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Genetics proposal aims to build research on the mystery of life

9/1/2014: Diane Dietz has the report in the RG:

The university is floating a proposal to hire a “cluster” of three new professors to rebuild the classical genetics and genomics program at the University of Oregon and to launch a Center for Genome Function. … “You could think of it as re-establishing our eminence in this field,” said Eric Selker, whose work in epigenetics mirrors fundamental genetics research.

Researchers are likely to find out beginning this fall whether donors are ready to help with their cluster proposals.

The UO’s success in genetics in the 1960s and ’70s was built on just such a “cluster hire” as the university now contemplates, [Frank] Stahl said.

8/24/2014: Systems biology cluster hire proposal

Diane Dietz has the report on a real cluster of excellence proposal:

Ducks project spending increase of $5.4M, will Coltrane still say no money for academics?

Provost (now Interim President) Scott Coltrane objecting in April to still pending Senate legislation to eliminate hidden athletic subsidies and enforce the 2004 agreement to make athletics contribute to UO’s academic mission:   An End to Subsidies for the UO Athletic Department Number: US13/14-12 Date of Notice: Wed, 11/13/2013 Legislation, Resolution,…

Did Gottfredson sexual assault panelist Ted Spencer lie about public records?

Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s hard to see how else to interpret this. Cocktail party version: I was trying to get some info about Gottfredson’s sexual assault review panel. Dave Hubin tried to charge me $508 for the public records, so I made requests to the universities where the…

UO offered $10,000 to each of Gottfredson’s sexual assault panelists

Update: (Posts on prostitute warning, public records, and panel history here.) Two weeks after my public records request, UO has finally disclosed what it is paying the panelists Gottfredson, Mullens, and Holmes appointed to review their response to the rape allegations and UO policies. $10K each, plus expenses: Honorarium The…

UO cancels legal contract with HLGR, will negotiate directly with grad students and faculty

Josephine Wollington has the story in the RG about this very unusual mid-negotiation change and the positive response from the union leadership. This is great news, Rudnick and Matthews have been an expensive disaster for UO. It seems that the new leadership wants a less confrontational approach, and isn’t going…

AAU membership is no longer even an “aspirational goal” for UO, but Ducks ranked #3 in pre-season polls.

Update: The official UO post on the mission statement mentioned below is now getting some comments, here. As President, Dave Frohnmayer would trot out UO’s AAU membership as a way of silencing faculty who criticized him for shifting priorities, administrative effort, and money towards his goal of running a big-time…

U of Illinois Chancellor Phyllis Wise’s sneak attack on academic freedom

The UO faculty union and the Senate fought hard with President Gottfredson over academic freedom. Gottfredson and his negotiators Tim Gleason, Doug Blandy, Randy Geller and Sharon Rudnick wanted the union contract to include rules requiring civility and proper respect, and they didn’t want the university to give explicit protection for…

Register-Guard editors call out Gottfredson as a timid paper-pusher

8/21/2014: I’m hoping Coltrane’s meeting with the RG editorial board goes a little better than Gottfredson’s did! 8/21/2013, here: … And if a president proves lacking in either vision of his own or the ability to execute the vision of others, the board can replace him. Gottfredson’s response to this…

SPQUO: Senate prepares for new era of shared governance, we hope

President Gottfredson’s relationship with the Senate was bad. He pointedly ignored Senate resolutions on athletics, set up a variety of “administrative advisory groups” to bypass Senate committees such as the IAC, and started pointless fights over academic freedom, legal services, and delegation of authority. The Senate had a resolution for a vote of no confidence in Gottfredson scheduled for October, and it’s difficult to see how it could have failed.

Fortunately Chuck Lillis saved us from that, and in the process gave most of us a lot of faith in the Board. (Although everyone seems to think they could have negotiated a tougher deal than Sharon Rudnick’s $940K giveaway.)

Now it’s up to Interim President Coltrane and Senate President Rob Kyr to try and rebuild some trust between the administration and the faculty and Senate. The message below is Kyr holding out the olive branch. Let’s hope Coltrane responds quickly by undoing Gottfredson’s mistakes. We need some quick, clear demonstrations that things are going to change.

To: University of Oregon Community; University Senate & Senate Executive Committee

From: Robert Kyr, University Senate President

Report calls for Trustees to stand up to boosters, admins, faculty, search firms

Written by former Yale President Benno Schmidt for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, here. Scott Jaschik has a review in InsideHigherEd.com. Among other things, the report argues boards should not rely on search firms for presidential searches. … The report also urges trustees to be more engaged on issues…