8/26/2010: Pres Lariviere has a new blog post on his UO restructuring plan:
The Oregon University System (OUS) has adopted aspects of our proposal, including a plan to seek legislative authority for the creation of campus-level governing boards that would guide individual universities’ operations.
Now comes a critical next phase in the discussion: introducing the proposal to Oregon’s lawmakers and continuing to work with the Oregon University System. I will be making a presentation in September to the Oregon Legislature’s Higher Education Workgroup, and a major focus throughout the fall will be to expand the discussion and build support heading into the 2011 legislative session.
The plan has its own website here. (They seem to have eliminated comments and deleted the existing ones, but are still calling it a dialog. With whom?) The backstory to the legislative meeting is a disagreement between Lariviere, who wants independence for UO, and OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner and the OUS staff, who want to keep control – and their paychecks!
OUS control makes it much more difficult for UO to get donors: they know OUS siphons off half of every dollar they give UO and sends it to other campuses, by cutting UO’s share of state higher ed support. Economists call this crowding out, and from what I can see Phil Knight knows it cold. So I think Lariviere’s plan requires independence from OUS to work, and he’s going to have to fight to get it.
Working group co-leaders are
Senator Mark Hass, D-Beaverton,
Rep. Tobias Read, D-Beaverton,
Other members:
Senators
Chris Edwards, D-Eugene
Frank Morse, R-Albany
Dave Nelson, R-Pendleton
Representatives
Sara Gelser, D- Corvallis
Michael Dembrow, D-Portland
Betty Komp, D-Woodburn
Greg Smith, R-Heppner
Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio
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