Has President Schill found a replacement for Doug Park?

I don’t know.  Word is that there will be multiple finalists, visiting campus soon, application materials posted by the end of next week. Sounds good.

The job is no longer listed on the active administrative listing here, and the ad itself is now watermarked as an archive. But there’s been no announcement of finalists or public dissemination of application letters. The rudimentary General Counsel’s page still lists Doug Park as Interim GG.

Meanwhile there is an opening for an assistant for Public Records Officer Lisa Thornton, here. UO Employees only – definitely wouldn’t want to take a chance on getting someone with new ideas into that office. Speaking of which, they’ve got a pretty extensive backlog of unfilled requests.

6/1/2015 update: New Pres Mike Schill takes UO’s General Counsel bull by the horns

Explanation for new VPGC position here, ad here, review begins June 26.

General Statement of Duties

The Vice President and General Counsel to the University (VPGC) is the chief legal officer for the University of Oregon, a senior advisor to the President of the University (President), and an officer of the university. The VPGC will be responsible for managing the university’s legal affairs, overseeing the office’s provision of legal services to the university (including the provision of any outside legal services retained on behalf of the university), and supervising the Office of the General Counsel, which includes other attorneys and support staff. In addition, the VPGC will oversee the University’s Office of Public Records and the University’s Records Management Services, including supervision of employees in those two functions. As a member of the president’s senior leadership team, the VPGC will work closely with the president and other executive officers on a wide array of matters of legal import to the institution. In addition, the VPGC will work closely with university units, programs (e.g. student government), and employees. …

While Lariviere had taken responsibility for public records away from Melinda Grier and Doug Park in the GC’s office because of conflict of interest concerns coming out of the Bellotti fiasco, in practice that independence was a sham. So perhaps it’s best to acknowledge that the conflict exists and set up procedures to deal with it.

5/27/2015 update:

Schill is going to totally reorganize the General Counsel’s office and restart the search for a “VP for Legal Affairs” to take charge of UO’s troubled legal matters. This is the best UO news I’ve heard in long time, and we all hope it will be the first in a series of efforts to reform Johnson Hall. It’s certainly a great start to an improved relationship with the faculty.

Meanwhile UO’s website seems to think Randy Geller is still in charge. (Link finally removed today, 11 months after Geller was resigned.)

5/218/2015: General Counsel search committee soliciting anonymous comments

We’ve now got the full slate of 5 candidates: Thomas Dorer (University of Hartford), Doug Park (UO), Keith Kutler (OR-DOJ), Alison Kean (Portland Metro), and Sharyl Kammerzell (WSU).

Candidate info is below the break. The search committee is now soliciting comments about the candidates, due by Tuesday, at https://president.uoregon.edu/content/general-counsel-search-information. I was surprised to see that these are anonymous – in fact the form doesn’t even have a place to add your name.

5/9/2015: Candidate #5: Sharyl Kammerzell

Interview schedule (starts May 12), resume and cover letter:

A very important academic freedom case came out of events at WSU, Demers v. Austin. The Ninth Circuit decision was part of the series of events that led former UO Pres Gottfredson and the General Counsel’s office to abandon their efforts to clamp down on academic freedom at UO. The AAUP has a good summary of the case here. No reason to see anything bad about the fact she was working at WSU during the trial, but I hope someone will ask Ms Kammerzell what she thought of the case and the decision. Might be interesting.

