A University of Oregon student who was charged with student conduct code violations for participating in a demonstration on Oct. 6 says she was not at the protest.
Lola Loustaunau, a UO grad student, said she was at home on a Skype call with a friend from Argentina when dozens of students stormed the stage in the EMU ballroom and shut down a planned speech by UO President Michael Schill.
Loustaunau is not a member of the UO Student Collective, the group that protested Schill’s speech. She said the email charged her with “disruption of university” and “failure to comply.” Her friend, Facundo Rocca, confirmed that she and Loustaunau were on a Skype call when the protest was taking place, from 10 a.m. to noon. Screenshots from Loustaunau’s computer confirmed she was on Skype from 10 a.m. to noon but she asked that the screenshots not be published.
“This is what I found particularly problematic, I did put attending on a Facebook event,” said Loustaunau. “Like everyone, I get sent a bunch of events. I put ‘attending’ to most of them randomly.”
She said that she attends less than 10 percent of Facebook events that she marks attending on.
University officials said they haven’t received any official notification that anyone was misidentified in relation to the Oct. 6 protest.
“Anyone who has information that would contradict the accuracy of an identification in any situation should share that with the conduct office,” UO spokesperson Tobin Klinger said via a text message.
In order to identify students to charge with conduct code violations, the conduct office looked at photos, videos and social media activity that was available, Klinger said.
Loustaunau said she will contest the charges and go through an administrative conference, where she can present information so that the conduct office has a full understanding of the situation.
Loustaunau is one of 13 students known to have been charged with student conduct code violations related to the protest.
The collective met Thursday to discuss the two options that those who were charged were given, as well as other possible responses. Students can either accept responsibility for their actions and meet with “Officers of  Administration” and receive no sanctions, or they can contest the charges and have an administrative conference with a student conduct “decision-maker” to present information.
“None of the options were good,” said Student Collective member Caroline Crisp, who received violations. “For me out of a basic necessity of getting decent grades I am going with option one on the terms of I am not signing anything and I want to see the letter before I consent to it.”
The group came to a consensus that those who had received violations would not make a formal decision until Monday.