Last updated on 03/03/2017
BOT March 3 meetings: 30 month delay in internal audit of “significant risks” and “negative impact of unfortunate events in athletics”
Sorry, I’m skipping today. Looks like the livecast link below is now working, and Max Thornberry is tweeting here: https://twitter.com/Max_Thornberry
There’s an updated version of the BOT materials here, and I (and the Trustees) finally got a copy of the internal audit report, here. Not much meat:
The Board of Trustees first ordered the Athletics Risk Assessment back in September, 2014:
That athletics audit has been delayed for 30 months, so far. The previous auditor left, reportedly over a dispute about her independence from the VPFA’s office and her inability to get public records from the administration.
And the audit has now shrunk from 300 hours to 120. It’s almost as if the Trustees don’t really want to hear about the “significant risks” and “negative impact of unfortunate events in athletics”.
March 2 BOT meeting:
These are on the BOT page as pdf’s here, I’ve reposted them below in more user friendly form. The meetings will be livecast here. [NOTE: This is now the correct link, but last time I checked it didn’t work.] The proposed tuition increases are scheduled for 1:45 or so on Thursday. Live-blogging will be light to none Thursday, so I’ve done a little pre-blogging in italics below.
Compare the bare-bones information the UO Board is given with the extensive material the OSU Board receives before their considerably more substantive meetings, here.
Executive and Audit Committee – Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 9:00 am Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom [Materials]
1. Quarterly Audit Report: Trisha Burnett, Chief Auditor
This is due diligence? We wouldn’t want the trustees to be prepared to ask tough questions, would we:
2. University Tier III Investments Update: Ross Kari, Finance and Facilities Chair; Jamie Moffitt, Vice President and CFO
No materials.
Compare this lack of audit materials with the extensive material the Oregon State Board Audit Committee gets, here. I’m going to have to make a public records request for the athletics stuff.
Finance and Facilities Committee Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 9:30 am Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom [Materials]
1. Retention and Delegation of Authority – Amendment re Capital Project Budget Approvals (Action): Ross Kari, Finance and Facilities Committee Chair
Seems sensible. Leaves more day to day stuff to President.
2. Knight Campus Capital Project Preliminary Expenses (Action): Jamie Moffitt, Vice President for Finance and Administration
Hell yes.
3. Quarterly Finance and Treasury Reports (Written Reports Only)
So, 10 minutes to review a $1B budget? that doesn’t even break out the $120M in athletics expenses? WTF? Any quick questions? No? Meeting adjourned.
Academic and Student Affairs Committee Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 10:00 am [Materials]
1. Reset the Code Campaign: Allen Hall Advertising representatives
Will they throw free speech a bone this time?
2. Health Center / Counseling and Testing Center Expansion Overview: Roger Thompson, Vice President for Student Services and Enrollment Management
Yes. Students need this.
3. University Accreditation: Ron Bramhall, Assoc. Vice Provost for Academic Excellence; Chuck Triplett, Asst. Vice President for University Initiatives and Collaboration and Accreditation Liaison Officer
Chill, Ron’s got this covered.
4. Program Approval – Master of Arts in Language Teaching Studies: Scott Coltrane, Senior Vice President and Provost
Yes.
Meeting of the Board Thursday, March 2, 2017 – 1:30 pm Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom Friday, March 3, 2017 – 10:00 am Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom [Materials]
THURSDAY, MARCH 2 – 1:30 pm (other times approximate) – Convene Public Meeting – Call to order, roll call, verification of quorum – Approval of December 2016 minutes (Action) – Public comment
1. Reports
‐‐ASUO President Quinn Haaga
Quinn gave her usual excellent presentation, with lucid commentary.
‐‐Senate President Bill Harbaugh
Harbaugh, not so much.
‐‐Provost Scott Coltrane
‐‐President Michael Schill
2. AY17‐18 Tuition and Fees (Action): Scott Coltrane, Senior Vice President and Provost; Jamie Moffitt, Vice President and CFO; Brad Shelton, Senior Vice Provost for Budget and Strategy
3. Seconded Motions and Resolutions from Committee (pending March 2 committee action)
‐‐Seconded Motion from FFC: Delegation of Authority / Capital Project Approvals
‐‐Seconded Motion from FFC: Knight Campus Preliminary Capital Expenses
Meeting Recessed
FRIDAY, MARCH 3 – 10:00 am (other times approximate) – Re‐Convene Public Meeting
4. Federal Affairs: Issues and Trends: Dennis Galvan, Vice Provost for International Affairs; David Conover, Vice President for Research and Innovation; Betsy Boyd, Assoc. Vice President for Federal Affairs
5. Cluster of Excellence in Focus – Energy and Sustainable Materials: Jim Hutchison, Professor and Lokey Chair of the ONAMI Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative
6. Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact: Patrick Phillips, Acting Executive Director
Meeting Adjourned
Maybe they should talk about that dangerously large tuition increase, and the remaining multi-million dollar budget deficit.
Diane Dietz reports on the Knight Campus and the firm responsible for its design: http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/35328816-75/uo-seeks-spending-authority-from-trustees-to-launch-knight-campus-project.html.csp
“The University of Oregon is seeking authority from its governing board to spend as much as $20 million on the proposed Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact — without returning to the board for permission.”
“The UO would spend $10 million of that on upfront architectural and design work for the huge project.”
Last time we heard “[but] these guys are really good” we spend millions on a failed ad campaign.
Hopefully I’m wrong.
No, last time we blew millions on the promise of “these guys are really good” was when we gave the last coach his golden parachute.
I strongly encourage you to look at the sites for our architects. Ennead has designed dozens of cutting edge science buildings.
Very recent efforts include:
Two bio buildings at the Univ. Michigan:
http://www.ennead.com/work/michigan
http://www.ennead.com/work/bsb
Engineering at Univ. Texas:
http://www.ennead.com/work/eerc
A biology building at Vassar:
http://www.ennead.com/work/vassar
They are in the process of finishing up the design of the new CHEM-H and Neuroscience buildings at Stanford
BORA recently finished their decade-long work on the new Stanford Engineering Quad:
http://bora.co/project/science-engineering-quad-master-plan/
We are in very good hands.
BORA is not good hands. They are great at sales, but are deviled by the details, when the details are the customer’s specific, often technical, requests. They have already garnered enough money from unfilled promises on Oregon campuses. Go north and visit their building at OSU. The big open classroom spaces are, admittedly, nice, but in the integration of technologies and purpose-built spaces BORA was not just lacking, but almost completely ignored repeated, specific requests from the users, the people who will have to live with the result for decades…