04/04/19 Emerald Media - Thursday Edition (Week of Welcome)

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D A I LY E M E R A L D . C O M

THURSDAY

VIRTUAL

EDUCATION VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY

has advanced in recent years. The video game sector has been the most prominent to invest, but universities like UO are using VR for recruiting and education.

DAY AND NIGHT: THE BEAN HALL RENOVATION NEWS PG 3

FRESHMAN, TRANSFERS PRACTICE FOR SPRING FOOTBALL SPORTS PG 15

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NEWS MODERN, BRIGHT AND FUNCTIONAL: AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE NEW BEAN HALL

BY HANNAH KANIK • TWITTER @HANNAH_KANIK Bean Hall was once one of the least desired residence halls on the University of Oregon campus. After a $37 million renovation project, however, Bean Hall has transformed into one of the most envied dorms for its strong sense of community, modern amenities and low price tag, university officials said. e project included stripping the inside of the buildings to modernize the fixtures and improving the flow between the two segments of the building: Bean East and Bean West.

“If you lived here before, you’d remember there’s actually no way to get from third floor Bean West to third floor Bean East,” Project Engineer Will Mau said. “You basically had to go downstairs and around the outside of the building, which safety-wise, wasn’t the most desirable thing.”

Bean West was under construction during the 2017–18 academic year and opened in the fall. Construction at Bean East is scheduled to be completed in July and will be open to the incoming class in 2019. e project had to be staggered

to ensure incoming students had places to stay. Bean West finished construction last year and welcomed its first year of students in the newly renovated hall.

Mau said the construction and housing team invited students living in Bean West to offer feedback on the changes at various town hall meetings and informal get-togethers.

“We’ve got a pretty unique experience of being done with one side of construction and still here working on Bean East.

So we’ve actually been working with the students to get their preferences,” Mau said. e renovation project also updated the halls to host community areas, classrooms and Academic Residential Community spaces.

“We weren’t able to make the rooms larger. e room sizes are the same they’ve always been. We would have liked to make them larger, there was just no way of affording to do that. So we tried to make the other spaces better,” Greg Ottoman, director of housing, facilities and services, said.

On the first floor, the high concrete walls that surrounded the buildings were replaced with floor-to-ceiling windows and more centralized entrances equipped with security cameras. e restrooms went through a substantial change as well. On each floor, restrooms are now private and single use, although the sinks are communal. “ is means the floors can be co-ed and gender inclusive in ways we could not accommodate before,” said Leah Andrews, the marketing director for UO housing.

A centralized community space featuring an overhead projector screen, community kitchen and cubelike, stackable furniture was also a part of the remodel.

Small classroom spaces on the first floor serve as ARC learning spaces by day and community-building spaces for movie nights in the evening.

Bean Hall’s safety and security features were updated as well.

Security cameras and a new fire system were installed.

Before renovations, Bean Hall

Bean East is currently under construction and is on schedule to be completed by fall term 2019. (Madi Mather) e Emerald is published

by Emerald Media Group, Inc., the independent nonprofit media company at the University of Oregon.

Formerly the Oregon Daily Emerald, the news organization was founded in 1900.

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did not have a sprinkler system, Ottoman said. During the renovation, the construction team installed a sprinkler system, as well as a feature that prevents a fire from spreading to other rooms by automatically closing all residents’ doors. e doors remain unlocked so residents can leave their rooms.

“It keeps the fire from spreading.

If there’s a fire, the more doors you have closed, the better off you are. at’s why they have these rules to keep the doors shut,” Ottoman said. e construction team also installed “seismic upgrades” that strengthen the building’s structure in the event of an earthquake, Mau said. e first floor community space, projector screen and community kitchen have attracted residents from neighboring dorms to spend time at Bean.

“I was surprised as to how enthusiastic some of the folks were.

