Reviving downtown: How Eugene is trying to bring life back to its core — one
small win at a time
By Ceci Cronin City News Reporter
Empty storefronts, graffiti-covered walls, and the occasional closed sign might be what some University of Oregon students think of when they hear “downtown Eugene.” But behind the scenes, city leaders and business advocates say there’s a major push underway to turn that image around, and they want students to be part of the change.
“Our biggest challenge in downtown Eugene is perceptions of safety and cleanliness,” Eric Brown, downtown manager for the City of Eugene, said. “That’s what makes people hesitate to invest, espe-
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UO unions demand budget transparency from university
By Ayanna Villanueva Campus News Reporter
Four University of Oregon campus unions, including the Service Employees International Union, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, United Academics of the University of Oregon and UO Student Workers have been collaborating on a resolution alongside the Campus Labor Council that demands for the university’s cooperation with financial transparency.
According to a source that wishes to remain anonymous due to possible repercussions that could cost their position and job at the university, the resolution seeks detailed breakdowns of bud-
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Spilling the tea with Eugene’s most elusive tea salesman
SOJC faculty issues open letter to defend press freedom
Abroad, SOJC Dean Flies High. Back Home, His School Spirals Into Deficit.
After nearly a decade
of running UO’s journalism school, Dean
Juan-Carlos Molleda
faces questions about his leadership, budget management and personal conduct.
By Tristin Hoffman, Daily Emerald Editor-in-Chief
SOJC Dean Juan-Carlos Molleda stands for a portrait.
(Lulu Devoulin/ Emerald)
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Reviving downtown: How Eugene is trying to bring life back to its core
City and business leaders are working to revitalize downtown Eugene through cleanup crews, housing initiatives, and student-friendly event.
cially in ground floor businesses.”
It’s a familiar issue for some of those who have walked down Broadway or Willamette streets in recent years. But city and business leaders are trying to shift that experience by cleaning up the streets, recruiting more businesses, and investing in housing to bring more people downtown.
Rapid Response and Red Hats
One of the city’s recent tools is a rapid-response cleaning team that responds to reported messes — fast. “If someone sees graffiti or a mess, they can snap a photo, upload it, and often within 10 to 15 minutes, city staff show up to clean it up,” Brown explained.
There’s also a visible presence of “Red Hat” ambassadors through Downtown Eugene Inc. These staff members walk the downtown corridor daily, helping de-escalate minor issues, assisting visitors, and working closely with local police.
Katie Wilgus, who works full-time as the downtown solutions strategist with the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, says these efforts are starting to move the needle. “Our streets are cleaner,” she said. “We track all the data from the downtown Red Hats and we’re seeing progress, we’re seeing fewer calls for responses.”
Spotlight on Local Businesses
While downtown might still look like it’s struggling in some spots, Wilgus says the businesses that stuck it out during the pandemic are holding strong, especially during the lunch rush.
“The downtown restaurants that stuck it out — many are packed during lunch,” Brown added. “The ones that made it are doing all right.”
To give downtown businesses more visibility (especially to younger residents) the Chamber is focusing on events that make it fun and easy to explore what’s already here.
One example is the new “Taste of Track Town” event, which turns downtown into a walking food tour. “It’s happening on a Saturday (June 21) when all of those people are out — from noon to 5 p.m.— and it’s highlighting all of the food and beverage establishments we have downtown,” Wilgus said.
“People can go into any of those businesses participating and get an item for $5.”
The event isn’t ticketed and doesn’t bring in outside vendors — it’s purely focused on celebrating and supporting the local restaurants, cafes, and shops that give Eugene its flavor.
From Parking Lots to Possibility
But supporting current businesses isn’t enough. To truly revitalize downtown, the city and chamber are focused on getting more people to live there.
“Downtowns that had housing pre-pandemic fared better — they had a built-in level of activity,” Brown said. Currently, the area around Kesey Square has one of the lowest housing densities in the city, just 2.4 units per acre.
That’s why the city has launched the Downtown Core Housing Initiative, offering developers things like tax breaks, permit fee
waivers, and access to underused city-owned land. In 2023 alone, the City Council made $50 million available for downtown renewal, followed by another $75 million for the Riverfront District , both aimed largely at housing.
“It’s about creating that baseline activity to sustain businesses and activate public spaces,” Brown said. “This isn’t just about downtown vibrancy. It’s also about tackling our housing crisis, and climate change. If people live downtown and can walk, bike, or take transit to what they need, we lower our per-capita carbon emissions.”
Wilgus has also been meeting with developers, trying to identify which parcels downtown, such as flat parking lots or empty buildings, are best suited for transformation. She says the work isn’t flashy, but it’s essential.
