On Feb. 21, 2024, a university-wide email was sent out to Willamette students and staff, stating, “We are currently experiencing a network outage affecting core services on Salem and Portland campuses. WITS [Willamette Integrated Technology Services] Staff are looking into the issue.” This email was the first of many sent out announcing and updating the community about a network outage that affected Willamette’s internet services, campus phones, applications like WISE, ID card access to buildings and more. The community would later learn from a Feb. 22 email that “suspicious network activity” was detected on Feb. 20. Following this initial email, over 20 more were sent in the span of 15 days that updated the Willamette community about the incident, providing news about WITS’s progress on fixing the issue, changes in campus safety contacting information, and other resources available in the midst of the network outage. It was recommended that students rely on their personal cellular network or their home Wi-Fi to keep up with their class work through Google Suite, Canvas, Zoom and Adobe Creative Suite. Student Kevin Milberg (‘27) turned to using offline services to do his school work. Milberg said, “I was bothered by it, but I had saved all of my stuff to a Word document so I could work on my essay. However, since WISE was down, I could not access the instructions [for] that assignment.” Instead of using options that require Wi-Fi such as Google documents, he wrote his essay on a Word desktop application. When saved, all progress is available offline on the application as a file on a laptop, which does not require any internet service or Wi-Fi activity. Milberg also mentioned that professors made accommodations for assignments during the network outage by “[giving] extensions, and one of them sent readings by email.” Quinn Carbery (‘27), a student and a photographer for Willamette’s athletics department, worked through the Wi-Fi outage photographing baseball, women’s basketball and women’s lacrosse games during the first week of the cyber incident. He stated that the lack of internet “didn’t really interfere too much with the actual photographing part of it, which I’m very thankful for, but where it became very inconvenient is when I was trying to focus on editing and uploading my pictures.” Carbery’s editing software requires Wi-Fi in order to back up the photos, which he explained, “slow[ed] down the process immensely and it ma[de] what would be probably a process of 45 minutes … into a 2 1/2-hour process.” Though Willamette’s cyber incident lasted nearly two weeks, it was not the only major outage that hit colleges in Oregon. In March of 2023, Lewis & Clark College in Portland had a similar cyber attack that lasted over a month. Business manager of Lewis & Clark’s student newspaper, The Mossy Log, Lauren Evans (‘25), provided a student’s perspective on what occurred, stating, “For a lot of our professors, if they didn’t have their syllabus and schedules backed up to a drive, it was just like they didn’t have any access to it.” Much like at Willamette, readings that were assigned to Lewis & Clark students could not be reached because they required the internet, and library networks were down during the incident. Despite the length of the outage at Lewis & Clark, Evans recalled that the school sent out “around eight emails about the whole thing.” Communication was vague as not many students knew much of what was going on. Concerns about personal data being stolen was a debated topic at Lewis & Clark. As Evans said, “I think a lot of it [personal data] actually did get leaked. … passport numbers and social security, all sorts of things got out there, which was not great, but no one knew what was going on. … Lewis & Clark provided a service afterwards that scans the web for [data leaks].” After the incident, Lewis & Clark upgraded their cybersecurity by purchasing and setting up a new network for students to sign up for, allowing for more fluid Wi-Fi connection and safer protection of private information. The management of school work did not stop fully when the cyber incident occurred at Lewis & Clark. To ensure students were able to fulfill their learning, the college “brought in separate routers and hotspots that they’d set up at different points around campus so we still did have internet access,” Evans said. At Willamette, many systems are back and running, and WITS is continuing to work diligently to re-secure inaccessible portals. Willamette Community and Willamette Guest Wi-Fi networks have been reinstated and classes have begun to shift back to normality.

