Editor’s note: This story was changed to reflect the fact that President Schill announced reforms to UOPD on Nov. 9, not Oct. 9 as was published in an earlier version of this article.
When the Emerald sat down with University of Oregon President Michael Schill, the first question was about how, regardless of COVID-19, he felt the term was going. Schill laughed as he recalled an old joke.
“Aside from what happened to your husband, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the show?” He laughed. “So, you know, you just can’t say ‘aside from the coronavirus.’”
In addition to COVID-19’s effect on the university, Schill touched on UO’s plans for upcoming terms, COVID-19 testing policies and the recent move to partially disarm the University of Oregon Police Department.
How fall term has gone
Schools across the country are dealing with the challenges of teaching during a pandemic, and UO is no different. But all things considered, Schill said he believes the term has gone well so far. Converting classes to a remote format is a difficult task for professors, but Schill said he is pleased with how they have handled it and believes they have exceeded expectations.
Schill said he is also encouraged by the low rate of COVID-19 infections among students living in residence halls on campus. According to UO’s COVID-19 website, there has been a significant drop in positive cases since Oct. 23.
“We’ve got to keep our eyes open, we’ve got to keep protecting ourselves against the virus and we have to keep working hard to make sure that we’re delivering the best possible education to all of you,” he said.
Plans for the future
Schill and Provost Patrick Phillips announced that the 2021 winter term would remain primarily remote on Oct. 13, but the university has not made any decisions for subsequent terms. Schill said he is hopeful things will start to change and that, “in the winter we’ll start seeing more and more [in-person classes] and then perhaps in the spring.”
Schill said the university has not set specific thresholds that need to be met for classes to return to an in-person format. Ultimately, he said, it will come down to having a conversation with students and faculty to make sure they feel safe returning to campus.
“We expect that over time, as we get more experience under our belt, we will be moving more and more to in person,” said Schill.
However, if cases continue to rise in Oregon and the pandemic gets out of control, he said it is possible that UO could go backward rather than forward. He emphasized that UO is working hard to keep campus safe and that students are being responsible about wearing masks.
COVID-19 testing and safety protocols
UO is currently one of the largest COVID-19 testers in Oregon, Schill said, and the university recently received state funding to expand testing on campus.
“We’ve got space for people to get tested,” he said. “You want to get tested, you can get tested.”
With residence halls forcing students into tight living spaces, there is an increased chance of the coronavirus spreading. Because of this risk, UO requires testing for those living in the dorms.
However, UO staff are not required to get tested. Schill said this is because the risk of spreading the disease is significantly lower for staff who can wear masks and socially distance from students and coworkers. He said the difference between the two was like comparing “apples to oranges.”
Legally, UO can only require students living on campus who have signed a housing contract to get tested. These terms could be reached with staff, but Schill said they haven’t done so because there is less of a risk for them.
“The level of risk is very different in those two situations, which is why we want to test regularly in the dorms to try to eliminate or minimize that risk as much as possible,” he said. “By testing regularly, we can move anyone who is exposed, or is positive, into quarantine or isolation before that person has a chance to infect other people in the dorms.”
Schill added that UO unions that expressed frustration with the lack of mandatory testing in previous Daily Emerald articles have yet to make a large showing at the free optional testing events held for staff.
Greek life
According to Lane County Public Health, Greek life accounts for 39% of all current outbreaks in Lane County, with 151 cases.
In response to these high numbers, Schill said, “When someone in the chess club comes down with COVID-19, we don’t say ‘oh, it’s the chess club,’” he said.
He said regardless of whether somebody is living in their fraternity or sorority house or a studio apartment, if they test positive for COVID-19, that data is attributed to the house. Schill acknowledged that there have been parties and risky behavior from UO Greek life but said that there was a double standard when it comes to testing.
Schill recently met with fraternity and sorority presidents and said they were sincere in “wanting to keep their community safe.”
UO has many options to reduce risk and keep the community safe, but there is a problem with students not willing to cooperate with contact tracing, he said. He said that students are hesitant to record what they were doing because they don’t want to get friends in trouble.
“That’s a problem for us. And so we need to balance those two,” said Schill. “Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about who’s bad. This is about keeping our community safe.”
Partially disarming UOPD
Schill announced on Nov. 9 examples of UO police reform that would reduce the amount of armed UOPD officers by 26%.
Schill said that the decision was motivated by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and recent discussions about racial disparities.
“Now is the time to make progress. But as we move towards making progress, we can’t lose our heads as we do it,” he said. “We have to do it in a thoughtful way, a sustainable way, a way that truly helps the people that we’re hoping to help that empowers them and we need to listen to them.”
Schill believes he’s found “a good place for us to launch in” when it comes to UO police reform, and acknowledged that the decision won’t make everybody happy.
About completely disbanding UOPD, he said “I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine an argument that would cause me to do that,” said Schill. “But obviously I’m always open to it.”
Schill said if there is no UOPD, the Eugene Police Department will be called in emergencies, and he would rather have officers that are familiar with students and are trained to deal with them.
“I’m excited. It’s an opportunity,” he said. “It is a tragedy that it took George Floyd being murdered, Breonna Taylor being killed for us to focus on it. But we’re focused on it, we’re ready to make progress.
