The FAR motion is here. Gottfredson has set up a closed search, with some other peculiar conditions for Jim O’Fallon’s long overdue replacement. This resolution asks him to make it open. The academic support motion is here. There have been many scandals about these operations at other universities. Currently UO’s…
UO Matters
4/8/2014 update: Not entirely, but this new UO legal services policy, to be debated and voted on at the Senate meeting this Wednesday, will sure put a crimp in his style. Among other sensible and long overdue restraints on our chief attorney:
Prior to any decision to participate in litigation not directly involving the University as a party by filing an amicus curiae brief, the General Counsel shall notify the President of the Senate of the intention to do so.
Kudos to Gordon Sayre (English) and Tom Lininger (Law) for getting this done. Maybe Geller will react by firing off another email like this one?
Or this unlawyerly stupidity, which made it into the Oregonian?
4/2/2014: Randy Geller’s anti-free speech brief fails, OSU pays out $101K
In brief: UO paid our General Counsel to help write an anti-free speech brief to the SCOTUS. From the timing, it looks like President Gottfredson authorized this.
Back in 2009 OSU staff trashed the news boxes of a student publication called “The Liberty”. Liberty sued OSU over a First Amendment violation. The 9th circuit court said OSU should pay damages. OSU tried to appeal the case to the SCOTUS, and a group of other universities wrote an amicus brief, taking a firm first amendment stand: against free speech, and for the OSU administration. Our own Randy Geller joined in:
The Meeting is this Wed 4/9/02014, 3-5PM in 115 Lawrence. Agenda here. Among the important motions for this meeting is one that would require most Senate committees to post their agendas online a week before the meeting, and generally hold open meetings – with plenty of reasonable exceptions for personnel…
4/8/2014 update: No, I’m not making this up, and yes, my first reaction was to wonder why the UO Senate didn’t think of this years ago.
Reporter Ian Campbell has the story in the Emerald, which also has a helpful timeline for background on this developing crisis. Meanwhile, still no word on which administrator ordered UO’s newly armed police department to arrest and jail one of ASUO’s student president candidates.
and promises to do better with transparency and shared governance. No, of course I’m not talking about Mike Gottfredson, that question was “asked and answered” long ago. These are the gracious words of PSU President Wim Weiwel, after he struck a difficult bargain with the PSU faculty union over raises…
Great news for administrators and coaches though. Full report here:
Dear Colleagues, Supporting the University of Oregon’s core academic mission is our top priority. To advance this mission we are pleased to announce the redirection of recurring funds to support the cluster of excellence faculty hiring initiative.This initiative will enable us to hire two to five new faculty members in…
Update: This looks like a big win for the PSU faculty. They got nearly 2x the money the administration had offered, and seem to have beat back the effort to gut shared governance:
Organization & Strike Threat Get Unprecedented Gains!
– Keep Contract Protections for P & T Guidelines, Past Practices
– Big Shift in Number, Certainty & Length of Fixed Term Contracts
– Advancement Path for APs – Raises Tied to Seniority
– Retain Contract Protection for AP “Positions”
– Meaningful Planning for Academic Quality
– Cost of Living Increases 2.5% and 2.5%, Mid-Year as for Others
– 1.5% Across the Board Faculty Comparator Adjustment
– 8% Promotion Increases
– Travel Fund Doubled, Faculty Enhancement Fund up 30%
– Post Tenure Review Will NOT result in Changed Job Description
– No Retaliation Against AAUP Members for Union Activity
The administration had claimed that the they had no money left. Sound familiar? Maybe their tornado reserves were larger than they’d let on. UAUO will need to increase union membership to be able to credibly make similar threats and get gains in the contract bargaining that will begin in December that will bring our salaries up from the AAU basement. More on PSU here.
Update from Betsy Hammond in the Oregonian:
According to a faculty union account, the administration agreed to give cost-of-living raises of 2.5 percent this year and next, increase the share of non-tenure-track faculty who get long-term contracts and preserve contract language giving the union say over certain university practices.
Speaking of shared governance, the UO Senate will start developing a response to Gottfredson and Geller’s attempted spring break coup this Wednesday.
4/6/2014 Update: President Gottfredson to start this week with a closed meeting with UO Board leadership. Maybe they’ll start the planning for his public 360 degree performance review? FWIW I think Coltrane would be a fine interim president. 4/3/2014: That’s the least troubling of the rumors about administrative disarray, at…
4/6/2012: You can’t make this shit up: In USA Today.
Update: Oregonian sports writer Canzano supports Duck football union: On Wednesday, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago ruled that Northwestern University football players are employees, entitled to the right to unionize. Well, duh. The ruling applies only to private universities. Oregon and Oregon State players…
I’m not sure that the NCAA can reform itself, too many powerful people are making too much money off the unpaid players. But there’s some fascinating history in this piece by Ken Pendleton of the Sports Conflict Institute: In 1956, the NCAA finally accepted the idea that scholarships could be…
“Regressive bargaining” is the charge. Betsy Hammond has the details in the Oregonian.
Dear Campus Community, I am pleased to provide this update on recent activities of our new governing board. Over the last month, I have met with many alumni, donors, and friends to enthusiastically share the extraordinary nature of our new board and the opportunity it presents. We are truly working…
I thought my office was a mess. But the guy cleaning the windows inside PLC says it’s nothing compared to the Poli Sci profs.