Noah Dantes Editor-in-chief A Willamette employee tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 3, Willamette’s reopening committee announced over email at 11:01 a.m. on Oct. 4. The employee was last on campus Sept. 30, and those in close contact with the individual have been told to quarantine. A Marion County contact tracer is following up with all that were in close contact. Additional details about the employee have been withheld due to privacy laws. Faculty and staff who test positive are still being asked to contact Danita Chapin in Human Resources, and students who test positive are to contact Tori Ruiz in Student Affairs. Willamette had announced its eighth COVID-19 case of the semester on Sept. 23.

Ryleigh Norgrove Staff writer Saturday evening, students gathered in Jackson Plaza to honor the life of Abigail Agustin-Paz.  A College of Liberal Arts student, Agustin-Paz was important to many on campus. She served as an Ohana leader, was active in Alianza and WU-CAUSA and was on the Willamette Events Board. She was deeply involved with Willamette Academy and worked on the Bistro staff; she touched many areas of the community.   In an interview with the Statesman Journal, Lisa Landreman, vice president of student affairs and dean of students, said Agustin-Paz had many friends and was known for her kindness and warmth. “We’re, as a community, in shock and anticipate this loss is going to be with us for some time," Landreman said. "We’re hoping to keep her memory and kindness alive." "Being a first year college student is challenging, and being a first generation student, oldest sibling or coming from a diverse background might come with more individual challenges," she advised fellow students in a profile. "Remember that there will always be people and/or networks ready to support you, and to be patient and embrace the experiences you'll find yourself through."

Remy Gottschling Staff writer Noah Dantes Editor-in-chief Photo by Kegan Rascoe. The decision to move classes online from September 9 to September 18 left many students confused and worried about the administration's response to safety concerns regarding the unhealthy air quality due to smoke from wildfires in Oregon and California. In an email sent out on September 9, President Stephen Thorsett announced that classes for the day had been moved online due to “deteriorating air quality” from the Beachie Creek fire. Classes stayed remote until September 18. Almost immediately, students and the Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) voiced their frustrations with the decision to not cancel classes entirely , and these frustrations did not go unheard. In a response email to ASWU, then Dean of the College of the Arts and Sciences Ruth Feingold stated that she did not “doubt the validity of the evidence you have presented regarding the desires of the constituents who have communicated with you,” but that, “students I have spoken to personally have told me that they themselves do not want classes cancelled, and that their friends don’t, either.” In a follow-up email interview, Dean Feingold wrote, “it is exceedingly uncommon for universities, in general, to cancel classes… The default is always to have classes — it’s not a matter of starting out with either ‘on’ or ‘off’ as equally likely a possibility.” She would continue later on that, “individual faculty may choose to cancel their own classes,” Feingold said, “but having that decision made for them is kind of an abrogation of their rights.” While the administration did not feel the need to cancel classes, they did advise the faculty to be “as flexible as possible” and to “take classes online quickly” according to Professor of Environmental Science Joe Bowersox. “We’re trying to be aware of the stresses, trying to understand the mental health of our students,” Bowersox said, “We thought the best thing was to just go online- most faculty desired that.” Flexibility and adaptation was a major point that Dean Feingold conveyed to professors around campus, “by urging flexibility on the faculty, I’m hoping that the largest possible number of students gets the majority of what they want/need, including accommodations/extensions if they would find them helpful.”

