In a nutshell, an undergrad said some sophmoric things about CoD Dean Adrian Parr Zaretsky in an art exhibit. So the dean – by outward appearances an adult – filed student conduct charges that could lead to the student’s expulsion. The Eugene Weekly’s Bob Keefer has the story here. Read the whole thing, this snippet just gives a hint of how far off the rails Scholz’s administration has gone:
… On April 1, almost three months after the exhibition came down, Steuerwald received formal notice from the university of an investigation for possible violation of the Student Conduct Code. The dean, the notice says, “alleges that you submitted a proposal for an exhibition displayed in the Washburn Gallery that included a pamphlet that constituted harassment based on national origin and/or religion.” It also says the exhibition “included content that was sufficiently severe or pervasive that it substantially interfered with [the dean’s] university employment.”
The complaint, which does not suggest that Steuerwald was involved in previous threats or attacks, goes on to say that he could face “suspension or expulsion from the University.”
“It’s all very bizarre,” Steuerwald says. “I was very surprised by the whole thing. The art exhibit was up for four days with little fanfare.”
The university has hired a private firm from Ohio called INCompliance to conduct the investigation. INCompliance, according to its website, specializes in conducting civil rights investigations for educational institutions. So far the investigation has involved more than three hours of testimony from Steuerwald and has generated a 350-page evidence file. …
But my favorite part is that Scholz’s well paid PR flacks don’t even want their names used:
When Eugene Weekly reached out to the UO for comment on the unusual investigation, a university spokesperson who asked not to be identified would say only that they could not comment on specific investigations.
That last bit is of course bullshit. UO comments on investigations whenever it suits their purposes. When it doesn’t they claim there’s a rule against it.
A small correction: The student, Cassy, did not say anything about the Dean himself. Cassy put on a conceptual art exhibit that included, as one of its thirty items, a widely circulated pamphlet that speaks disrespectfully of the Dean.
As the EW article notes, to conduct this investigation—which is still ongoing—the administration has enlisted a high-priced attorney from Ohio. As the student’s advisor, I’ve sat through four hours of this attorney’s interrogating the student. From the start, there’s been an element of absurdity to it all. Cassy’s exhibit was a protest against U of O silence around the genocide in Gaza. It mainly featured artistic references to Pres. Scholz, Phil Knight, and the Oregon Duck. In the interrogation, a good hour was spent explaining to the investigator who Phil Knight was, what his connection to the U of O was, why the exhibit would include a pair of running shoes, why it would include a duck, and concluding with trying to explain the location of the out-of-the-way gallery where the art exhibit was held (across Franklin Boulevard and behind the Knight Campus–the investigator initially assumed that the U of O was in Portland).
I immediately emailed Nicole Commissiong, who is responsible for this fiasco, and suggested that in the future such outside investigators be provided with a map of the University. Nicole wrote back, “Cheyney, Our investigators are all professionals who are quite competent at using Google-Map!”
I’m not making this up. Presumably that’s why we are paying them tens of thousands of dollars at a time that we are laying off legitimate faculty/instructors. They know how to use Google-Map.
Maybe we should write the Provost to recommend that henceforth every syllabus should include this warning to undergraduates: “Do not mention “Gaza”, “Palestine”, “genocide”, or “Common-Article Four of the Geneva Conventions”—lest you be subject to an interminable investigation by the U of O Administration for anti-Semitism”.
Thanks for the correction, and for all your work on this Cheyney.
Adrian Parr Zaretsky
Dean, College of Design
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR
July 31, 2025
To: President Karl Scholz
Johnson Hall
University of Oregon
Dear President Scholz,
After deep reflection, I have decided to step down from my role as Dean of the College of Design, effective September 30, 2025.
Serving this college — and by extension, the wider University of Oregon community — has been one of the most meaningful chapters in my academic life. I am proud of the strides we’ve made together in advancing design that is socially responsive, ecologically literate, and globally engaged.
At the heart of my research and creative practice is a focus on water — as necessity, as metaphor, and as a marker of justice. Like water, institutions must remain fluid enough to adapt to challenge, yet grounded enough to sustain life across difference. The recent controversy surrounding the “Art of Politics” exhibit, and the broader currents of public discourse it tapped into, have underscored the difficulty of achieving that balance — of holding space for political expression while navigating the responsibilities of institutional leadership.
As Eugene Weekly reported, the fallout from that exhibition has intensified already difficult conversations. I do not believe those conversations are without value — in fact, they are essential. But I also recognize that the college may now require a new vessel for those dialogues to flow forward productively and without distraction.
To that end, I am offering my resignation to allow the College of Design to continue its work without the burden of my presence becoming a proxy for polarization. I will assist in any way I can to ensure a smooth transition and to support whoever steps into this important role.
