UO GC and Board of Trustees Counsel Randy Geller tried to sneak a hack-job delegation of authority policy past the university and the board over spring break. He got caught, the board rejected it, and they called for the Senate to provide input on a new policy for adoption in June.
The Senate appointed committee has now held many open meetings on a new draft policy aimed at fixing Geller’s many factual and legal errors. In addition, while state law dictates most ultimate power to the board, the new draft policy proposes a more practical division of working responsibility between the board, the president, and the faculty. I’m no lawyer, but the result so far looks far more consistent with state law, history, common practice, and the rules of UO’s federal accrediting agency.
The committee website, with full copies of the drafts, is here. As you can see from the email below the Senate is asking for input on the latest draft by Friday. Here’s page one:
Dear Campus Community,
As you know, the UO Board of Trustees is seeking input on a policy related to the retention and delegation of authority, the final version of which will allow the trustees to authorize others to act on their behalf.
The Ad Hoc Committee on Delegation of the Authority, convened by the University Senate and Senate President Margie Paris to follow up on this issue, has been reviewing the Policy on Retention and Delegation of Authority, integrating comments from various constituents and making suggested changes. The committee is once again seeking your feedback regarding this policy and the committee’s most recent draft edits:
Policy on Retention and Delegation of Authority with Ad Hoc Committee draft edits as of April 28
Please email your feedback about the Policy on Retention and Delegation of Authority to Senate President Margie Paris at [email protected] no later than this Friday, May 2. This will allow the Ad Hoc Committee to incorporate feedback into their redlined draft version of the policy, which will be passed on to the Board along with all comments from campus.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Lisa Mick Shimizu
Executive Coordinator
University of Oregon Senate
Your crazy-ass administrators sure are wasting a lot of time on this. Say, are they ever going to start that fund drive? We just finished ours early, and over the $1B target.
We did the delegation of authority in January, with full respect for shared governance. http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/trustees/bylaws
Article IV
Responsibilities of the Board
The Board governs the University by exercising and carrying out all of the powers, rights and duties that are expressly conferred upon the Board by law, or that are implied by law or are incident to such powers, rights and duties. The Board’s governance responsibilities include:
Determining the mission of the University and ensuring that the mission is kept current and aligned with the goals and mission of public higher education in Oregon.
Providing insight and guidance to the University’s strategic direction.
Charging the President with the task of periodically leading a strategic planning process; participating in the strategic planning process; approving the strategic plan, and monitoring its effectiveness.
Hiring, supporting, and evaluating the President and prescribing the President’s compensation.
Ensuring the University’s fiscal integrity; overseeing the University’s financial resources and other assets; reviewing and approving annual University budgets; and preserving and protecting the University’s assets for posterity.
Ensuring and protecting, within the context of faculty shared governance, the educational quality of the University and its academic programs; and preserving and protecting the University’s autonomy, academic freedom, and the public purposes of higher education.
Engaging regularly, in concert with senior administration, with the University’s major constituencies.
Ensuring the currency of Board governance policies and practices.
Periodically assessing the performance of the Board and its committees, members, policies and practices.
Delegation. The Board may delegate and provide for the further delegation of any and all powers and duties, subject to limitations expressly set forth in law.
Communications. The Board’s authority is vested in the Board collectively and not in any individual trustee. Individual trustees do not speak on behalf of the Board unless authorized to do so by the Board or the Chair. The Chair is delegated authority to speak on behalf of the Board, unless otherwise determined by the Board.
Thanks Legal Beaver – nice job on the delegation of authority. Our admin is too busy trying to craft some more empty rhetoric in the form of a “Mission Statement”. But that is just slight of hand while they try to squash any form of real shared governance. Ugh.
And in a few short weeks, we will play some pompous circumstances, and all the faculty and all the students will pat each other on the back and head back home for the students and off to a long unpaid vacation for all the faculty leaving the ruling cabal with the win. Game over.
So is the Senate or the union or Student Government or anyone planning to keep a few legal minds and guard dogs in town to watch the shop? Or do we think that the the J School and the RG or Oregonian are not broken and will have our back?