One night only, the “24-hour Theatre Festival” is a hurriedly prepared work of art that comes to fruition once per semester at Willamette. The production is written, directed and produced in just 24 hours by students. On March 10, this semester's round of plays featured “The Apology,” “The Problem With Nuclear Families,” “A Comedy About a Gas Station” and “Ligma Balls.” The first and longest play of the night, “The Apology,” was written by Ike Turman and directed by Vera Sieck. This piece of theater opened with a bride, played by Juno Tejchman, rethinking their marriage and being advised by a priest, played by Arlo Craft, who inexplicably spoke in rhymes. The groom was a puppet controlled by the third character and played by Vincent Tzu-wei Schillings. The priest was just as surprised as the audience at the reveal that the groom was not human and the bride realized the marriage was wrong, procuring a rubber chicken for the puppet to marry instead. The ceremony was carried out immediately and consummated even more immediately, much to the discomfort of all the non-puppet characters and audience. Afterward, the bride misinterpreted some priestly advice twice in a row, leaving and reentering drenched in blood having murdered the chicken — out of jealousy as they’d loved the puppet all along — and the puppet — so he would not be sad as a widower. The puppeteer entered then to deliver a monologue detailing their elaborate revenge plot that had caused this situation, but they explained they got their victim wrong. They had intended to exact revenge on the priest the entire time. Hearing this, the priest strangled the puppeteer and then began sorrowfully philosophizing about their sinful existence. Again misinterpreting everything said, the bride killed the priest. Deciding creators are the reason for their products' sinful existences, the bride then broke the fourth wall to threaten Turman, screaming “Ike!” into the audience, in order to threaten the “God” of the scene, before vowing to destroy the whole Willamette system of which “24-hour Theatre” is a product. Concluding the scene with an apology, the bride revealed that their destruction of the system was the cause behind the Wi-Fi going down! “The Problem With Nuclear Families,” written by Savanna Starks and directed by Blue Kalmbach, featured a nuclear family living in Nevada on a nuclear testing site. As a result of their location, the closeted lesbian mother, played by Sharlies McEwen, had given birth to a baby that was born as a bomb. The family counted down from ten throughout the play with enthusiastic audience participation while each character revealed their deepest secrets. Naturally, the mother revealed she is a lesbian. The older child, played by Mia von Hamm, admitted that they are gay. The animated traditional husband of the group, played by Izzy Cornelison, shouted that he was sleeping with his younger male secretary. Each of these confessions was followed by the other family members screaming, “I know!” and once everyone was revealed to be gay, the family exploded. A “Comedy About a Gas Station” was written by Nick Zimmerman and directed by Kai Makino-Dilloway. The play featured an older man who had led a life of crime, played by Anya Jones, attempting to teach an emo teenager, played by Valentine Wells, how to rob a convenience store owned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, played by Kendall Morrow. The older man guided the emo teen through many attempts to rob the store, with each failing due to a lack of hidden identity, gun or declaration of purpose. Sick of being robbed, Lin-Manuel Miranda declared, “I’m not throwing away my shot,” and shot the teen before telling the older man he should go into teaching. After having tried to find a new path in life after quitting crime, the older man decided to do just that. A punchy ending to the night, “Ligma Balls” was a frat bro-infused play written by River Hosten and directed by Elise Fashimpaur. Two fraternity members, played by Emi Keller and Xander Taschioglou who were referred to by their first names throughout the show, appeared suddenly on the stage unaware of where they’d been all night. With the assistance of the ghost light (a light left in the theater at all hours to prevent injuries when the lights are off) personified, played by Owyn Wyatt, as well as two rubber chickens and relatively open minds, these two bros came to be theater kids. Purpose fulfilled, the ghost light faded away and the two bros-turned-theater-kids were left to break the fourth wall ever so slightly to wrap up what they called the plot holes. Finally remembering how they got on stage together, with Xander’s shoe in Emi’s pants, they recalled loudly that they were gay lovers and then made out behind a cowboy hat to close out the show.

