Marcus resigned from the UO Administration as CAS Dean, effective Jan 2019, after disagreements with President Schill on matters of principle. Now he’s joined the Faculty Union: Dear […] I want to let you know that I have just joined the ranks of United Academics as a dues paying member.…
Posts published by “uomatters”
5/6/2020 update:
The latest email from HR is here. It gives the faculty a 6 day extension on the demand for requests for remote teaching. I clicked on the Remote Work Request Form link in the email. I was surprised to learn that there’s a university policy requiring all employees to demonstrate honesty in communication & conduct. I guess there’s an exemption for JH administrators.
In any case I’ve got a fifth of Laphroaig for whoever submits the best reason in the comments for wanting to work remotely. In keeping with UO policy, all entries must start with “Honestly, ”
5/5/2020: HR gives faculty til Friday to get BMI up to 40 & request opt-out from in-person teaching
A letter to campus from one of our our Italian correspondents. Page down for her op-ed in today’s Oregonian: From: Melissa Graboyes <[email protected]> Subject: UO Fall Term Planning–Concerns about the Safety of In-Person and On-Campus Instruction Date: May 6, 2020 at 6:54:09 AM PDT To: Andre Le Duc <[email protected]> Cc:…
Just kidding, apparently Uncle Phil’s not going to come through with the second $500M for the Knight Campus, so they’re going to hire a specialist to hit up our other donors – to report to Knight Director Rob Guldberg and not UO Development, so there won’t be any leakage. And…
6/1/2020: From the Wall Sreet Journal, not the fake news people at Around the O: I wonder what other boondoggles UO is supporting. 5/4/2020: UO rents out unreinforced masonry building to FEMA for mask decontamination Within 1/2 mile of most of UO’s student housing. Doesn’t really sound like the most…
Outreach to faculty and staff as we plan for on-campus activities Dear Colleagues, Last week, President Schill and Provost Phillips announced that discussions are underway to proactively develop plans for a number of possible scenarios that would allow the university to be open for in-person, on-campus instruction this fall. The…
A bunch of these going around, here’s the one from Ohio: https://www.change.org/p/ou-aaup-volunteer-gmail-com-faculty-firings-no-confidence-vote?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=fb4f9f60-8bf1-11ea-a569-416d1811d8e6
Introducing our new “Cry for Help” series. If you know of a good campus related event, post it in the comments and each Friday we’ll highlight one and put it at the top of the blog. 5/1/2020: A cry for help from Brian McWhorter: Today at 4p! Watch Eugene Ballet…
ACADEMIC COUNCIL: UPDATED ACADEMIC CONTINUITY EXPECTATIONS The Academic Council met 4-22-20 to discuss academic continuity planning for the duration of the COVID-19 disruption. The Academic Continuity Plan approved by the Academic Council on March 4, 2020 (https://senate.uoregon.edu/2020/03/05/academic-continuity-plan-for-the-coronavirus-health-emergency/) remains in effect until the academic disruption is declared over by the Academic…
From Around the 0, of course: University of Oregon students, faculty members and staff are invited to attend a virtual town hall meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7, to discuss planning for in-person, on campus instruction for fall term. President Michael H. Schill announced the intent for fall term, including…
4/30/2020 update: A few hours after this post, the Duck’s strategic communicators responded: In light of the ongoing challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, all University of Oregon head coaches have voluntarily agreed to take a 10 percent salary reduction for the 2020-21 academic year … Additionally, all UO head…
I’m no physician, but I hear this can be treated with penicillin: Thanks to an alert reader for forwarding the link to the reddit discussion. UO’s website claims “Funding: Fully funded by gifts from Penny and Phil Knight and more than 50 other donors”. That is not entirely true: On…
Over the years this office has been a stew of lethargy, incompetence, insider favoritism, and outrageous self-dealing. Cass has just kept on doing her job for the university through all that, and now she’s in charge. At least for a while. Good move by Provost Phillips, imho: Dear University of…
Some extracts from President Schill’s plans to address the financial fallout from the coronavirus. Everything in ” ” is a direct quote from his email to the university today. The translations are from google translate’s new “no bullshit” mode:
Pres Schill: “For a variety of reasons (low state support, high-cost mandatory benefits programs, and a recent drop in international enrollment) our reserves are lower than other peer institutions across the country.”
Translation: Our reserves are low because of other people’s decisions, not because I spent $2.15M wiring up The Phildo or $?M building our new Athletic Village.
Pres Schill: “We also do not think we can look to tuition increases to address major shortfalls the way we did following the last recession. Our nonresident students already pay market tuition, and the incomes of Oregon residents make paying more in tuition very difficult, particularly in a period of mass unemployment.”
Translation: We can’t increase tuition because we just started a very poorly timed tuition guarantee program which means 9% increases for freshmen and locks in low increases for current continuing students. We were told we’d need a substantial reserve to implement this, but we went ahead anyway.
Pres Schill: “A third revenue source would be our endowment, but those accounts are almost all restricted and their value has fallen as a result of the stock market decline.”
Translation: We can’t use our endowment because those are restricted funds, and we only break gift agreements when the money comes from a professor giving it to the academic bucket. Athletic donations are sacred, particularly the $12M Jumbotron.
Pres Schill: “A fourth option would be to cut personnel costs, since almost 80 percent of our Education and General (E&G) budget is composed of salaries and benefits. This would be quite difficult since we operate at staffing ratios that are much lower than our peer schools and most salaries are set by collective bargaining agreements. … Last week Provost Phillips and Vice President Jamie Moffitt circulated a proposal for a progressive pay reduction (PPR) program that I realize may have surprised some of you.”
Translation: I threw Provost Banavar under the bus for last year’s budget crisis cuts. This time it’s worse, so I’m going to throw a Provost *and* a VP.
Pres Schill: “The reality is that we will need to do something to adjust expenses if enrollment declines significantly and/or we receive state budget cuts. Again, we are open to suggestions and collaborative approaches designed to solve the problem.”
Translation: Your opinions are not worth a damn thing, and whatever we do it will come from the secret meetings I’m now having with my Financial Continuity Team, just as the pay cut plan did.
Full letter below:
Dear University of Oregon community,
The COVID-19 crisis strikes at the heart of the University of Oregon’s mission. As a great residential university, we are grounded in the foundational notion that, by bringing people together in this amazing and special campus setting, we provide a world-class, transformative educational experience. That education takes place in our classrooms, labs, libraries, and studios. But it also takes place in serendipitous encounters in dining facilities, on our beautiful lawns, in our residence halls, and at our sporting events. In these various, unique settings our students learn what it means to be human in a society full of diverse people and perspectives. As we turn our attention to the fall and our long-term future we must always keep this mission in mind.