package. Even if that decision had not been overturned, Freyd said she never seriously entertained the idea of dropping the lawsuit. She believed it had become much bigger than her and that dropping it would negatively impact many others. “I felt [UO’s arguments] were threatening the wellbeing of my students, and that was very painful to see,” she said. “I don't want to have my institution promoting interpretations of the law that, should they prevail, will cause harm to equity and justice to so many women.” Though it’s painful to directly experience these inequalities, Freyd said her expertise in the field of institutional betrayal, a term she coined, has allowed her to “have a certain emotional distance” from the case. “I sometimes am able to work through that by saying, ‘Well, this is data. This is something I can learn from,’” Freyd said. “It doesn't take away that what happened was hurtful, and it's not the way I normally would want to get information, but it is something I can at least tell myself.” Grassroots courage Dohrn and economics professor Bill Harbaugh were set to present a motion to the UO Senate in April 2021, which, if passed, would state that the senate opposes any further efforts by the university to limit the availability of the Equal Pay Act’s protections in professional settings. “The Administration previously announced that it would consider seeking review by the U.S. Supreme Court in this event,” the motion read. “Regardless of the ultimate outcome, should the effort to gain further review of the 9th Circuit decision be successful, the University of Oregon’s name, reputation and brand will be forever associated with a position on the wrong side of history.” The motion was rescinded after Reed clarified the university’s position in a letter to the UO Senate one day before the meeting. In the letter, he wrote that the resolution would be “misplaced” as UO would not take the judgment to the Supreme Court and instead proceed to trial. Although the motion was never voted on, Freyd said she was inspired by the 90-plus people who cosponsored it. “When I found the motion, it was humbling to read such beautiful language and to see that people cared about equity in the way that they do, and in fairness and justice,” Freyd said. “What I study now is institutional courage, and it's institutional courage not coming from leadership at the highest levels, but the grassroots. In solidarity, people can change things.” M O N D AY, M AY 1 0 , 2 0 2 1

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A&C

ART AND ACTIVISM

'AGAINST ALL THE ODDS' For UO junior Mikalo Arenas, art is both a direct form of activism and a way to express themselves and recover from burnout following activist work. BY NIKA BARTOO-SMITH• TWITTER @BARTOONIKA UO junior Mikalo Arenas wants to be able to send a message to the masses through their art — "to have it be felt within the soul and stay with the people is the goal," they said. "And art can provide this." Arenas is majoring in women, gender and sexuality studies and minoring in both theater and sociology. They are Crow Indian and Mexican and, for them, art and activism surrounding their identities are linked to each other. They use art both as a direct form of activism and a form of self-care to tend to the burnout that often accompanies activist work. “Art gives me the ability to reconnect with my voice. Whenever I am unable to find the right words to explain something, I go to art,” Arenas said. Painting and written word are the two art forms that Arenas is currently most drawn to. They tend to decide in the moment which medium will best express their thoughts and emotions. Arenas also models or “presents” themself authentically to the world. Modeling is a form of radical self-love, especially for someone who defies gender norms, they said. “It also is a form of letting the world know that we are still here, as Native beings. I am thriving and I am living and I am loving,” Arenas said. “Against all the odds I have still somehow made a way to love and to live.” Pursuing a minor in Theater Arts, Arenas has spent lots of time in the theater department at UO. The theater department is very White, and they often feel tokenized as a non-binary Person of Color, Arenas said. In one costume class, they were told that they needed to shave their face to apply make up and

continue with the class. They felt like their experience was erased in that moment, as someone who already did makeup and knew it is very possible with facial hair. “There’s a lot of tokenising within the theater community,” Arenas said. “As a non-binary person, someone who defies the status quo of gender, being looked at and asked specific questions about that.” This is not the only experience Arenas has had at UO that made them frustrated with the university. “UO for me has always been a soul crushing experience,” Arenas said. “It will always be a soul crushing experience, being a BIPOC person within a colonial institution that is not made for you.” Arenas cited the Pioneer and Pioneer Mother statues as a reminder that the campus is built on colonialism. They smiled as they talked about the statues being taken down last year. Land acknowledgements – the recognition that the land was originally inhabited by Indigenous people – at UO and on people’s Instagram bios, bother Arenas. They said that land acknowledgements can be a problematic form of “modern erasure” when done incorrectly. “If you are going to acknowledge the genocide of a people, you need to put more time and effort and emotions into that,” Arenas said, referring to short land acknowledgements before events on campus. “Not just something that you feel like you need to do so people don’t yap at you.” One of the main ways Arenas processes their emotions, especially related to activism, is through their art. In one poem, “Conversations with the Moon,”

Conversations With The Moon My chest is heavy while my limbs feel chained. Vivid senses accompanied by a blurred vision. Wide awake while hope dims As life becomes a grim prison. It's from this deceiving dream, that I believe And the tempting embrace of slumber Into which woes I'd sought to relieve.

