Capital punishment in Oregon the gallows, "Did not your missionaries teach us that Christ died to save his people? So we die to save our people." Capital punishment was made explicitly legal by statute in 1864, and executions have been carried out exclusively at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem since 1904. The death penalty was outlawed between 1914 and 1920, again between 1964 and 1978, and then again between a 1981 Oregon Supreme Court ruling and a 1984 ballot measure. Oregon voters amended the Constitution in 1914, to repeal the death penalty, by a margin of 50.04%. The repeal was an initiative of
Oregon State Beavers Barnard. Oregon State has won 4 NCAA team national championships. The Beavers have won one national team title that was not bestowed by the NCAA: The Oregon State University rugby club was formed in 1961. In recent years Oregon State rugby has played in the Northwest Conference against In-Conference rivals such as Oregon, Washington and Washington State. Beginning with the 2012–13 season, however, Oregon State is leaving the Northwest Conference and joining other schools from the Pac-12 to form a new rugby conference that will mirror the Pac-12 and bring increased exposure. Oregon State rugby has been successful in recent