In fact, we have folks that don’t even live at Bean that choose to come over and hang out here,” Ottoman said. “[Students] call them the ‘Jelly Beans,’ which means “jealous of bean.”

e first floor hallways in Bean East are still under construction. (Madi Mather) PODCAST EDITOR RYAN NGUYEN SARAROSA DAVIES PHOTO EDITOR SARAH NORTHROP DESIGN EDITOR REGAN NELSON DESIGNERS MORGAN DARBY MADELEINE BEDARD VIDEO EDITOR ETHAN BRENNER COPY CHIEF TANNER SHIPLEY

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ON THE COVER

e University of Oregon has invested in virtual reality technology to connect students in fields that range from language and communication to early education.

Illustration by Benjamin Irish

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A NEWS

Graduate Employees held a mock funeral procession on April 3 starting at 13th Avenue and ending at Johnson Hall to mourn the end of a 40-year contract with UO. (Donny Morrison)

GRADUATE EMPLOYEES GATHER TO MOURN THE END OF A 40-YEAR CONTRACT WITH UO

BY DONNY MORRISON A mock funeral procession, complete with a wooden casket, made its way through campus on Wednesday afternoon, starting on 13th Avenue and ending at Johnson Hall. e “Funeral for our Contract” rally was organized by the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation to protest the loss of their collective bargaining agreement — a contract that has existed for nearly 40 years that decides salaries and benefits for graduate employees. e most recent iteration of the bargaining agreement lasted for three years and expired March 31. “ e university is proposing dramatic cuts in health insurance coverage for graduate employees,” said Michael Marchman, staff organizer for the GTFF. “So I’d like to pay my final respects to the contract. ank you so much for all you’ve done for generations of graduate employees at the University of Oregon.” e GTFF represents graduate employees who work for the university as teachers, researchers or administrators for their

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departments. According to UO’s employee and labor relations webpage, there were 1,487 graduate employees working for UO as of fall 2018.

Since November, the GTFF has been bargaining with the university in hopes to improve on the terms of the previous contract.

According to the GTFF bargaining blog, their main concerns are making sure GE’s receive a livable wage, without losing their healthcare benefits. e GTFF also seeks to provide international GE’s with extra support.

According to the proposal, UO currently offers a lower minimum salary than the other 62 schools in the Association of American Universities. UO’s proposal seeks to increase minimum salaries for GEs by reducing health benefits.

GTFF President Michael Magee has been instrumental in the bargaining process for a new contract. While he agrees that a raise in the minimum salaries of GEs is necessary, he doesn’t want to get there by

cutting healthcare benefits. “ is is about University of Oregon trying to balance its own mismanagement of its budget on the backs of its lowest-paid instructional employees,” Magee said. “ ey want to cut health insurance so that in the long term they can save a marginal amount of money on the backs of graduate employees.”

Magee says that loss of healthcare benefits would be especially impactful to GEs with children or GEs with partners on their insurance. For this reason, it’s not something he’s willing to negotiate.

“We have been nothing but polite and civil and pleasant and tried to understand their priorities. We’ve said to them, ‘We are not walking backwards on health insurance,’” Magee said. e next bargaining session will be held at noon on Friday, April 5 in the EMU’s North Crater Lake Room. e session is open to the public or available to watch on the GTFF livestream on Twitch.com.

ARTS & CULTURE

REMEMBERING NIPSEY HUSSLE

BY DONNY MORRISON California hip-hop artist Nipsey Hussle was murdered outside his Los Angeles store, Marathon Clothing, on March 31. (Creative Commons)

What I love about hip-hop music is the ability to hear and connect with underrepresented voices. It’s a chance to hear stories that otherwise aren’t being given a platform. It’s the auditory embodiment of a victory lap for the oppressed.

Some artists use their past as an anecdote to explore issues of race and class. But the best artists do more than simply shed light on social inequities — they offer a solution.

On March 31, California hiphop artist Nipsey Hussle, whose debut album “Victory Lap” was nominated for Best Rap Album at this year’s Grammys, was murdered outside of his own Los Angeles store, Marathon Clothing. Nipsey, whose real name is Ermias Joseph Asghedom, was set to speak with city officials the next day about increasing community efforts to further curb gang violence.

