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Posts published by “uomatters”

GTFF bargaining moves to mediation

By uomatters on 04/08/2019

I had to miss Friday’s bargaining session, but it seems the administration finally responded to the GTFF’s economic proposal by repeating their previous proposal, throwing in an additional 0.5% per year to make it an even 1%. I know a few economists, and they tell me the western US consumer price index increased by 3.1 % last year, so as might have been predicted this did not go over well.

Likewise, while the administration’s proposal to move some of what it pays for GTFF health care (by all reports it’s a cadillac plan that puts PEBB to shame, although the GTFF did manage to cut what UO paid for it last year) and put it in salary, while optimal to a rational expected-income maximizing risk-neutral agent, is not so optimal under the assumption of utility-maximization and the resulting risk aversion that has been the working model of economists since before there were such things as economists (Bernoulli, 1738). Yes, I know that newer models of loss aversion from psychologists and behavioral economists make this result stronger, but they are not needed to predict the response here.

The messages from the GTFF and the administration are below the break.

Continue reading and commentGTFF bargaining moves to mediation

¿CAS? task force lunch with Pres Schill Wed 12-1

By uomatters on 04/03/2019

4/3/2019 free lunch update:

Pres Schill is buying the task force lunch. Burritos. Less than 1/2 the members are here. I’m free-riding. In response to the first question, Schill says that the motivation for this entire process was the lack of “vision” from Marcus and CAS. I guess Tykeson doesn’t count. This is news to the members, one of whom notes that this is the first they’ve heard that lack of vision was the point of this task force, except for a brief comment from Shelton early in the process. A discussion ensues of what “vision” means in practice, beyond mission statements and buzzwords like excellence. Schill says CAS needs some “jewels”. Shiny things he can show the board?

If inadequate vision really is the crux, perhaps this should have been explained to the task force at the start. They seem like an engaged, creative group who’ve revealed their commitment to CAS. Put them to work on creating visions, instead of discussing the optimal re-arrangement of the deck chairs!

The outside member notes that she believes an important vision that would excite donors and the state would be focusing on delivering the best possible liberal arts education, to students who will need a broad education to prepare for the many possible different futures.

The remainder of the meeting was a pretty interesting and engaging conversation between the members and President Schill, who told the task force that he will not be disappointed if they come back to him with the conclusion that the current structure is fine, and some visions.

4/2/2019 update: An ¿exciting? three hours of meetings this week:

Continue reading and comment¿CAS? task force lunch with Pres Schill Wed 12-1

Developer to unveil plans for redevelopment of fabulous Romania Showroom & parking lot

By uomatters on 04/02/2019

4/2/1019 update: 

Some good news from Around the O, for once:

Members of the campus and community can learn more about the University of Oregon’s proposed redevelopment of the former Joe Romania car dealership on Franklin Boulevard at an open house at 4 p.m. April 5.

1/8/2019 update: UO cutting deal to save historic showroom, and make some money

Continue reading and commentDeveloper to unveil plans for redevelopment of fabulous Romania Showroom & parking lot

Provost Banavar appoints Laura Vandenburgh as interim Dean of College of Design

By uomatters on 04/02/2019

A generally well-informed CoD professor notes that she was not the preferred choice of Dean Lindner, and provides this anonymous endorsement: She is calm, capable, wise, fair-minded and well respected by her peers, across departments.  People trust her, and trust is an important issue after three years under a dean…

Continue reading and commentProvost Banavar appoints Laura Vandenburgh as interim Dean of College of Design

Provost and IAAC ask faculty to narc on athletes, preserve the NCAA cartel

By uomatters on 04/01/2019

Sorry, but no. As an economist my professional ethics definitely do not include an obligation to help the NCAA’s monopsony and its athletic directors, coaches, and Faculty Athletic Representative Tim Gleason exploit our more athletic students. Shame on Gleason and the members of the IAAC for endorsing this message: Dear…

Continue reading and commentProvost and IAAC ask faculty to narc on athletes, preserve the NCAA cartel

Provost announces college budget cut details, as athletics bloat continues

By uomatters on 04/01/2019

In totally unrelated news, reporter Caleb Diehl has an excellent story on the subsidies UO’s academic budget gives the Duck Athletic empire, in Oregon Business here: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a nonprofit that regulates college sports in the U.S., oversees a $13 billion college sports industry powered mostly by its…

Continue reading and commentProvost announces college budget cut details, as athletics bloat continues

Nevertheless she is persisting. Oral arguments on Freyd case April 11, 2PM.

By uomatters on 04/01/2019

Psychology professor Jennifer Freyd spent several years documenting that she was significantly underpaid relative to her full professor peers in the psychology department, and getting agreement from her department chair and external reviewers on the facts, but still not getting a significant raise. So in March 2017 she filed a…

Continue reading and commentNevertheless she is persisting. Oral arguments on Freyd case April 11, 2PM.

