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Posts published by “uomatters”

Faculty Union sends update on wage freeze / Career contract renewals

By uomatters on 04/27/2020

Dear Colleague,

Collective bargaining has been suspended since March 11. With so much uncertainty about the state of the university and the academy, neither party felt comfortable resuming bargaining. Over the last week, United Academics and the administration have been working  on a deal that would end this round of bargaining uncompleted. We have not yet agreed to a deal, but we wanted to inform you that we are in negotiations. The intent is to reach a deal quickly before the administration carries out their plan to renew Career faculty at just 0.1 FTE. The deadline for renewal notification has been extended to May 8. All members of United Academics will have the opportunity to vote on any deal.

Executive Summary: If we can reach agreement, there would be no across-the-board or merit raise this year, but promotion and post-tenure review raises would still be in effect. The administration would renew almost all non-funding-contingent Career faculty who were above 0.5 FTE this academic year with a contract of at least 0.5 FTE and health insurance benefits for the AY 20-21 academic year. Almost all Career faculty who had appointments below 0.5 FTE would be renewed below 0.5 FTE. Bargaining would start over in January.

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Your University needs you

By uomatters on 04/27/2020

If you’re faculty, you can join the UAUO Faculty Union online here. You’ll be able to vote on the upcoming contract extension, etc. Dues are 1.1% of salary, because tanstaafl. If you’re faculty, staff, an OA, or even an executive administrator, you can vote in the Senate elections. The deadline…

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AVP Ellen Herman has no records on status of Faculty Track Software

By uomatters on 04/23/2020

4/23/2020: 

Another year, another budget crisis, more questions about where UO’s money is going. I emailed VP Herman, who is charge of this project, on March 25th:

Hi Ellen,

I’m heard a rumor that the administration has abandoned or perhaps just delayed this effort. I’m hoping that you can provide some details on where this proposal currently stands. Thanks,

Bill Harbaugh

She didn’t answer, so on April 1st I filed a public record request. Yesterday I got this response:

Dear Mr. Harbaugh,

The University has searched for, but was unable to locate, records responsive to your request for “…a public record showing the current status of the Faculty tracking / Insights project”, made 4/1/2020.

It is the office’s understanding that this project has been placed on hold, however there are no records documenting this decision.

The office considers this to be fully responsive to your request, and will now close your matter. Thank you for contacting the office with your request.

Sincerely, Office of Public Records

5/8/2019 update: 

With the budget crisis, you’d think this proposal would be in the trash can. Apparently not.

3/18/2019 Faculty tracking software vendor explains time-suck & “thought leadership programming” junket

So why isn’t the provost’s office being clear about what this will cost?

Continue reading and commentAVP Ellen Herman has no records on status of Faculty Track Software

$272K VP for Equity emails faculty about Love, Authenticity, Courage and Empathy

By uomatters on 04/21/2020

Sent out today. Full email here. More on the VP for EI’s excess cash problem here. The average faculty salary at UO is about $70K. Dear Colleagues: As a tenured faculty colleague who is currently teaching a course in our School of Law, I’ve experienced firsthand the panic of suddenly…

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Is Pres Schill’s rejection of Faculty Union participation in budgeting a violation of our accreditation standards?

By uomatters on 04/17/2020

It’s hard to see how it’s not. UO’s Federal accreditation comes from the NWCCU. Their accreditation standards are at https://www.nwccu.org/accreditation/standards-policies/standards/ Here’s the relevant rule: 2.E.2 Financial planning includes meaningful opportunities for participation by stakeholders and ensures appropriate available funds, realistic development of financial resources, and comprehensive risk management to ensure…

Continue reading and commentIs Pres Schill’s rejection of Faculty Union participation in budgeting a violation of our accreditation standards?

Pres Schill offers faculty union a pay cut proposal and a threat: take it or suffer the consequences

By uomatters on 04/16/2020

The short version, from the union:

Executive Summary
The administration wants faculty to agree to a wage cut plan in the event of revenue loss. United Academics leadership has concerns about the proposal and would like to bargain the plan. If UA does not agree to the wage cut plan, the administration intends to either non-renew all 211 Career faculty who are up for renewal this spring or offer them only 0.1 FTE contracts. In order for a wage cut plan for faculty to go into effect, the membership of United Academics would have to vote in favor of the plan.

In a nutshell this plan would put the full cost of any tuition losses or state funding cuts on the faculty and OAs. There is no discussion of an offset for increases in federal funding, such as the $16m UO is getting from the CARES act. There is no discussion of cuts for Johnson Hall’s pet projects.

There is no accountability for the administration’s past decisions to spend down UO’s reserves on an Athlete’s Village for the 2021 Track & Field championships, on utility connections for Hayward field, on the Law School, on continued hidden athletic subsidies, etc, which led to the decrease in reserves and the increase in bond debt.

There is no provision for shared governance oversight of future spending.

The scheme is barely progressive – the cuts start at a very low $40K, and the top rate peaks at $200K, meaning those making say $400K pay the same percentage as those making $200K.

Amusingly, or perhaps I should say incompetently, whoever cooked this scheme up does not understand the difference between average and marginal – so after these cuts, an AVP now making say $199,999 would end up with a higher salary than one making $200,001. Under the middle scenario, the new salaries would be $178,819 and $176,000, or a $2,820 bigger cut for the poor soul who started out $2 ahead. This does not inspire confidence in our VPFA and VPBP’s ability to run our university’s finance and budgeting without supervision.

Here’s the schedule, with 5 scenarios and corresponding cuts, as calculated by the Administration:

The Administration’s full draft proposal is here. The Faculty Union’s full response is below.

Continue reading and commentPres Schill offers faculty union a pay cut proposal and a threat: take it or suffer the consequences

Our sister flagship Oregon State: No plans for pay cuts for faculty, OA’s, staff.

By uomatters on 04/15/2020

OSU President (and Professor of Economics) Ed Ray explains how to manage a budget crisis: Dear OSU faculty, staff and students, I write regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Oregon State University, actions underway in response, and a financial future that remains unclear due to the uncertainty of…

Continue reading and commentOur sister flagship Oregon State: No plans for pay cuts for faculty, OA’s, staff.