Claire Alongi Staff writer clalongi@willamette.edu In a lot of ways, the Walt Disney Company has been having a banner year (Marvel fans catch that? Banner year?). The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has recently dropped both “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame”, the latter of which went on to break “Avatar’s” record as the highest grossing movie of all time. The live-action remakes of “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” were box office hits, and on Nov. 12 Disney’s set to drop their own streaming service called Disney+. In addition to providing already existing content from a variety of Disney owned companies, it will also premier a host of eagerly anticipated original shows and movies. Additionally, the last installment of the new “Star Wars” franchise is coming out in December. So, long story short, they’re pretty much on top of the world. Well, until they lost Spider-Man to Sony and tore the fan community into an uproar. But, quite frankly, Spidey might be better off in Sony’s hands. In the first Spider-Man movie, way back in the early 2000s, Sony introduced actor Toby Maguire to the big screen as New York City’s beloved webslinger. Sony made three movies with Maguire before revamping the character with Andrew Garfield in 2012. That’s when things got rocky. After two movies Garfield was shelved, and Sony and Disney (now at the helm of the wildly popular MCU) negotiated a deal for Spider-Man to appear alongside the other heroes in the extended universe. Thus, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was introduced in “Captain America: Civil War.” Holland reprised the role four other times, including two stand alone movies, the most recent of which (Spider-Man: Far From Home) came out just over a month or so ago. When the news broke that Sony and Disney had gone their separate ways and left Spider-man in limbo, fans were distraught. Holland’s Spider-Man has been called the best iteration of the hero so far. Some people blamed Sony, others Disney. The truth is there isn’t a lot of concrete information about exactly what went down between the two companies. \According to Deadline and a few other sources, it was likely a monetary issue, with Disney asking an aggressive profit split in their favor that Sony wasn’t willing to go for. While the initial deal was never permanent, it seems unlikely that Spidey will be allowed back into the MCU to get some closure. The website “We Got This Covered” just broke a story alleging that the two companies will be meeting within the next week or two to renegotiate terms.  Spider-Man might be better off with Sony. First let me be clear: I am one of those people who believes that Holland’s version is the best. A lot of it has to do with the fact that he was actually a teenager when he was cast.  As a self-professed huge Disneyland, Star Wars and Marvel fan, it has become increasingly hard to guiltlessly love those franchises. The number of companies Disney owns is, quite frankly, terrifying and ever increasing. And while Disney+ is rolling out a ton of super cool material, it is also a blatant money grab. While it’s easy to love the heroes (and villains) across Disney media, they’re all part of the massive corporate money-making machine. The rereleased “Avengers: Endgame” is a perfect example of this. The three hour long movie mammoth promised six minutes of new footage, but beyond the addition of a nice tribute to Stan Lee, there wasn’t anything especially revolutionary. Buzzfeed reported that one end credit scene was simply the opening of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” while the other was the Hulk with some unfinished CGI. Not exactly magical. Seeing the company not getting something for once is a bit refreshing.  While Maguire’s and Garfield’s portrayals might not quite shine like Holland’s, Sony does have one Spider-Man property for themselves: “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.” The 2018 animated film was a a hit in both the animation and superhero genre and showed that Sony could not only do Spider-Man well, but better than anyone had done before. If some of the inventiveness of that movie could be incorporated into another Sony Spider-Man, there would be hope.  The best case scenario is that Holland gets an actual farewell to the MCU instead of being explained away in a brief on-screen comment. From there, it’s hard to say. In the end the loser isn’t necessarily one company or the other, but the character himself and the poor actors who keep getting recycled. It was a bit of a joke to do Spidey a third time, and now it seems like a fourth try could be on the horizon. Even his super strength and quippy comebacks can’t get poor Spider-Man out of this bind.

Sept. 10, 2020 By Kegan Rascoe

Sept. 7, 2020 By Kegan Rascoe

Emma Innes Staff writer In a “Words from Waller” email on Sept. 23, President Stephen Thorsett announced the hiring of Darci Heroy as interim Title IX Coordinator. Heroy is a Senior Consultant and Director of Strategic Partnership for Grand River Solutions. Grand River Solutions is a consulting firm for Title IX and Clery Act regulations in K-12 schools and higher education institutions. Heroy will report to Lisa Landreman, vice president of Student Affairs, and is replacing Jade Aguilar as Title IX Coordinator. Thorsett said in his email: “ Darci will review our Title IX policy and practices, continuing to monitor our alignment with regulations and national best practices. She will conduct required trainings for students and employees, and ensure that we continue to respond to all complaints of possible sex discrimination and oversee the fair, sensitive, and timely investigation and coordination of resolutions.” Heroy can be reached at . Thorsett’s email stated there will be a search for a permanent Title IX coordinator. Willamette is required to have a Title IX Coordinator at all times by federal regulations.

Emma Innes Staff writer Willamette’s reopening committee sent out an email on Sept. 23 at 6:53pm, notifying that a student who lives off-campus tested positive for COVID-19. The student was last on campus Friday, Sept. 18. Anyone who was identified as having close contact with the student has been told to quarantine and will follow up with Marion County’s contact tracer. The reopening committee stressed in their email that the Higher Education Coordinating Commission and Oregon Health Authority require confidentiality for students and staff who test positive for COVID-19, which limits the details they can provide. Staff who test positive for COVID-19 are asked to contact Danita Chapin in Human Resources at . Students who test positive should notify Tori Ruiz in Student Affairs at . Willamette announced its seventh COVID-19 case on Sept. 19.