He’ll always be remembered as an artist who went above and beyond to use his platform to help those around him.

Nipsey Hussle seems to have teleported here from hip-hop’s golden age — the 1990s — to remind contemporary listeners what authenticity sounds like.

Listening to Nipsey for the first time was reminiscent of the first time I heard Eazy-E or Snoop Dogg. It was otherworldly.

It’s funky, menacing and autobiographical. Nipsey — like his forebears — oozes authenticity with every line. ere would never be a petty debate regarding ghostwriters with Nipsey. Nobody can sound or write like him. When you hear it, you know it’s real.

Nipsey began making noise in the mid 2000s, often getting lost in the shuffle of big-name, blogera rappers like Kendrick Lamar

or Drake. Although Nipsey has worked with both artists, he never made the same charttopping impact, a testament to his inability to compromise artistic integrity for radio success. He was always more focused on remaining local, both in sound and soul.

Influenced by the West Coast G-funk that preceded him, Nipsey added a fresh take to a timeless sound. His breakout mixtape, 2013’s “Crenshaw,” made headlines after Nipsey priced the physical albums at $100 each. Only 1,000 copies were made, and Jay-Z bought a hundred because he respected the hustle. His lyrics are often dark, but motivational — taking listeners to the darkest corners of his neighborhood and then leading them out. It’s this brand of unbridled optimism that separates Nipsey’s crime-ridden tales from his peers.

Just a year ago, Nipsey opened a co-working space and STEM center of which the main goal was to increase diversity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields by acting as a vessel between underrepresented groups and Silicon Valley corporate partners.

For better or for worse, Nipsey was tethered to his roots. e same affection and care Nipsey showed his community through his unflinching art and selfless philanthropy was not returned to him. His impact will surely linger in the years to come. What he began locally, and within the hip-hop community, is too vital to fail. Nipsey couldn’t fail if he tried, and if there’s anything we learned from his classic Marathon mixtape series, it’s that no matter what, you don’t stop running.

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7 ARTS & CULTURE

Eugene has a thriving music scene with many opportunities for students to get involved on campus and in Eugene. (Sarah Northrop)

GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE—

BY FRANKIE KERNER Music brings people together.

Whether it’s at a concert or in a conversation, music can connect any two people. If you come from a place like Los Angeles or Portland, it may not seem like there are many opportunities for live music in Eugene. We get some big concerts, but it seems like you have to commute to Portland to catch most of the well-known shows.

But what Eugene lacks in highprofile concerts, it makes up for in community. ere is a thriving music scene here. Whether you want to get involved in music as a career or just for fun, there are many opportunities for students on campus and in Eugene.

Here are some of the best ways to get involved in the local music scene:

KWVA 88.1 Campus Radio Since 1993, KWVA has been the University of Oregon’s campus radio station, broadcasting music you can’t hear anywhere else. Once nestled in a renovated women’s bathroom, KWVA has since moved to the basement of the EMU, where it occupies a much larger space. With five recording

studios and DJs who play music from jazz to electronic and everything in between, KWVA has something to offer for everyone.

How to get involved: Stop by the station and pick up a DJ application. KWVA is located on the ground floor of the EMU next to Falling Sky Pizza and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. ere are also opportunities for news and sports broadcasting.

Visit kwvaradio.org for more information.

The Music Industry Collective e Music Industry Collective, known more commonly as e MIC, is a club for students looking to get involved with the music industry in various ways. ere are meetings several times a term that range from professional guest speakers to more social events like karaoke and trivia. e MIC is a great place for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the music industry or who just wants to hang out with other people who like music.

How to get involved: Check out euomic.com for

upcoming events, as well as @theuomic on Instagram or Facebook. Meetings are usually in Lillis 212 on ursdays at 6 p.m. e next one is on April 11 with Pickathon Co-Owner Ned Failing.

