UO Board of Trustees to meet Wed, Thu, Fri this week.

Last updated on 06/03/2015

Wednesday June 3: Committee meetings
Thursday June 4: Full Board
Friday June 5th: Executive session on union bargaining, board members meet with faculty and staff

I’m doing some spotty live-blogging below.

I’ve put the headings and some items of potential interest in bold in the agendas below, check the Agenda links for the official background reading and motions. Comments welcome, I haven’t had time to go through much of this yet. Obviously Jamie Moffitt’s finance report will be worth hearing, though I wouldn’t expect her to go into as much depth about some things as the AAUP’s Howard Bunsis did on Thursday. The Full Bunsis is now up for all to see here, video soon, here’s a teaser:

These numbers are from the IPEDS data UO is required to report to the feds. Institutional Support Salary is mostly pay for upper level central administrators. I’m no forensic accountant, but it seems we spend a lot more on administrator pay than we should.

9:00 AM: FINANCE AND FACILITIES COMMITTEE MEETING
June 3, 2015 Notice  |  Agenda  |  Minutes

1. Approval of March and May 2015 FFC meeting minutes (Action)

2. Public comment

3. Quarterly reports

3.1  Treasury report (Karen Levear, Director, Treasury Operations)

3.2 Financial report (Jamie Moffitt, CFO and VP for Finance and Administration)

Let me guess. The well is dry:

4. Fiscal year 2016 budget and expenditure authorization (Jamie Moffitt, CFO and VP for
Finance and Administration) (Action)

It’s June 2. UO does not have a budget for the FY that starts July 1. VP Moffitt is going to show the Trustees that in September. Must be tough to be a dean at UO, trying to run a college with this sort of information:

5. Adoption of legacy pension plans (Jamie Moffitt, CFO and VP for Finance and
Administration) (Action)

6. Student health insurance (Robin Holmes, VP for Student Life; Mike Eyster, Executive
Director, Student Health Center)

7. Campus physical presence

7.1 Overview of physical space planning, capital project prioritization and framework
visioning (Chris Ramey, AVP for Campus Planning and Real Estate)

7.2 Deferred maintenance (Darin Dehle, Director, Capital Construction)

UO has a detailed plan for dealing with deferred building maintenance:

Deferred investments in the faculty, not so much. Moffitt clarifies that this $185.7M figure is low for universities. Last year the Budget Advisory Group that Gottfredson set up to circumvent the Senate Budget Committee devoted $500K of the entire $2M that Jamie Moffitt gave them to allocate for one time projects to maintenance. Meanwhile Moffitt sent ~$4M in new recurring funds to prop up Michael Moffitt’s Law School’s US News ranking, without faculty discussion.

Lillis: Asks about the Global Scholars cracks. Where is that financial factor captured in the balance sheets? Moffitt: Can’t say much given the lawsuit, but it’s not in these numbers.
Lillis and Ballmer note that UW, Stanford also have huge deferred maintenance.
UO’s most popular president ever, Paul Olum, cut UO’s maintenance to the bone during the 80’s recession, and spent the money keeping faculty from leaving. Here’s hoping President Schill will do the same.

8. Acceptance of a gift and approval of a related capital project (Chris Ramey, AVP for Campus Planning and Real Estate) (Action)

Building for Bach:

Schlegel: asks if the students have been consulted about the building location and construction.
Wilhelms: Board rules require approval both because of the size of the Berwick’s generous gift, and the construction.

12:30 PM: ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING
June 3, 2015 Notice  |  Agenda  |  Minutes

12:30 pm – Public Meeting – Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom

1. Approval of March and May 2015 ASAC minutes (Action)

2. Public comment

3. 2015 student statistics (Roger Thompson, Vice President for Enrollment Management)  

No worries, the AAUP’s Howard Bunsis has some:

Well, actually, those data are pretty worrying. Why is enrollment falling when the Ducks are doing so well? Parents don’t want to send their kids to a football factory after all?