Mikalo Arenas stands outside of the Miller Theatre Complex where they participate in the University of Oregon Theatre Arts program on May 4, 2021. Arenas, a third year women, gender and sexuality studies major, uses their passion for poetry, modeling, theatre and fine art as a means of activism for the issues that they are passionate about (Isaac Wasserman/Emerald).

Arenas describes the pain and sadness experienced in their life. “Constantly being conditioned by colonizers / Has felt like I was forced into hibernation / Like my soil has gone rotten from years of contamination,” Arenas wrote. For Arenas, part of both art and activism is being radically authentic, especially through “my words, my aesthetic, my being, how I dress myself, my gender,” they said. “BIPOC people, we don’t have the ability to choose whether or not we are activists,” Arenas said. “That is something that was chosen for us.” Campus Creatives is a weekly column by A&C reporter Nika Bartoo-Smith that highlights unique and talented members of the UO community. If you know someone who should be featured — whether they started their own business, run a podcast or just love to dance — email Nika at nbartoosmith@dailyemerald. com or or Tweet her @BartooNika.

Tied down by the limbs, At my chest too; there is no escape. I begin to hear the grim hymns Of that light figure, whose shape Embraces my brain - I can't breathe! More than my mind, at times, it will invade. All I can do is hope to be free. It all feels so real. Being in a constant pin, as these horrors Make way with such zeal. I can't seem to scream, despite the tortures. Breathing heavily, I try to move, Watching what else the white figure conjures. It's for these nightmares, I long to sleep. On the nights when I lie still in my bed, I dance with fellow Crow Indians inside my own head. I stuff my dreams all plump with bushels of dread and I sigh when they smother the sprout of hope that grows in my head. There are nights when I cry for all those I’ve met that only live to experience death, I wail and I wish that people would cherish their breath. Most evenings I feel cold and alone, clinging to my wall in hope to create my own homewith a gamine girl in a fantasy dome; us trapped together forever. I stay up most nights until times beyond reason, constantly thinking of conversational treason, of things that I’ve planted directly in loam, that ever still refuse to grow. Constantly being conditioned by colonizers, Has felt like I was forced into hibernation. Like my soil has gone rotten from years of contamination. I will always try my best to grow a new creation. In hope that maybe one day, We may finally get our long awaited vacation. -MIKALO ARENAS

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91 UO ATHLETES HAVE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 SINCE JULY From mid-July to early March, swaths of student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 while the university blanketed the info with a cloud of ambiguity. BY SHANE HOFFMANN • TWITTER @SHANE_HOFFMANN Note: This story originally appeared in The Oregonian/OregonLive on May 2. Oregon Ducks football coach Mario Cristobal and his staff often err on the side of ambiguity when handling injuries within the program, keeping exact diagnoses close to the vest. Many programs across the country do the same. But this past season brought an added wrinkle across the UO athletic department: the suppression of information surrounding COVID-19 cases among student-athletes. As college football forged on last fall despite the pandemic, swaths of athletes tested positive for COVID-19 around the country. In the Pac-12, programs had to opt out of games on a near-weekly basis due to outbreaks. Most schools in the conference announced when players had tested positive or would miss time due to illness. Oregon, however, chose not to report positive cases among athletes to the public. The only time the athletic department announced a positive case was when five football players tested positive on Oct. 24, results that were deemed false positives days later. Data obtained by The Oregonian/ OregonLive through a public records request show 91 out of the university’s 520 student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 between July 17, 2020, and March 2 of this year. According to the university’s latest enrollment numbers, 17.5% of student-athletes have tested positive, compared with 8% of students overall, though student-athletes are required to get tested frequently, while other students are not. Over the course of that same window, Oregon State recorded 66 positive tests among studentathletes. Since UCLA began testing on June 22, it has recorded 93 positive tests. Elsewhere in the conference, Washington State had recorded well over 100 by mid-November and Washington had more than 80 through the month of December. The records from UO did not specify the athletes’ sport or team but do indicate spikes in cases that corresponded with the start of the football season, as well as the men’s and women’s basketball teams’ pauses in activity in January and February. PA G E 1 0