WOW Hall WOW Hall is a nonprofit all-ages venue in Eugene. Anyone can become a volunteer, and it is a great way to get experience working in live music.

Volunteers can stamp hands at the door, do security shifts and help out around the venue. If you volunteer for half of a show, you can attend the other half for free. Who doesn’t love free music and helping out the community?

How to get involved: e next volunteer orientation is on Tuesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. All you have to do is show up.

The Music and Concerts Team e University of Oregon Music and Concerts Team hosts three concerts a year. ey brought Mild High Club in October and Duckwrth in February. is spring, they will

be hosting the annual Willamette Valley Music Festival on May 18. Any student can volunteer at their festival and concerts. ey will also be hiring for a few team positions in the spring.

How to get involved: Follow @uoconcerts on Instagram for updates on any concerts and festivals and email sabconcerts@ uoregon.edu for more information.

Sprout City Studios Sprout City Studios is a recording studio in Eugene. Whether you are an artist and want to record your music or you want to learn how to record music for other people, Sprout City has opportunities for you. ey offer classes to people who want to learn about sound and technology.

How to get involved: All information on how to get involved can be found at www.sproutcity.com.

If you’re stuck in a rut and not getting involved, step out of your comfort zone to try any of these organizations. Not only will you learn a lot, but you might find a community along the way.

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. COVER

VR IS MORE THAN JUST GAMING

BY ERIN CAREY • TWITTER @ELCAREY

e UO360° app allows for students to visit multiple places on campus such as the Knight Library or Autzen Stadium. All they need is the VR goggles UO provides and a smartphone for it to work. (Henry Ward)

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In 1995, Nintendo released the “Virtual Boy,” the company’s first attempt at virtual reality technology. e console offered gamers a 3-D experience for gaming.

It failed, and was Nintendo’s worst selling console of all time.

Gamers didn’t see another serious attempt at VR technology until recently. In 2016, Playstation released their own VR system, a set of goggles that brings the gamer into different worlds.

Virtual reality technology is being used for more than gaming, though — the University of Oregon is utilizing in the technology to connect its students in fields that range from language and communication to early education.

According to global research and advisory firm Gartner, an estimated 60 percent of U.S. higher education institutions will be using VR technology by 2021 to enhance efficiency in learning, attract and retain students and help prepare students for their careers.

UO isn’t the only Pacific Northwest university with virtual reality technology. University of Washington, Portland State University, Oregon State University and Washington State University are all implementing various forms of the technology.

In 2017, UO partnered with a company in Portland called 360 Labs to create the UO 360 app, which used UO-branded VR glasses to give admitted students and their families a way to explore the campus from the app. From riding with the Duck into Autzen Stadium to students learning in a ceramics class, the UO 360 app gives students an opportunity to get accustomed to the campus and its activities.

Lauren Miller, the director of strategic communications in student services, said that the app saw a great deal of success on a national level, and UO released a second, improved version of the app in early March 2019.

Students were mailed cardboard VR goggles that they could use with the app and their smartphones. Miller says they mailed the goggles to thousands of newly admitted students. e app had over 11,000 downloads and was opened around 60,000 times.

“We’ve received a lot of feedback that this is pretty neat and pretty innovative,” Miller said. “My favorite is that a woman from New Mexico that was so excited that her grandma who couldn’t travel could see what it’ll be like in a science lab where her granddaughter will be a scientist.” e university’s involvement with virtual reality and augmented reality technology has grown in the few years that VR technology has been available. e Center for Applied Second Language Studies has created Virtual and Augmented Reality Language Training, or VauLT, to incorporate both VR and AR technology into language learning by immersing users into the language they need in their careers.

According to Julie Sykes, CASLS director, VauLT will create language modules that can be used in a variety of careers that can help build rapport and help navigate in different business settings such as doctor’s offices, sexual assault counseling intake interviews or parent-teacher meetings.

