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UO to build a Golf Course?

9/21/2012 update: President Gottfredson and Provost Mullens’s double secret faculty salary improvement plan will let faculty pick up summer pay caddying for the boosters and JH administrators. Tips go into a startup money pool for new science hires.

Personally, I don’t know what’s wrong with just using Hayward Field, it was good enough for Otter:

But enough joking, here’s the even more absurd truth. 9/19/2012: The UO Intercollegiate Athletics Committee met today for its annual retreat, agenda below. Part of the IAC’s charge from the Senate says:

As part of its function and in order to carry out its governance function, the IAC shall be consulted by:  

1. The athletics department on: …  

3. any decisions that potentially affect the campus environment, including construction, removal, or remodeling of facilities, changes in the timing of facilities use, or changes in permitted uses of facilities;  

We sat through a 5 hour meeting with AD Rob Mullens. Rob did not once mention a golf course. Neither did spokesperson Craig Pintens. And while they were busy keeping the IAC in the dark, Diane Dietz broke this story in the RG:

… A group of alumni led by Mick Humphreys, who was a UO golf standout in the early 1960s, earlier this month won the Lane County planning director’s approval for a proposed golf course on 796 acres of farmland and forests about two miles west of Creswell. Establishing the course would cost an estimated $25 million, including construction costs and the cost of creating an endowment to defray the cost of operations, said Mike Evans, a Springfield land use consultant. The money would be provided entirely by donors, he said. … The University of Oregon Athletic Department is in discussions with the prospective golf course donors, spokesman Craig Pintens said.

Tax deductible contributions, presumably.

IAC Retreat Agenda

Sept 19, 10-3pm
Johnson Hall Conference Room
  1. 10am – Introductions 
    1. introduction and overview of AD administration and structure
    2. introduction and overview of IAC administration and structure
  2. 10:15am – initial discussion points:
    1. overview of charge
    2. charges, responsibilities, membership, reporting
    3. IAC structure and internal communicative protocol 
    4. overview of our general mode of inquiry this year (where we are/where we are going)
    5. ground rules
    6. internal communication
    7. confidentiality, public meetings law  (Jim O’Fallon)
    8. notes, recording
  3. 2012-13 agenda overview and topics of discussion topics
    1. monthly meetings
    2. 10th year review
    3. Task Force Items overview and delegation
    4. further topics: conversations with coaches, messaging efforts, fundraising, NCAA certification report
  4. 11:15am – Charge: Represent the academic standards of the university as embodied in the University of Oregon Mission Statement in all decisions;
    1. mission statement overview 
  5. 12:00 – catered lunch
  6. 12:30pm – Charge: Promote greater understanding, for the university community, of intercollegiate athletics and the relationship between academics and athletics.
    1. 12:30pm – Dominican Republic Video and report (Katie Harbert)
    2. 12:40pm – Life of a student athlete (James Harris)
    3. 12:55pm – Tim Duy on the economic impact of Athletics on the wider community
    4. NCAA Eligibility (Gary Gray)
    5. Website updates (Dev Sinha)
  7. 1:10pm – Charge: Advise the administration, the senate, and the athletics director on any athletics department policy or program, including the athletics department budget;
    1. what is our communicative protocol with these three parties?  how can we be clear and effective?
    2. overview of departmental policy and programs including Title IX concerns (Mullens)
    3. NCAA Academic Rules, non-academic Rules and Legislation (O’Fallon)
    4. overview of departmental budget, a discussion on the involvement of the IAC in capital projects and hiring, financial situation for this year and projections for the next 10 years (Eric Roedl)
  8. 2pm – Charge: Promote and safeguard opportunities for student athletes to excel in academics and protect and ensure the academic integrity of student athletes; and
    1. overview of the current body of student-athletes – distribution of majors, graduation rate etc: Steve Stolp
    2. report on Student Experience Waddell/Harbaugh 
And thanks to bojack for the link.

19 Comments

  1. Mike Parksons 09/20/2012

    This should be good news for everybody, especially to those golf enthusiasts, in the area. To the golf course donors, let’s make this happen!

