Cocktail party version of today’s Senate meeting:
Old president Scott Coltrane said no, no, no, no, no, to the Senate legislation on sexual violence prevention and athletics.
New President Michael Schill talked to the Senate and answered questions for a good 30 minutes, and didn’t say “Go Ducks” once.
He’d been misinformed about the faculty union. He thought we emphasized across the board raises. Actually, in the last round of bargaining it was the union that put the emphasis on merit and equity raises. The administration’s team cut those to the bone, while keeping most of the across the board. Union President Dreiling explained this to him.
Speaking of merit pay, the Senate meeting was followed by a Faculty Union membership meeting, 5-7PM in the EMU ballroom, with beer, to discuss the administration’s 0% and a ’64 Chevy Van raise proposal:
Senate Meeting Agenda – May 13, 2015. Live here.
115 Lawrence, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
3:00 pm 1. Call to Order
Senate elections need a reboot. Nothing nefarious here, just a software screwup:
Dear Colleagues,
As you may know, elections for the University Senate, university standing committees, and the Officers of Administration Council began on Friday, May 8. Unfortunately, we have discovered technological issues that could compromise the results.
We are currently identifying and correcting the problem. After reprogramming the system, we will re-start the voting process on Monday, May 25, 2015. The new deadline to vote in the election will now be Monday, June 8, 2015. All of the ballots cast up to this point will be discarded, and anyone who has already voted will need to cast a new ballot.
The university values its elected representative bodies. This representation and the election process is a crucial element of effective shared governance. We are taking this step to ensure the integrity of the election process and will publish full results when voting is concluded. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Again, the elections will re-start on Monday, May 25, 2015. Please, log into Duckweb to cast your ballot between May 25 and June 8, 2015. Thank you for your participation in this important process and thank you for your service to the university.
Sincerely, Scott Coltrane, Interim President, University of Oregon
Rob Kyr, Senate President
3:00 pm 2. Minutes
3:05 pm 3. State of the University
3.1 Remarks by Interim President Coltrane with questions
Interim President Coltrane’s responses to recent Senate legislation and resolutions on sexual violence prevention, cutting athletics subsidies, giving Senate a say in athletic admits and FAR, etc: No, No, No, No. Looks like these problems will get passed on to new President Schill and perhaps to a full Faculty Assembly in the fall.
3.2 Strategic Planning Update; Frances Bronet, Acting Provost
Strategic planning process. Docs here. Established goals, values and process. Great opportunity to build further, get more feedback. Bronet is leaving to be Provost at IIT, Coltrane’s job to do something with this. Gives shoutout to Rob Kyr and team leaders.
3:30 pm 4. New Business
4.1 US14/15-81: Adoption of Policy on Proprietary Research (Bonine #777); Bruce Mc Gough (Associate Professor, Economics), member of Curriculum & Program Matters Workgroup
Passes
4.2 US14/15-83: Repeal of OSBHE Poliy on Instructional Categories of “Liberal Arts, Professional, Pre-Profession, & Technical Education” (Bonine #499); Colin Koopman (Associate Professor, Philosophy), member of the Curriculum & Program Matters Workgroup
Passes
4.3 US14/15-65: Delivery of the M. S. Program in Historic Preservation to a New Location; Andy Berglund, Associate Dean of the Graduate School
Incredibly, the administration has screwed this up again. $105K or so discrepancy, numbers don’t add up. We’re sure this thing is cost neutral? No wonder the well is dry. 30 minutes of debate and it passes.
4.4 US14/15-80: Adoption of Discrimination Policies (Bonine #s 228, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 237, 241, 242); Jane Cramer (Associate Professor, Political Science), Chair of Discrimination Policy Workgroup
[POLICY 580.015.0040]
F.) Discrimination in Access to Course Offerings Prohibited:
There shall be no unreasonable differentiation among individuals on a prohibited basis in access to classes, courses of study or other educational programs or activities offered by the University of Oregon institutions, …
Wait a minute, how did the Duck athletic department get away with those athlete-only FHS 199 and “Art of the Athlete” courses?
Change “identity” to “gender identity”, passes unanimously at 4:27.
These are held over:
4.5 US14/15-82: Repeal of Policy on Textbooks and Curricular Materials (Bonine #243); Jane Cramer (Associate Professor, Political Science), Chair of Discrimination Policy Workgroup
4.6 US14/15-84: Adoption of Policies on Conditions of Service and Academic Freedom (Bonine #s 270, 271, 275, 278, 288, 289, 290,293, 295, 296, 297, 299, 301, 349); Employment Matters Policy Workgroup (Dianne Dugaw, Daphne Joubran, Deborah Olson, Ron Bramhall, Gordon Sayre, Mike Strain, Michael Dreiling)
4.7 US14/15-85: Revision and Adoption of Employment Policies (Bonine #s 268, 269, 272, 274, 276, 277, 279, 280, 281); Employment Matters Policy Workgroup (Dianne Dugaw, Daphne Joubran, Deborah Olson, Ron Bramhall, Gordon Sayre, Mike Strain, Michael Dreiling)
4:30 pm 5. Open Discussion
4:30 pm 6. Reports
4:30 pm 7. Notice(s) of Motion
4:30 pm 8. Other Business
8.1 Wayne Westling Award: Executive Session
8.2 Remarks by President Michael Schill
Sorry, I’m listening, no live blog. Some good questions, some good answers. Lots of questions about shared governance. I’ll post the video once it’s archived.
FWIW, Mike Gottfredson’s first talk to the Senate is here:
This is how I come to the governance idea – all of these things that are in the idea of a public research university tell us how we must be governed. To protect these values, it is essential that we employ a shared governance model – active and meaningful collaboration, active faculty participation and a faculty authority for academic matters. This has meaning that’s informed by history and by peer reference.
Proper shared governance expects competency and places responsibility for the nature and care of the central mission of the university with the faculty. This includes the curriculum and programs of study, academic degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels, honors [and] the qualifications of students. It includes standards for admissions and for academic scholarships, the qualifications of faculty, including hiring and promotion. These seem to me to be faculty responsibilities in a shared governance model, responsibilities that derive from the idea of the university and the duty and competence to defend the university’s core values. And, the faculty have a shared duty – the duty to ensure principles of community. A key faculty responsibility is to defend the core value of freedom of inquiry and expression.
At the same time the principle of shared governance tells us what the responsibilities of the administration are, and the competencies to be expected from the administration. Essentially, those are to manage the university to the public interest, consistent with the derived values that I just enumerated that are implicit in the idea of a public research university. They include the duty to be capable stewards consistent with the notions of community and to the requirements of our governing board and other authorities. Budget and finance, operational management, and adherence to policies of governing bodies are administrative duties in shared governance.
In my view, the administrative governance responsibilities only work when important policies and practices are informed by consultation and advice from the faculty, staff and students. Such consultation and advice can only be meaningful if it takes place in a spirit of transparency and knowledge and in a timely manner. There’s not much use in consulting after the fact – or not much use consistent with these ideas of governance, anyway.
So there’s an essential advisory role for the senate, even on administrative matters – an essential role on those matters that are central to the execution of our mission, like budget and finance, space and capital planning, athletics and of course participation in the selection and the evaluation of academic administrators. …
5:00 pm 9. Adjournment
5:00 pm 10. Reception for new University President Michael Schill: Hayden Gallery, 120 Lawrence (behind Lawrence 115)
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