“There is no silver bullet that’s going to fix everything,” she said. “But if we can just make those small strides, we’ll start heading in the right direction.”
A Downtown That Feels Connected
Brown and Wilgus both emphasize that building a thriving downtown isn’t just about new buildings, it’s about making people feel like the whole area is welcoming, walkable, and worth spending time in.
“Five years from now, I want to see 200 new housing units downtown,” Brown said. “I want
people to feel like it’s natural to walk from the LTD (Lane Transit District) station to the riverfront, through 5th Street Market and Kesey Square — that it all feels connected.”
Another major development, currently in motion, is the transformation of the North Butterfly Lot — a city-owned site next to the Lane County Farmers Market — into a mixed-use development with housing above and ground-floor retail. Brown calls it a “catalytic project” that could help reshape how people move through and use downtown.
What It Means for Students
For UO students, especially those living near campus or commuting from further out, a more vibrant downtown could mean more lunch spots, social hangouts, job opportunities, and housing options.
It could also mean feeling safer walking through the city center at night or having more affordable places to live without needing a car. And if you’re looking to support the shift? Wilgus recommends starting small: eat local, walk around, and keep showing up.
“I’m seeing people come to the table,” Wilgus said. “It’s not just being angry about the problems — people want to be part of the solution.”
SOJC faculty issues open letter to defend press freedom
Employees of the University of Oregon SOJC make their voices heard on freedom of speech infringements.
By Peiyu Li Campus News Reporter
Faculty and staff from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication published an open letter to the community on May 22 regarding the importance of defending the First Amendment.
The letter emphasizes that press freedom is not a luxury but a safeguard, regarding the series of incidents in which the government has taken away the freedom of speech from not only journalists but also students and eventually relates to every individual on the land.
The letter references that the Associated Press was banned from the White House for refusing to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and the case of a Tufts University student who was detained after publishing an op-ed, raising alarm over the risks young writers may face simply for expressing views.
“I think universities should model support for free speech, for sure. Universities should be encouraging open dialogue and open conversation and should be defending that in all its forms,” Will Yurman, SOJC professor, said.
The faculty in the letter said that the stakes are especially high for journalism students.
“Your work matters,” the letter says. “You are carrying on the essential, often risky work of bearing witness and seeking truth. Journalism is not an act of
compliance. It is an act of responsibility.”
SOJC faculty stressed that free speech is essential to all disciplines beyond journalism and communications students.
“Whether you’re in accounting or chemistry, free inquiry is essential for learning and developing new knowledge,” James Wallace Chair Professor in Journalism Peter Laufer said. “Any suppression of that is 100 percent unacceptable.”
Laufer said that students may worry about their freedom of speech and that it’s his “advice” to worry.
“Worry; that’s my advice,” Laufer said. “But respond judiciously and fearlessly move forward.”
Yurman said the faculty should be doing more than they are to support students beyond the current practice of the SOJC to “train our students to report honestly, think critically and serve the public good.”
“The more skills we give our students and the more experience we give our students, the better prepared they are when they graduate,” Yurman said.
SOJC faculty uphold their belief in defending the First Amendment. As the letter said, “It is a right enshrined in the First Amendment and defended by generations who came before us.”
(RIGHT) Will Yurman sits at his desk in Allen Hall, the home of University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.
(Miles Cull/Emerald)
UO unions demand budget transparency from university
Four university unions are calling for transparency following UO President John Karl Scholz’s statement outlining a dire budget crisis.
getary expenditures and even justification on administrative salary increases while some staff and faculties experience cuts and hiring freezes.
GTFF member Abigayle Mitchell said the resolution was put together due to combined experiences and factors that involve decisions being made around people’s jobs and livelihood.
“On the GTFF side, we’ve seen some GE (and research) positions being cut. So the immediate context is that people are wondering: why are these decisions being made? How are they being made? What is the actual, financial data behind it? We don’t really have access to that information,” Mitchell said.
The resolution is a result of faculty and students who are seeking answers about the continuous budgetary crisis over the years, such as the reduction of Graduate Employee positions in 2019 due to budget cuts and the 2020 budget cuts that impacted librarians. Because of these, a lot of research about finances has been going on over the years prior to the drafting of the resolution according to the anonymous source.
Mitchell said that despite the lack of clarity and breakdowns, the university has still asserted that they are unable to meet the needs of the collective bargaining that the unions have made over the last three or four years due to financial constraints.
The resolution also targets the UO Foundation, the team that’s responsible for managing the school’s endowments and gifts.
The UO Foundation is a separate legal entity apart from the university and is a nonprofit corporation, hence why it is exempted from public record requests.