In December 2023, Willamette published its Campus Climate Survey Report for the first time since 2019. This survey is conducted every four years to better understand the experiences of students, faculty, staff and administrators relating to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). The findings show high rates of discrimination toward multiracial respondents, as well as on the basis of political belief, age and religion. Carried out in February 2023, the survey asked respondents about their perceptions of Willamette’s climate, Willamette’s support for diversity and equity, and experiences with discrimination and harassment at Willamette. The survey was conducted by the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS), a third-party organization, and the report was constructed by the Assistant Provost for Institutional Equity and Community Engagement Emilio Solano and the Associate Provost for Institutional Research Kelley Strawn, along with other members of the EDI committee. In terms of results, the response rate of the survey was 24% of the 3,128 Willamette community members sent an invitation to respond — down from a 49% rate in 2019 — and thus potentially not fully representative of the entire campus population. Nonetheless, according to the report, “the statistics that we derive from the survey data are useful if utilized appropriately.” Respondents were students, faculty and staff from all of Willamette’s schools, including the Pacific Northwest College of Arts in Portland. Solano is in charge of the university’s EDI efforts and entered the role in 2022. He said the COVID-19 pandemic halted many of the university’s plans to implement changes in light of the 2019 report, and the context for both surveys is very different for the same reason. According to Solano, one of the key takeaways from the survey is that the average respondent reports a neutral-to-positive experience of Willamette’s campus climate, which he sees as “a very positive thing.” In addition, the index that measures satisfaction with the university’s EDI efforts and institutional priorities is 3.2 on a scale of 5. He added that despite the average experience being neutral-to-positive, some results may be cause for concern. For instance, 70% of respondents reported having heard insensitive or disparaging remarks about people with a particular political affiliation or view during their time at Willamette. The average percentage of people with this experience at other liberal arts universities is 64%, and the average across all participating institutions is 52%. Solano also said that the percentage of respondents who have reported hearing these remarks about a particular age or religious background is also significantly higher than at other institutions. Students rank first as the main source of these remarks, followed by the local community. 26% of the respondents reported having experienced discrimination or harassment during their time at Willamette, including at off-campus events affiliated with the university. According to the report, “The most common source of the reported discriminating or harassing remarks were other students (35%), followed by faculty and administration (22% and 21%, respectively), then staff (13%), and others in the community (10%).” The rate of multiracial people who reported experiencing discrimination or harassment is nearly 40%, which is overwhelmingly higher than among monoracial respondents. In July 2023, the university EDI committee received 40 hours of training from the USC Race and Equity Center, which focused on interpreting the report, communicating its findings and implementing changes based on the results. In addition, the EDI committee has created a climate response subcommittee that is already planning student listening sessions and focus groups largely centered on students of color, multiracial students, political views and religious groups. “We felt as a committee that these were four areas we wanted to dig further into,” Solano said. There is also an increasing effort to host events centered around EDI issues and events that generate community connection, especially with regard to hiring and retaining faculty members and staff, according to Solano. “I hope that different departments are looking at this survey; I hope that different schools are looking at this survey. I hope the students are reading this survey and they’re asking questions. The dialogue that will come from this is going to be really impactful,” Solano concluded. College of Arts and Science (CAS) Representative to the EDI committee Aanya Friedman (‘24) worked with the committee to synthesize the data and help Solano and Strawn generate the final report. “A big part of it was making sure that the story that is conveyed is not misleading and makes the most sense in the context of the last school year,” Friedman said. Before serving on the committee, Friedman had worked on a project for Student Scholarship Recognition Day (SSRD) in which they examined past climate survey reports and changes in the questions asked. Friedman is also the founder and co-president of the Multiracial Collective, which is a student organization that seeks to “connect members with community resources, hold multicultural events, and host multicultural speakers,” according to the Student Engagement and Leadership webpage. They believe that some improvements to the report could have been made, especially regarding survey participation. Friedman’s suggestions included using class time to fill out the survey the same way the university does with course evaluations in order to increase the representativeness of the sample. They also recommended changing the name of the survey to make its mission clearer and more appealing to future respondents, as well as making the questions more comprehensible and less ambiguous. Friedman highlighted similar takeaways to those mentioned by Solano, especially regarding high rates of discrimination among multiracial respondents. “It’s really important to cater to the needs of students who don’t fit into specific racial or ethnic boxes.” They concluded that they hope to see positive change in light of the report and improvement of the university’s institutional efforts with regard to EDI issues. Both Friedman and Solano are hopeful that the new focus groups will provide important qualitative data and context to make future improvement of EDI policies more effective and impactful.