Gender and minority equity raises: GC Kevin Reed and HR’s Missy Matella using fees and delays to hide analysis

By uomatters on 04/01/2019

Back in Sept 2017 the faculty union and the administration signed this MOU here, by which the administration would hold back 0.75% of a 2.0% across-the-board raise for TTF to address “unexplained equity differences potentially related to race, gender, or ethnicity” to be paid starting in Jan 2019. 0.75% works…

Continue reading and commentGender and minority equity raises: GC Kevin Reed and HR’s Missy Matella using fees and delays to hide analysis

NWCCU accreditors will keep academic freedom after AAUP-Oregon, IFS, UO Senate Pres, UO Provost, FIRE & others push back

By uomatters on 03/26/2019

Another 4/1/2019 update:

The influential Foundation for Individual Rights in Education also wrote to the NWCCU against their plan to remove academic freedom from their accreditation standards:

Full letter here.

4/1/2019 update:

Thanks to the AAUP-Oregon’s Michael Dreiling for alerting the UO Senate and Provost to the NWWCU’s proposed accreditation standards. His letter asking AAUP members to press the NWCCU on this is here:

We write to you with an urgent request to take action and protect academic freedom as a standard and criterion for accreditation by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), the largest single accreditation body in the region. Inexplicably, the latest draft of accreditation standards from the NWCCU removes all references to academic freedom and to institutional bodies and practices of shared governance such as university senates, faculty vote and voice, and tenure (see the proposal and compare to current standards here). The strong emphasis on centralized authority and the implicit erasure of faculty participation in decision-taking is new and it is a threat to the integrity of higher education at hundreds of colleges and universities in the region. …

As you can see below, many issues with these proposed revisions remain unresolved, but NWCCU Pres Sonny Ramaswamy has promised to keep freedom, and give more time for input on other issues:

From: Sonny Ramaswamy <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2019 10:07 PM
Subject: Revision of NWCCU’s Standards

ALOs.

Over the last couple of weeks we have received emails regarding NWCCU’s draft, revised Standards from AAUP affiliates and faculty senate chairs, and provosts of a few institutions. (Those individuals are copied on this email.)

Additionally, we have received input during conversations with some individuals.

Based on the recent input received, we’ve made a decision to incorporate appropriate language in our draft Standards for Academic Freedom and Governance, along with revisions on other matters suggested by others.

We’ve extended the deadline for submission of additional comments for revisions through April 15, 2019.

The draft will be revised and sent out for further comments in May. The draft will be revised based on this round of comments.

After the Commission has provided additional comments on the near final draft, it’ll be revised as needed. Then it’ll be sent out for a vote by NWCCU’s family of institutions to approve the proposed Standards in late Summer 2019.

As I have noted previously, this is an iterative process and we appreciate the input, which continues strengthen the Standards.

Our hope is that, once approved, the new Standards will be deployed starting in January 2020.

If not already done, please connect with your relevant faculty organizations on your campuses, such as faculty senate chairs, and exhort them and other faculty to provide input regarding the draft Standards.

They may submit their comments on the current version of revised Standards available at (http://www.nwccu.org/accreditation/standards-review/) either via this link (https://www.tfaforms.com/4719938) or via email ([email protected]).

Thanks for your help.

Sonny Ramaswamy, President
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
8060 165th Avenue NE, Ste 100 | Redmond, WA 98052
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 425-558-4224
URL: http://www.nwccu.org
Twitter: @NWCCUSonny

The letter to the NWCCU from the UO Senate President (me) is here. The letter from UO Provost Jayanth Banavar is here. My response to the email above is:

Dear Pres Ramaswamy –

I’m glad to hear this. Thank you for responding to the concerns regarding academic freedom.

For those from other institutions considering commenting on the NWCCU’s proposed changes to our accreditation requirements, I’ve attached the letters to the NWCCU from the UO Senate and the UO Provost.

As you can see these address issues beyond academic freedom, and include such matters as shared governance, research, governing board evaluations, institutional control over transfer credits, student success metrics and their use.

I look forward to seeing how the next draft addresses these concerns.

For those interested, I’ll continue to update the posts at https://uomatters.com/tag/accreditation with new information.

Yours,

Bill Harbaugh
University of Oregon
Senate Pres & Econ Prof

3/26/2019: UO’s accreditor considers weakening academic freedom and governance standards

Sorry, long post.

Continue reading and commentNWCCU accreditors will keep academic freedom after AAUP-Oregon, IFS, UO Senate Pres, UO Provost, FIRE & others push back

GTFF bargaining sleepy blog

By uomatters on 03/21/2019

The Twitter has a hashtag for this that’s pretty woke: https://twitter.com/hashtag/GTFF3544?src=hash In the EMU Crater Lake room 12-? today. About 75 GE’s and the 7 member administrative bargaining team. The wifi is slow, and glancing around at the GE’s screens it’s easy to see why – they’re checking email, writing,…

Continue reading and commentGTFF bargaining sleepy blog