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UO gets short end of legislature’s bond money, but new CAS offices will be funded

From the Oregonian, here. Apparently this list of state-subsidized capital projects is all but final. They did fund a match for the private donations to the “College and Careers” building, which will provide brand new offices for the CAS administration. You’ve got to wonder how that became one of UO’s highest fundraising priorities. Here’s a hint: our administration didn’t ask the faculty or the students.

Meanwhile OHSU is going to use their state money and Phil Knight’s match to cure cancer:

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16 Comments

  1. dog (hot dog in this case) 07/02/2015

    well the approved Klamath Hall renovation (although I prefer detonation) will help to improve our research infrastructure, to that’s good.

    • Nobody 07/02/2015

      12M would barely take down Klamath let alone rebuild it. Haven’t heard of the ’21st century chem’ plan. Have to check it out I guess.

      • dog (hot dog in this case) 07/02/2015

        the planned renovation is for the third floor only in Klamath unless the scope of project has recently expanded, but I don’t think so.

  2. Cat 07/02/2015

    And Chapman Halls needs a few million dollars more, why?

  3. that effing Canis again 07/02/2015

    Chapman Hall is most likely related to the Honors College for which they have private donor renovation money and this is a state match.

  4. Old Grey Mare 07/02/2015

    My guess is that the Chapman Hall remodel has something to do with the expansion of the Honors College.

  5. Jack Straw Man 07/03/2015

    That CAS gets new offices out of this should outrage everybody who works or even attends classes in Friendly Hall. If you’re not familiar with this building, it goes like this.

    There’s no elevator. So if you have an office on the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th floors, you walk up. What if you have mobility issues? Either a permanent disability or just a random sprained ankle, or maybe you’re just old or out of shape? You’re SOL. What if you’re trying to meet with a student who has mobility issues? You’re SOL, and so is the student. The ADA evidently doesn’t apply to Friendly Hall.

    There’s no air conditioning above the first floor. And very poor ventilation, especially because they keep the stairwell windows shut after some break-ins last year. The temperatures on the 4th floor are usually around 80 degrees *in the middle of the winter.* On a typical summer day, forget about it – the temps get pretty unbearable. And on a summer day like we’ve been having the last couple of weeks, it’s inhuman. Let me note that the upper floors of Friendly house a lot of language instructors who teach in the summer. It’s not like this building is deserted between commencement and convocation.

    Not only is there no a/c, there are no screens on the windows. You can get one put on your office window, *if* you pay for both the screen and the labor out of your ASA. Even then it’s an ad hoc little affair held in the window-frame by tension, easy to pop out by accident so that it lands on the heads of people below, and it doesn’t cover more than a third of the window space, meaning if you have the window open as far as you can get it (which you will for most of the year, because see the previous paragraph), there’s a strip of unscreened space. All of this means that offices, hallways, and restrooms in Friendly are constantly plagued by flies, beetles, and stinging insects. (There’s nothing quite like to take a leak while a trio of wasps hovers nearby.)

    Now, the excuse given for all of this decrepitude is that it’s a historic building and can’t be modified.

    Except, evidently, for the first-floor CAS offices, which have air conditioning and screens on the windows. Oh, and carpeting on the floor, and accessibility ramps. And a kitchen only for the use of CAS staff (did I mention there’s no kitchen above the first floor?). And both men’s and women’s restrooms (there’s no men’s room above the 2nd floor).

    So anybody who works or attends classes in Friendly above the 1st floor is reminded on a daily basis that, at UO, administrators count and faculty and students don’t.

    But evidently that’s not enough. Now they get new office space?

    To be honest, and I say this as a rabidly loyal union member, I’d consent to holding off on raises if the admin spent some money on classroom and faculty office buildings instead. I know Friendly isn’t even the worst building on campus (I’ve taught in both Villard and Deady). The fact that sports gets deluxe new buildings on a regular basis, and admins get comfortable modern offices, while (non-business-school) students and faculty get the equivalent of summer-camp buildings and FEMA trailers is a bigger obscenity than the salary issues, IMHO.

    • No Longer Working GTF (Thanks CAS!) 07/03/2015

      If there are GTFs working in Friendly (there are), and there are no kitchen facilities being made available to them (as implied by the comment above), then CAS is in breach of UO’s current contract with the GTFF and there should be grievance filed without interpose delay.

    • Well 07/03/2015

      New offices for Cas means first b floor space will open up. Campout for good office space.

      • that effing Canis again 07/03/2015

        Yes space inequity has long been an ignored issue here and this directly affects faculty morale in many ways. While this is a problem on all campuses, some I know actually address it. While the Honors college can get private donor money to spruce up Chapman Hall, its tough for inhabitants of friendly, gerlinger, villard, deady, pacific (a horrible place), onxy bridge, to do the same.

        I think we should invite all the decision makers on this issue for free beer and pizza starting around 4 pm on the 6th-9th floor of PLC west facing and then lock them in the room …

  6. Jack Straw Man 07/03/2015

    I realized, too late, that I forgot to mention office administrators and staff, but of course they’re suffering too. I know some (if not all) the departmental offices on 2-4F Friendly have a/c, for example, but they’re window units that can’t keep up with 96-degree heat. And don’t even get me started on the decrepitude of the furniture…

  7. WW 07/03/2015

    I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me AC, or give me death!

    • uomatters Post author | 07/03/2015

      I think they’re going with option B, in the JH parking lot. Presumably they’ll put in new underground parking for our administrators.

  8. 'dead duck' 07/03/2015

    As I recall, the AC on First Floor Friendly was installed for the CAS servers and done at a time when there were few options for centralized computing. Still, the situation is appalling and characteristic of a system that systematically discounts the value of faculty and of faculty input. See my comment on this issue from 21 June on the UOPD review.

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