Live-blog:

Roger Thompson, VP for Enrollment:

[This is extremely important to UO. Even after tuition discounts, 100 in state students bring in ~$1M, 100 out of state students bring in ~$3M in revenue. Last year were were down 260 students from the 2012-13 peak.]

F0r 2014: Projects outstanding entering class. Highest GPAs and test scores. Most diverse in race and SES. Record # of Oregon Pell eligible and Pathway Oregon students. 55% Oregon, 39% out of state, the rest international.

For 2013, 2014 not so good. Now has massive recruitment effort. Buying 130,000 names for recruiting, many events, school visits, etc. But he attributes success to bowl games? Not really, also attributes a tripling in enrollment from Texas in 3 years (from 18 to 60) to heavy recruiting efforts. We’re also up 20% in southern California in 3 years.

Then some more FERPA violating anecdotes, but no data. Fortunately the AAUP’s Howard Bunsis has provided some:

 

Lillis: All these 5 are Stamp Scholars? Yes. Is that program endowed? No. So, what’s our discount rate? To be first tier we have to get 30-40 of these students, nationally. [Too bad we’re blowing that $20M on branding, not merit scholarships that would boost our US News rankings.] Ralph: What about Pathway Oregon? Thompson: Up from ~550 to +600 this coming year, I hope.

4. Proposed amendments to the Student Conduct Code (Robin Holmes, Vice President for
Student Life) (Actions)

I’m guessing the Board is already regretting the part of their Delegation of Authority power grab where they took control of this from the faculty:

Maybe 100 pages of documentation here. But hey, kick back, Bonine has this covered.

Public Comment:

John Bonine (Law): (Written remarks to some soon). No draft of new changes was shown to the Senate until late last week. Senate was not consulted. Bonine responded over the weekend with suggested revisions, but was told it was too late to put these on the agenda. He has a memo with some of the problems in the proposal. In particular the use of journals as a sanction for sexual assault, and having students who have been found guilty of sexual assault being sentenced to community service at organizations that counsel rape victims. Under FERPA, the organizations cannot be told the student’s history. Bonine suggests revising the code to eliminate these sorts of sanctions.

Ibrahim Gassama (Law): (Written remarks to some soon). Has worked on the problem of sexual assault his whole life. Students who allege they have been victims of sexual assault must have the right to legal advice. (The alleged perpetrators get free advice from ASUO legal services). The proposal before the board does not do this, it treats these victims as second class citizens. Legal representation is crucial, given the stakes. The grant that provides such advice trough the Law School is currently expiring. University has an obligation to provide support to survivors, and this legal advice must come from a lawyer who does not have divided loyalties.

VP for Student Life Robin Holmes: Defends the process.

Helena Schlegel (Board Member and UO student): Proposes amendment to use Bonine’s language. remove journaling and community. Wants to work on getting legal representation for survivors. Not comfortable with amount of student input in these changes. There was a student committee, apparently it never met.

Sandy Weintraub (Director of Student Conduct): Despite the 2011 Dear Colleague letter, Holmes’s office did nothing on the code. Hired a consultant, sat on his recommendations. After the Basketball gang rape allegations finally became public, and Weintraub was hired, things picked up. Worked with the Senate and Bonine and Forrell on the revisions, they were discussed at 7-8 Senate meetings, which include students.

Kurt Wilcox asks Doug Park about how the student code would interact with the GTFF  CBA, for a graduate student. Hard to follow Park, but Sandy Weintraub seems to think he’s wrong.

Resolution to adopt existing changes passes.

Resolution to adopt existing changes with amendment passes.

5. Update on and discussion of UO’s Portland presence and initiatives (Frances Bronet, Acting Provost)  

This is just weird. And scary. No one expected Johnson Hall to tell the faculty how much money we’re losing up there, but surely the board needs to know. Fortunately Diane Dietz is on it, here. Presumably the university will have to give the RG some information eventually.

Bronet: Lots of questions still have not been resolved. What are our Portland initiatives? What is the financial model? Bronet is leaving this to her replacement. [Sorry, live blogging is light and I have to go to the Senate meeting soon. Check the Canoe report, which I was able to get after a few public records requests and petitions, here.]