Hello, Bearcat Fan! Spring crept into campus under the cover of night just in time to lure the next generation of Bearcat athletes into our noble web. Yes, my children, the llama lives here with us year-round. Just one ring of the bell, and you too can be a Bearcat … one of us! Let’s go to the news! Baseball charged through five match-ups, winning them all. They now lead the conference by a mile. Lacrosse’s feeding frenzy was cut short first by Hope (9-15), then the ever-dominant George Fox (11-22). Softball was defeated after a grueling 15-inning slugfest against a visiting Pomona-Pitzer (12-13). They were able to exact their revenge in another six innings to send the Sagehens home level (5-3). Lavender Bel (‘27), Erica Snyder (‘26) and Steeley Mucken (‘27) won their respective events at the Rich Allen Classic Track and Field meet. Golfer Preston Lightle (‘27) made his spring debut at the Willamette Valley Cup, taking second while the ‘Cats surged late to snag third. The women’s squad competed as well, finishing behind every team except for Linfield. Weep before the glory, Wildcat scum. May you and your kin know our wrath and be reborn. Men’s Tennis was dashed against the rocks by Pacific (3-6), but Andrew Kabacy (Grad) won the singles. The Pirates dispatched the Women’s crew (2-7). In the world of sport: The March Madness bracket is out, the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal has been drawn, Saarbrücken shocked the world again and dudes in floral button-ups have returned to the quad, thus ushering in the liberal arts new year. Consider in the coming weeks: Why did the state fund new lights and turf for the Spec Keene Stadium, and alternatively, if your mental capacity and personality changed overnight, would you realize it, or would your mind filter out the past to make the future more palatable?

After failing to find a conference victory in five seasons, fans' expectations for Willamette football have dwindled. In light of the recent departure of former head coach Isaac Parker, Willamette has hired a new head coach, Aric Williams, for the upcoming season. But will this change in leadership translate to a change on the field? Williams has significant NCAA Division I and NFL on-field experience under his belt. After playing cornerback for Oregon State, he signed as a free agent to the Philadelphia Eagles, spent several years at NFL camps and even competed in NFL Europe. Most recently acting as defensive coordinator and linebacker coach at Montana Tech, Williams has served as an assistant coach at several DI universities. Considering his broad perspective in the sport, he feels good about his ability to improve Willamette football. He explained, "I've seen ... what the blueprint was to get certain programs turned around and get them on the right track. So I do have confidence that I can do that here.” This upcoming season will be his first time as a head coach. Williams has big plans for the ‘Cats, including a complete shift in the culture. “It’s going to be the foundation,” said Williams. Establishing a philosophy along with inspiring a mentality of discipline are his top priorities. “Discipline, to me, is the only shortcut.” Asking questions such as “Who are we?” and “What do we stand for?” establishes knowing and doing what’s right: a moral compass. Williams hopes this shift in team culture will lead to results in tough situations, both on and off the field. Part of that culture of discipline includes creating a voluntary football class which anyone on campus can sign up for. The class, currently ongoing, focuses on cardio, speed, conditioning and getting in shape, with the hopes of inspiring intrinsic motivation and discipline in all class participants. Recruiting is also a large focus for Williams. “I’m always recruiting,” he said. He's looking off campus at high schools, transfer students and junior colleges, but also recruiting on campus. Students all across Willamette may be considered, from athletes in other programs to non-collegiate athletes who have an interest in football. “However you identify as, if you’re the right fit for our football program and you can help us win and you fit into our culture and our character, come on and play!” As a sports writer, he even asked me if I had any interest in playing for the team. Williams is emphasizing getting the team active in the community. Although he hasn’t been at Willamette long enough to begin community outreach, Williams has many volunteer ideas based on work he has done with past teams. “I want to be a positive fixture in every aspect of the community.” “We [have] a lot of work to do,” said Williams. “Is it going to happen overnight? Probably not. Anything worth having … you gotta put the time and effort into getting that.” He recognizes that students may have doubts based on prior seasons of football, but he is confident the 2024 season will go differently and hopes students will continue to show up and support the team in the stands. “Our goal is to win.”

