6/17/2011: UO has an entire press office to report the fluff, so here at UO Matters we concentrate on the bad shit. I think those economists call this comparative advantage derived from idiosyncratic factor endowments.
But, frankly, it’s getting harder to be so relentlessly negative. Our kleptomaniac President Emeritus Dave Frohnmayer – he’s not even on the UO payroll any more. His unfortunate lackey Melinda Grier – gone. His Provost John Moseley and his $1 million a year Bend retirement plan – gone. Our superhuman 2.1 FTE Diversity VP Charles Martinez – back to mere professing, as of 8/1/2011. That “dangerous wounded Nutria” Frances Dyke – she’s on her last leg. Rich “Huron” Linton – shunted off to some harmless sinecure. Furloughs for our underpaid staff? Lariviere dealt with it – and at a big political and perhaps personal cost.
It’s not all good. Lorraine Davis – still feeding at the trough. Provost Jim Bean – where is our money going Jim? Randy Geller and Liz Denecke – still good for grins. Our “unsubsidized” athletic department? Laugh at the ground.
But Lariviere has hired and promoted a raft of clearly competent VP’s. Some are more than clearly competent. These people are coming here because they sense they will have a chance to do something positive. This is Lariviere’s number one job – leave us with a competent crew. He’s doing it. UO is in much, much better shape than 2 years ago, and there’s hope for still more improvement.
Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcasts.
I wish I could be as optimistic as UOMatters on this issue. Has UOMatters forgotten its own warnings about the appointments of Bean, Geller, and Shelton with no search? and the new VP for research? Time will tell, but judgment [mid June] is premature. and for International Affairs? Maybe. For Diversity? for CFO? All this observer sees a very mixed record with a number of downsides and unproven entities.