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Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal on the sideline during a timeout. Oregon Ducks Football takes on the Colorado Buffaloes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Oct. 11, 2019. (DL Young/Emerald)

Although the Pac-12's football aggregate data about the toll of the season didn’t commence until virus, especially at a time like this when November, Gov. Kate Brown cleared we are by no means out of the woods.” both Oregon and Oregon State to Singh added: “I do think there is begin practicing on Sept. 17. In the a degree of short-sightedness when following 13 days, 15 student-athletes these laws are overapplied, because it at UO tested positive for COVID-19. is to everybody’s detriment. The public Forty-two of the athletes’ reported and the news media have a right to positives came between July 17 and see the data, understand the trends, Jan. 2, when the UO football season understand the risks involved with ended, while 49 occurred in the next physically heading back to school.” two months, from Jan. 3 to March 2. UO does keep a regularly updated Similarly, a majority of UO’s overall database of all student cases at the student cases came in January and the university. months following. It isn’t completely clear why UO has When the men’s and women’s now released COVID numbers among basketball programs paused all team its athletes after previously refusing activities multiple times in January, to do so. UO spokeswoman Kay Jarvis it was labeled “due to COVID-19 told The Oregonian/OregonLive that protocols.” The men’s when testing first began program experienced last summer, there “JANUARY SAW THE a pause of all team were so few students activities on Jan. 12 MOST POSITIVE CASES being tested, and so for 10 days and then few positive results, AMONG UO ATHLETES, that the university was paused again on Jan. 26 — the same day that able to release data WITH 31, FOLLOWED BY not eight of the positive because of FERPA. tests were recorded. 19 IN FEBRUARY, 16 IN Jarvis wrote that some Three more were requests “were made SEPTEMBER AND 11 IN before records were reported over the next three days. The available.” OCTOBER.” women’s program was When asked in early paused on Jan 29. Six December if there had cases were reported between Jan. 29 been any cases within the football and Feb. 5. program, UO athletic department January saw the most positive cases spokesman Jimmy Stanton did not among UO athletes, with 31, followed answer, saying via email that all data is by 19 in February, 16 in September and reported to Lane County Public Health 11 in October. and the UO campus in the aggregate This is the first time the university has only and was not available to the reported this data, previously declining public. He added, “data on individual media requests while citing privacy laws student-athlete testing results is such as HIPAA. The Health Insurance protected personal health information Portability and Accountability Act, and and not released.” FERPA, the Family Educational Rights A New York Times investigation and Privacy Act. published Dec. 11 reported at least FERPA and HIPAA do prohibit 6,629 coronavirus cases in athletic schools from disclosing information departments around the country. Nine that could potentially harm or identify Pac-12 schools provided complete data, individuals, but do not prevent the and two — Colorado and Arizona State university from disclosing aggregate — contributed “limited” data. Oregon numbers to the public. was the only school in the conference “I can say confidently that denying to provide no data. Oregon was among access to such data doesn’t serve 19 schools of the 130 surveyed that did public interest,” said attorney Gunita not provide the information. Singh, legal fellow with the Reporters A New York Times spokeswoman told Committee for Freedom of the Press. The Oregonian/OregonLive via email “FERPA and HIPAA should absolutely that UO denied requests for data and not be used to withhold de-identified, that the newspaper subsequently filed