All graphics provided by Stevie Bergstrom

On March 5, Administrative Program Assistant for Facilities Ryan Snyder communicated to staff and faculty in the Eaton and Waller buildings that water access was being cut off due to a sewer line rupture. No specific timeframe for its repair was provided. “Facilities has just been informed that a contractor doing excavation work in the Quad has struck the sewer main for Eaton Hall. As a result we are having to shut down all water and restrooms in Eaton until we can repair the ruptured sewer line. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes and we will inform you the moment the sewer line has been repaired,” the email to Eaton staff said. The excavation work referred to in the email is part of a transformer replacement that began on March 4. Students at the Salem campus were informed of the three-week-long excavation on the previous Friday, March 1, in an email sent by Vice President for Student Affairs Lisa Landreman on behalf of Assistant Director of Facilities Projects Mark Mazurier. The March 1 email explained, “The work will involve digging a 3’ deep trench to lay conduit from Collins Science Center to Smullin Hall,” and included an attached diagram. The transformer project is expected to finish after commencement in May, according to the email, and is a part of “larger infrastructure upgrade work” outlined on the Willamette website. Upon investigation, it appears access to water in Eaton and Waller has now been restored.

On Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 5:21 a.m., Willamette students and faculty were graced with a brief email from Casey Feskens, the director of Willamette University Integrated Technology Services (WITS) Infrastructure & Operation team, reading: “We are currently experiencing a network outage affecting core services on Salem and Portland campuses. WITS Staff are looking into the issue.” This email didn’t come as a shock to most Willamette students who are used to similar messages regarding power outages in dormitory buildings or the occasional Wi-Fi outages occurring throughout the academic year appearing in their inboxes. While frustrating, these small, day-long outages are to be expected when attending a small university and need little to no academic accommodation. However, those outages were generally pertaining to either the Portland or Salem campuses exclusively, indicating a larger issue was happening with this outage — perhaps one that Willamette should have been better prepared for. Students were left in the dark on the cause of the outage until Feb. 22, when a lengthy email from WITS gave students and faculty a glimpse into the issue: “On Tuesday, February 20th, our teams detected suspicious network activity and subsequently implemented our incident response protocols. … The initial results from this investigation indicate that the network outage is the result of a cyber incident. … Currently, we do not have an estimate for when network access will be restored.” This email made Willamette faculty and students aware of how serious the situation was. A similar cyberattack happened at Lewis & Clark College in March of 2023 that left their students and faculty without network access for weeks. Another happened just a few weeks ago at Clackamas Community College just outside of Portland, which stopped classes for a week while they investigated the cause. With cyberattacks being a common occurrence for smaller institutions, one may have hoped that Willamette would have a stronger safety net or that its staff would be trained to have alternative teaching methods not reliant on technology. The duration of this outage has put a damper on both students’ and faculty’s daily activities. Students have struggled to access Wi-Fi unless they go to a local coffee shop or other nearby businesses, which can become costly quickly. Institutions that offer free Wi-Fi, such as the Salem Public Library, are only accessible by car or on foot. Mackenzie Lorenz (‘26) detailed her experience in navigating classes without network access. “All of my classes use Wise or Canvas for class material, and most rely heavily on electronic media, which obviously I couldn’t access without the internet. Only one of my classes was able to switch easily to classic pen-and-paper, but again, the others rely on electronic media such as web sources and PDF documents.” Not having access to online submission sites or class lectures forced professors to shift their already tight syllabi in order to accommodate students' lack of access to reading material, lectures and submission forums. Lorenz said, “My professors have been accommodating in terms of due dates. Some even switched the schedule entirely or asked the class for our input on the situation,” she said. The same sentiment was shared by Abbigail Richeson (‘26): “Professors have been great, pushing back deadlines on assignments and understanding that we don’t have access to all campus resources; however, professors aren’t cutting material, which means my schedule is busier than ever.”  This accommodating nature professors have held is appreciated by students. However, it only forces more rigorous schedules for students down the line as the last weeks of the academic year creep up. On the other hand, this time without the internet has allowed students to engage with their hobbies. “I’ve been able to lay on the quad and read, visit coffee shops I otherwise would’ve never gone to,” Richeson said.  Lorenz stated similarly, “I’ve been outside, reading and spending more time on my hobbies during the times which I would’ve been studying.” Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. On Sunday, Feb. 25, Salem students were notified of temporary Wi-Fi, “WUTemp.” On Monday, Feb. 26, WUTemp was made available to PNCA students. At the time of writing this, most of Willamette’s applications and networks have been restored.