5/6/2015: Candidate #4: Alison Kean

Full interview schedule, starts May 11th. Resume and cover letter here:

[Currently] General Counsel for Metro regional government, serving 25 cities and 3
counties, 1.5 million citizens, over 800 employees; responsible for agency’s legal affairs and
overseeing the provision of all legal services to all departments and commissions of the regional
government; represent agency in all litigation; full charge and control of all legal business of all
departments and commissions of agency; review and approve all written contracts, ordinances,
resolutions, executive orders, bonds, and all legally binding instruments of agency; appointed by
Metro Council President – one of two appointed agency positions. …

As the agency’s chief legal officer, I have made legal ethics training an agency priority. I have developed and implemented a program that instructs every Metro executive, manager, elected official, and employee of their duties under the Oregon Ethics Act. I am a recognized leader and instructor statewide on public officials’ ethical duties, and I regularly speak to and advise public officials and attorneys throughout the state on public sector ethics. With input from senior management I direct the agency’s public records disclosures with an emphasis on transparency, while protecting the agency’s rights to confidentiality when legal exemptions clearly apply. …

5/4/2015: GC finalist #3 Keith Kutler googles it in:

Interview starts May 6th, schedule here, cover letter and resume here. I’ve read a lot of job applications over the years – but never one telling the search committee to Google him if they really care enough to learn about his work:

Hint to graduating seniors: don’t do this. Next!

4/30/2015 update: Finalist #2: Doug Park for General Counsel?

Oh well, there goes the search committee’s credibility. Just kidding, I suppose they had to put him on the list. Finalist #2 is current acting GC Doug Park:

Park’s interview schedule is here (May 4), resume and cover letter here. It’s mostly a warning to our new president about the disasters that will befall UO in the absence of  Doug Park’s experienced guidance and leadership. Read the whole thing, I had to stop after this:

Dear Search Committee:

The University of Oregon’s mission is to help develop the next generation of leaders, teachers, critical thinkers and discoverers. I am delighted and humbled by the possibility of contributing to that mission as UO’s General Counsel. I am also undaunted by that prospect, even though I know it is a difficult and sometimes heartbreaking job. I am delighted because the UO is on the cusp of being able to fulfill its mission at unprecedented levels, and it would be a high honor to serve as its General Counsel during this transformational time. I am humbled because this is a leadership position charged with helping guide UO through many of its most complex challenges, where there is no margin for error. I am undaunted by these challenges because I love this school and believe that at this unique time in UO’s history, I am the most qualified person to lead the General Counsel’s Office. …

An evolving role for university general counsels across the country is assisting with serious misconduct and crisis situations. Not all crises can be avoided. But they can be successfully weathered with a team of experienced leaders. Since coming to UO in 2007, I have managed or assisted with many of UO’s most challenging cases, ranging from a situation where a student fired over 30 bullets into one of our housing units, to a state and federal investigation into grant mismanagement in our largest research institute, to high-profile sex assault allegations. Managing these types of cases involves collaboration between multiple UO departments and external constituents, tenacity, sensitivity and strategic decision making at every turn. In sum, if a university’s general counsel is not experienced with handling crisis situations from both a legal and practical perspective, the university will suffer.

I don’t see anything about Park’s role in hiding the Bellotti public records in the scandal that got Melinda Grier fired, or his complaint that my (failed) efforts to get GC attorneys to put their resumes on the GC website constituted sexual harassment, or his role in the countersuit against the student survivor of the alleged basketball gang rape, or his work with Shelley Kerr to grab her counseling records, or in the Librarygate investigation that got James Fox fired, or any of the other disasters that come out of our GC’s office like shit from a diseased cow. Maybe Park explains all that in the redacted part?

4/28/2015 update: From AroundTheOops. Candidate info is here. This looks like a far more credible search than the one Margie Paris (Law) ran after Melinda Grier was fired by Lariviere over the Mike Bellotti fiasco, and which led to the hiring of Randy Geller, who was “resigned” by Gottfredson in the midst of the alleged basketball gang rape fiasco, and then replaced with Doug Park as acting GC.

Candidate #1 is Thomas Dorer, currently at the University of Hartford:

Resume and cover letter here. Acting GC Doug Park is not on Dorer’s official interview schedule, which probably means Park is a finalist too. Nor are any of UO’s HLGR hired guns, such as noted big-tobacco attorneys Bill Gary and Sharon Rudnick. Presumably they’ll meet up Saturday.

