Dear friends, As we wind down 2024, I am reflecting on what an eventful year it has been, both on and off campus. Among other things, we completed our five-year CAS strategic plan and have created an implementation plan to put our priorities into action. We also welcomed 64 new faculty—both…
Posts published by “uomatters”
Dear colleagues, The end of the year is a natural time for reflection and showing appreciation. I am grateful for all that you do to help make the University of Oregon the remarkable place that it is. I don’t use the word “remarkable” lightly. We have more Oregon students in…
Break out your hats and mark the day. On November 21st 2011, three thirteen years and four five six presidents ago, OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner and Board Chair Matt Donegan came down to UO with their ultimatum demanding Lariviere resign for trying to implement his plan to bring faculty pay…
The official UO obituary is here: Lillis was one of the rich businesspeople who worked with Phil Knight in the wake of the firing of President Richard Lariviere to transform UO from a poorly funded public university with a so-so sports program into a well funded sports program with a…
I remember when President Lariviere would talk bemusedly about “the athletic entertainment enterprise across the river”. Our new Pres is all in, despite the evidence that the hype is just not bringing in the out-of-state tuition money: Dear University of Oregon community, It is with great pleasure that I welcome…
Today the faculty union had a bargaining session with the administration, but nothing happened on salaries because the administration still has not provided the union with the analysis discussed in the email sent out to the faculty under Provost Long’s name 2 weeks ago. As an aside, I can understand…
Have Jamie Moffitt and Brian Fox found the money to pay the faculty like they pay JH administrators? Will the union demand $130K research and alcohol budgets for faculty too? How late will the administration team be this time? Show up and find out. From the faculty union: BargainingJoin us…
That would of course be Oregon State, for Assistant and Associate Profs. UO’s Fulls are still slightly ahead. The last time I looked, about 10 years ago, UO salaries were about 5% above OSU’s. Obviously the mix of disciplines is different, but I’d have expected UO’s shift away from liberal…
He wouldn’t send me his contract but eventually Kevin Reed’s Public Records Office complied with the law and provided it: 2024-PRR-471 … …
To the Law Faculty, the UO President, and the General Counsel, posted by request of Professor Raban: On May 23, UO President Karl Scholz announced that the university has reached a mutually beneficial agreement with UO Palestine—a coalition of four student organizations that demonstrated on campus for almost a month. The agreement includes, among…
Pres Karl Scholz contract 2023
And if the President job doesn’t work out, he’s got a fall-back guarantee of a sweet job as an Econ Professor – with no responsibilities for the first year:
Reposted in honor of Pres Scholz’s investiture:
5/23/2013: An anonymous source in the Provost’s office sends this memo about Gottfredson’s investiture ceremony:
Memo: Investiture Contingency Planning
Date: 5/23/2013
From: Provost Jim Bean
To: President Mike Gottfredson
Mike, I’m starting to worry about faculty turnout for your Knight Arena Investiture Ceremony next Thursday. I’ve warned the department heads that we’ll be taking attendance, but they don’t seem to care anymore, even when I dropped a hint that those 2% merit raises you put on the table might be at risk. It’s a big hall, and we need enough appropriately garbed faculty types in the audience to keep this from turning into another embarrassment for you.
President Lariviere had a huge faculty turnout for his investiture, in no small part because he’d just fired a widely despised General Counsel, and an Athletic Director who was burning through the academic side’s money like, well, like it was the academic side’s money. Something to think about. But if you’re not quite there yet I hope you’ll be happy with the ELT’s plan B:
VPAA Doug Blandy will grant all Duck student-athletes PhD’s and adjunct faculty status. They just need to pass a simple online exam he wrote. The Jock Box advisors say they can help out as usual, since it’s not even proctored. Mullens has cleared this with FAR Jim O’Fallon, who says that adjunct status won’t affect their NCAA eligibility so long as we don’t pay them. As if! (Say, this gives me a great idea for if the faculty go on strike.)
I got a deal on academic regalia from “Parties R Us”. The media will want a few full-professor greybeard types to focus on. I’ve lined up Frog, the guy who sells joke books on 13th – you’ve seen him, looks just like a biology professor. And then there’s the guy who bikes around campus yelling “Go Ducks, but LTD can kiss my sweaty nut-sack.” Turns out you were wrong about him being CAS Dean Scott Coltrane, but no one will know the difference. Best to keep him away from the mic though.