Men’s basketball may have had one of the largest one-year turnarounds as a program, not only in the NWC, but in all of college basketball. Finishing at 15-10 overall and 9-7 in conference, the boys had a chance to make the conference tournament until the very last night of the season, winning both games in the final weekend at George Fox and at home vs. Lewis and Clark on senior night. Unfortunately, per usual, Pacific had to ruin all the fun. The Boxers won both games as well on that last weekend, beating Lewis and Clark and Linfield, clinching their spot in the conference tournament. With this said, The improvement that was made compared to what has been the losing standard of men’s basketball here for so many years is impressive, to say the least. This is the first time that they have had a winning record in the conference since the 2014-2015 season. We were slated for last place in the preseason poll after only winning one conference game last year. New coach Jack Lenahan and the newly defense-focused Bearcats were able to prove the voters wrong. “My first two years we wanted to play fast. We wanted to keep that this year, but have a good defensive gameplan going into every game.” said Ryder Hsuing (‘25). Changing coaches is difficult enough for players who have been used to playing a certain way for several years before, but switching the playstyle dramatically also throws another obstacle at returning players. With that said, it is fair to say they adjusted quite well to the new scheme implemented and were able to hold their opponents to much fewer points this year than last. On the offensive side of the ball, they ran more ball screens, pindowns, and handoffs to get shooters open and in a good position to put up points. There was also a newfound sense of confidence and unity on the court. “The two biggest things were the belief we had in each other and the confidence. You could see before the game how connected we were,” said Hsuing. While the ball didn’t exactly roll their way in the end, there is nothing for the boys to be too down about, as it is clear that men’s basketball is back to winning ways and is now a competitive force to be reckoned with in the NWC for years to come.

Hello, Bearcat Fan! The sports section has been jumping at the sight of journalistic shadows that now swirl The Collegian office. Ernie Samora has been hunting ancient relics and weaving a web around the State Capitol. Mary Vickery returned from Sin City and hasn’t stopped brooding over the keyboard ever since. A new writer has made her way onto the scene. Will we get any products out? Stay tuned. ... Let’s go to the news! Lacrosse has a debilitating, pervasive illness, and it seems like the only cure is driving their opponents deep into the ground. They are mechanical, they are ruthless and they don’t care if you have a family. Their goal differential is +98 over five games. Can they topple the Bruins? Women’s Tennis went and did it again in Tacoma, defeating the Loggers (5-4). Men’s Tennis was clear-cut (2-7). Whitely Stepp (‘26) took 18th in the country for high jump at DIII Nattys. The Bearcats showed out in steeplechase at the Lane Community College Open. Will Hennum (‘24) took home the gold while Zoe Heino (‘26) grabbed silver. Simon Kidder (‘24) flew over the hurdles to take third in the 400-meter. Baseball stomped Bethany Lutheran (12-0) in seven innings, but went 1-2 against PLU, their first conference opponent of the year. They have five games this week. The Pioneers trampled Softball over the course of four meetings. The ‘Cats’ losing margins did decrease each game, however. They plan to defend the homefront against a charging Pomona-Pitzer in the coming days. Golf is stirring from its winter sleep. In the world of sport: The Portland Timbers’ Evander silenced those evil, evil people who call themselves the New York City Football Club by way of a stoppage time missile across the 18-yard box. Consider in the coming weeks: Who’s home to you?

