UO Senate to meet on conduct code, legal services, Transparency Award.

Last updated on 10/09/2014

Synopsis:

Coltrane looks like he likes the job, and his colleagues. The faculty and staff clearly like Coltrane too. He gave a brief talk, answered questions, easy rapport. What an improvement. (Funny how when Berdahl and Gottfredson kept insisting we were all colleagues it was so plainly manipulative. Coltrane didn’t even mention it, but here I am saying it myself, with only a fleeting second thought: remember, we pay El Jefe $120K more than *Berkeley* pays its Chancellor.)

VPSA Robin Holmes blows off the Senate meeting that deals with her #1 job responsibility: Student Conduct. Rumors of her impending departure spread.

Wednesday October 8, 2014, Lawrence 115; 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Senate website and membership list, here. This will be a packed agenda. Coltrane will talk and answer questions, there’s a long important motion on student conduct code changes, and a weird proposed change to the Legal Services policy we adopted last year.

Watch Live | Senate Agenda |

3:00 pm     1.   Call to Order

1.1           Introduction to University Senate

1.1.1        Orientation to Open Committee Meetings

1.1.2       October 22^nd Senate Meeting

1.1.3       Progress Report from UO Senate Task Force to Address Sexual Violence and Survivor Support

3:05 pm     2.   Approval of Minutes

2.1       April 23rd, 2014; April 30th, 2014; May 14th, 2014; & May 28th, 2014

3:10 pm     3.   State of the University

3.1       Remarks by Interim President Coltrane with discussion

13 PhD programs in top 20% nationally. [Anyone know where that list is?] Incredible time of opportunity. Tipping point. Time to reinvest in academics and faculty. BOT is good. Working on “strategic plan” with metrics to guide where resources go. This will be done with faculty input. He’s going to try again with the mission statement. [He gave 160over90 another crack at it?] Vision Plan for campus planning. 18 month process. Some meetings are already happening. There’s going to be a new “Diversity Action Plan”. “Clusters of Excellence”: Internal funds for 1-2, looking for donations for more. Will have a plan in 2 weeks for hiring 150 new TTF faculty. OAR revisions. We are joining with the other state universities and CC’s to go to the legislature for $750M in new funds. Public phase of fundraising campaign will start soon. Announces $10M Tykeson gift (which sounds like it willmostly be for CAS administration? Weird.) Committed to shared governance, thanks Senate for tackling tough issues. Claims that Gottfredson’s Secret Sex Review Panel has been working cooperatively with the Senate’s Task Force. Hmm.

Opens floor to questions: Q: 150 new TTF? A: That’s the goal, if we can raise the money. 1/3 cluster hires, rest through normal hiring process in departments. Q: More support staff to? A: Yes. Gives shoutout to Jamie Moffitt’s formula for new hires. Q from student: When will the scholarships for prospective teachers start? A: I will get back to you. Q: What % of students are now Pell eligible? A: 37%. More funding for these students will be a big part of what we ask the state to provide. Q: Why new TTF’s instead of cheaper instructors? A: Balancing act.

Takeaway: Relaxed informative talk, breath of fresh air, not terrified of the faculty or his own shadow. Era of good feelings commences. 

3:30 pm     4.   New Business

4.1       UO Senate Leadership and Service Award for Officers of Administration: David Espinoza, Assistant Director/Testing Center Director.

Espinoza gives a shout out to his colleagues.

4.2       UO Senate Classified Staff Leadership Award: Theodora Ko Thompson, Admissions Specialist (Office of Admissions)

Ko Thompson gives an impassioned speech in favor of lifelong learning and respectful workplace policies.

4.3       Wayne Westling Award: Susan Gary, Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis Professor (Law)

Susan Gary is being given this award for her excellent work on the UO Constitution, under Lariviere. Which makes her participation in Randy Geller and Mike Gottfredson’s effort to sabotage shared governance with the BOT’s Delegation of Authority especially poignant. That fiasco was quite damaging to the faculty’s authority, and to the new Board’s credibility.

Gary is unable to be here. Kyr reads her speech.

4.4       Motion (Legislation): Change of Membership for Committee on Courses; Frances White, Professor (Anthropology) & Chair, Committee on Courses

Easy, passes.

4.5       Motion (Legislation): Proposed Revisions to Student Conduct Code Dealing with Sexual Misconduct; John Bonine, Professor (Law) and Caroline Forell, Professor (Law)

3:56 PM: The proposed changes are carefully documented by Bonine and Forell, here, and here are the motions:

• Motion 1 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 2 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 3 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 4 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 5 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 6 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 7 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 8 for amending the Student Conduct Code
• Motion 9 for amending the Student Conduct Code

Robin Holmes, VP for Student Life, has sat on these recommended changes (or similar) for 3 years. Last year, after the basketball rape allegations became public, Bonine and Forell decided to do her job for her. Strangely, she hasn’t even bothered to show up to watch them and the Senate do it. Is she still on the payroll?