The resolution asks cooperation from the UO Foundation in regards to financial transparency, considering that the donations they receive requires a 5% gift fee that is directly transferred to the university and is allocated for the university’s advancement efforts.
“There’s donor anonymity, which we totally understand and would all be protected. The only thing we’re interested in is learning where this money is earmarked. That’s all we care (about.) We don’t care who it comes from. We don’t care what their reason for giving it is. We just want to know
where it’s going to go,” Chris Case, an advocate for the resolution as an SEIU member, said.
Case also said that advocating for financial transparency can strengthen the university’s abilities to uphold their mission not just as an educational institution but also as part of the larger community.
“I would hope that folks in the board and in administration would recognize that financial transparency is one of the keys toward fulfilling the mission of this university, because (the school’s) mission is supposed to be stewards of our community (and) stewards of Oregon proper,” Case said.
The resolution also pursues further clarifications on UO’s investments, gift fees reform and advocacy for shared governance. One of the resolution’s goals is to empower the already existing Senate Budget Committee as a representative and advisory committee that holds weight in decision making and processes. Shared governance is a system where administration, faculty, staff and students all have the responsibilities of decision making. This is a type of system practiced in universities like the University of Washington and Brown University — and is something this resolution pursues for the University of Oregon to practice.
The resolution was discussed at the Associated Students of the University of Oregon’s meeting on June 4, where it passed unanimously with the four unions mentioned above as co-sponsors as well as the Climate Justice League, ASUO President Prissila Moreno, ASUO Senate Speaker Quadrian Gill, Department Speaker Erin Luedemann, and Senators Cole Stevenson, Logan Taylor, Jess Fisher and Bella Hoffert-Hay.
Kayla Fisher, an ASUO senate member who took over the position of the senator who formed a working committee for this resolution, said in an interview prior to the June 4 meeting that she was actively engaging and spearheading in discussions with other senate members to co-sponsor and support this resolution.
According to Fisher, the university owes the students transparency since students pay tuition – especially at a time where students are sent emails about tuition raises and budgetary deficiencies from the university.
Board of Trustees chair Steve Holwerda reminded ev-
eryone during the June 3 meeting that the union and the university are on the same team despite their differences.
“We appreciate your time, we appreciate everything that you’re doing (and) we do hear you. All of the information –our Education and General budget is all up there (and public),” Holwerda said.
According to Holwerda, “Maybe we need to do a better job of keeping that information out there but we want you to believe that (your questions of) how decisions made are understood, what the numbers are and there’s nobody pulling wools from anybody’s eyes. We all are on the same team and we all want the best.”
(Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
Continued from page 1
Abroad, SOJC Dean Flies
High. Back Home, His School Spirals Into Deficit.
By Tristin Hoffman Daily Emerald Editor-in-Chief
Juan-Carlos Molleda, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, is facing scrutiny by University of Oregon officials over his extensive university-funded international travel. Meanwhile, his school’s budget has spiraled into a deficit under his management, a six-month investigation and review of hundreds of financial and travel documents by The Daily Emerald has found.
UO Provost Chris Long told The Emerald on June 5 that Molleda is being internally audited for his travel spending. The audit was launched after The Emerald reported on Molleda’s Feb. 21 email about his travel. His email to SOJC faculty was sent on his own command after The Emerald filed public records requests for his travel records.
Molleda, 60, has served as dean since 2016. He has many official reasons to travel as the leader of the SOJC, from attending professional conferences to raising funds from donors. He receives an annual travel budget of $30,000 from his job, and university travel rules often have allowed him to draw on endowment funds from the UO Foundation, which are separate from his school’s budget, to pay his additional travel costs.
The cost of Molleda’s travel and first-class flights dwarf those of two other UO deans. In the 2023-2024 school year, Molleda’s travel expenses rose to $46,000, according to travel documents obtained by The Emerald under Oregon’s Public Records Law.
Over the same period, then-Dean of Students Marcus Langford spent just over $11,000 on travel. Then-law school Dean Marcilynn Burke spent $3,700.
In the past two years, Molleda has traveled to Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Medellín, Querétaro and other international cities. He often flies first-class and adds personal days to many of his trips without disclosing them to UO, nearly 700 pages of his travel records obtained by The Emerald show.
UO’s travel policy allows for personal travel while on university-funded trips, but employees must disclose those days and obtain official approval in advance.
His travel records show he hasn’t always followed UO’s rules. During a trip to France in 2024, Molleda failed to disclose he was taking seven personal travel days after his business trip.
The official reason for his university-paid travel, a Paris conference, lasted two days, ending on March 22. Records show Molleda left on March 29, seven days after the conference had ended. His Instagram account, titled “globalprmolleda,” shows him enjoying the sights of Budapest one day before his first-class flight back to Eugene.