6. Update on and discussion of UO’s Clusters of Excellence initiative (Scott Coltrane, Interim President)

7. Program approvals (Frances Bronet, Acting Provost)

7.1 Historic Preservation (location change)

7.2 Prevention Science (new programs)

 

3:30 PM: EXECUTIVE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING
June 3, 2015 Notice  |  Agenda  |  Minutes

1. Approval of March 2015 Minutes

2. Audit Related Items (Brenda Muirhead, Chief Auditor)

2.1 External Audit overview (Scott Simpson, Moss Adams LLP)

2.2 Quarterly Audit Report

2.3 Approval of IT Audit contract (Action)

2.4 Amendment to Audit Charter (Action)

2.5 Approval of 2015‐2016 Audit Plan (Action)

3. White Stag Building – Lease Update and Authorization (Action) (Jamie Moffitt, Vice President for
Finance and Administration/CFO)  

4. UO Information Technology and Infrastructure (Frances Bronet, Acting Provost; Melissa Woo, Chief Information Officer)  

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2015 PUBLIC MEETING, FORD ALUMNI CENTER, GIUSTINA BALLROOM

Notice  |  Agenda  |  Minutes

8:30 am (other times approximate) – Convene Public Meeting
– Call to order and roll call/verification of quorum

1. Approval of Minutes from March and April 2015 Meetings

2.   Invited Academic Presentations
2.1 School of Architecture and Allied Arts – Brook Muller, Interim Dean
2.2 Natural Sciences (CAS) – Andrew Marcus, Interim Dean; Hal Sodofsky, Associate Dean
for Natural Sciences

3. Reports and Public Comment  
– Public Comment
– ASUO President’s Report
– Senate President’s Report
– President and Provost’s Report

12:00 pm – Recess for Small Group Lunches with UO Staff

1:45 pm – Reconvene Public Meeting (verification of quorum)

4. Committee Reports / Resolutions  

4.1 Executive and Audit Committee Report and Referrals

4.2   Academic and Student Affairs Committee Report and Seconded Motions  
‐‐Resolution:  Amendments to the Student Conduct Code (pending June 3 committee approval)

4.3 Finance and Facilities Committee Report and Seconded Motions 
‐‐Resolution:  AY15‐16 budget proposal (pending June 3 committee approval)
‐‐Resolution:  Adoption of legacy pension plans (pending June 3 committee approval)
‐‐Resolution:  Approval of a capital project (pending June 3 committee approval)

4.4 Presidential Factors Committee Report
(Public Meeting Recessed)

5.   AAA Design Reviews [4:00‐5:30]
Trustees will observe student design reviews in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts

 

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2015    PUBLIC MEETING, FORD ALUMNI CENTER, ROOM 403

Notice  |  Agenda  |  Minutes

9:00 am – Reconvene Public Meeting (verification of quorum)

6. Update on current collective bargaining (Executive Session)   (Meeting Adjourned)

My take on the administration’s proposal to cut real faculty wages is here. The UAUO’s latest bargaining report is here – they think it’s going to be a long hot summer, and probably fall too:

We characterized the administration’s first proposal as “insulting” and “unacceptable.” This new offer is an improvement, but still woefully inadequate. While this proposal contains a 1% across-the-board raise in fiscal year 2016 and a 1.5% merit increase in fiscal year 2017, 1% across-the-board does not even keep pace with inflation, let alone the rate of increases among our peer institutions, and 1.5% for merit is a figure too small to recognize and reward excellent faculty. Moreover, the administration proposed no effort to address internal and external equity. This was no oversight: The administration’s team made it clear that they do not believe the UO has any equity problem, either internal or external.

Seriously? Have they looked at their own data? Because Bunsis has, for Fall 2014, after the previous union CBA raises:

UO pays its full professors of economics 70% of the AAU public average, while full professors of educational methodology get 154%. That detailed data for 2013-14 is on UO’s Institutional Research website, here.

10:30 am ‐ 12:00 pm – Trustee‐Faculty small group discussions

Adjourn