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Dear Colleagues, Supporting the University of Oregon’s core academic mission is our top priority. To advance this mission we are pleased to announce the redirection of recurring funds to support the cluster of excellence faculty hiring initiative.This initiative will enable us to hire two to five new faculty members in…

Update: This looks like a big win for the PSU faculty. They got nearly 2x the money the administration had offered, and seem to have beat back the effort to gut shared governance:

Organization & Strike Threat Get Unprecedented Gains!
– Keep Contract Protections for P & T Guidelines, Past Practices
– Big Shift in Number, Certainty & Length of Fixed Term Contracts
– Advancement Path for APs – Raises Tied to Seniority
– Retain Contract Protection for AP “Positions”
– Meaningful Planning for Academic Quality
– Cost of Living Increases 2.5% and 2.5%, Mid-Year as for Others
– 1.5% Across the Board Faculty Comparator Adjustment
– 8% Promotion Increases
– Travel Fund Doubled, Faculty Enhancement Fund up 30%
– Post Tenure Review Will NOT result in Changed Job Description
– No Retaliation Against AAUP Members for Union Activity

The administration had claimed that the they had no money left. Sound familiar? Maybe their tornado reserves were larger than they’d let on. UAUO will need to increase union membership to be able to credibly make similar threats and get gains in the contract bargaining that will begin in December that will bring our salaries up from the AAU basement. More on PSU here.

Update from Betsy Hammond in the Oregonian:

According to a faculty union account, the administration agreed to give cost-of-living raises of 2.5 percent this year and next, increase the share of non-tenure-track faculty who get long-term contracts and preserve contract language giving the union say over certain university practices.

Speaking of shared governance, the UO Senate will start developing a response to Gottfredson and Geller’s attempted spring break coup this Wednesday.

4/6/2014 Update: President Gottfredson to start this week with a closed meeting with UO Board leadership. Maybe they’ll start the planning for his public 360 degree performance review? FWIW I think Coltrane would be a fine interim president. 4/3/2014: That’s the least troubling of the rumors about administrative disarray, at…

4/6/2012: You can’t make this shit up: In USA Today.

Update: Oregonian sports writer Canzano supports Duck football union: On Wednesday, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago ruled that Northwestern University football players are employees, entitled to the right to unionize. Well, duh. The ruling applies only to private universities. Oregon and Oregon State players…

“Regressive bargaining” is the charge. Betsy Hammond has the details in the Oregonian.

I thought my office was a mess. But the guy cleaning the windows inside PLC says it’s nothing compared to the Poli Sci profs.

Update: And here’s still more good news from Hannah Hoffman in the Statesman Journal: PERS almost fully funded after boom year. PERS earned 15.8% (Compared to the UO Foundation’s 13.8%). 4/2/2014: Eugene rents are far below most cities where our prospective out-of-state students might go, and the rate of growth is zero. With…

First it was Dave Williford in the NYT, opining on the statistical validity of the relationship between football wins and declining grades. Now Willamette Week is asking why public money is paying for Duck flack Rob Moseley to report on spring practice – which they’ve closed to real sports reporters. I’m…

That would be former Penn State President Graham Spanier, who may end up doing time because he didn’t realize the university’s general counsel was representing the university, not him. Whoops. Bloomberg has the sordid details, here.