Effective June 15, 2020, the University of Oregon (UO) requires faculty, staff, students, visitors, and vendors across all UO locations to use face coverings, which include masks (note: masks with exhaust valves are discouraged), cloth face coverings, or face shields, when in UO owned, leased or controlled buildings, EXCEPT when alone in a space (e.g., room with four walls).

We are living through a decisive civil rights movement. Black Lives Matter protests have been held daily across the country for over three weeks. A march for Black trans lives in Brooklyn on June 14th drew an estimated 15,000 people to the streets in solidarity.

My valedictorian speech, which will run as part of the English department commencement ceremony on June 20th, does not address this movement. Instead, I talk about Harry Potter.

The department has kindly offered this space for me to share an alternative to the prerecorded original speech, since technical issues prevent me from taking down and redoing the first version.

This summer, students can examine the concept of “idyllic childhood” through a feminist lens, exploring how women writers use the coming-of-age narrative to illustrate the diverse experiences of growing up in the United States. In ENG 316 — Women Writers’ Forms, interested students will analyze a series of novels by women authors to see how their unique perspectives add to the reality of growing up “girl.” 

Are you interested in receiving online support over the course of the term for your work in English, Honors College, or AEIS course?  Then you are eligible to access the Writing Associates Online Tutorial services.

Here’s how it works:

• go to our Writing Associates scheduling site: https://writingassociates.uoregon.edu

• click on “Create a new account” and select a username and password