With the BCS National Championship Game only three days away, the University has effused an increased sense of school spirit in preparation for the highly anticipated game against No. 1 Auburn.
Yesterday, one other person shared that same school pride.
In an impromptu decision that took many by surprise, nationally recognized television comedienne Ellen DeGeneres hosted a partial filming of her show from the EMU Amphitheater. Clad in colorful “fiesta-themed” attire, some students braved the sunny, yet brisk, winter conditions for their chance to win a free ticket to the game in Glendale, Ariz., and also participate in DeGeneres’ show, which was broadcast live to her studio in Burbank, Calif.
“It’s great for the U of O, because it presents the U of O on this beautiful day,” Susan Thelen, the University’s director of advertising, said. “It shows the power of the University of Oregon. She could have picked Auburn, but she didn’t. She picked the Ducks, and we’re very excited about it.”
Thelen said the University didn’t have much time to prepare for the event because producers from DeGeneres’ show had contacted her the night before in hopes of creating “a flash mob around the University of Oregon’s football team.” Thelen said she was unaware of details surrounding the show, which airs today, but said news of the event was primarily announced on Ellen DeGeneres’ personal Twitter page as well as the University’s official Twitter page. In all, Thelen estimated that nearly 1,500 people attended the event, which attracted students and numerous community members as well.
“Throw on your best fiesta outfit and get over to the EMU on the University of Oregon campus,” DeGeneres’ said on her Twitter page shortly before the event. “There’s gonna be a big prize!”
DeGeneres’ comedy producer, University alumnus Andy Zenor, turned down her offer for two tickets to the BCS game and instead offered it to students. University and community members alike swarmed the area around the EMU Amphitheater and donned colorful and elaborately assembled Oregon apparel, while periodically yelling coordinated chants such as, “Go Ducks!” Others in the audience donned “fiesta-themed” attire in an attempt to represent the Fiesta Bowl, such as elaborately decorated sombreros, textile zarapes, fake mustaches and pinatas.
To win the two tickets to the BCS championship game in Glendale, DeGeneres instructed 10 randomly selected members of the crowd to come up with their own lyrics to the Oregon’s fight song. The 10 contestants then played their lyrics to show producers, who selected three finalists to play their lyrics live for DeGeneres on national television. After hearing each of the finalists’ lyrics, DeGeneres selected freshman business major Connor Eggerman as the winner.
Eggerman, a Seattle native who was clad in a yellowish green spandex bodysuit with matching yellow and green high-top sneakers, said he plans to take his girlfriend with him to the game.
“It’s so sick,” Eggerman said shortly after receiving his tickets to the game. “I wasn’t even going to wear this, and I won! I’m not planning to take this (bodysuit) off until I get there.”
However, not everyone agreed with how some audience members were trying to represent their school spirit. Cory Kirshner-Lira, a graduate student in the College of Education, said that people who donned stereotypical perceptions of Mexican culture were committing an act of racial discrimination.
“Ellen asked everyone to dress in fiesta-wear, and that prompted people to dress in Mexican stereotypes, which is wrong,” said Kirshner-Lira, who identifies as Chicana. “There’s no legitimate rationale for reducing a culture or race down to one specific outfit. A sombrero does not represent my culture, and it hurts me to think that there’s enough people on campus that are so ignorant about the issues of cultural appropriation that they are willing to don an outfit in terms of the Fiesta Bowl and claim that it is Mexican.”
University officials also agree with Kirshner-Lira and felt “disheartened” by the choices of some crowd members.
“I think for many of us at the University of Oregon this kind of display is offensive because it reinforces stereotypes about a group of people that are underrepresented here on campus,” Charles Martinez, the vice president of the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. “It’s inconsistent with the community moral standards that we espouse at this institution, so it’s disconcerting despite the fact that people might have no idea that it’s offensive to some in the community. I think it’s exciting that we have this moment for our campus community — It’s an event that should be joining our community together, so when something interferes with that it is disheartening.”
This is the second time DeGeneres has featured the University on her show. In September 2009, University students traipsed through the EMU as a part of a scavenger hunt in hopes of winning $1,000 and a trip to see a live taping of her show in Los Angeles.
“I never won anything,” University student Michael Smith, who won the scavenger hunt, told the Emerald. “It’s kind of surreal that I’m going to LA; I’ve never been before.”
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