Noah Dantes Editor-in-chief A Willamette employee tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 19, Willamette’s reopening committee announced over email at 5 p.m. Sept. 20. The employee was last on campus Sept. 15, and those in close contact with the individual have been told to quarantine. A Marion County contact tracer is following up with all that were in close contact. Additional details about the employee have been withheld due to privacy laws. Faculty and staff who test positive are still being asked to contact Danita Chapin in Human Resources, and students who test positive are to contact Tori Ruiz in Student Affairs. Willamette had announced its sixth COVID-19 case on Sept. 16 .

Jake Procino News editor Jade Aguilar, vice president of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and full time professor of sociology, is [ leaving Willamette ] for a position with [ ECONorthwest ], a consulting firm based in Portland. Her time with Willamette officially ends September 19. In her place, the duties of the VP of the Office of EDI will be split between University Chaplain Karen Wood and Vice President of Student Affairs Lisa Landreman. According to an email from Provost Carol Long, Wood is leading the EDI work for the academic year while the Office of EDI and the committees within it such as Multicultural Affairs, Native American Programs and the Gender Resource and Advocacy Center will report to Landreman. Aguilar also served as Willamette’s Title IX Coordinator. Long said that an interim coordinator will be named per federal Title IX regulations, which mandate that the university has a Title IX coordinator at all times. Though Aguilar is leaving and new Title IX guidelines went into place August 14, Aguilar said the Title IX team will continue to support students and keep the existing structures intact. The Title IX team includes Director of the Gender Resource & Advocacy Center and Confidential Advocate Andrea Doyle Hugmeyer, Student CARE and Conduct Case Manager Tori Ruiz, Director of Bishop Wellness Center Don Thomson, Director of Campus Safety Ross Stout and Director of Housing and Conferences Scott Etherton. The conclusion of Aguilar’s tenure as the VP of the Office of EDI marks a transition period for the office. According to Aguilar, this transition is supported by the very top of the organizational chart: “President Thorsett this year has encouraged all of senior leadership this year to be thoughtful of embedding EDI across all of their functions too. All of the senior leadership team is thinking on how it lives in their division.” Aguilar said Willamette is being more explicit in its effort to reduce pressure on the Office of EDI. “Having the strategic [EDI coordination], and the daily [EDI tasks] and the Title IX [work] all in one position is really pretty overwhelming,” said Long. “Now we can look at how to spread that work, how to integrate it into the larger community on campus [and] how to provide the support that the strategic work would need in that position.” Aguilar, Long and Wood stressed that while the specific work of the Office of EDI will change over time, the office strives to achieve its main purpose of uncovering barriers to access and educating people how they are complicit in oppressive systems. “I think the overarching perception of creating this position was that the voice for [EDI] questions needed to be at the high level of leadership that needed to be university-wide and focus on the practices of the institution broadly speaking,” Long elaborated. “That’s something that we still firmly are tied to as a perspective and as a goal.” Willamette is waiting to implement larger changes to the Office of EDI until it collects input from university stakeholders and conducts a full analysis of an external report on the Office of EDI by a team from Whitman College. Wood said: “What we want to do is see the ways that the entire university can be engaged in EDI work and be accountable for it. Part of my conversation with folks this year will be to judge the extent to [how much] that has happened over these three years and how we can set up and provide structures of accountability so that EDI work is work of the entire university.” Willamette hired a team from Whitman to conduct an external review of the Office of EDI over the summer, led by Whitman’s Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion [ Thomas Witherspoon ] and Associate Dean for Faculty Development & Professor of Sociology [ Helen Kim ]. The review along with consultation from stakeholders—which includes the board of directors, faculty, students and committees within the Office of EDI—will guide the future of the Office of EDI. Though there are currently no plans to hire another VP of EDI in the near future, Long says: “I think the virtue here is in providing the institution [Wilmette] time to consider the options and do a good job of creating the structure that follows behind Jade [Aguilar]’s good work. The danger in doing a very quick ‘ok let’s just advertise the position or hire someone new to do this,’ the danger of that is you don’t do a good enough job of learning and of creating the position that we need.” There is concern that continuing the EDI work will be too much to ask of Wood and Landreman, as they already have full-time jobs. Regarding taking on extra responsibilities at Willamette, Wood said: “It is not a new experience to take on additional roles. I think the last line of everybody’s job description is ‘and other duties as assigned,’ so it’s familiar.” Wood believes that leaders around campus will assist her by continuing to take on EDI work. Aguilar believes that Landreman has the strong equity lens and commitment to EDI necessary to handle her new responsibilities well, “I feel really confident that Lisa Landreman is exactly the right VP we need for this role right now.” Aguilar added that Landreman was helping Wood with the workload by spreading EDI work across Student Affairs. To Aguilar, this transition is a natural, yet difficult, conclusion to the three year commitment that Willamette promised to her in this role: “I could’ve left earlier and they could’ve fired me before three [years], but it worked out that it felt like the right amount of time.” Aguilar said in three years she was able to set up the structure and the role of the Office of EDI well enough for someone else to take the position. Aguilar said that Willamette would have been happy to keep her around, but she felt like it was time to move on: “I’m just really excited about being a sociologist again. Doing applied work… and doing research that has real impacts for communities of color and low-income communities, so that’s really where I got really excited for the work and it felt like a logical next chapter of my career, too.” “I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to do this work for Willamette, to be the first VP for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion I feel like we have accomplished a lot,” said Aguilar. “The partnerships I’ve been able to have with faculty, with staff and with students, I mean those are just invaluable, you know, just moments for me to do something really important for an institution that I love, and I’m excited to pass the torch first to Karen and then to whoever follows, I think we did lay a good foundation and I just am really feeling truly blessed by this school and this opportunity and the work.”