“We’re really looking at a bunch of workforce spaces and thinking through ways we can use virtual reality to give professionals the language that they need without them having to learn everything,” Sykes said. “VR was chosen because of the need for embodiment when it

At UO’s Portland campus, the Oregon Reality Lab has a brand new lab that incorporates virtual technology as part of the School of Journalism and Communication to teach and research immersive media and ethics.

(Courtesy of Jeff Collet)

comes to language learning — it’s helping to reduce the cognitive load and focus on the language.”

At UO’s Portland campus, the Oregon Reality Lab has a brand new lab that incorporates these technologies as part of the School of Journalism and Communication to teach and research immersive media and ethics.

Donna Davis, associate professor and Oregon Reality Lab Director, said the lab will serve as a testing ground for developing virtual and augmented realities to tell stories in journalism and communication.

“We study Facebook and Twitter and we teach how to use them as social media, and social virtual worlds are social media on steroids,” Davis said. “Virtual worlds are places where we can connect, they’re places where we can teach, they’re places where you can create any type of environment you want for any kind of purpose that you want.”

VR in the SOJC also extends to public relations and advertising to create branded experiences and build brands in virtual platforms.

“Everyone talks about marketing today and communication is built more and more on experience,” Davis said. “And what better way to do that than with virtual reality?”

In Eugene, Megan Danell is an architecture student in the UO’s College of Design who took a class winter

term through a grant awarded to the Baker Lighting Lab that used VR in order to study lighting and color in architecture. Using VR goggles, Danell and her

“EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT MARKETING TODAY AND COMMUNICATION IS BUILT MORE AND MORE ON EXPERIENCE. AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO DO THAT THAN WITH VIRTUAL REALITY?” DONNA DAVIS,

Associate Professor and Oregon Reality Lab Director

classmates were able to visit famous structures all across the world to analyze buildings for lighting.

“I’m finding this to become a very big area of focus right now,” Danell said. “As architects, being able to look in the space and say, ‘Okay, that ceiling is too high,’ or ‘ at wall is too thick,’ is important.”

More than research, VR technology can be used for bringing architectural project proposals to life.

Dannell said many architecture firms are looking toward VR to present their projects.

“Sometimes clients don’t necessarily understand your vision,” Danell said. “You can show them a render, but when they’re able to be immersed in the space that you’re proposing, it can be used to sell that project. With us being experienced in VR, it keeps us at the forefront of the industry.”

Much like Danell’s classes in architecture that brought them face-to-face with structures halfway across the world, bringing the students closer to the structures they were studying.

“We need to know about these architecture projects, but we’ve never been there,” Danell said. “ e fact that we were able to go into VR and see those architectural spaces was pretty fascinating.”

As for virtual technology in education, the future looks bright. According to Miller, the university plans to evolve with the technology that’s available to them.

“I wish I could predict the future, but I think we’ll continue to try and be innovative and leverage this type of platform in ways that help us achieve our goals and be as accessible as possible,” Miller said. “I don’t know if it’ll be VR or AR or even another new technology, but we will continue to be innovative.”

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OPINION

More and more restaurants are adopting no-tip policies in order to even out the pay unfairness between tipped and untipped employees, such as cooks and front of the house hosts. (Courtesy of Kody Gautier/Unsplash)

KEEP THE TIP

BY JOANNA MANN • TWITTER @JOANNAMANNDANCE

We’ve all sat around a table at a restaurant, trying to decide how much of a tip to leave for the waiter or waitress. If it was a delicious meal with spectacular service, you’d think that would constitute for a generous tip, right? Maybe not.

More and more restaurants are adopting no-tip policies in order to even out the pay inequality between tipped and untipped employees such as cooks and front-of-the-house hosts. While this is an issue that definitely needs to be addressed, getting rid of tips altogether is not the best way to solve the problem. e idea of a no-tip policy is that restaurants would raise their menu prices by 15 to 20 percent, depending on the amount their customers usually tip, and divide the extra earnings more fairly among employees.

