The University became the new home for the Occupy Eugene movement Thursday afternoon when protesters migrated — camping gear and protest signs in hand — from Alton Baker Park to the Quad and then later to the Riverfront Research Park, their third location in three weeks.@@location names checked@@
Protesters occupied the Memorial Quad for close to six hours before moving to the Riverfront Research Park following a five-hour meeting between demonstrators, acting University Provost Lorraine Davis@@http://provost.uoregon.edu/biography-lorraine-davis/@@, ASUO president Ben Eckstein, the Department of Public Safety and other administration and student leaders.
According to University student and ASUO Sen. Jeremy Hedlund@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Jeremy+Hedlund@@, who was present at the meeting, the administration was concerned with the demonstrators staying on the quad mainly because of noise and the homecoming celebrations planned for Friday and Saturday.
The Department of Public Safety agreed to aid protesters in moving to the new location. Anyone found camped on the quad, officers warned, would be arrested.
“I think it’s a compromise,” Hedlund said of the move. “I am content with the decision, it’s not the best that Occupy could have had but it’s a give-and-take.”
According to the group’s legal representative, Lauren Regan, a Eugene lawyer and founder of the Civil Liberties Defense Center@@http://cldc.org/staff.html@@, the decision to move to campus was inspired by a group of University students involved in the occupation who planned to hold an “Occupy the University” movement. Without a finalized decision of where to move the occupation next after Alton Baker Park, the rest of the occupation decided to follow suit.
Hedlund, who was instrumental in deciding to move to campus, said the park was too secluded, defeating the purpose of the occupation.
“The whole point of this movement is to be public,” Hedlund said, adding that he and other students did not feel safe at the location, which led them to advocate for the University as a new location.
Moving to the grounds of a public university, Hedlund added, was also a better reflection of the intent of the movement itself. Some of the proposed demands coming from the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, for example, are to relieve federal student debt and to address the nation’s high costs of public education.
Hedlund also noted the connection between the movement and the University’s specific issues, including the ongoing debate surrounding the proposed funding and governance changes under the New Partnership@@http://newpartnership.uoregon.edu/@@ and the University’s historic ties with the Nike corporation.
“Phil Knight is part of the 1 percent,” Hedlund said.@@uh.@@
Regan had similar sentiments.
“Campus and these folks coming out here are really the ones who are going to feel the brunt of the economy,” Regan said, noting that students are spending money on expensive degrees only to enter an unforgiving job market where they cannot find work. “All of these are important demands for Occupy Wall Street to be addressing.”
Media representative for Occupy Eugene, Jamil Jomma,@@can’t find@@ explained that the decision to follow Hedlund and other students to the University also stemmed partially out of a meeting with the city last Friday.
“If you can maintain control, we’re willing to let you protest,” Jomma said was the message from the city, explaining that the city gave the impression protesters would be supported regardless of where they decided to set up camp.
The Occupy movement plans to stay on University property until Monday or Tuesday and from there they will move to a more permanent location, according to Occupy representatives.
The students who sparked the Occupy the University idea, however, have not decided whether or not their movement will continue.
“I don’t know what’s in the future,” Hedlund said.@@If we do need to cut this story down, I say cut out the last two paragraphs@@