Sophie Smith Staff writer Photo by Kegan Rascoe. A crowd of armed right-wingers known as the Proud Boys gathered at the Oregon State Capitol Building on Monday, Sept. 7, drawing a group of counter-protestors that included several Willamette students. Online footage shows far-right demonstrators assaulting counter-protestors, including a Willamette student, resulting in the arrests and release of two right-wingers. Men affiliated with the Proud Boys also entered campus, University officials confirmed. New York Times correspondent Mike Baker reported that a group of right-wing demonstrators, including other militant groups in addition to Proud Boys, gathered in the Portland area for a motor vehicle caravan demonstration on Labor Day. Footage shows the demonstrators illegally driving with covered license plates, the Statesman Journal confirmed . A portion of the group traveled to Salem yesterday afternoon, where they gathered on the steps of the Capitol Building. The Statesman Journal reports that some in attendance were armed with guns, knives and bats. Photo by Kegan Rascoe. A group of 30-50 counter-protestors, including several Willamette students, gathered on the other side of Court Street. Oregon Public Broadcasting journalist Sergio Olmos reported that the right-wingers soon bull rushed the leftist group , physically assaulting and macing counter-protestors. A Willamette student is among the assaulted counter-protestors, according to Director of Campus Safety Ross Stout. Two right-wingers, Ty Anthony and Trenton Wolfskill, were arrested for and charged with fourth-degree assault, reports the Statesman Journal . Anthony was also charged with first-degree intimidation, or a bias crime, for shouting slurs at a counter-protest. Both men were released later yesterday evening. Stout also said members of the far-right pursued a student onto Willamette’s campus. The student made it safely into the Baxter complex. Photo by Kegan Rascoe. On Tuesday night, Lisa Landreman, vice president for Student Affairs, Jade Aguilar, vice president for equity, diversity and inclusion and Chaplain Karen Wood emailed the student body to share information and resources about how to stay safe while protesting. University President Steve Thorsett also emailed the student body on Tuesday to address Monday’s events. Since yesterday’s events, Willamette students on social media have offered mutual aid to one another, offering to deliver food or medical supplies, as well as financial support.

Ryleigh Norgrove Staff Writer Around 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16th Willamette University informed the student body of yet another Covid case. This latest case is the sixth case reported by the University. According to the University's communications, " The employee was last on campus on September 9th. Anyone identified as a close contact has been told to quarantine and will have follow-up with a Marion County contract tracer. "