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Oregonian: Bumbling decisions by UO leaders may lead to good laws

On the editorial page, here:

Bipartisanship isn’t dead in the Oregon Legislature. It just needs a good motivator sometimes.

So in that sense, the University of Oregon has unwittingly helped encourage good public policy in its bumbling and insensitive handling of a March 2014 report that three UO basketball players raped a student.

As legislators considered how best to support students who are sexually assaulted, the UO demonstrated for a national audience all the different ways a college can go wrong. The university accessed the victim’s confidential therapy file from the university’s counseling center. It briefly countersued the victim, seeking legal fees for filing a “frivolous” lawsuit. And as administrators talked of a campus-wide discussion on how to preserve victims’ confidentiality, the UO counseling center quietly worked with a university lawyer to replace its privacy policy with a version full of legal loopholes. The missteps drove home the point that even institutions of higher education have a lot to learn when it comes to handling sexual assault. …

5 Comments

  1. 'dead duck" 04/28/2015

    will those involved in this bumbling and incompetent behavior have to face consequences?

    probably not.

    to judge by the recent record, they will rather remain part of the JH inner circle and be honored for their ‘noteworthy’ contributions; and UOM dismissed as a source of all the problems.

  2. Steve P 04/28/2015

    This nasty editorial proves that the president’s Executive Leadership Team needs another $200K strategic communicator. That’ll fix the problems.

  3. Outsider 04/29/2015

    To the leaders at UO: it is time to humbly look in the mirror and quit blaming your critics, quit hiding behind lawyers and PR, and step up to lead with transparency and integrity.

  4. Johnsson Hall 04/29/2015

    What is this “transparency” and “integrity” you speak of?

  5. uofOAlum 04/29/2015

    New marketing effort
    Oregon’s flagship university: We are bumbling and insensitive!

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