Author Archives: uomatters

That would be Oregon State’s VP Jon Boeckenstedt. I don’t know why UO’s Roger Thompson treats these as a state secret, even the HECC has them:

The NYT has the good news here, this time about UCLA.

That’s the word from multiple sources at the department head Zoom meeting. Apparently the plan is to blame this on UESS and staff, but we all know the real reason is that our administrative overlords can’t stand the fact that our students want to take their parents to department ceremonies where they can meet their friends and teachers, instead of some Duck Crap thing where you listen to the President and Provost bloviate from the Autzen big screen.

You can bet the Senate will be taking this up, as what could be more of an “academic matter as commonly understood” than graduation.

From the Dartmouth Review:

In place of large, on-campus administrative bureaucracies, UATX plans to make administration remote, outsourcing positions abroad. Not only will this arrangement save university funds, Howland noted, but it would also pay foreign workers livable, US-level wages. 

and in a move Phil Knight’s BoT still only dreams of, there will be no tenure – but at least UATX recognizes this will entail some costs:

The trade-up for no tenure, Howland said, would be the promise of low course loads and hard-to-find competitive salaries. Academic freedom in this tenure-less paradigm would be guaranteed by an external and independent committee that would adjudicate conflicts between faculty and the administration.

After a dribble in June, JH has gone dark on this. Rumor down at the faculty club is that the survey shows broad dissatisfaction with our senior administrators, who have been arguing about who should get the blame and how to spin the analyses. What’s the truth (to a statistical approximation)? Let’s find out:

On Nov 3, 2022, at 5:17 PM, William Harbaugh <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Public Records Officer – 

This is a request for 

a) The contract between UO and Gallup for the IDEAL 2022 Climate Survey.

b) Copies of any reports sent by Gallup to UO that include any results or analyses of the IDEAL Campus Climate Survey.

As noted on the survey web page at https://inclusion.uoregon.edu/ideal-climate-survey-2022-faq, 

8. What does the UO plan to do with results to the IDEAL Campus Climate Survey?

The results of the IDEAL Campus Climate Survey belong to everyone. [emphasis added] They will be used by campus leaders to understand what we need to do more of and/or differently to live up to our values of inclusion and equity. With support from Gallup, we will:

Determine what the results mean and identify priorities and timelines for addressing them;

Identify campus-level systems, policies and structures, through which interventions will lead to meaningful change,

Put plans to enhance engagement into action.

We will provide results for individual units and also engage a similar process of priority setting that aligns with campus goals, actions and assessments. All results will be shared in a way that maintain and protect confidentiality.

I ask for a fee waiver on the basis of public interest as explained in this statement and many similar statements by the university administration regarding this survey.

I am ccing VP for DEI Yvette Alex-Assensoh, as she should have these documents readily at hand and be able to provide them without your office’s customary fees and delays. 

Thanks, 

Bill Harbaugh, Professor, UO Economics, [email protected]

I’ll update this post with responses from VP Alex-Assensoh and the PRO as they come in.

Just kidding, this will be a completely closed search that will end with the Board telling the university who they have hired. Our Trustees do, however, hope to delude you into believing that you actually have some input:

Dear University of Oregon community members,

Thank you to everyone who participated in the presidential search forums earlier this week at both the Eugene and Portland campuses or one of our other outreach meetings to garner feedback on what the UO community wants to see in its next leader. We appreciate the feedback and input the UO community has provided so far.

We would like to offer a virtual forum for anyone in the UO community to attend. The virtual presidential forum will be held on Tuesday, November 1 from 5:00–6:00 p.m. PST. The forum can be accessed by using this link:

https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/96135248396?pwd=SkkzVnE5VWJxZUgyY0ZtbnowQ1NuQT09
passcode for those accessing by phone: 068616

In addition, we are continuing to accept feedback and recommendations through the respective online forms. The online form submission period will end on Friday, November 4.

After the conclusion of the forums and online input period, the committee will review the information provided and finalize the presidential profile. The profile will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees for approval during its December meeting.

Again, thank you for providing your input as we consider the qualities and characteristics that should define the university’s next leader.

Sincerely,

Connie Seeley ‘92
Search Chair

Renée Evans Jackman ‘97
Search Vice Chair

That would be at UVa. Here at Oregon, our trustees have *never* let the University Senate pick the non-voting faculty representative – they just nominate a lackey to the Governor, who rubber stamps them.

From InsideHigherEd:

“Faculty have a legitimate desire to ensure that their representative is truly representative of the faculty as evidenced by majority support,” UVA’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors recently wrote to the Senate and the board. “Selecting the individual from a slate of candidates could result in the seating of an ostensible ‘faculty representative’ on the board who has slight electoral support and does not reflect the aspirations and perspectives of the faculty at large.”