John Bonine goes through the history and the law and the BOT’s power grab, taking authority for student discipline away from the faculty  for the first time in 138 years of UO history.

Motions 1,2 pass quickly. Lots of discussion on 3. Sorry, I’m paying attention not blogging. 3 gets postponed til November. Weintraub and Freinkel want to run it by the student conduct committee. At this point that committee’s name, having failed to do its job for years, is mud. The Senate is fed up, and wisely decides to let Bonine work this out. 4 passes.

Motion 5 postponed.

It’s now 5PM, and the Senate adjourns. Lots and lots of work still on the table – see below for seome of it:

4.6       Motion (Resolution): GTFF Bargaining; Regina Psaki, Professor (Romance Languages & UO Senator

4.7       Motion (Legislation): Committee Requirements with Revisions, Slate 1 (Service Reform 2014-2015); Committee on Committees

4.8       Motion (Policy Adoption): To Amend Legal Services Policy; Margie Paris, Professor (Law) & Immediate Past Senate President

This motion from Margie Paris puzzles me. Paris says in her motion that

1.5 WHEREAS, two of the amendments in the section on “Right to Legal Advice or Representation” are problematic because they contravene an important agreed-upon provision in the Joint Draft about the fact that the Office of General Counsel must be the sole provider of official legal advice and representation to the University of Oregon and its units; and

1.6 WHEREAS, the intention underlying the problematic amendments was to ensure that the Legal Services Policy did not preclude the Associated Students of the University of Oregon [ASUO] from continuing to fund and obtain services from the Office of Student Advocacy; and

1.7 WHEREAS, the intention underlying the problematic amendments can be served by removing them and adding a paragraph clarifying that the Legal Services Policy does not preclude the ASUO from continuing to fund and obtain services from the Office of Student Advocacy;

Section II

2.1 BE IT HEREBY MOVED that the Legal Services Policy as approved by the Senate on April 9, 2014, be amended by removing the words “and the Associated Students of the University” and “or organization’s” from the first sentence of the section entitled “Right to Legal Advice or Representation,”

But it seems to me that the Senate knew exactly what it was doing when it added these sentences to the motion last year. It intended to give ASUO the right to use its funds to get outside legal advice, as an organization, in case of a dispute with the UO administration. I’m guessing Margie knew this too. From the Senate minutes, here:

Senate Vice-President Kyr called for discussion on the main motion.

Senator John Davidson (Political Science) stated that he used to work as a staff attorney for ASUO legal services, and they used to give advice to the ASUO on lots of matters, including various legal matters. Then for a while they were told they could not do that, and that they had to get their legal advice from General Counsel. He stated that the language on the language under the section on the right to legal advice and representation says that students and employees have the right to pay someone like legal services fees to get that kind of advice. He asked if ASUO as a body is part of the university and would have to get permission from the President and the General Counsel, or are they employees and students. He asked Senator Sayre if they were thinking about the ASUO legal services when they drafted this.

Senator Sayre stated that the independence of the ASUO from the university and its financial independence did not come up in their discussions, rather, what did come up was the fact that everyone always has the right to seek legal advice on any such matter. He further stated that the redundancy of this clause was entertained, but they believed it was important to include it, and thus it was included twice: in the preamble and in the right to representation section. Senator Sayre stated that they discussed moving it from one spot to the other, and it ended up being in both places, and that the principle is important enough to repeat.

Senator Davidson asked if it would be possible for him to make a motion to have that section on right to legal advice or representation be amended to read “every employee and student of the university and the Associated Students of the University or Oregon shall have the right…” The motion to amend received a second. Senate Vice-President Kyr called for discussion on the amendment.

Professor Bonine asked Senator Davidson if he wanted to go a little further down in that sentence and say “at the employees, students, or organization’s own expense,” because that would allow ASUO funds to be used. He suggested Senator Davidson might want to clarify that.

Senator Davidson stated that he moved those words that just got added.

Senate Vice-President Kyr called for further discussion on the amendment. Seeing none, Senate Vice-President Kyr called for a vote on the amendment. The amendment passed unanimously by a voice vote.

So why is our former Senate President carrying water for the administration on this, and not being clear about her motives?

4.9       Motion (Resolution): The UO Senate Award for Shared Governance, Transparency, and Trust; William Harbaugh, Professor (Economics) & UO Senator

4:30 pm     5.   Open Discussion

4:40 pm     6.   Reports

4:40 pm     7.   Notice(s) of Motion

7.1       Motion (Legislation): Amendment to IFS Senator Legislation (US13/14-04)

4:45 pm      8.  Other Business

8.1       Reception for Award Winners: A Time to Celebrate

5:00 pm     9.   Adjournment