    Mike
    CesarsGolfRentals.com – List of Miami Golf Courses

  2. Anonymous 09/20/2012

    Why is UO building a new golf course when the city owned Laurelwood is struggling to stay open? Why doesn’t UO take over that instead and save millions? Plus the course is a lot closer to campus than Creswell.

    • Anonymous 09/20/2012

      My thoughts exactly! Close to UO and I would think it could be revamped for much less $ than building a whole new course. Accessible to students and the community.

    • Anonymous 09/20/2012

      Plus the Foundation can charge a yearly fee to have access to use the course sort of like getting access to seats at Autzen. Play to get the ability to play and then pay to play.

  3. Anonymous 09/20/2012

    there is already an 18 hole golf course in Creswell…. seem like this will be a big money loser for the UO

    • Angry old lady 09/21/2012

      Oh but remember what they did to the Ems. Just so they could have their blessed baseball. My parents know the pain of their gain. The UO lives the destruction of others for their own personal gain. No soul…just greed.

      They could care less, the land owner could care less and all the others making pockets full of money…could care less. Besides this golf course is for the UO alumni and select others. Not for you or me, no rif/raf need apply.

  4. Anonymous 09/20/2012

    Jim Bean couldn’t raise $25 million for academics if it fell into his lap while he was driving his beemer back from a visit to Deschutes River Lodge. Mullens for Provost!

    • uomatters 09/20/2012

      You cynic. Let me guess, you’re an economist. Didn’t you ever consider the possibility that it was actually Bean who put this deal together, during his sabbatical?

  5. Anonymous 09/20/2012

    Can’t the academic side at least charge these golf-obsessed boosters a few million in exchange for letting them abuse UO’s non-profit status?

    • Anonymous 09/22/2012

      How about at least 20% of the green fees should go to support academics? Plus, some portion of the green fees should be used to cover the Jock Box’s cost now billed to the academic side. While we’re at it, recover the cost of JB’s Beamer from the green fees so the students aren’t paying for it. And maybe the outrageous cost of the president’s Autzen skybox? This concept could also be extended to football and basketball ticket sales with a hefty percentage supporting the academic side. After all, if Chip can get a percentage of the gate, why not the academic side getting their fair share?

  6. Anonymous 09/20/2012

    Check out that helmet – looks like the Ducks owe National Lampoon some royalty money.

  7. Anonymous 09/21/2012

    Why wasn’t there anything about drug tests for the players on this agenda? Did it come up?

    • Anonymous 09/21/2012

      Excellent question. I think retreats are for playing catch up, though. Maybe at the first meeting, though? I would like to get updates from the IAC more regularly.

  8. Anonymous 09/24/2012

    The people in Creswell have heard nothing about a golf coarse going in could you give us more information. We have one golf course and our bushiness receive little benefits from it.

    • uomatters 09/24/2012

      I would start by contacting Diane Dietz at the RG, who wrote the story. Then Lane County Planning. I am a UO Senator and sit on the Inter-Collegiate Athletics Committee but the administration has not told us a word about this, not even as much as they’ve told the press. If you get any interesting responses or documents, I will be happy to post them here.

    • uomatters 09/24/2012

      If you want to use UO’s public records office to try and get more information, I’d be happy to help with that as well. email me at uomatters at gmail dot com. I’ll warn you that UO’s public records process is slow and expensive!

  9. Anonymous 09/25/2012

    The UO athletic department is totally out of control. They are driven by huge egos and don’t even know it–this always leads to group think and big trouble The golf course should NOT be built. It will have significant economic, social, and environmental impacts, and is not something a university should be associated with. This is a travesty that everyone who cares about the UO should raise their voices in opposition to.

  10. Anonymous 09/25/2012

    LOSS OF INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL, NCAA!

  11. Anonymous 09/30/2012

    Present Oregon Land Use Law does not allow land designated as high value farmland, EFU Zoning,to be used for golf courses. Period. That’s been the law for over 20 years. Existing courses on high value farmland were all permitted and constructed before 1991-92 when the law was changed.

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