Molleda’s Paris trip cost the university $8,069. It’s unclear how much Molleda paid out-of-pocket.
In 2023, Molleda turned a university-funded trip to Spain and Portugal largely into a personal vacation. The official reason for the trip was for two conferences that took up eight days of his 21-day trip.
Molleda’s June 24 Instagram post shows him touring, drinking and eating with friends in Burgos, Spain with some photos hash-tagged “summer vibes” and “fiestas patronales,” which translates to “patron saint celebrations.” His July 13 and July 8 Instagram posts show him traveling with friends to a concert in Marbella, Spain and sightseeing in Málaga, Spain, with photos hash-tagged “vacation,” “verano” and “amigos.”
His Spain and Portugal trip totaled $14,203. The Emerald’s analysis of his travel records did not find Molleda’s personal payments.
Molleda’s Instagram posts have raised other questions. He documents his travel adventures during his university-funded trips — from routine shots of streetscapes, to an ayahuasca ceremony in Colombia – on his Instagram for anyone to see.
At the same time, his school’s budget witnessed a sharp change in its financial health under his leadership in recent years. The SOJC went from having a $262,000 surplus in 2022
to a $1.8 million deficit in 2024.
The journalism school currently faces a $701,000 deficit. A one-time $700,000 transfer from the Provost’s Office this year helped reduce its original deficit.
Financial records obtained by The Emerald show much of the deficit can be traced back to Molleda approving a $2.2 million increase between 2022 and 2024, largely to pay for faculty positions he created over the objections of the Provost’s office.
During the same time frame, the school’s budget saw only a $269,233 increase in funding.
Molleda has sought to deflect the blame for the deficit onto faculty and numerous UO officials, internal memos and emails show, but the Provost’s office has pointed to his increase in personnel costs as the primary driver of the budget deficit.
Molleda initially agreed to a June 3 interview with The Emerald, but then declined the interview on June 1. After The Emerald sent Molleda and the Provost’s office an email on June 4 regarding what its investigation had found, he sent a statement to The Emerald on June 5.
In his statement, Molleda said he takes full responsibility for the decisions he’s made as dean, and accepts ultimate accountability for the SOJC’s deficit and financial problems.
Professor Christopher Chàvez, who heads an advisory council to Molleda and serves as a liaison between faculty and Molleda, said that some SOJC faculty want more transparency from Molleda on how he plans to move forward with the deficit and the future of the school.
“It is my personal opinion that some of the big issues that have been coming up more recently are concerns by some of the members about budget issues, transparency and issues with faculty governance,” Chàvez said.
In his February email to address faculty’s concerns, Molleda said he was scaling back future business trips while detailing his recent travels and how they were paid for.
A dean with international public relation expertise
Molleda was born and raised in Venezuela and developed his expertise in public relations. He holds a PhD. in international public relations from the University of South Carolina and has been an instructor and professor in public relations at several universities since 1999.
He began his tenure as SOJC dean on July 1, 2016. In his role, he manages a school of roughly 2,082 students and 70 faculty members — the third largest school within UO. He’s paid an annual salary of $332,766.
Molleda has repeatedly won praise for his public-facing work as the SOJC’s dean. A recent report from the Accreditation Council on Education and Mass Communication cited Molleda’s “immense support” and “incredible advocacy” for SOJC faculty and staff, and that students love that he speaks with them in the hallways.
“The dean is described as a strong external force, who manages up and fundraises with gusto,” the report states. Within seven years, Molleda increased SOJC’s endowment fund from $55 million to $78 million.
The report also states that Molleda is not as hands-on as faculty would like him to be, and that he’s “not particularly good at his own PR within the school,” leading some faculty to mistrust his stewardship and budget management.
In 2022, Molleda’s tenure as dean was renewed despite internal surveys and reviews from faculty finding that he was a poor listener, lacked transparency and frequently shifted blame for his mistakes on underlings, two sources inside the SOJC say.
How the budget deficit was created
The $1.8 million deficit wasn’t created overnight, but instead over two years.
At the end of the 2021-2022 school year, the SOJC finished
with a $262,000 budget surplus and hopes to increase the size of the faculty and staff for students. Records show the Provost’s office turned down his $1 million budget increase, approving the same spending as in the previous year —$15.8 million.
Molleda had no money for new positions, but hired several new faculty and staff members anyway, an Aug. 5, 2024 memo to the Provost’s office and UO Central Finance shows.
Over the next two years, the SOJC’s personnel costs rose by $2.2 million, while its funding grew only by $269,233, creating the current budget deficit.
