• Word reached Eugene Weekly just before press time that Dan Bryant, a leader in the fight against homelessness in Eugene, has announced his retirement as pastor of First Christian Church, where many programs to help the homeless are based. Bryant made the announcement on Sunday, Dec. 8; he will continue as executive director of SquareOne Villages, which operates small communities that provide housing for people on the margins. April Crow Oristano, currently associate pastor, will continue as a minister at First Christian, and the search has begun for a second full-time pastor.
• Oregon Football walloped Utah, 37-15, Friday, Dec. 6, at the Pac-12 Championship game in Santa Clara, California. Next up for the Ducks: the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day against Wisconsin. It’s a big deal for the football players who are in it for the love of the game, like Eugene native Justin Herbert, who’s projected to be an early pick at the 2020 NFL Draft. But Oregon coaches will reap big bonuses for being Pac-12 champs and making it to the Rose Bowl. Coach Mario Cristobal will see a $450,000 win bonus. A quick scan of eight other UO football contracts shows each of those coaches will get a $55,000 Rose Bowl bonus. Aaron “Fill The Sleeves” Feld will receive a $10,000 bonus. The cost of Oregon seeing “roses” means the university will shell out nearly $1 million in bonuses alone. Although these bonuses are contractually required, it’s a bit bittersweet going to the Rose Bowl after the UO issued so many budget cuts earlier this year. Put another way, to quote OutKast, “Roses really smell like poo-poo.”
• The University of Oregon has once again weighed in on the side of patriarchy over justice for all. You may recall that psychology professor Jennifer Freyd had her case for sex discrimination — she isn’t paid as much as her male counterparts — thrown out of court when the UO argued that a psychology professor is not a psychology professor. Now comes the news that the UO has settled out of court with two professors, Warren Gast and Hans Joachim Neis, who said they were discriminated against on the basis of age when they were reassigned from jobs they had held for years. The $170,000 payment doesn’t mean the UO is taking any kind of responsibility for its own actions. “The settlements were made to eliminate the cost and inconvenience of proceeding through trial,” spokeswoman Kay Jarvis said in a statement. Of course.
• What we’re reading: The Dec. 19 issue of The New York Review of Books offers a terrific article about a new book and a PBS Independent Lens documentary about the Oregon standoff in 2016 in which militants with semi-automatic rifles occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County. Adam Hochschild’s article, “Another Great Yesterday,” is one of the best we’ve read on this complicated subject.
• Former state Rep. Phil Barnhart, a powerful advocate for electric cars (see his Viewpoint in Eugene Weekly 12/5), spoke at the City Club of Eugene on Dec. 6. He joined Kelly Hoell, sustainability manager of LTD, and Michael Graham, from the Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities Coalition, on a panel persuading us to run right out and buy an electric car to do our part to fight the climate crisis. Hoell reported that LTD is committed to having at least 11 electric buses on the road in two to three years. Asked about moving past cars to bikes, walking and mass transit, Barnhart said that’s a long-range goal, but electric vehicles are a bridge. We have to move fast to combat climate change.
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.
None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.
As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.
Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
jody@eugeneweekly.com
(541) 484-0519
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