The administration’s bargaining proposal to cut real faculty pay is here. The well is dry, Jamie Moffitt is telling us. And that’s what she’s going to tell the UO Board of Trustees in their closed session on union bargaining on Friday.
But forensic accountant Howard Bunsis thinks Jamie Moffitt is wrong. And he’s got the data to prove it. The UAUO faculty union has now posted the full Bunsis video, in all its glory:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/
The 82 powerpoint slides are here, but I encourage you to watch the video to get the explanations. Bunsis gives these sorts of talks at universities all over the country, and he has done a particularly thorough job for UO:
I don’t see any redactions – unlike Moffitt’s:
Howard Bunsis is a lawyer, CPA, and professor of accounting at Eastern Michigan, specializing in “forensic accounting”. He’ll be giving a presentation next week on the true state of UO’s finances, extracted from UO’s audited financial statements and the data that UO is required to report to the feds. The Bunsis presentation in 2011 persuaded me and a lot of other faculty to sign union cards.
UO’s VP for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt has told the United Academics union that the university is broke, and can only afford to give faculty a 1% raise over the next 2 years. Now she’s going around telling the department heads the same story. But after 5 years of Brad Shelton’s ever shifting budget model and the many special exceptions Johnson Hall deals out to their friends and relatives, there’s not much trust.
During the 2013 bargaining, the administration’s take-it-or-leave-it offer was 4.5%, spread out over two years. Bunsis showed up at the bargaining session and ran circles around Moffitt. A few months later Sharon Rudnick agreed Bunsis was right, and that there was enough money in the well for 12% cumulative raises. Then Tim Gleason threw in $350 in goat money. Deal.
In short, Howard Bunsis is a dangerous man with a powerpoint. Expect some high-powered bullet points. Show up Thursday May 28, 6-7:30 PM in 115 Lawrence Hall to see if UO is really broke. Open to the public.
Is this presentation open to the public?
Hell yes.
Will there be video and/or webcast?
No you have to make a request which may or may not take days to determine if your request is valid/legal/in accordance with policy/for the public good. Once that decision is reached we will let you know the charge per minute to listen to the presentation.
Seriously? Some random audience member can’t just bring a camcorder–or an iPhone–and post it on YouTube? There’s certainly no “reasonable expectation of privacy” here and it’s not a University event.
He’s kidding, the powerpoints and video (assuming that works) will be posted eventually. Better to show up in person though, it’s public.
Are you catching my sarcasm cause I am laying it on pretty thick here…
You should keep in mind: when you lump hardworking front lines campus employees who operate independently and totally separately from the transparency problems at Jhall with the issues that this blog confronts, you are just taking cheap shots at your colleagues and fellow blog readers.
You’re welcome for all the livestreams by the way. I can tell you that Jhall isn’t involved in vetting what is published and what isn’t: It’s usually the departments sponsoring individual events that make this call in terms of funding/permissions/sponsorship. It works on campus just like it works off campus – Independent clients request specific shoots and distribution methods, and then whichever campus unit that provides said service (Catering, tent setups, construction, media services, etc) provides said service.
If the individual campus service providers were checking in with Johnson hall to give them a chance to censor every time a new work request comes in, then sure. Your sarcasm would be appropriate. But what you’re doing here is lumping your colleagues in with the transparency problems. Stop it. We’re here with you, reading this blog and doing our part to be a part of the solutions in healthy ways.
As a classified member, I kinda feel like a member of the faculty club just lumped me in with the Admin side, and that actually hurts a little after all of the solidarity in recent years.
That was directed at Max’s comment
I rely on the livestreams/video all the time and I think you guys do a great job. I am relieved to hear that Bunsis’ presentation wasn’t taped by someone waving an iPhone around.
Holy Smokes!!! Can anyone see that I was making a joke about all of the hassles UO Matters goes through to get access to public records?? The point of my joke was that this talk was free and open to everyone, unlike the public records a the University. I was not insulting front line employees or conflating them with Jhall problems. Relax folks.
Thanks for clarifying that Max.
I would be very interested in seeing what percentage of the overall budget goes to pay administrators. I am sure Mr. Bunsis will have much enlightening information. I hope to see this presentation on youtube for all to view.
Take this guy with a grain of salt. I heard he did a report for another Oregon University and told them they could use capital improvement funds from the legislature for raises which is absolutely not true.
We’re academics–we take everything with a grain of salt. (Including rumors about what Bunsis said at another Oregon university.) And we also take with a grain of salt the administration’s traveling dog-and-pony show about the UO being too broke to give raises to faculty and staff. The devil is in the details of how the UO allocates the money it DOES have, and why raises weren’t part of its budget in the first place. Bunsis looks at how the UO spent its money. Everyone can ask questions.
Thanks for mentioning the Classified Staff. We are all in the sinking boat.
The boat cannot sink any deeper – as long as the well dry is …
I just want to know if they’re going to offer deep pile orange shag with that van. That’s a sine qua non for me.