Molleda has publicly blamed UO’s Provost’s office and the turnover of the SOJC’s business office staff for allowing the school to fall into a deficit.
Documents show Molleda had been warned that the SOJC did not have money to spend on new hires in 2022 and 2023. Molleda learned in an email on July 25, 2022, that his school did not receive the budget increase he requested.
“The Provost did lower this year’s FY23 Budget Allocation to match spend. The OtP (Provost’s office) called me on Friday,” the email by then-UO finance director Chris Krabiel wrote.
The SOJC did see turnover in its finance office, but a 2024 report from the SOJC shows the incoming budget team was not aware that Molleda planned to hire new faculty and staff beyond the budgeted amount.
In January, nearly a year after the SOJC faced a growing budget deficit, a Provost budget official told outside accreditors the school’s budget was in “crisis” and that “drastic action will need to be taken.”
The unnamed Provost budget official said they doubted Molleda understood the budget problems the school was facing. “I’m not sure he’s totally come to grips with the changes that need to be made,” the official said, according to the accreditor’s draft report.
Molleda later released a revised version of the accreditation report to SOJC faculty. The previous quote critical of his leadership was edited out.
The SOJC is facing other financial pressures as well. Graduate student tuition revenue has been falling and the school has increased its spending for adjunct and pro-tem instructors after it granted a flood of requests for faculty sabbaticals after COVID-19.
In May, Hal Sadofsky, UO’s Executive Vice Provost for Academic Administration, said during an SOJC faculty meeting that the school’s deficit is largely driven by ongoing personnel costs that the SOJC can’t afford. He said that layoffs may be necessary.
Those cuts would be on top of the projected university-wide reductions called for by UO President Scholz. Scholz said in a May email to UO faculty and staff that each school at UO will see a 2.5% average budget reduction. The SOJC stands to lose at least $445,000.
In 2025, UO provided a one-time transfer of $700,00 to the SOJC, Molleda said in his email statement to The Emerald. For the time being, the money transfer lowered the budget deficit to $701,000.
Without those additional funds, the deficit would stand at $1.4 million for 2025. That’s the number the SOJC faces
going forward without additional revenues or budget cuts.
Molleda said in a Sept. 18, 2024 email to faculty that the SOJC has used UO Foundation funds to decrease its deficit as well. University, Provost and SOJC officials agree using foundation endowment funds to cover the shortfall is not a sustainable strategy, accreditation records show.
What travel is allowed for Molleda, UO employees
Molleda’s offer letter entails that he has a capped total travel expense of $30,000 each academic year through the financial support of UO donor endowment funds – the UO Foundation.
“This research fund may be used to fund your research, travel, professional development, new initiatives, programmatic support and related expenses,” the offer letter reads.
In his Feb. 21 email to faculty, Molleda said the $30,000 is not a hard and fast limit and that he’s free to draw from other funds, such as from his Edwin L. Artzt deanship which is partially funded through the UO Foundation.
“The good news is that my travel goes through the same process of approval as all university trips, follows travel policies, and, most importantly, does not strain the school’s budget, especially as we work to eliminate a deficit, increase efficiencies, and secure more revenue,” he wrote.
He did not mention that he violated his limit in the 20232024 school year, but did mention that his business class flights are allowed under UO travel policies. Molleda’s travel records show most of his flights were first-class, however, which UO travel rules prohibit.
How much money Molleda spent on personal and business travel during SOJC budget “crisis”
Since January 2023, Molleda has made seven international trips totaling $51,470. He’s often leveraged those trips into personal vacation time, using university funds to cover his travel costs while enjoying personal days once he’s reached his destination, records show.
University rules allow employees to add personal days to their UO-funded travel. To do so, employees must submit a travel request and identify the days for personal travel. The employee must provide airfare cost comparisons to demonstrate their personal travel is not creating increased expenses on the university.
UO approved Molleda’s travel to Paris for a two-day conference starting March 20, 2024 sponsored by the Arthur W. Page Society, an association for strategic communication officers and leaders.
When seeking approval for the travel, Molleda reported in his travel request to UO that he would return right after the conference and that he would not be taking any personal travel days.
Instead, Molleda extended his trip by nearly a week. According to his Instagram posts, he traveled to Budapest, with some photos hash-tagged #familytime and #familyfirst.
The UO-funded trip cost $8,069, including his first-class airfare that cost $4,950.
Molleda added personal days on a far longer and for a
more expensive trip to Spain and Portugal in 2023. Molleda’s travel records show UO approved an 11-day university-funded trip for him to attend a two-day conference in Bilbao, Spain, and a two-day conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
He originally proposed travelling from June 27 to July 8, 2023, and that his travel would not include any personal days, according to documents obtained by The Emerald.