“I was at the University of Oregon,” Schill said, “Go home tonight, (and) be happy because you’re not a public university in a state that doesn’t believe in higher education. This is a much better place to be.”

From Northwestern Univ’s student newspaper.

Dear Colleagues,  

Welcome to the start of the 2022-23 academic year! And, for those of you—like me—who are new to campus, welcome to the University of Oregon and the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)! This is already shaping up to be a remarkable year—we learned this week that UO is welcoming a record 5,388 freshman students. 

The buzz around campus in these first few days has been truly energizing: parents and new students tackling move-ins; returning students enthusiastically greeting old friends; faculty busily preparing their syllabi and courses; advisors guiding undergrad and graduate students; and CAS and university staff ensuring that everything runs smoothly. The flurry of activity is contagious. 

I am excited by what lies ahead in the coming year, including the return to a more pre-pandemic-like existence with increased in-person activities. The pandemic has taught us how critical face-to-face interaction is to building and sustaining our CAS community.  As part of the return to “normal,” we have asked instructors to encourage and expect student engagement in classes. For many, this will mean a more structured set of expectations and somewhat less flexibility than during the pandemic. At the same time, we know that coronavirus variants are still with us, so please take care of yourselves and stay home if you become ill. 

This year, we expect to focus on new initiatives in Data Science and the Environment, our new School of Global Studies and Languages, and student success and outcomes. To support the latter, Melissa Baese-Berk, Associate Dean for Student Success, Career and Pedagogy, and Jamie Bufalino, Associate Dean for Student Success, Advising, and Curriculum, have joined the CAS leadership team. We also are implementing Shared Services across CAS, and we are working to make the transition as smooth as possible, knowing that such restructuring always comes with unexpected challenges. 

Finally, we continue to work toward advancing our core principles of diversity, equity and inclusion to make CAS a place where all community members—faculty, staff, and students—feel that they belong and can thrive. Though it goes without saying, please be reminded that bigotry, discrimination, or harassment have no place at UO. If you see or experience this type of intolerable behavior, report it at: investigations.uoregon.edu/how-report. 

I am thrilled to be at UO and I am genuinely excited to be supporting the transformational work that goes on in CAS through its teaching, research and service. I hope this year is a productive and stimulating one for you all. I look forward to meeting you and learning about your work throughout the year. 

Go Ducks!

Sincerely,

Chris Poulsen

Tykeson Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

University of Oregon

Where will Int Pres Philips spend all this tuition money? From Around the 0:

That would be new faculty union president Mike Urbancic (Economics):

United Academics Fall Picnic

Time to celebrate! Join us this Friday, September 30 from 3-6pm at Alton Baker Shelter #2. Come out for a day in the park and celebrate the beginning of the new academic year and the salary increases our bargaining team fought to get us. This is our union-wide picnic, so please feel free to bring your colleagues, partners, and children along for some snacks, and some fun.

Greetings, colleagues.

I want to extend my best wishes to you as we begin another academic year. And to our newly arrived colleagues: Welcome to campus! We’re glad to have you with us.

Before the start of each new academic year I wonder if the novelty will wear off and I’ll feel like I’m just going through the motions. But standing in front of hundreds of first-year students  on their first day of college classes remains absolutely electrifying.

One of those students asked on their end-of-class reflection: “Do you actually like teaching?” YES! Despite the occasional shortcomings and challenges of working in higher education, I truly love the core of my job.

I believe many of us cherish much of our work at the University of Oregon. Other aspects, however, we may often find challenging, and even the energy of a new year may not be sufficient to reconnect us to the parts of our jobs that bring us joy and brought us here in the first place. 

Let your UA representatives, stewards, and officers know what we can do to actively help you or your local colleagues focus on what you love the most about your work. 

Likewise, reach out to us if you have the capacity to lend your expertise and support as we labor collectively to implement the provisions of the recently ratified CBA within units and across campus this year.

With new leadership at the top of our institution–as well as a few of its constituent colleges–this year is filled with possibility and promise. Let’s seize the opportunities for exercising our role in shared governance. Let’s strive to build a university that allows us to fully realize our joy and our purpose for being here. 

In solidarity, 

Mike Urbancic
Senior Instructor, Economics
President, United Academics of the University of Oregon
AAUP/AFT Local 3209, AFL-CIO
[email protected]

Or, as Richard Lariviere called them, “the entertainment side of our university”

Dear University of Oregon community,

Welcome to the start of fall term and the new academic year. I am honored to lead this university community. It is a responsibility I take very seriously. And that’s because together we seek to make our world better through cutting-edge research and creative practice, transformative teaching and mentoring, and opportunities that prepare students to make a difference and lead fulfilling lives.

I firmly believe we are better together. Together we will achieve our mission of understanding the world around us and maximizing the human potential of every member of our community.

