5/6/2013: President Michael Gottfredson invites UO faculty and staff to join him for an informal gathering and discussion of the University of Oregon’s governance structure as a public university within the state of Oregon. University officials who have helped shape pending legislation that would authorize institutional boards, and who have closely tracked the governor’s restructuring of higher education, will attend the session. Another opportunity to discuss governance issues with the president will be scheduled for early June.
Refreshments will be provided at the May 14 event.
More information about university governance proposals is available at http://bit.ly/15aJh1Y.
DATE: Tuesday, May 14
TIME: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Gerlinger Lounge
Any questions? Contact Staci Knabe, [email protected]; 6-5557
Lets see how this plays out. They ask for input, ignore it and do what the hell they want and then claim, “why are you complaining, we asked for your input?”
Ask why Phil Knight has insisted that he would rather have no board than have faculty voice on the board, as if it is his decision to make?
I’m planning on going. Gonna eat my weight in pastries too.
Might be your only opportunity to get a raise. Of course, you will have to report your girth, and thereby be taxed back out of that raise in the form of health insurance premium.
Is the assumption here that faculty governance is not working? or that it will have to be revised if the status of the UO changes? or prompted by other concerns?
Based on past actions, it is hard to see much promise here that the input would be taken seriously, but not to participate seems counter-productive.
If the administration had shown more respect for faculty governance in the past, one might feel more confident about the prospects for something useful coming out of the session.
I don’t read this as being about faculty governance but rather about independent board governance – a very different thing. The cynic in me says that has alreAdy been decided by the power players.
This is public relations… not an opportunity for input. You’re not fooling anyone Gottfredson. You are a regurgitated script.
Donuts, or shared governance? Mmmm …
Will there be more open access to UO public records with shared governance and an independent board? Or will the independent board trump all and tighten up on public record access to hide the backroom deals?
I can’t be there; gotta teach at 4. Could somebody who attends please ask him what exactly SB 270 means when it says (in section 2 (a)) that “a university with a governing board is a governmental entity performing governmental functions and exercising governmental powers. A university with a governing board is not considered a unit of local or municipal government or a state agency, board, commission or institution for purposes of state statutes or constitutional provisions.”
In what sense would it not be a state agency? Folks keep assuring me that that this new structure isn’t about privatizing the university, but the closer I look at it, the more skeptical I become. How can a governmental entity managing property of the state of Oregon not be an agency of the state of Oregon? If it’s exercising governmental powers, then it needs to be elected by the people or acting on behalf of and answerable to those who are elected by the people — which makes it an agency.
If the sponsors of this project intend (as seems likely) to grant governmental power over a core public institution to an unaccountable board of private business owners, they’ll find they’re in violation of all kinds of constitutional provisions.