Dave Hubin tells me you’ve signed off on the heartfelt extemporaneous comments that Ann Wiens and the Gallatin Public Affairs consultants wrote. It took me a while to find a professor willing to deliver these. Tublitz is in Italy, and while Harbaugh was plenty interested after I brought up the stipend, it’s hard to hear him when he’s sober. In the end Frank Stahl agreed to do it. I think you’ve met him, very distinguished and his voice carries well.
Oh, one last thing – I’m afraid I won’t be able to make the ceremony. The Caddis fly hatch is peaking, and I’ve got a fishing date with John Moseley over at the lodge in Bend.
Good luck though, really.
Jim.
Presumably GC Kevin Reed will be on the board this time. More here:
About UO Faculty Club
The Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art host the UO Faculty Club. In its third incarnation, the Faculty Club means to provide a place where faculty can gather in a welcoming and collegial space. Gatherings take place weekly on Thursdays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm in the JSMA. Snacks and soft drinks provided; beer and wine available for purchase at the bar.
Posted on 4/3/2019: GC Kevin Reed believes “toxic” Faculty Club “reeks of white male privilege”
Over the past year or so I’ve received many angry emails from UO’s $352,612 a year VP & General Counsel Kevin Reed, above, accusing me of various things and threatening me with various forms of retaliation. I’m posting this latest because he cced others, and because it might be of more general interest:
From: Kevin Reed <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: University Service Opportunities
Date: April 3, 2019 at 9:10:31 AM PDT
To: Senate Executive Coordinator <[email protected]>, “William Harbaugh” <[email protected]>, Elizabeth Skowron <[email protected]>
Cc: [names and addresses of OA, SEIU, and ASUO student leaders redacted]
Bill [Senate Pres Harbaugh, me] and Elizabeth [Senate VP Skowron]
I write in my capacity as a proud Officer of Administration at the University of Oregon. In that capacity, and as a person who is committed to improving the functioning of shared governance at UO, I write to question your decision to hold “informational sessions” relating to opportunities to serve the Senate at the “Faculty Club.”
The Faculty Club is not open to OA’s, classified staff, GE’s or students. It is not an environment where any of those crucial constituencies are likely, in my view, to feel welcome or to show up. Neither to I believe it to be a place where members of UO’s marginalized communities feel in the slightest bit welcome. Indeed, the Faculty Club has earned a reputation on campus as being an exclusionary group, dominated by white men. Exactly the sort of “good ole boys club” I think the Senate would want to distance itself from. Curiously, however, Senate leadership has chosen to treat it as its clubhouse.
Indeed, a respondent to a recent campus survey on faculty hiring had this to say about the Faculty Club:
“The faculty club – an extension of UO senate and Bill’s blog is a place where gossip takes place in an exclusive zone. Sidebar conversations empower those who show up to a space that is less than welcoming to anyone outside a core group of faculty. It reeks of white male privilege – even the name Faculty Club is destructive and screams of exclusion and privilege. Why does the UO community not actively resist these toxic activities?”
As an OA who truly thinks UO deserves better, I could not have said it better. I add, however, that the message this sends is especially toxic in the context of the current budget situation, in which the president has called for significant cuts to programs. On his blog, the Senate President has been posting conversations that suggest that there is bloat that should be targeted for cuts in the ranks of student workers, classified staff and officers of administration who are dedicated to making this university a safe and highly effective organization.
I believe the University and the Senate deserve better.
Kevin S. Reed
219 Johnson Hall | Eugene, OR 97403-1226
(541) 346-3082 | [email protected]
My response:
Hi Kevin,
Thursday is the day! We need a strong turnout this Thursday, 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125, as the UA Bargaining Team presents our economic package to the administration. Our Article 26: Salary represents a significant increase to faculty pay through across-the-board, merit, and equity raises, as well as promotion increases. The UA…
Currently serving as dean of something or other at UCSD. His Ph.D. is in Higher Education & Organizational Change. You can find his cv and letter at https://president.uoregon.edu/uo-search-provost-and-senior-vice-president. According to his Google Scholar page he’s done research on athletic scandals and faculty satisfaction. Seems like a good fit! Whoops, Ed…