Following the announcement of phase two of the Knight Campus — which could negatively affect the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm — ASUO Senator Madison Sanders and the Save the Urban Farm coalition look to pass a resolution within ASUO senate to ensure student voices are heard in future decision making surrounding the Urban Farm.

According to its Instagram page, Save the Urban farm is “a cross-departmental coalition of UO students aimed at preventing Knight Campus development from harming the Urban Farm.” While the Knight Campus is expanding UO’s scientific research and training, some are concerned it will threaten the farm — a model for urban land use and the setting for a class that teaches students about food systems and the impact of food choices.

Presented in October to the University of Oregon Campus Planning Committee, construction for phase two of the Knight Campus —which will add a second building to host research programs and facilities — is anticipated to start in 2023, according to UO’s website.

Concerns growing at the Urban Farm

“It’s difficult to understand what’s happening with the Urban Farm without actually being there,” Urban Farm Director Harper Keeler said.

Keeler said schematic design for the building includes a 30 foot setback from the building during construction. “That disrupts pretty much the entire east edge of the Urban Farm to the extent we’re going to be cutting down dozens of trees,” Keeler said.

The removal of the “back 40” area to make room for staging materials would be the most problematic, Keeler said. “This area has been under cultivation and development at the Urban Farm for about 30 years,” he said.

Keeler said he worries losing that space would limit the amount of students the Urban Farm would be able to host.

Keeler said almost 140 students registered for spring term, with open slots closing in a day and a half. “Registration starts on a Monday, and on Tuesday morning it’s gone,” he said.

The process of construction

Campus Planning and Facilities Manager Darin Dehle said the 30 foot work zone is required to install shoring –– a temporary support structure –– of the basement construction while making as little impact on areas beyond the 30 foot zone as possible.

Dehle said an alternative to the setback would be to lay the excavation sloped digging into the ground at an angle which would be significantly more impactful to the Urban Farm.

“The work zone will also be used through the duration of the project for lifts and other equipment necessary to install materials on the exterior facade of the building,” Dehle said. “We continue to consider approaches to minimize impact to some of the trees in the area.”

Dehle said the phase two project has been discussed by the School of Design faculty and the Urban Farm since summer 2021.

“We have developed a working relationship related to the project: engaging in initial discussions on matters of interest to the project and the Urban Farm that has the potential to develop future learning opportunities and academic experiences,” he said.

Additionally, Dehle said members from the phase two project attended the March 30 Town Hall setup by the College of Design to address concerns about the project.

Student love for the Urban Farm

Sanders said student actions to protect the Urban Farm started with a student-run panel organized by Save the Urban Farm aimed at hearing what students already knew about phase two of the Knight Campus, its relation to the Urban Farm and its future operations.

“I saw that this group of students had a ton of energy and a lot of passion,” she said. Specifically, Sanders said the students had a love for the Urban Farm that extended outside the UO Landscape Architecture Department, which led to her idea to pass a resolution.

“As students we want to say that we stand in opposition to a development of a Knight Campus that infringes on the Urban Farm’s ability to function in the way that it does in the future,” Sanders said.

She said an infringement could range from the building actively encroaching onto the grounds of the Urban Farm to shade from the campus preventing growth at the farm.

“We’re kind of using this umbrella term of like standing in opposition of any development that keeps the Urban Farm from functioning in any way,” she said.

Sabina Hagen-Botbol, Kaleb Beavers and Grace Youngblood are some of the students that helped Sanders with the resolution.

“Students across campus value the Urban Farm,” Hagen-Botbol said. “It’s not just landscape.”

Beavers said the Urban Farm and the Food Studies Program is one of the reasons he wanted to do his graduate work at UO. He said the Urban Farm is a great example of interdisciplinary scholarship. “You get people from every part of the university coming to the farm.”

The Urban Farm being the main reason people come to UO is something Beavers said he has heard echoed from others.

A push for student involvement

When writing the resolution, Sanders said she wanted to be careful with the language to avoid asking for something unreasonable. “I don’t want to ask to stop the development of the Knight Campus if it infringes upon the Urban Farm,” she said. ”It could be a battle we can’t win anyways.”

In the scenario where student intervention can’t prevent anything, Sanders said the next step is to see how students can insert themselves in future conversations surrounding the Urban Farm.

“Now it’s navigating how exactly can we be most effective with the resolution,” she said.

Another driving force behind this resolution and the Save the Urban Farm movement is the desire to make students aware of updates coming from the Knight Campus, Beavers said.

“I think the communication has been an issue thus far, and there hasn’t been a lot of clear dates, deadlines and information coming to the student body,” Youngblood said.

When it comes to making changes, Hagen-Botbol said students have more freedom and agency than faculty. “I think it’s really powerful that we can come together as students,” she said.

She said being included in the conversation surrounding the Farm is really important. With knowledge of how the Farm functions, Hagen-Botbol said measures can be taken to offset the negative impact of the Knight Campus construction.

“If we can be part of this conversation, we can really make sure that the Farm ends up on the other side of this whole process as strong as it possibly can,” she said.

Hagen-Botbol said she is not totally against development of the Knight Campus. “There’s a lot of positive things about the development and the building,” she said. Being in the Environmental Science Department for her undergraduate studies, she said she values the other sciences and the opportunities they give to students.

The Urban Farm is home to a wide variety of plant life, and is also home to a number of bee hives. The University of Oregon’s Urban Farm is a student and community led project that focuses on promoting sustainable food systems and community-based activism. (Will Geschke/Emerald)

March 30 Town Hall

During the March 30 town hall meeting, faculty from the College of Design and the Landscape Architecture Department responded to students’ concerns about the Urban Farm.

Dean of the College of Design Adrian Parr and Interim Director for the School of Architecture and Environment Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg attended the town hall.

“There’s a lot of ideas that are being floated around at the moment,” Parr said. “My bottom line is: the student experience around farming has to stay.”

Parr said decisions surrounding zoning and staging for phase two of the campus are not up to just her but are influenced by a multitude of voices.

As to more discussion around the site selection for the phase two project, Parr said little work has been done. “There are other sites that other individuals and the faculty of Landscape Architecture also put up there, and so once again, this is a shared governance process,” she said.

Parr said once there is more clarity on new potential staging sites, she is more than happy to share that information with students.

In the Feb. 23 work session, Councilor Claire Syrett, whose ward includes Washington Jefferson Park, said many of her constituents are happy about the campers leaving the park, but she also has constituents concerned about the people who will not go to safe sleep sites and have already moved to surrounding sidewalks and planting strips.

“When you move people out of the park or out of the sanctioned spaces, they still have to be somewhere,” Kimes said. “They move in front of residences and businesses because they don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Looking to the future

Sanders is planning on bringing the resolution about the Urban Farm to the ASUO senate meeting on April 6. Discussion around the resolution should start around 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Miller Room in the EMU.

The link to the ASUO Senate agenda can be found on the “Branches” page of ASUO’s website.

According to the Save the Urban Farm Instagram page, there will be a student forum about the Urban Farm on April 13, a Campus Planning Committee meeting discussing plans for the Urban Farm on April 29 and an Urban Farm community action event on May 6.

More information can be found on the Save the Urban Farm Instagram page.