2/5/2015 update: I’ll go out on a limb and guess that Doug Park is no longer a serious contender for the permanent GC job. So “Apply by Feb 6 for full consideration”.

1/21/2015: The search started in December. Coltrane finally posts General Counsel search info.

A week after the public records request below, Interim President Cotrane has finally posted information about the search to replace Interim General Counsel Doug Park. It’s good to hear that UO is at least following the affirmative action rules this time:

General Counsel Search Information

The University of Oregon is seeking to hire a General Counsel to the University. Doug Park is serving as interim General Counsel while a permanent replacement is sought.

The General Counsel to the University (GC) is the chief legal officer for the University of Oregon. The GC is responsible for managing the university’s legal affairs and overseeing the office’s provision of legal services to the university and the UO Board of Trustees. The General Counsel works closely with other executive officers, university units, and student government, and is authorized to accept legal process on behalf of the university. The General Counsel supervises the office budget and staff, including five other attorneys.

The complete position description can be found here.

President Scott Coltrane has appointed a search committee after seeking nominations from the university senate president and other campus stakeholders. The committee has been approved by Affirmative Action and Unclassified Personnel Services.

The committee includes:

Priscilla Southwell, Department head and Professor of Political Science
Meg Reeves, General Counsel at Oregon State University
Brad Shelton, Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation
David Schuman, Professor of Law
Angela Wilhelms, Secretary of the University

As the search progresses, additional information will be provided on this webpage.

Estimated Search Timeline

December 1–19, 2014
Review/revise position description, write announcement and advertise, seek nominations and appoint search committee

December 19, 2014
Office of the President sends documents to the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity (AAEO) for approval

January 11 and 18, 2015
Place advertisements

February 6, 2015: Closing Deadline
Search committee will begin review of files; open until suitable candidate is identified

March 2015
Invite finalists to campus for interviews

April 2015
Candidate arrives on campus

But who’s really in charge? Google “General Counsel University of Oregon” and you’ll see it’s still Randy Geller:

Weird. Maybe they’ll take that link down someday. It only took them a few hours to take down the page Geller posted appointing Melinda Grier as UO’s “General Counsel Emeritus”, after the Oregonian’s Steve Duin started asking questions.

I thought Gottfredson fired graciously accepted Geller’s request to retire and spend more time with his family back in April, the day after UO got back the EPD police report on the basketball rape allegations. Purely coincidental, I’m sure.

Geller now works for Harrang, Long, Gary and Rudnick, the same law firm he gave the university’s legal business to back in 2011, after President Larviere fired UO GC Melinda Grier over a football scandal. Small world.

1/20/2015 update: Pres Coltrane starts search to replace Doug Park with real General Counsel

At last Wednesday’s Senate meeting Pres Coltrane said the membership of this search committee was posted online. I can’t find it, and Dave Hubin’s PR office doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to release it:

Subject: public records request, General Counsel hiring committee
Date: January 14, 2015 at 12:57:14 PM PST
Cc: [email protected]
To: Lisa Thornton <[email protected]>

Dear Ms Thornton –

This is a public records request for a list of the members of the hiring committee for a new UO General Counsel.

I ask for a fee waiver on the basis of public interest.

Most universities post detailed information about the GC’s office, their attorneys, who to see about what legal matters, etc. Not UO – in fact Interim GC Doug Park thinks it’s harassment to ask for copies of the resumes of UO attorneys.

1/14/2015 update: Is this a legit open search, or is the fix in to give Geller’s pal and interim GC Doug Park the job? JH has a long history of cronyism, with the hiring of Chuck Triplett being just one recent example. Here’s the 2010 committee that hired Melinda Grier’s assistant Randy Geller to replace her, after Lariviere fired her over the Belotti fiasco:

Margie Paris, chair, dean of the school of law
Thomas Herrmann, UO law ’88, partner at Gleaves Swearingen Potter & Scott LLP
David Leith, associate attorney general, Oregon Department of Justice
Jamie Moffitt, executive senior associate athletic director for finance and administration
Michael Redding, vice president for university relations
Paul Shang, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students
Catherine Susman, director of purchasing and contract services

Strange, but I can’t find the names of the new hiring committee anywhere. So I’ve made a public records request.

