Student organizations and other UO community members gave speeches on various topics including the Israel-Hamas war, the GTFF bargaining process and the thermal heating system transition at the Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 5.
The Board of Trustees are UO’s governing board, responsible for ensuring the overall management, oversight, and sustainability of the university. John Karl Scholz, the UO president, is an “ex officio” member of the board as a result of his title.
Thirty minutes of the meeting were dedicated to public comment, where each attendee who wished to speak on an agenda item was given three minutes. The board did not answer questions or respond to comments in order to ensure participants were given their allotted three minutes within the 30 minutes.
Students and leaders of several UO organizations attended the meeting, including members of GTFF and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Climate Justice League President Molly Babcock, ASUO President Chloe Webster and ASUO Vice President Finn Jacobson.
The questioning period was divided into topics, in an effort to keep questions relevant.
Most of the public comment period was occupied by GTFF members, who spoke about the Israel-Hamas war. Many members called for transparency of UO’s financial dealings, along with boycotting and divesting companies that support the Israeli government.
Brennan Fitzgerald, a second-year graduate student in the department of chemistry, presented three “demands” regarding the war. The first demand was for Scholz to address the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Roughly 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, while the Gaza Health Ministry says over 15,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to the Associated Press.
“In the one email the student body has received on this topic, President Scholz spoke about the horrors of the genocidal actions of Hamas and the response by Israel,” Fitzgerald said to the board. “Israel has now killed more than ten times the people killed on Oct. 7 and displaced many more.”
The second demand was for transparency of UO’s financial dealings and investments. Fitzgerald wants the university to divest from companies included in the boycott divestment sanction campaign, such as Sabra and HP.
“We ask that you divest from Sabra and HP to companies that we already know have a presence on the UO campus and that the UO will be financially transparent so we can know where else the UO is investing,” she said to the board.
The final demand was an academic boycott on Israeli universities as Fitzgerald said they are “complicit in the ongoing apartheid and occupation.”
Another agenda topic was the PeaceHealth University District hospital closure. Since the hospital’s emergency department closure on Dec. 1, Eugene residents have been left without reliable access to an emergency room. The closest emergency room is at PeaceHealth’s RiverBend location in Springfield. UO alumnus Jacob True spoke on the closure.
“What will the 23,000 UO students and thousands of faculties and staff do now that there is no longer an emergency room in Eugene,” True said. “What will the board do about this closure? The Board of Trustees should declare that the university needs a hospital in Eugene.”
The final point of interest was in relation to the university’s heating system. On Nov. 10, ASUO passed a resolution calling for a Fossil-Free Campus Heating System. The resolution supports option four of the thermal heating system transition.
Option four replaces the current steam distribution system with a heat chiller recovery chiller, which uses a hot water distribution system. The system is energy efficient and sustainable.
Aya Cockrum, coalition coordinator for Fossil-Free Eugene, urged the university to pursue option four of the thermal heating system transition.
“Our hope is that the university will choose to lead in our community and state and address the transition to clean energy,” Cockrum said to the board. “It is our hope that the students will be included and have a voice at the table as I hope that we can work together moving forward. I hope you will listen, but also act.”
Molly Babcock, director of UO’s Climate Justice League, showed her appreciation of the university’s engagement in the thermal heating system transition and stressed the importance of the thermal transition.
“Students like me are looking for the Board of Trustees to do whatever it takes to cut methane emissions,” Babcock said to the board. “We expect outreach and education for the general student population, ample opportunity to provide feedback and full transparency throughout the thermal transition. Please make this a priority. Our future’s on the line.”
Following the opportunity for public comment, the meeting transitioned to a standard presentation where organizations gave a presentation on select agenda items.