I remain committed to the ideals that brought me to this position: equity, sustainability, and the belief that design — like clean water — is a public good. I look forward to returning to the faculty and continuing my scholarship on environmental justice, planetary habitability, and the ways we can imagine more livable futures.
With appreciation,
Adrian Parr Zaretsky
Let me know if you’d like a version with a more defiant, defensive, or humorous tone — or something tailored to a specific audience (e.g., internal faculty, students, the public).
Dean Parr is the shallowest and most egotistical leader I’ve come across in my 20-year career. She is petty and regularly enacts retribution upon anyone and everyone who dares threaten this weak-minded individual. Many, many faculty and staff in the College of Design have faced her wrath.
specifics?
Talk to Planning. Architecture can’t talk.
Damn! That is a pretty high bar to clear, especially since her predecessor as dean was the shallowest and most egotistical leader I’d come across in my 30-year career!
Has anyone done a PRR for the INCompliance contract or the CFP that led to UO hiring them?
I have been intending to look into this when the case against Cassy is concluded, if it is ever concluded. The administration has hired INCompliance to handle other student conduct cases related to Gaza protests, of which there are now quite a few. I think this is unfortunate. I have been involved in several other student conduct cases, and I have found the people from student affairs that handled them to be eminently reasonable, even if I did not agree with them. Perhaps this is because people from student affairs actually care about the University and its students.
How much will this all cost? I was involved with one case involving an outside attorney investigating that occurred about 10 years ago. This case lasted only about six weeks, yet its total cost was $70,000. Translate this into the inflation of attorneys costs since, multiply it by the total number of hours spent – – in Cassy’s case, five months– and look where our money is going instead of hiring professors and instructors.
One thing the Cassy and I learned during the investigation is that the Administration consulted both the FBI and the Eugene Police Department on this case. Both of them said that it did not involve any threats–and that it was clearly a case of freedom of speech! So let’s hear it for the FBI!
From INCompliance’s website:
Every campus has its own culture and its own institutional ethic of care.
When we begin working for a new investigative client, we take the time to
learn about the campus community and the values they hold highest, so we
can treat parties and witnesses in an ethical manner consistent with their
high expectations. We are knowledgeable, experienced and well-trained — particularly in
situations involving sexual misconduct.
This is clearly a company, at least in terms of higher ed consulting, that was previously focused on selling Title IX ‘expertise,’ and now has moved into a new ‘market,’ student protest conduct. Seems to me the union(s) would benefit from knowing how much the University has spent on them so far…
But why, exactly, a duck?
In June General Counsel Kevin Reed spent $725K to settle a claim by a guy who sued after the DEI office blocked him from their Twitter feed. https://www.ifs.org/news/judge-orders-university-of-oregon-insurer-to-pay-nearly-200000-for-uos-censorship/ I predict this one will end up costing quite a bit more. Among other things, UO’s policy on Academic Freedom is pretty strongly in favor of the student’s rights:
d. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT. Public engagement requires that members of the university community have freedom to participate in public debate, both within and beyond their areas of expertise, and to address both the university community and the larger society on any matter of social, political, economic, cultural, or other interest. In their exercise of this freedom, university community members have the right to identify their association or title but should not claim to be acting or speaking on behalf of the university unless authorized to do so.
These freedoms derive immediately from the university’s basic commitment to advancing knowledge and understanding. The academic freedoms describe above shall be exercised without fear of institutional reprisal. Only serious abuses of this policy – ones that rise to the level of professional misbehavior or professional incompetence – should lead to adverse consequences. Any such determinations shall be made in accordance with established, formal procedures involving judgment by relevant peers.
As a matter of policy, the university does not attempt to control, sway, or limit the personal opinion or expression of that opinion of any employee or student. In the exercise of this freedom of expression, employees and students should manifest appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they do not speak on behalf of the university.
https://policies.uoregon.edu/vol-2-academics-instruction-research/ch-5-academic-freedom/academic-freedom-freedom-inquiry-and-free
At this point we all expect UO’s senior administrators to treat us faculty like shit. But undergraduates? This is taking “kiss up kick down” to an entirely new level!
THE COST OF ALL THIS–$750,00?
The University of Michigan has also outsourced student discipline to INCompliance, in addition to one another company. Here is a remark from an article about it: “In an unprecedented move, the University hired external consultants Omar Torres from Grand River Solutions and Stephanie Jackson from InCompliance, contracting both companies for a total of $1.5 million.”
[ https://againstthecurrent.org/atc234/palestine-exception-at-u-m/ ]
FYI: When this case first came to my attention, I phoned around to universities to ask if they’d ever dealt with a senior administrator filing charges against a young undergraduate for an undergraduate project. Only one of them said they could remember such a case, but that case was immediately dropped on the request of the higher administrators. So the U of O is truly a national leader in persecuting undergraduates in this way.
Sounds like a case for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ((https://www.thefire.org/).