As a student at the University of Oregon School of Law, James Cleavenger often took advantage of group wilderness trips organized through the Outdoor Program. After graduating last June, he wasn’t ready to give up the participant-initiated adventures.
He knew he was going to have to find a way to stay involved.
“When you do these trips, it helps you appreciate the beauty of the Northwest. I didn’t see any reason why I should stop,” Cleavenger said, who has initiated more than 50 program trips in the last three years.
With its philosophy of common adventure, the Outdoor Program welcomed Cleavenger and other residents from outside the university to participate. The OP trips are available to community members if they pay a $15 yearly fee. The fee helps cover costs for community members in the same way as the incidental fees finances the program for students.
“We have a history of welcoming the larger community to participate in the Outdoor Program,” said Dan Geiger, the director of the Outdoor Program. He added that students benefit from traveling with older, more experienced adventurers.
“A few people have been involved since the 1980s,” Geiger said. “We feel it’s important that the University has this bridge to the greater community.”
The OP’s involvement with community members is hardly unique. Many members of the Eugene community, particularly alumni of the University, take classes or attend events associated with campus institutions long after graduation. Several major programs, including the Craft Center, the Cultural Forum and Moss Street Children’s Center are completely open to community members.
At the Craft Center, community members are welcome to take workshops and use the studio alongside students. The center’s coordinator, Diane Hoffman, said up to 20 percent of people enrolled in Craft Center classes are alumni or community members.
“It’s ideal when we have a mix of faculty, students and community members in a craft workshop,” Hoffman said. “It creates a diversity that you wouldn’t normally find in a college class.”
The majority of Craft Center workshops are taught by local artists, and the Center advertises workshops in the Eugene Weekly in addition to campus publications in order to reach people outside the University.
The Craft Center, like the Outdoor Program, requires community members to pay an additional fee. A Craft Center studio pass costs $35 a term for community members.
Community members must be enrolled in at least one University class to purchase a pass, but that doesn’t stop several hundred alumni and community members from enrolling in workshops every year.
“It’s an excellent deal for the community; once they buy a studio pass they can come and use the studio at any time,” Hoffman said. “They have the same access as students.”
All of the events sponsored by the Cultural Forum, including over a hundred concerts, film screenings and speakers presented every year, are open to the public. Coordinator Darrel Kau said the forum staff often works with both community and student groups to put on an event.
“In December, we did the Condom Fashion Show for World AIDS Day. We worked with student groups on campus, but we also worked with the Eugene HIV Alliance,” Kau said.
While the Cultural Forum seeks to present events that are relevant to the campus community, it encourages the involvement of local nonprofit organizations and advertises major events off campus.
Kau added that sharing resources with community groups benefits both students and community members.
“The University of Oregon serves as a viable resource for the community,” he said. “As a public institution, the University is open for everyone to come and learn.”
Geiger, Hoffman and Kau all agreed that they would like to see more participation by community members, as long as the programs remained centered on campus.
“As an employee of the University, I value a vibrant relationship between campus and the larger Eugene community,” Geiger said. “We don’t want to be seen as ivory towers, cut off from the world.”
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