The 2023-24 season has left Bearcat swim with only two conference team wins to look back on as a sweeping victory executed against Pacific University on Jan. 19 was rendered unusable, likely due to insufficient heating. Despite the chilling ice storm that froze the Willamette campus over the first week of the semester, the Willamette swim team was able to host Pacific in mid-January. Being on the tail end of the winter storm, transportation for the Pacific University Boxers proved difficult, but possible. However, the decision was made to switch the event to an exhibition meet due to heating complications in the pool. “The meet was an exhibition meet because the pool temp was not at the NCAA-mandated temperature,” said Coach Sydney Kanne, “and through discussions between [athletic directors] and coaches of both institutions, it was decided to run the meet as a fun little exhibition.” Kanne explained that an exhibition meet means “that no score is kept but everyone's times are still recorded as valid times.” The men’s team won 130-25 and the women 147-39. Times are not discredited, but the swim team having their wins taken from them is unfortunate given their strong performance. While the meet was a great success for the swim team, the issue of the pool temperature raises the question of whether the Sparks building’s heating issues have returned. Earlier in the school year, temperatures dropped significantly as construction involving the boiler affected its ability to warm the pool. When construction was finished, the pool was reopened and supposedly returned to normal functionality. Given the effects of the winter storm, it’s possible that weather conditions are what led to the pool’s temperature decrease. However, temperatures had already reached highs of 39 degrees by the day of the meet. Lewis and Clark canceled their meet on the same day.

A small convoy of trucks circled the Oregon State Capitol around noon on Wednesday, March 7, 2024, making their presence known with repeated horn honking. Several onlookers watched for a few minutes from the Capitol Terrace on the roof, with others looking on from the sidewalk. The protest was associated with Oregon Natural Resources Industries (ONRI) in support of the logging industry, though according to the legislative calendar there was not an event in the legislature on March 7 that involved the logging industry. The convoy was led by a semi-truck draped in slogan-covered tarps, as well as a truck full of giant logs. Slogans on the tarp truck included “Taxing Pollution Solves Nothing at All,” “No SB 1546” and “No Sale of Elliot Forest.” The log truck had signs from the ONRI with the slogan “Stronger Together” and a sign calling to “Stop the HCP!” The American Flag was prominently displayed, flying on the back of the log truck. A few cars joined them in honking and circling, including two pickup trucks and a minivan with a giant syringe on top labeled “Genocide.” The tarp truck included a hint of vaccination opposition messaging as well, with signage reading “No Mask, No Jab, I Do Not Consent!” Accompanying the convoy was about a dozen protestors with smaller American flags standing in front of the capitol, waving them as the trucks passed by. Additionally, two people were holding signs that read “No Transparency No Trust.” The protest appeared to be in general support for the logging industry as part ONRI’s work. There was no event in the legislature that day. Senate Bill 1546, which was mentioned on the tarp truck, relates to technology in the 2024 session. However, the 2022 Session SB 1546 related to establishing the Elliot State Research Forest, the largest research forest in North America. The Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) being protested covers 640,000 acres of Oregon Department of Forestry lands and is intended to protect species conservation. According to the ONRI website against the HCP, the HCP has been corrupted by politicians. In terms of the vaccination opposition subparts of the protest, Oregon has not had mask mandates since March of 2022, with the mandate for masks in healthcare settings ending April 2023. Though COVID-19 vaccine mandates fizzled out for healthcare workers and teachers, longstanding vaccine mandates such as those required for children in public schools remain. The Center of Disease Control states that vaccines are safe and highly recommended vaccines for children and adults in order to protect from serious diseases. One of the flag-waving protestors Janet Bailey said, “My heart goes out to the loggers of Oregon.” When asked what the protest was about, Bailey said, “This is a protest from the loggers begging our government not to close the dams, not to take down the bridges.” Bailey further went on to express concern that the children of loggers and fishermen, as well as the related industries, will be affected as well. Bailey described how she feels that multiple generations of loggers have worked hard and that their livelihood is being torn down by legislators. The protest contains echoes of the larger 2020 Timber Unity protest, in which a convoy of trucks circled the capitol, disrupting classes with constant horn honking. The 2020 protest included the same strategy of trucks sporting tarps filled with slogans, including one stating, “You Got It, A Truck Brought It!” At the same time as the truck convoy was occurring, Oregon Capitol Chronicle reporter Julia Shumway reported there was a protest in the capitol park against anti-LGBTQ comments made by State Representative Dwayne Yunker (R-Grants Pass), as well as anti-Muslim and anti-atheist comments made by State Representative E. Werner Reschke (R-Malin).