After UO approved the trip, Molleda changed his travel plans, adding six days on the front end and six days on the back end of the trip.
His first-class flights to and from Spain cost the university $9,090. Molleda’s additional flights around Spain and Portugal paid by UO brought the total for his airfare up to $9,882, however.
His flight itinerary shows Molleda left for Spain on June 22, six days before the start of the first conference held by Asociación de Investigadores en Relaciones Públicas.
According to his Instagram feed, Molleda spent time touring, drinking and eating with friends in Burgos and with some photos hash-tagged “fiestas patronales” and “summer vibes.”
Molleda attended the conference in Bilbao, appearing on a panel on June 30, the conference’s final day, that discussed diversity and inclusion in Latin American public relations.
Molleda then had five days off before his Lisbon conference, sponsored by the European Communication Research and Education Association.
After the conference ended July 7, Molleda stayed for another six days. His Instagram feed shows him visiting Màlaga, Spain and includes the hashtag “vacation.”
On July 12, Molleda posted on Instagram that he was at the Starlite music festival in Marbella, Spain, with hashtags #concert and #anastacia. American pop singer Anastacia performed that night.
He left Madrid for Eugene on July 13.
In all, Molleda spent a total of 21 days in Spain and Portugal. Only four of those days involved attending conferences.
His UO-funded trip cost $14,203.
A question of behavior
In December 2023, Molleda accompanied 13 SOJC students and Professor Ed Madison to Medellín, Colombia and the surrounding cities and villages for a multimedia project covering the “Sounds of Colombia.”
Molleda told UO that he would be taking personal travel days, those falling between Dec. 1, 2023 and Dec. 7, 2023.
Students who took part in the program said Madison oversaw the reporting project, but that Molleda had no apparent role at all.
“It felt like a vacation for him,” SOJC 2023 graduate Josiah Pensado said. “I don’t know if he ever really participated to begin with.”
SOJC student Lauren Becker echoed Pensado. Molleda, she said, helped with Spanish translation and was there for “support more than anything.”
Molleda’s public Instagram shows a trip of relaxation, drinks and food in Colombia. One post stands out.
Timeline on the SOJC’s Budget Deficit
SOJC has budget surplus of $262,000.
2022
July 25, 2022
Molleda hires new faculty with no money to pay for it.
December 2022December 2023
Then Finance Director Chris Krabiel says SOJC budget lowered for FY23. Budget: $15.8 million.
Provost’s Office transfers $700,000 to SOJC. Deficit lowers to $701,000.
2025
SOJC budget projections show its on track to have a deficit this year. 2027
Molleda aims to eliminate deficit by this year.
Molleda is hidden in the back of a group photo, smiling alongside others, after an “#ayahauscaceremony” by “#fundacionconscienciaviba,” as he wrote in his Dec. 4 Instagram post.
Fundación Consciencia VIBA, which translates to Consciousness Foundation, is a non-profit organization in Colombia that gives individuals the opportunity to participate in a traditional Colombia indigenous ceremony that uses ayahuasca. Ayahuasca, also known as yagé, is a psychedelic substance legal in Colombia through “gaps” in the system, the non-profit states.
In the United States, however, ayahuasca is illegal — its main active chemical is dimethyltryptamine, colloquially known as DMT.
Those legal gaps for the use of the drug have led to an influx of ayahuasca tourists in the Amazonia and Costa Rica region, a 2019 study by the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service shows.
Pensado and an anonymous student who fears retaliation from the SOJC said that during a boat ride with the cohort, Molleda spoke to some students about his own experiences taking the drug and the benefits of it. Pensado said he also spoke to them about the best ways to take psychedelic drugs.
“To a certain extent, he was extolling his virtues and saying that he had done it before,” Pensado said. “He was saying that ‘stuff like that is intense, you gotta do it in this environment.’”
The anonymous student said Molleda spoke openly
about the spiritual and the mental health aspects of ayahuasca, which is that it helps people work through problems in their life. The student said Molleda was reading a book about the drug during the trip.
In his statement to The Emerald, Molleda said that his use of ayahuasca in Colombia was conducted by licensed psychologists, psychiatrists and toxicologists of Fundación Consciencia VIBA.
He also said that the purpose for his trip to Colombia was for experiential learning with students.
“By directly engaging in national and international student experiential learning programs, I am better equipped to convey their transformative value to the donors who help make such experiences possible,” he said.
Barbara Blangiardi, co-chair of the Journalism Advancement Council, said the board is all in favor of Molleda’s travel, and that he is transparent with the board about his trips in advance, as well as after his trips.