an open records request. The university responded by saying it did not have records about cases in the athletic department, and that any records it did have would be exempt due to privacy. Many of the university’s Pac-12 peers have made complete logs of aggregate testing numbers among athletic departments available to the public. Several schools, including UCLA, provide the number of studentathletes tested, along with the number of active positive cases each week. Asked why UO differed in its approach, Jarvis wrote: “We respect the privacy of our students, including our student-athletes, and do not believe that the privacy of athletes’ health status is any less worthy of protection than that of any other students or employees on our campus.” UO did not provide the number of total tests administered to studentathletes or the number of negative results, saying via email that it does not possess those records. “It’s important that people have the truth, that they know the real data so that they can make decisions about how to live their life,” said Chris Sinclair, the president of the UO faculty union and former president of the faculty senate. The UO public records office told The Oregonian/OregonLive that all student-athletes were tested upon returning to campus for the first time. After that, the frequency of testing among sports is determined through the sport’s risk of transmission — based on the NCAA definition of high, medium or low risk — and whether a sport is in season. During football season, the program provided antigen testing six days a week and a weekly polymerase chain reaction test — a method that rapidly creates millions of copies of a specific DNA sample. Football out of season has weekly PCR testing. Low-risk programs — like beach volleyball, golf and tennis — test only if athletes develop symptoms and 48 hours prior to traveling to a competition, according to the UO public records office. Medium-risk sports like softball and baseball have weekly PCR testing while in season and every other week out of season.

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OPINION

THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NEEDS RESTRUCTURING Sterling: The CFP must expand to at least eight teams. Spectators could watch high-caliber, out-of-conference competition often only seen in the early stages of the season, preserving future interest in the sport. BY BAZIL STERLING • TWITTER @RAZZLE_BAZIL

Ducks running back CJ Verdell (7) looks for a hole to run through. Oregon Ducks Football takes on the Trojans at The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 2, 2019. (DL Young/Emerald) The recent botched launch of the “revolutionary” Super League highlighted the sporting world’s desire for higher levels of talent, competition and, above all else, potential profits. The collection of European soccer’s brightest, and richest, stars plotted an elaborate money grab that temporarily disrupted the soccer universe. Although the league has seemingly immediately failed before truly gaining traction, the idea of higher-intensity sport provides insight into the wants and needs of spectators. The Super League acted solely on financial motivation, ignoring its millions of fans in the process. The lack of regard displayed for the sport as a whole has likely permanently fractured the relationship between involved clubs and their stakeholders. But, the concept of collecting the best competition in the world and pitting these teams against one another is highly appealing. The distribution of talent and premier teams across the soccer landscape is, in some ways, reminiscent of the sporadic arrangement of premier college football teams throughout conferences and the nation. However, top-tier college football programs from different regions rarely have the opportunity to play each other. Aside from three or four non-conference games at the start of each season, bowl games and the four-team college football playoff, teams are stuck with competition in their individual conferences. After the concept of the Super League was announced, college football fans across the country drafted what all-star collegiate conferences would look like. These hypothetical stacked lineups feature programs like Alalbama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oregon. The idea is tantalizing, of course, but the likelihood of any major conference reshuffling is non-existent. If a reshuffling were to happen in the future, teams within the super conference would be similarly bashed for their prioritization of money over maintaining the spirit of college football. Since this won’t happen on a large scale, the next best solution is to expand the College Football Playoff to eight, 12 or even 16 teams. This scenario would open the door for more non-conference competition. Further, a larger playoff pool would reduce the bias against non-Power-5 programs that have never appeared in the current four-team format. Recent reports have suggested that there is substantial PA G E 1 2

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support and interest in re-evaluating the current system. The reconsideration of the playoff has been spurred by fears over fan disinterest and the consistent dominance of the same handful of programs, according to the reporting of The Atlantic. Allowing for a larger playoff pool would give additional squads the opportunity to engrave their names in the national landscape. A 12team playoff could give the highest-ranked group of five teams an automatic bid, combatting the exclusionary nature of the current system. The College Football’s Playoff format is entering the eighth year of its 12-year agreement for the postseason. The format may not be restructured until the agreement terminates, but the playoff committee and conference leaders would be wise to enact change as early as next season. Since the first playoff in 2014-15, only 11 teams have won at least one playoff game. The lack of participation from the majority of the 129 FBS programs hinders the national support of the current structure. The College Football Playoff committee must enact near-immediate change to maintain and increase support of college football as a whole. If the current system is maintained, engagement among audiences will decrease. College football’s postseason must be altered to include a minimum of eight teams to advance the sport.

Bazil Sterling is a columnist for the Emerald’s opinion desk. He specializes in sports discourse and reminding you that athletics matter more than your education. Follow his Twitter @razzle_bazil.