Several dozen University of Oregon students, faculty and staff joined U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), at the Knight Library on Friday November 8 to celebrate the Senate’s passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA.  Merkley co-authored the legislation that would ban workplace discrimination against gay and transgender employees. The Senate approved the bill with a 64-to-32 vote. The bill moves to the House of Representatives next. For more, see the article in AroundtheO.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) also joined the University of Oregon community on November 8 at the Law School’s annual presentation of the Frohnmayer Award for Public Service.  The award went to Oregon Supreme Court Justice Martha Walters and Eugene Legal Aid attorney John VanLandingham.  During the same week, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) was on campus to tour Lokey Laboratories and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) hosted a forum on the industrial use of hemp at the university’s White Stag building.