“We’re really in favor. The profile of the SOJC is not only then raised on campus, but across the country and internationally,” she said.
Molleda’s trip to Colombia cost UO $7,986.
His travel records show a UO Foundation Accounts Payable Specialist asking Molleda why he had upgraded to first-class on his flight to Colombia. Molleda wrote on Oct. 23, 2023 that he upgraded “for work to be done.”
His first-class ticket cost the university $2,830.
How much the future could cost the SOJC, UO
The SOJC isn’t the only school at UO with financial trouble. The entire university is.
In a May email, UO President John Karl Scholz said that UO is facing a “difficult” financial outlook — a $25 million to $30 million deficit — due
to federal research cuts, shortfalls of both taxpayer dollars and non-resident tuition, and increased salaries.
Scholz also said that these factors have only “exacerbated preexisting budget gaps” in other schools.
Within the SOJC and its own budget gaps, Molleda plans to eliminate the deficit by 2026. Its budget projection records show it’s on track to have a deficit into 2027.
Professor Christopher Chàvez, who leads the dean’s advisory council and serves as a connection between faculty and Molleda, encouraged faculty and staff to speak up and voice their concerns about Molleda’s stewardship and SOJC administration.
“The dean doesn’t own the SOJC. It belongs to the faculty, the students and the staff,” he said. “It’s the notion of shared governance. What that means is in faculty meetings, speaking up and making demands. If something is not clear, faculty need to be specific in what they want.”
Chàvez said what more agency within the faculty looks like is being let into key decision making processes more often, or faculty introducing bylaws that limit the power of the SOJC dean.
He said another way is through a vote of no confidence on Molleda, but that it could only be passed through a “critical mass (of) faculty” agreeing to it.
“This is not uniform,” Chàvez said. “There may be faculty that are very supportive to the dean. But there are probably enough that are critical.”
In his statement to The Emerald, Molleda said he remains committed to reducing the deficit and restoring financial stability to the SOJC.
“I recognize where I fell short and sincerely regret any difficulties this caused the SOJC,” he said.
This story was finalized on June 6, 2025 and may have developments.
The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication is housed in Allen Hall.
(Ian Enger/Emerald)
ACROSS
ARTS & CULTURE
Spilling the tea with Eugene’s most elusive tea salesman
After over two decades guiding customers to the tea of their dreams, all from a converted home off Friendly Street, Josh Chamberlain, owner of J-Tea, remains Eugene’s most knowledgeable tea merchant.
By Mark Munson-Warnken Arts & Culture Writer
Rumors mix with pollen, swirling and clumping on the early summer wind, which flows in gusts down the Friendly Street corridor. At the end of the historic Eugene drive, which has a neighborhood community dedicated to preserving its roots, lies the home of Eugene’s local tea master. Remodeled in 2010, J-Tea brings the Taiwanese tea experience to the Pacific Northwest.
As the door swings open, the rumors of odd business hours and a divisive personality dissipate, leaving only the reassuring scent of steeping tea and the enthusiastic “Thanks!” of Josh Chamberlain’s latest tea convert. For Chamberlain, a 50-year-old Eugene resident, the discovery of tea was a life-changing twist of fate, and he’s spent the last 21 years bringing the best of Taiwanese tea to the Friendly neighborhood.
Chamberlain was introduced to tea during his college years at the University of Oregon, where he studied international studies and Mandarin.
But the store-bought commodity tea he found only left him with disappointment and a stomachache. The frustration would slowly change to awe as Chamberlain uncovered a wealth of tea knowledge off the coast of mainland China.
Chamberlain was guided to Taiwan via a chance encounter with his study abroad advisor, who had spent time there.
“She recommended this language program school, and I had a strong interest in martial arts, so I thought ‘if I can go to Taiwan and find a kung fu school, that would be ideal,’” Chamberlain said.
He embarked on a fateful third trip with a group of four high school friends, he finally began unlocking all that
Taiwan had to offer. Unlike the first two trips, which were relatively short and both based in Taipei, the five-year escapade led the group to Tainan in southern Taiwan, where Chamberlain spent his time learning kung fu and earning an International Master of Business Administration in economics from National Cheng Kung University.
For the motley group of kung fu protegees, tea was a byproduct of the martial art they loved. Introduced by their teachers, they bought a tea table and sat around drinking tea bought from local markets. At first, they were completely oblivious to the nuances of the tea world.
“We were so clueless; we would just buy the cheapest tea we could get,” Chamberlain said. But it wasn’t until a chance encounter at a noodle stand that his tea journey truly began.
While waiting for his food, Chamberlain was approached by an artist who seemed to recognize his air of refinement and invited him to what can loosely be described as a studio. The fateful interaction quickly sparked a friendship, and Chamberlain began joining him and his crew of musicians on their outings at tea houses.
