In the future, Gottfredson said, his presidential press conferences will be more substantive — and not like White House press briefings, where reporters are reduced to hollering their urgent questions at the president.
That’s not exactly how things have worked out. From what I can tell he hasn’t had a single substantive talk with reporters, until Dash Paulson managed to get this interview in the ODE today. Gottfredson says his main efforts have been external: working on the independent board proposal.
Regarding transparency, he absolutely supports it. He just won’t do it:
When asked about transparency at UO, Gottfredson said, “I absolutely support it.” However, he didn’t dive into details. When asked about making public record requests less expensive (or free, as they are at his previous university) Gottfredson said, “That’s something we’ll look into.”
Shortly after taking office, Gottfredson formed an advisory group to investigate institutional transparency at UO which would be convened by Dave Hubin, senior assistant to the president. The group was given no instruction to keep a written record of their proceedings. When asked why they don’t keep a written record, Gottfredson smiled and said they don’t have to write everything down. But why shouldn’t an administrative group convened at a public institution, write down their proceedings? Gottfredson suggested Hubin would be the person to speak with.
Speaking of which, I’m still waiting to get a copy of his official calendar, which I paid Dave Hubin $107 for, 2 weeks ago. What’s up with that Dave?
Meanwhile, if you want to donate $5 to the cause of transparency at UO, here’s the link:
| $5 to pay UO’s public records fees |
When will SOMEBODY introduce a policy proposal in the UO Senate to make FOI requests low-cost or free, at least to Employees.
‘A president’s power lies particularly in zones of indifference – areas only a few people care much about.’ Bolman & Deal