11/6/2014: Trustees to appoint Duck Athletic Director Rob Mullens as next UO President
Diane Dietz has the story in the RG, here. I know I’ve written a few unkind words about Dr. Mullens in the past, but let me be the first to say that I believe he has the necessary fundraising connections, and an unusually creative mind when it comes to finances and academic matters.
11/3/2013 Update: UO Trustees ask The People’s help in choosing next Great Leader
First public forum 7PM tonight. Online poll here:
The Central Hiring Committee’s rule forbidding faculty participation is hereby revoked. Faculty participation is now compulsory. IP addresses will be checked.
Chief Strategic Communicator Tobin Klinger has the glorious news in “Around the 0”:
A series of public forums designed to solicit input from an array of university constituents to inform the presidential search will be held in November. … Events will be held in Eugene and Portland, to provide multiple opportunities for on-campus and off-campus groups. They are:
- A student forum from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3, in the Gumwood Room in the EMU.
- A faculty and staff forum from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Walnut Room in the EMU.
- A Eugene area community forum from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, in the Reading Room in the Knight Library.
- A Portland area community forum from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the White Stag Building, 70 NW Couch St.
The Central Hiring Committee requires that loyal Ducks pay no intention to questions about why there are more Moffitts than students on the committee, or to scurrilous claims that the people’s will may be ignored, such as this one in the Register Guard:
Saying the University of Oregon requires a different kind of presidential search this time, Board of Trustees Chairman Chuck Lillis has advanced a search plan that he wrote and that reserves broad powers for himself — and a select group of others.
Lillis gave himself the authority to conduct the search with an “assist” from a 14-member committee weighted with trustees and administrators.
A second 12-member committee that includes some UO students and office workers will be allowed to provide “relevant perspectives and insights,” according to Lillis’ plan, which he unveiled Thursday at a trustees meeting in Eugene.
Lillis included a “code of conduct” that prohibits anybody but himself — and the chairwoman of the “assist” committee — to comment publicly on the presidential search, not even on the search timeline.
Lillis alone will be allowed to rank and even eliminate finalists, according to the plan he wrote.
Q: Please list four characteristics and/or experiences that are most important for the next UO president? Please prioritize if you can.
– must be able to accept compensation well above peers with a straight face and not laugh when your lead attorney at the bargaining table says stupid things like “The well is dry.”
– must just wave and not laugh when Tim Gleason drives his car into the JH parking lot
– must not laugh when Jim Bean is asked “How’s the reading going now that you’re back from sabbatical?” It’s serious question.
– must be able to fit a NCAA regulation football down throat and not suffocate, not that anything athletic would ever be stuffed down your throat or anything. no never.
Q: What is the single most important thing for the UO president to focus on when he or she starts?
– Keeping that football out of his/her throat.
Q: What are the biggest challenges or obstacles the UO president is likely to face?
– this place is a circus. you must resist selling tickets, though, as all rents from said circus have already been claimed.
– living with yourself after you get the scoop on Gottfredson’s rape cover up and know that you can’t tell anyone.
– the creepy feeling you get when you pay convicted rapists $4000 to instruct football players on what, how to not rape the baby sitter?
– losing Gleason on bowl junkets
Q: If you had to explain the appeal of the University of Oregon to a presidential candidate, how would you do it? How would you explain, “Why the UO, and why now?”
– I would start with the large sum of money he/she will get when fired. In fact, I would end there, too. $940,000 baby!!
Another useless public meeting? When oh when has such a meeting ever been productive? As I have no time or patience for yet another bs meeting, here is an informal list of criteria for the next UO President (in no particular order):
1) Must be ethical and moral;
2) Must genuinely care about students, staff and faculty (last president who really cared? Olum);
3) Cannot be selfish, egotistical or self-serving;
4) Must have a clearly enunciated long term academic vision for the University;
5) Will stand up to the BOT and particularly to Czar Lillis;
6) Will give the faculty the resources to do their jobs;
7) Will pay decent wages and benefits to all University personnel;
8) Will treat all university employees with respect;
9) Will reduce the importance of and resources allocated to athletics;
10) Will do what is necessary to stay in the AAU;
11) Will cease the talk about increasing number of undergrads and focus on providing a quality education to those we have now;
12) Will stop paying outrageous salaries to administrators;
13) Will stop claiming there are no funds to support academic needs;
14) Will actually listen to the views of faculty and others in the campus community;
15) Will tell both PKs where to shove it;
16) Will actively support the University Constitution, the University Senate, and the concept of shared governance;
17) Must believe in the democratic principles of openness and transparency;
18) Must truly believe that a university cannot be run as a corporate entity, that students are not clients and that education is not something to be branded and sold like burgers;
19) Immediately fire all the VPs and Deans and replace them with real teaching faculty who have not drank the “I’m-an-administrator-and-I-am-better-than-you” kool aid
20) Begin treating the humanities, AAA, and dance and music schools with respect and stop kow-towing to the sciences.
The current interim holder falls way short of meeting let alone surpassing these criteria.
This place would be much different and much better if we hired a woman president.
Love it. Unfortunately, you just gave the BOT very clear criteria. Now they can proceed and hire someone that is exactly opposite of this list.