I heard several administrators got raises including VPFA Moffitt, the uopd chief, and a couple of JH cronies. No money for raises? That’s a pile of bull excrement.
If your department was able to sign a MOU with the City that states that in the future your department, and especially NOT the City police, would be solely responsible for anything rapey that athletics is up to, then you’d be getting a big fat raise too. You should be asking yourself right now, what have you done for athletics that warrants a raise? Maybe if you started doing homework for athletes at the Jaqua center like a normal person, you’d be getting your share of the huge windfall UO is sitting on right now.
I’d love to see more about this MOU. So the UofO’s private police force is going to investigate rape cases involving athletes? When do we see UofO’s police cars with the swoosh on them? How quaint to have your own private police force at your disposal.
Yes, please provide more info about this MOU.
Do you have evidence that staff in the Jaqua center do homework for athletes? If so, please present that evidence. Your unsubstantiated claim is totally inconsistent with the professionalism of the tutors and academic specialists there that I have personally observed. Personally observed many times.
If you have no evidence to support this claim, please withdraw this calumny.
There are plenty of reasons to be unhappy about campus priorities and largesse for athletics and athletes, among other concerns, without parroting unsubstantiated claims. Not just that it happened once (and you have not even proven that) but that it is a pervasive and systematic initiative, as your screed implies.
There is so much unsubstantiated, partial, biased, and outright falsehood perpetuated on UO Matters (posts are just as bad in this regard as the comments) that it is hard to see its purpose as more than mirroring the flaws it attributes to UO Administration (and they are often very flawed).
Shoddy, piecemeal, rumor-mongerining, hate-filled, bile is what we all too often find here. Sloppy, sloppy journalism that gives the proud tradition of muckracking a bad name.
Put up the evidence.
Agreed. If there is evidence you have an obligation to report it through the proper channels.
Trond Jacobson, your comment exposes a lack of self reflection or perhaps plain contempt? while you condemn another commenter for failing to cite a claim, you proceed to offer a series of rants about “shoddy, piecemeal… hate-filled bile…” and “unsubstantiated, partial, biased…. falsehood” without offereing a single piece of evidence for such generalized claims. You offer harsh judgment for others but do not see your own subjective leaps?
Careful what you project/mirror on others.
It would be interesting to hear an intelligent explanation for these figures from UO central administration, if such can be provided. There may be one, or not, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a response from UO.
“intelligent explanation for these figures from UO central administration”
probably a number of oxymorons in the above
In answer to Trond Jacobsen’s request, I have seen much evidence that greatly suggests that athletes’ homework is being done for them. I had a football player in class who was only semi-literate. His in-class quizzes and e-mails were at a very elementary level — no punctuation, nearly incomprehensible sentence construction, non-standard grammar, etc. Yet his papers came in polished and perfectly spelled and punctuated and at the A level. How did that happen? I know he wasn’t doing it on his own. I know he wasn’t learning to write, because his own in-class writing continued just as elementary and semi-literate as when he began. What other explanations do you have?
I’ve had several athletes- football and otherwise- in my labs. The students who were bad students failed entirely on their own and the good students earned good grades- with some of our most famous athletes on both sides of this coin. I never had any direct contact with any tutors from the Jaqua Center, but I worked as a tutor at my undergrad institution and I kind of agree that it is a huge accusation to levy against the tutors to suggest they are completing assignments for students. It seemed like a tongue-in-cheek comment up the page, but I thought I’d throw in my experience since someone says they have experience that suggests ghost-writing of assignments.
Could have bought the papers online?
If the University is so poor, ask about how someone in Johnson Hall just rented the entire tea party ship in Boston last week, serving an open bar and free lobster. Was not a fundraiser, just a party using University general fund money.
This?
https://international.uoregon.edu/nafsa_2015
Anyone know more?
Was their a misuse of funds? If you are part of the UO and are aware of funds being misused you have an obligation to report them. Posting on this blog does not count. There are too many on this campus that care and are working toward change.
Was their a misuse of funds? If you are part of the UO and are aware of funds being misused you have an obligation to report them. Posting on this blog does not count. There are too many people on this campus that care and are working toward change.
actually reporting on this BLOG does count because someone, somewhere will investigate either to verify or refute. Indeed, this is one of the virtues of this blog is anonymous whistle blowing.
Indeed your going to see that in another forum where some thread has emerged about tutors doing the homework for student athletes.
Was there a misuse of funds? If you are part of the UO and are aware of funds being misused you have an obligation to report them. Posting on this blog does not count. There are too many people on this campus that care and are working toward change.
*Sprints into room, hands on knees, panting for breath*
Has anyone asked if there was a misuse of funds yet?
My mistake. user error issues.
Well…this isn’t Johnson Hall, this is Oregon Hall, right? WTF!
Administrative bloat is not even restricted to this country anymore. Nowhere is safe:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9547622/how-come-our-cash-strapped-universities-can-afford-so-many-administrators/
The benefit rate can be quite misleading…the state of Oregon has one of the best funded pension programs (hence the high benefit rate) in the country. I guess you can pick whether you want a funded pension program or not.