1/8/2015:

Apply by Feb 6 for full consideration. The ad went up this morning, here. No word yet on who’s on the search committee, but given that Margie Paris (Law) chaired the committee that led the failed external search that resulted in the unfortunate promotion of Melinda Grier’s assistant Randy Geller, I assume she’s out.

Title:  General Counsel to the University
Department:  President’s Office
FTE:  1.0 (full-time)
Appointment Type:  Officer of Administration
Reports to:  UO President
Salary range:  $200,000 to $250,000 annually, plus an excellent benefits package
Duration:  12 months, renewable annually
Closing Date:  Search will remain open until filled; application review begins February 6, 2015
Start Date:  April 20, 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter

General Statement of Duties

The General Counsel to the University (GC) is the chief legal officer for the University of Oregon. The GC is responsible for managing the university’s legal affairs and overseeing the office’s provision of legal services to the university and the UO Board of Trustees. The General Counsel works closely with other executive officers, university units, and student government, and is authorized to accept legal process on behalf of the university. The General Counsel supervises the office budget and staff, including five other attorneys.

The General Counsel is one of four officers of the university as outlined in the UO’s bylaws. Thus, the position has a dual reporting requirement to the university president and the Board of Trustees, and serves as a member of the president’s executive leadership team. The GC participates in all meetings of the Board of Trustees or its committees, and works closely with the University Secretary on issues relating to public meetings, Board actions and resolutions, and UO policies.

Description of Duties

The General Counsel works in a variety of practice areas, including labor and employment, business matters, civil rights, contract review, litigation, environmental issues, copyright, information technology, intellectual property, technology transfer, property acquisitions, design and construction transactions, research transactions, student and faculty issues, tax, risk management, compliance, government ethics rules, and constitutional law. The university is a complex and diverse institution that generates a wide range of legal issues. Some of these are common to all large institutions; others (such as shared governance, freedom of speech, academic freedom, sponsored research, student rights, campus safety, the ADA, Title IX, Development, and Athletics) are unique to the environment of a large public university.

As the chief legal officer for the university, the General Counsel is responsible for managing the legal affairs of the university and overseeing the office’s provision of legal services across the entire spectrum of university life.

The GC advises the university’s senior leadership team, including the president, UO Board of Trustees, Senior Vice President and Provost, Vice President for Finance and Administration/CFO, and others, on the legal implications of strategy, business, and policy decisions.

The GC retains and supervises outside counsel when prudent. The GC works closely with the University Secretary on all matters with legal implications that come before the board.

This position supervises the office staff including five attorneys, one executive assistant/operations manager, and one legal assistant (all officers of administration).

Required Qualifications

• Possess a law degree from an accredited law school.
• Be a member of, or qualified for admission to, the Oregon State Bar.
• Have at least fifteen years of recent law practice experience. Substantial experience managing, directing, and coordinating the workload and work product of other attorneys, including outside counsel, and the Office of General Counsel.
• Demonstrated impeccable analytical, interpersonal, and written and oral communication skills, as well as high ethical standards, mature judgment, and the capacity to foster constructive outcomes in a complex environment involving an array of distinct stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.
• Demonstrated competence and confidence to operate with credibility at the senior executive level; maintaining objectivity while promoting appropriate outcomes, managing multiple stakeholder agendas, and upholding excellent client service standards.
• Possess superior intellect, flexibility, creativity, and the aptitude to be a true “generalist.”
• Notable experience demonstrating equity and inclusion to enable success for people from all walks of life while sharing common, fundamental values grounded in justice, civility, and respect while looking to diversity as a source of enrichment and strength.

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