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AD reserves increase, Jock Box subsisidy grows, and still no action from Gottfredson on ending athletic subsidies

10/12/2013: The Duck AD tells OUS its financial picture is dramatically better than forecast, due to increased revenue and the savings from Helfrich’s contract relative to Kelly:

But still no substantive response from President Gottfredson on the Senate resolution calling for an end to athletic subsidies. In fact it looks like interim Provost Coltrane has allowed Jock Box tutoring costs (code 267830) to increase by 22%, from $1.8M to $2.2M:


7/23/2013: Pdf here. May 8th 2013 Senate discussion of this resolution, which passed 19 to 4, here. Video here.

This is much better than I expected:

One intent of the resolution is to ensure that athletics is paying an appropriate
share of the costs associated with tutoring and advising of student athletes
and for the arena. This is clearly an appropriate aim and one with which I am
fully supportive. More analysis needs to be undertaken to ascertain the nature
of these obligations while preserving legitimate expectations derived from the
existing agreements. We will expeditiously work to resolve these issues in
collaboration with athletics.

Of course these are just words and not actions. And the words are very different than the angry, dismissive ones we got from Sharon Rudnick and Tim Gleason today, when these subsidies were raised in bargaining.

This letter is now 2 weeks old. So, has Gottfredson’s position on this changed, is he telling different people different things, or did his bargaining team not get the memo?

17 Comments

  1. Anonymous 07/23/2013

    Rob Mullens wants something in return. Guess what it is.

    • UO Matters 07/24/2013

      A pony? I got no clue. Just post it or email me.

  2. Not the real Kilkenny 07/24/2013

    He wants Women’s Beach Volleyball. Didn’t Mullens send the IAC the memo? It’s now a NCAA sport, they call it “Sand Volleyball”.

  3. Anonymous 07/24/2013

    MG is lying to the Senate. Words only. I hear we’re also world class… among the best in the world, even. He thinks we’re awesome, too.

    • Old Man 07/24/2013

      Would Anon specify the lies MG told to Senate?
      Note: Re: “world class”: Although that is an exaggeration regarding some Departments, there is, without question, internationally recognized scholarship in some others.

    • Anonymous 07/24/2013

      MG is very good at stringing together a bunch of words that sound good but don’t mean a damn thing. He’s done very little to demonstrate respect for faculty or shared governance. Call them lies or just empty rhetoric – the result is the same…nothing.

      I will give him credit for at least following the process laid out by the Constitution on this one (he still has not responded to the Senate resolutions to include the Constitution in the contract – which is now the only place it can be protected since the new board has all the power to get rid of it).

    • Old Man 07/24/2013

      I can’t recall seeing a formal reply re “Constitution in the contract.” However, in no way has Mike simply ignored the resolution — he has made it clear that it ain’t gonna happen. At the same time, he has been explicit that, during his presidency, the Constitution will be upheld (see his website). Our best bet for long term survival of the Constitution is to demonstrate its effectiveness as an instrument for constructive, cooperative change. Own it. Use it. Defend it, when necessary, against real, not imagined, attacks.

    • Anonymous 07/25/2013

      So the fact that he has failed to “formally” respond to a resolution is somehow evidence that he fully supports the Constitution? Only a true-believer could employ that twisted logic. What evidence, beyond his clumsy rhetoric, do you have to support such confidence?

    • Old Man 07/25/2013

      Oh, Dear. I do hope this Anon is not a member of the UO Faculty. If (S)he is, we should find out when UO started hiring Faculty who cannot read.

  4. Anonymous 07/24/2013

    Notice that the line spacing changes halfway through the document–generally an indication of multiple authorship. The fact that administrative .pdfs are generally sent as crappily scanned copies, as opposed to machine-generated “originals,” might be viewed as evidence of a) general ineptitude, or b) the recognition that a quick look at a .pdf’s metadata (document properties) often exposes the real author.

    • Helpful Harry 07/24/2013

      Oh for Gawd’s sake. Who is dumb enough to write anything of consequence without subjecting it to editorial revision!

    • UO Matters 07/24/2013

      Information about what goes on in JH is so scarce people are reduced to inferences like the above. It’s like looking at pictures of Kim Jong-un’s entourage, trying to figure out who is in charge from the tilt of their hats.

    • Anas clypeata 07/24/2013

      Editorial revision? The kind that results in sloppiness like “pre-date” and “MacArthur Court” and “senate resolution” and “Fall Senate meeting”? And this tortured sentence: “This is clearly an appropriate aim and one with which I am fully supportive.”

      Sigh. I know, I know, it’s too much to expect a high-ranking university official to write clearly and correctly. But if not a university president (or his designated writer-minions), whom should we expect to write well?

      Whoever writes or “edits” this stuff for MG needs to find a copy of George’s Orwell’s essays and read “Politics and the English Language”. Twice. Then read Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style”, all the way through.

      “Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.” – George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”

    • Anonymous 07/24/2013

      Our candidates for Coach AND President should be screened for their expository capabilities, if you ask me.

    • Anonymous 07/25/2013

      It’s hard work stringing so many words together that collectively have no meaning.

  5. Anonymous 10/12/2013

    Are we all resigned to this just never stopping? What the hell is wrong with our leadership? Now Coltrane has lost his backbone? Granted he’s in a weak position, but only to the extent he is eying the provost position and has to kiss MG’s ass.

  6. Dietrich Bonhöffer 10/13/2013

    Who knew he signs as “Gott”?

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