To our students, new and returning, welcome! It was a joy to help our first-year students to move into their residence halls during Week of Welcome. It may be my favorite time of the year. This university is fully committed to your success. I encourage you to make the most of every moment in the classroom and out.

To our faculty and staff, we once again have this wonderful opportunity to start anew, to mentor and guide our students, to discover and create, and continue to reimagine what it means to be committed to the greater good as a public research university. This year we will be able to return—more and more—to the core activities and values that brought us to the UO in the first place.

I am excited for the year ahead, for what each of you will experience and achieve, and for the future of the University of Oregon.

Thank you. And Go Ducks!

Patrick Phillips
Interim President and Professor of Biology

I’m sure this will work out just as well as Concur has:

Interim President Phillips does not seem to be proposing any actual discipline – because of free-speech rights, or just because “what happens at Autzen stays at Autzen”? Quite the contrast with how Pres Schill dealt with the students who interrupted his state of the university address.

Dear University of Oregon community members,

During Saturday’s football game against Brigham Young University, a small group of fans started a chant that targeted and denigrated members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Meanwhile on the field, both teams were engaged in an exciting game, which itself was preceded by the BYU players graciously honoring the memory of UO football player Spencer Webb. What a shame that the hard work and earnest effort of so many might be overshadowed by the egregious behavior of so few.

Directly harassing someone based on their religious beliefs violates our core value of full inclusion as a university. I am grateful that the Oregon Pit Crew, our student fan organization, immediately issued an apology about the incident. It is worth considering how corrosive this kind of behavior can truly be to each of us. While some might see these chants as being directed against an opponent from another school, they are also an attack on all members of our community. There are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on our own football team, and we know there were members of that faith wearing green and yellow sitting right next to those chanting on Saturday. How did they feel in that moment? I hope that everyone will reflect on the reality that, what may seem like a lark to some, tells someone else in our community that they are not welcome, and that they should be afraid based on who they are and what they believe. Our path toward true inclusion starts with empathy for how others might be experiencing a given incident or interaction.

These actions remind us that discrimination can affect each of us along some dimension of our lives—faith, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical or cognitive ability, socioeconomic background—but for some, it is part and parcel of their daily experience, and it can weigh heavily. We have students from all backgrounds at the UO. Without question, some have been more vulnerable to discrimination than others, as are many of the groups of faculty and staff who have spoken to me over the last few years with true distress in their voices.

I condemn the behavior of these fans on Saturday. It angers me. It disgusts me. It also provides a moment to remind ourselves that these actions, as well as any other actions of a similar flavor, are anathema to who we are as a community. These types of incidents call upon us to stand up against such behavior when we witness it—a task made easier when we stand together. This is who we seek to be as a university, and the standard to which we hold ourselves. We will continue to educate our community about our values and how to live them in words and actions.

Patrick Phillips
President and Professor of Biology

Unfortunately this would be our old new president and provost:

From: Provost
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 12:26 PM
To: Deans Working Group
Subject: Faculty Salaries
The Missouri article stating that UO has the lowest salaries in the AAU has caused quite a stir (we have since verified that they were correct). Low salaries were always thought of as just Oregonian. But 34 out of 34 is a whole other thing. We cannot have this. Richard’s reaction was “this is job #1.” Richard will likely have an announcement on how we are attacking this when politically feasible (after last gavel). Please communicate to your faculty that the Missouri article really got our attention. This may require disruptive solutions.
Thanks, Jim
_______________________________
James C. Bean
Senior Vice President and Provost

Five days later, the Register Guard’s Editors essentially endorsed Lariviere’s plan to get UO faculty to the AAU medians:

The market for academic talent is national, even global. From a salary standpoint, Oregon has dropped out of the competition. The state is fortunate in having universities that continue to meet high standards, but Oregon’s advantages — a relatively low cost of living and a high quality of life — can only be relied upon to make up part of the salary deficit.

Richard Lariviere, who will become president of the UO in July, comes to Eugene from the University of Kansas, an AAU university with an average faculty salary of $91,400 — 25 percent higher than at the UO. He’s no doubt aware that higher education claimed 15.1 percent of Oregon’s general fund budget in 1987-89, but received only 6.4 percent in 2007-09. One of Lariviere’s continuing challenges will be to persuade Oregon’s governor and Legislature that underfunding higher education has consequences.

In March 2011 Scott Coltrane, at the time CAS Dean, announced his plans to implement this for CAS faculty:

Russ Tomlin, then VP for Academic Affairs, released a detailed spreadsheet showing the plan for the entire UO, designed to get salaries to the AAU comparator averages by no later than 2014:

I don’t have the data to show if UO salaries are still at the absolute bottom – for a while there the union was doing pretty well with the raises – but they are really, really bad. Unless of course you’re in the Knight Campus.