Board of Trustees to meet Mar 16 & 17

Last updated on 03/16/2020

3/16/2020: N0 liveblog since meeting is closed to visitors, live-streaming is failing.

I showed up at Ford Alumni this morning and was told the Board has banned all visitors from the room – no advance notice and no mention on the Board’s website.

The last time I got kicked out of a board meeting was the one on the IAAF Track and Field Championship bid, when Angela Wilhelms lied to me and the RG’s Diane Dietz, claiming it was a “training session” and that the Public Meetings law allowed her to ban reporters and mere bloggers.

Also, the live-streaming is now breaking up, at least for me on campus, and is unusable.

Supposedly I’ll be allowed into Tuesday’s meeting though, because I signed up to give public comment. I’ll try and live blog it.

3/15/2010: Expect frequent updates Monday and Tuesday.

Live streamed at https://trustees.uoregon.edu/meetings All meetings are in the Ford Alumni Center Ballroom, are open to the public, and given the coronavirus situation everything is subject to change. Presumably more than the usual number of Trustees will be phoning it in, this time literally.

The main items for our Trustees to rubber-stamp this quarter are

$12M for a bigly new video screen at Autzen,

a risky new guaranteed tuition plan that does not yet have the necessary donor support, and

a new multi-million Duck media deal. Wilhelms has redacted all the interesting numbers from that, but it seems to cut the academic budget’s take even more. Hard to say how much, since Kevin Reed’s Public Records Office still won’t release the public records on it.

Schedule in brief:

Monday March 16:

10 AM: Academic and Student Affairs Committee

12. PM:  Secret Board meeting where Pres Schill tells them how well he thinks the Faculty Union bargaining is going.

2:30 PM: Finance and Facilities Committee

Tuesday March 17:

9:30 a.m. Full Board meeting.

12:00 PM. Tour of The Phildo for interested Trustees.

As usual, Board Secretary Angela Wilhelms has done her best to make it as difficult as possible to find the board’s agenda and meeting materials. So as usual I’ve extracted these from the pdf’s, added hyperlinks, and will add some more with commentary as the meetings progress.

Schedule in full, details to be added:

Monday March 16, 10 AM: Academic and Student Affairs Committee. Materials

Provost’s Report

Yes, there were a few understudies willing to do this job for less than union scale, but from what I’ve seen so far Patrick Phillips is earning his paycheck. So why do they list everyone’s name in the program except his?

1. College of Education’s Institutional Plan for Educator Equity in Teacher Preparation – Update: Randy Kamphaus, dean of the College of Education; Dianna Carrizales-Engelmann, director of Administration.

The Legislature made them do it.

2. Accreditation – Mid-Cycle Report: Ron Bramhall, associate vice provost for academic excellence; Chuck Triplett, associate vice president for academic infrastructure and accreditation liaison officer.

Our accreditors at the NWCCU are making them do it.

3. UO Career Center: Paul Timmins, executive director

Should be interesting. This has not been UO’s strong point, but should be.

4. Student Success – Measuring Outcomes: Doneka Scott, vice provost for undergraduate education and student success; Kevin Marbury, vice president for student life; Elliot Berkman, professor of psychology and vice president of the University Senate; Michael Griffel, assistant vice president and director of University Housing; and Paul Timmins, executive director of the UO Career Center.

Recess meeting for [Full Board] executive session / lunch. Reconvene approx. 1:00 p.m. Monday, March 16, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. Ford Alumni Center, Room 403. This meeting is an executive session only and is held as authorized under ORS 192.660(2)(d). It is closed to members of the public and the media. Subjects of the meeting will include: discussions related only to current collective bargaining between the UO and United Academics. 

5. PathwayOregon Overview: Jim Brooks, associate vice president and director of financial aid; Doneka Scott, vice provost for undergraduate education and student success.

Last I looked this program – which waves tuition for low income in-state students with decent GPAs and then surrounds them with support services – was a model. But it doesn’t have enough money to help lower middle class students.

6. UO-OHSU Partnerships: Patrick Phillips, provost and senior vice president; David Conover, vice president for research and innovation; Bill Cresko, professor and executive director of the Data Science Initiative.

7. Standardized Tests in Admissions: Jim Rawlins, assistant vice president for admissions; Janet Woodruff-Borden, executive vice president for academic affairs.

UO plans to follow the flagship OSU in going “test optional”, meaning students can choose not to submit their SAT/ACT scores. Good idea, not likely to have a big impact.

Monday March 16, 2020 2:30 p.m. Finance and Facilities Committee. Materials

1. Quarterly Audit Report: Leah Ladley, chief auditor; Amy Smith, senior auditor

Chuck Lillis and other UO boosters put up $500K in campaign donations, and got SB 270 through the legislature. The new law took away the State’s ability to audit UO. Now we only have internal auditors. They are beholden to Lillis, who has a bad track record including losing multiple ERISA lawsuits involving defrauding employee retirement funds, and serving on the WAMU board as it went through the largest financial services bankruptcy in US history, so far.

 Ladley is Lillis’s third UO internal auditor since the BoT took over. Not a good sign.

2. Quarterly Finance and Treasury Reports; Update on Bond Sale Activity (Action): Jamie Moffitt, vice president for finance and administration and CFO; Jeff Schumacher, director of treasury operations

3. Autzen Stadium Audio/Video Project (Action): Rob Mullens, director of intercollegiate athletics

What can you say,

4. Amended Multi-Media Agreement (Action): Rob Mullens, director of intercollegiate athletics

Show us the records.

Monday March 16, 12PM: Full Board Exec Session to hear about Faculty Union 

Monday, March 16, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. Ford Alumni Center, Room 403 This meeting is an executive session only and is held as authorized under ORS 192.660(2)(d). It is closed to members of the public and the media. Subjects of the meeting will include: discussions related only to current collective bargaining between the UO and United Academics.

Tuesday MARCH 17, 2020 | 9:30 a.m. Ford Alumni Center, Full Board regular session. Materials

President’s Report –

Public Comment – Social distancing protocols will be in place for those wishing to make public comment in person. Public comment may also be submitted via email to [email protected].

1. ASUO and University Senate Reports -ASUO President Sabinna Pierre -University Senate President Elizabeth Skowron

2. Tuition and Mandatory Fees for Academic Year 2020-2021 (Action): Michael Schill, President; Jamie Moffitt, Vice President for Finance and Administration; Kevin Marbury, Vice President for Student Life [Materials can be found under the bookmark for Agenda Item #5 – page 27.]

3. COVID-19 Planning and Response at UO: Andre Le Duc, Chief Resilience Officer and AVP for Safety and Risk Services [Materials can be found under the bookmark for Agenda Item #2 – page 9.]

4. Honorary Degree – James F. Ivory (Action): Michael Schill, President [Materials can be found under the bookmark for Agenda Item #3 – page 11.]

5. Resolutions and Seconded Motions from Committee (Actions) [Materials can be found under the bookmark for Agenda Item #4 – page 17.]

4.1 Seconded Motion from FFC – Autzen Audio/Video Project: Ross Kari, FFC Chair

4.2 Seconded Motion from FFC – Amended Multi-Media Agreement: Ross Kari, FFC Chair

4.3 Seconded Motion from FFC – Bond Refund Authorization: Ross Kari, FFC Chair