While frequenting the houses, he connected with one of his tea teachers, who began teaching him the ways of the leaf.
Inspired by his mentor in Taiwan, Chamberlain branched into the bubble tea business in 2016 with the now-defunct Oolong bar. The bar, which was slotted between Sweet Life Patisserie and Prince Pucklers Ice Cream, was aimed to be a space for students to enjoy the highest quality mixed teas while sharing ideas.
“The products we developed in the Oolong bar were insane. But I’m a perfectionist and wanted it to be to the Nth degree, which didn’t quite match consumer demand.”
The business closed in 2023 following the pandemic, and
proved to be a learning experience for Chamberlain.
“It was a great idea, and I learned a lot,” Chamberlain said. “That kind of lesson you can’t learn in a vacuum; I had to go through it to learn it.”
Bringing cutting-edge information to a community is always a battle, and the mark of a savvy business owner is perseverance and the ability to adapt. As of now, Chamberlain has reconsolidated his operations back at J-Tea, continuing to build his community with consistent posting on both his blog and newsletter, as well as budget-friendly tastings for the community to enjoy.
“It’s a way to demonstrate to my guests that I appreciate them,” Chamberlain said. “It’s about connecting, and it brings everyone together.”
No book report, just great reads: summer recommendations from UO professors
A summer reading list may be a thing of high school’s past, but summer is a great opportunity to catch up on reading you’ve been meaning to do. Here are a few suggestions to ponder picking up this summer, brought to you by UO faculty.
By Bella Graham Arts & Culture Writer
In childhood, the period between the last day of school and the day summer reading lists came in the mail was a blissful one, with not a single academic responsibility in sight.
By about day five of summer, a sunken spot on the couch becomes evidence of summer boredom, and the TV perpetually cycles between Disney Channel, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. The reading list, when it arrived, was a welcome activity to occupy idle hands.
As we’ve gotten older and the to-dos for school over the summer have dwindled, we may find ourselves nostalgic for that reading list, either for something to do or as a welcome distraction from stressful jobs or internships.
As someone perpetually searching for new books to read, I sought out my own summer reading list, speaking to a few University of Oregon professors about what books they would recommend to read over the summer.
John Clithero, a professor in the college of business, suggested Deep Work by Cal Newport, which is about minimizing distractions, working more efficiently and how to use technology effectively.
“It’s really influenced how I go about trying to get work done. I try to block off chunks of time where I don’t have any electronic interference,” Clithero said.
Similar to Clithero, Michael Allan, a professor in the school of global studies and languages, endorsed a book regarding distraction — Disordered Attention: How We Look at Art and Performance Today by Claire Bishop, which is about how our shrinking attention spans affect how we analyze and interact with art.
Another highlight was Minor Detail by Adania Shibli, an author with whom he shared an office at one point. “The novel takes a small clip from a newspaper article years ago and then sort of imagines the story out of that detail,” Allan said.
Told in two parts, the book tells the true story of the Nirim Affair in 1949 and a fictional story of a present-day Palestinian woman trying to investigate the incident.
“It’s an incredible speculative practice of reading the story of a life,” Allan said. “Shibli is also one of my favorite writers, and she has an incredible sort of minimalism in her work that speaks to incredibly rich philosophical questions.”
Ashley Angulo, a professor in the college of business, praised Agatha Christie across the board, highlighting The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
“I made it my goal to read every Agatha Christie book. I think she’s awesome and we don’t talk about her enough,” Angulo said.
She also suggested the Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle as a good alternative to Christie for readers looking for less bloody mystery novels, and Beatrix Potter books for a lighter subject matter.
“They’re all pretty short and sweet, but I would say they’re manageable for a college student. I think that you guys have so much to read anyway,” Angulo said.
Whether you’re a professor or a college student, reading allows you to expand your horizons and learn something new in the process. “I love reading. For me, reading is as much, not just one book, but the curiosity and curatorial energies of exploring what to read next,” Allan said.
If you’re looking for a book to read over the summer — to flip through while you’re lying out on the beach or cozied up in bed after a long day — consider checking out one of these
recommendations and create your own summer reading list as an homage to our elementary school days.
Other recommendations:
Ashley Angulo
• The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde
Michael Allan
• The Book of Sleep by Haytham El Wardany
• Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat by Hito Steyerl
• Living in Your Light by Abdellah Taïa
John Clithero
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
Christina Bollo
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
(Stephanie Yang/Emerald)
(Eduardo Garcia/Emerald)
Josh Chamberlain (right) provides suggestions to one of his regular customers about new arrivals.
