9/3/2011: That’s the headline of today’s RG story by Diane Dietz:
When University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere returns from today’s football game in Texas, he will have to produce a report justifying why the UO gave pay raises worth about $1.9 million a year to about 390 administrators several months ago. George Pernsteiner, chancellor of the Oregon University System, asked for the report Friday, a day after The Register-Guard publicized the raises.
Lariviere and Bean do an OK job defending the raises. There is not a word in the story on Pernsteiner or Kenton‘s pay and perks. UO students pay for Pernsteiner’s maid service, mortgage and his morning croissant and the RG is bragging they are making *Lariviere* explain where the tuition money is going?
Why does the RG hate Lariviere, and leave it up to the Oregonian to investigate OUS? The story has this from former OUS Board Chair Paul Kelly (still on the board):
That’s why higher education board member Paul Kelly Jr., a private-sector attorney, said he was very surprised to learn Friday about the UO raises. The education board oversees the state university system, including the UO. It would be nice to give every deserving employee a raise, but it would not be affordable, he said.
Yes, Kelly is the model of fiscal caution when it comes to raises for staff making $30,000 a year. But here’s his signature on Dr. Pernsteiner’s May 2010 contract, giving him a *retroactive* raise and perks that now total well over $350,000:
That last one was the subject of this audit by the Secretary of State’s Audits Division, which concluded
Yes, it would not be affordable to give the staff raises. There would be no UO tuition money left over to dole out to Paul Kelly’s buddies.
So they raised tuition, largely on struggling Oregonians, to give good raises to the faculty and administration. That is going to go over well. And to top it off, they were doing it for the good of the Oregon economy!
(But what are the other campuses doing with their tuition increases if not giving raises? And what is happening to academic salaries in other states? A good story there, if the reporters weren’t dullards.)
I feel bad for Lariviere, if he doesn’t survive here. Either he is really a political imbecile, or he had already decided he was finished here, and decided that this was his swan song.
But he tried to do something really imaginative with the New Partnership.
I wonder what the Oregonians will say if Phil Knight announces that he’s decided that $800 million would be better used at Stanford University?
I suppose they’ll say it’s all the fault of the elitists at UO!
Bean’s retention argument would make more sense if he hadn’t given a $11,000 raise to Frances Dyke. You can say she resigned or was fired, but the search for her replacement was well under way months ago.
Actually, I’ve heard her replacement search is not going so well, and she may be asked to stay on past the time she wants to.
No receipts from Frohnmayer’s European sabbatical yet? You’re slacking off, UOM. And how much did he have to repay UO?
As implied in a post following the news item regarding the UO Admin Raises (as featured front page in the Friday Sept 2 RG article), I have a few more things to say on this matter. Call them clarifications if you wish. Though they may just get you more confused. What follows is drawn directly from a response I wrote to a faculty person who asked me some questions recently regarding my union’s “agenda.”:
“Some things the reporter wrote have actually misconstrued reality a wee bit (or more than a bit). While she was fairly right on with quotes by me in the Friday article, by the second article I have been referred to as a “union analyst”. I am not a union analyst, and this was good old fashioned grassroots activism and whistle blowing. (Though I happen to be the Alternate Bargaining Table Rep for the U.O. classified employees.)
Furthermore, the first (#1) document Diane Dietz was provided is referred to as the six-digit list. And it is the one that does not have athletics folks on it. It is not the one that she, not I, used to arrive at her percentage details…which does have athletics included. (Call that one #2, yes I know it is confusing….and that was actually produced by another volunteer union member.) The scanned sheet, which was sent to her by a union friend of mine, was not created for her, but rather by me (from the larger list, #2) to use among the membership to educate then on our Administration’s bloat, and lack of “shared sacrifice”. Though not an official union document, union staff did end up bringing copies of the six-digit list to at least one of our rallies.
Leaving athletics off was not intended to skew numbers, as this sheet was disgusting enough without them and the distraction they create, especially when Chip gets included with his 533%. I understand the long standing issues regarding athletics and its overshadowing of academics and so on, but in the eleventh hour of a nasty bargaining contract campaign is not the time to get folks (the campus or the public) focused on the details of how athletics gets funded…..”
I think it is far out that uomatters keeps hammering away at any and all UO administrative matters that need light shed on them. But we (the lowest paid second class citizens of this fine university) have only one more bargaining date certain with the Oregon University System, and it arrives in a hair over one week — September 14th. So some of us are downright obsessed with getting from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible.
What would really be swell is if all who read this blog and care to support us will call George up this coming Friday. This is a day of action for SEIU and any who want to support them! Jot this down, please:
George’s number is (503) 725 5700.
And of course any time you want to call the Governor, that is fine. Whether or not he really supervises George is unclear. (Ramona of the Kitz office implied as much in a conversation with me a couple weeks back.) Especially since SB 242, which gives the OUS mega-autonomy with their budget, has been signed by the Governor himself. Hmmmmm, ya mean the OUS could think outside the box? Yes, they could!
The Kitz number is (503) 378 3111.
Thanks.
Star Holmberg
FYI, here is a message I just sent to our union’s alternate email list, uounion:
I have accepted an invitation from Frog (aka David Miller) to appear on his Wednesday 7 pm radio show on KWVA, the University of Oregon student-run station at 88.1 FM. That is the “Left Out” program on September 7th, or today for most reading this.
We will be chatting about union stuff, in particular the lack of “shared sacrifice” we SEIU folks have been experiencing here at the U.O. in the last biennium. While we have taken a huge financial hit during that time, raises for administrators have been quite common.
Of course the subject of our recent bargaining impasse will factor into our conversation.
Please tune in if you have a chance. You might find it interesting. Here is the radio station link:
http://kwva.uoregon.edu/
And in case you are wondering about this “Frog” person, here is a helpful link:
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2010/11/04/coverstory2.html
Star Holmberg