Has the heat got you down? Eugene’s weather over the last week has been as bipolar as my attitude towards graduation lately. Sure it’s all #feelslikesummer for a while, that is, until #Idontknowwhattodowithmyself sets in. And then, a metaphor slowly merges from the image of Otter Pops in my waistband, whilst I lie facedown on my tiled kitchen floor and have every fan my parents ever possessed all pointing in my direction.
The record-breaking weather seems to be getting to others in town as well, as many have turned to the ever-cooling Willamette River for relief. But due to how unsafe people were this last week with activities like floating the river – KVAL News reported an unexpectedly high number of local rescues the past few days from people neglecting to wear life jackets – the universe realized we couldn’t handle the scorching heat. For the next week, leading into graduation day, temperatures don’t seem to exceed a comfortable 73 degrees. Unfortunately though, as of June 7, there is rain expected for June 13, UO’s main day of commencement, which means everyone has their 11:11 wish cut out for them from now until then.
I know what the men of UO’s golf team have been wishing for as of late. For the first time ever in the program’s existence, the men’s golf team won the NCAA Championship title on June 1. Like we saw in the semifinal match, the Ducks’ fate was put on Sulman Raza who didn’t disappoint once again. Raza went up against top-seed Texas’ Taylor Funk. It came down to a three-hole, sudden-death playoff. Raza swung and with a six-foot birdie putt on the 10th green – gibberish, I know – the crowd (actually) went wild. Golf claps aside; the team celebrated the great victory by tackling Raza Oregon football-style and disregarding all the grass stains on their trousers and polos. Way to go(lf), boys!
One sports legend who would have probably been really difficult to tackle back-in-the-day is Muhammad Ali who sadly passed away on Friday, June 3 at age 74 of septic shock while being treated for a respiratory problem. The Greatest had an exceptional boxing career that he retired from in 1981, then was shortly after diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. However, his illness didn’t stop him from receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2005 for all the amazing work he has done in his lifetime.
The man who could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee said himself, “It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.” Ali lived an active life in terms of his unmatchable boxing career, humanitarian work, civil rights involvement and his following and advocating for the religion of Islam. On June 4, President Obama tweeted, “He shook up the world, and the world’s better for it,” and that he did. From changing his “slave” name from Cassius Clay when he joined the Nation of Islam, a black Islamic movement, to resisting the Vietnam draft which he scorned for issues of race and religion, Muhammad Ali was, in Michael Jordan’s words, “bigger than sports and larger than life. He said he was ‘The Greatest’ and he was right.”

Why can’t all athletes be like Muhammad Ali and unlike, let’s say, Brock Allen Turner? Here’s the story: In January 2015, a woman was sexually assaulted behind a dumpster at Stanford University while being unconscious. The perpetrator was a former Stanford swimmer, Turner, who was tackled by two graduate students on the scene, arrested, dropped out of school and was then found guilty of three felony sexual assault counts and faced a maximum of 14 years in prison, according to The Guardian. But on June 2, Turner was given six months of jail time and probation, because the judge, Aaron Persky, said prison would have a “severe impact on him.”
After hearing this news, my anger turned to heart-wrenching sadness after the sexual assault victim’s impact statement went viral this weekend. The 23-year-old, who had no recollection of what happened with Turner last year, faced the man who violated her and read an emotional speech directly at him during the hearing in a full courtroom. The unidentified woman included just about every detail she could remember from that night last January and what she faced afterward. The text is raw and honest and something everyone should take time to read.
On June 6, CNN host Ashleigh Banfield spent over half her show reading the statement, which highlights how important of a document it is for our society today to take notice of. There is a rape culture that obviously exists, especially on college campuses, and the crimes of assault we often hear of involve athletes. It seems as though people are becoming more and more outraged by this topic, as Twitter clearly showed over the last week, since it is still being treated unjustly.
Turner was given a new sentencing and the victim’s statement went public thanks to Buzzfeed (which isn’t only good for quizzes), but what seemed to anger people the most recently is a letter Turner’s father wrote to Judge Persky, saying “his son should not have to go to prison for ’20 minutes of action’.” Turner Sr. basically justifies his belief that his son should not have to serve any amount of time because he has already been suffering from anxiety, depression and a lack of appetite since having been caught committing sexual assault.
Understandably, any father would have a hard time seeing his son not want to eat steak and the pretzels and chips he used to have to hide from him, but it in no way should affect his sentencing. What about the impact that his son’s actions had on the victim? I’m sure her father has a lot to say about her suffering – which isn’t needed – but come on.
I’m siding with the Twitter users who are using #WhitePrivilege #nomugshot to combat this situation. There is so much wrong occurring that reading the developments is unfathomable for me. The victim said herself in a response to Turner’s father’s statement:
“If a first-time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be? The fact that Brock was an athlete at a private university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class.”
On that frustrating note, that’s it from me. As my final pond(er) for the Emerald, I hope you continue to read on about what’s happening in the world – the entertaining, the traumatic, the depressing and the uplifting – and go on and form your own opinions about current events. Test your own ethics, and continue to question everything and everyone.
Thank you for keeping up! (Kardashian pun to come). Negina out.