While companies like Shake Shack and Union Square Hospitality Group have had great success with the no-tip policy, other restaurants quickly decided to keep tipping as usual when customers and servers vehemently rejected the change.

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for other jobs when their employers announced that the no-tipping policy would be the new way to go.

Unsurprisingly, customers were also disappointed with the switch.

Diners who are met with exceptional service often wish to show their gratitude, which they should be allowed to do on their own terms. On the contrary, if a server is rude to a customer and service is inexplicably slow, the customer should not have an obligation to leave a 20 percent tip if it is not deserved.

Higher menu prices turn regulars off of their favorite restaurants. Meals that have always cost one price and then suddenly increase by 20 percent are not worth it to an average or low tipper. If the new price exceeds the tip amount that a customer would normally leave, they will probably take their business elsewhere.

Servers normally make minimum wage and depend on tips for more than half of their earnings. Hourly tips account for an average of 58.5 percent of servers’ earnings and 54 percent of bartenders’ earnings.

College students who work in the industry rely

on tips to help them pay their way through school.

A minimum wage job does little to provide money for rent, tuition and living expenses, and tips are an immense help for covering all of that.

However, the no-tipping movement is happening for a reason. It is unfair for cooks to not receive any tips when they are providing the food, and restaurants are trying to resolve that issue.

But cooks also tend to have higher hourly wages than wait staff, and some restaurants have started giving raises to untipped employees if income disparity is high. e pros of tipping in restaurants outweigh the cons. Customers are able to show their appreciation, servers can pay the bills and cooks could receive raises in the end anyway. Hosts at the front of the house end up taking the biggest hit in this scenario, but those positions are still able to receive tips if the customer chooses to give them extra cash.

Maybe it’s old-fashioned, but nothing says thank you like a few extra dollars on the table as a reward for hard work: compliments to the chef and 20 percent to the one who brought it to the table.

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SPORTS

OREGON FOOTBALL

WELCOMES NEW FACES FOR ITS THIRD WEEK OF SPRING PRACTICE

BY GABRIEL ORNELAS• TWITTER @GABE_ORNELAS Fresh off a two-week hiatus from football, head coach Mario Cristobal and Oregon football returned to the field on Tuesday to begin the team’s third week of spring practice. (Henry Ward)

Fresh off a two week hiatus from football, head coach Mario Cristobal and Oregon football returned to the field on Tuesday to begin its third week of spring practice.

Cristobal and the Ducks also returned to the field with new faces as well. Oregon had three new freshman in uniform today, including tight end Patrick Herbert, wide receiver Mycah Pittman and kicker Camden Lewis. Freshman cornerback Mykael Wright is set to land into Eugene tonight and will likely join the team on ursday. “ ese are really valuable moments for these guys,” Cristobal said. “It allows us to create a healthy, and the right kind of, competition.”

Penn State grad transfer Juwan Johnson joined the Ducks today, but was in street clothes and won’t play until ursday.

Despite Johnson’s prior experience at the NCAA level, he still has to battle for his right as a starter. “ e good thing is that he’s played a lot of football. He’s very smart,” Cristobal said.

“Ordaining someone a position before they have even had a single play out there, we would never do. Everything is going to be earned out there. ere is going to be equal opportunity for all those guys to earn their position.”

One freshman who Cristobal harped on was Pittman. Pittman, the four-star recruit from Calabasas, California, got a lot of reps

with the second team offense today during his first practice as a Duck. Pittman, prior to joining the Ducks, was fed team practices through a stream that he studied on an iPad to be ready when he joined on Tuesday.

“He just got here and he jumped right into practice,” Cristobal said.”New formations, new terminology, new concepts, ... but Mycah really held his own today and he made some really nice plays.”

With its sixth practice in the books, Oregon will have one more practice on ursday in Eugene before heading to Hillsboro, Oregon, on Saturday. e practice offers the fans their first look at the 2019 Ducks, and to conclude the third week of spring ball.

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