We need to talk about Scott Coltrane. Our interim president has had his hands full since taking the position less than a year ago, with the GTF strike and a complete remodel of campus sexual assault prevention tactics. These issues affect the population at large, and staff and students have risen up to call for recognition of their rights in the face of political controversy. Throughout all of this, Interim President Coltrane has used the megaphone of campus email to voice his administration’s perspective on what has occurred. Other perspectives relied on Facebook and other limited forms of media to reach the public. These alternative perspectives did not have as direct a method of communication to students, but were heard anyway because of the sheer number of people affected.
        Now, however, Coltrane’s messages are getting personal. On Thursday, President Coltrane issued a campus-wide statement publicizing the “timeline of events” for last year’s controversial handling of a reported sexual assault by University of Oregon basketball players. Coltrane called into question private actions and inactions of a student during what is surely one of the most difficult times in her life. Subtly, Coltrane has defended his own lack of action by pointing the finger back at the survivor for not returning UOPD phone calls the day after she alleged to have been raped. Coltrane emphasized that the three accused students had been “suspended from the basketball team, and will no longer be participating in basketball at the University of Oregon,” without making note that this decision was made almost a month after NCAA basketball season ended.
        We need to seriously consider why Scott Coltrane chose to publicize this information. The most obvious reason is to inform those associated with the University of Oregon of the lawsuit. This is important in regards to the way that our money is spent, and the way that our school is represented to the public at large. We must remember that it is our money, the students and private entities that fund our university, that will be spent on defense counsel and, ultimately, in settling this lawsuit. This, presumably, is a good enough reason to keep us informed. Coltrane may believe that it is not the administration that is being sued, but us as a whole.
        This one-for-all attitude, however, comes too late. During the GTF strike, Coltrane’s emails called for the student body to polarize themselves against their teachers and peers. The result was the longest academic strike in Oregon’s history, under-the-table threats of replacement and deportation, and a deal that did not take into account the demand for maternity/paternity leave. Coltrane divided the campus population purposefully, hoping to fit his political needs. Now, he hopes to reunify with the purpose of destroying one student. We cannot let this happen.
        We need to talk about Scott Coltrane because he has been talking about us. As our representative, we need to demand that Coltrane give a bipartisan presentation of the issues at hand. This is not so much about this particular case as it is a presentation of the way that rape survivors should expect to be treated by campus administrators. We should expect better than to have our own representatives call the actions of a survivor into question for the mere purpose of saving face. We’re better than that.
–Diana Wildridge