UO E-clips, Dec. 29-Jan. 2

UO offers free education for poorer students (Portland Business Journal): Some lower-income Oregonians can attend the University of Oregon for free, beginning next fall. University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer on Wednesday announced details of PathwayOregon, which guarantees that qualified Oregonians from lower-income families can attend the university tuition- free by covering any remaining tuition costs not picked up by federal and state financial aid. PathwayOregon is the first pledge of its kind at a public university in Oregon.

Media rights a big score for Fox (Chicago Tribune): No matter that Florida breezed past Ohio State, 41-14, in last year's Bowl Championship Series title game. The number that mattered to Fox Sports and its national advertisers and bowl sponsors was 27.7 million -- the viewers who tuned in and gave Fox its strongest Monday night showing in years. … The BCS games provide what Paul Swangard, managing director of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Institute, describes as "their own mini-Super Bowl platform. It's an overarching media platform that didn't exist before, and it has the potential to generate incremental dollars that people 10 years ago never could have dreamed would exist."

UO building projects top '07 list (Register-Guard): The University of Oregon was the big spender in terms of building permit applications in the city of Eugene during 2007, logging slightly more than $43 million in projects valued at $500,000 or more. That sum included the most expensive project undertaken in the city, a new complex for the UO’s college of education. The value of that building permit alone came to a shade under $23 million. The site work alone for that project, priced at an additional $6 million, ranked fourth in size of all building permits issued in the city last year.

In the fight over piracy, a rare stand for privacy (The New York Times): The record industry got a surprise when it subpoenaed the University of Oregon in September, asking it to identify 17 students who had made available songs from Journey, the Cars, Dire Straits, Sting and Madonna on a file-sharing network. The surprise was not that 20-year-olds listen to Sting. It was that the university fought back. Represented by the state’s attorney general, Hardy Myers, the university filed a blistering motion to quash the subpoena, accusing the industry of misleading the judge, violating student privacy laws and engaging in questionable investigative practices. Cary Sherman, the president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said the industry had seen “a lot of crazy stuff” filed in response to its lawsuits and subpoenas.

It's a fowl job, yes, but they love to do it (Register-Guard): This count really is for the birds. And the stout-of-heart. Braving brusque winds, sprinkling rain and a smattering of snow, about 200 birding enthusiasts fanned out Sunday for the Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count, tallying just how many black phoebes, widgeons and even crows call Eugene home for the holidays. The 107-year-old event stems from a previous holiday tradition where people would go out and try and shoot as many birds as they can, said Dan Gleason, a retired University of Oregon biology professor who has been part of the annual count since 1971.