Press "Enter" to skip to content

UO Matters

Live-Blog: AG Ellen Rosenblum and Transparency Czar Michael Kron bring Public Records Law Reform Task Force to UO

By uomatters on 05/09/2016

Monday May 9th, 4:30-6:00PM, Room 141 in the UO Journalism School.

Live-blog: Usual disclaimer – my opinion of the gist of what people said. Nothing is quote unless in quotes.

David Force – newspaperman back in 1973 when this law was passed. The Oregon DOJ was once the ally of transparency. Now the DOJ is on the side of state agencies trying to hide records. It would be more accurate to call this the “Oregon Public Official Secrets Act”. Calls for an independent advocate outside the DOJ, and taking control away from the DOJ and the County DAs. Gives the RG’s long fight to get the Seneca contract from EWEB as an example. It’s not just the exemptions, it’s the conflict of interest between the DOJ and the agencies trying to hide records.

Dave Bahr – local attorney working for clients trying to get records from Feds and various state records. On National Archives transparency committee.

Many people nationally are advocating for eliminating all fees. These are effectively used to block the public’s right of access, but are a trivial part of the budgets of the agencies. The DOJ makes it too easy for state agencies to do this.

Similarly with delays. Washington state allows 5 days – and fines if agencies don’t respond.

Also brings up the point that, under Oregon law, requestors who get the AG or the DA to issue a PR Order can then be sued by the agency. No other state allows this.

Bill Harbaugh – Argues that AG Ellen Rosenblum can and should use the DOJ’s Public Records Orders process to promote transparency, by putting agencies on notice that the AG will not tolerate use of fees and delays. Asks why she is not doing this.

Here are a few resources:

Oregon DOJ:

The Oregon DOJ’s Public Records and Meetings law website.

You can get all the AG’s PR Orders (updated quarterly) from the Oregon Law Library, by following this link: http://cdm17027.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p17027coll2. It’s a pretty clunky interface, and it’s not indexed by google, or even linked to from the DOJ website, but you can search by full text, etc. (Petitions to require local agencies to comply with the law go to the county DAs. Multnomah county has posted all their DA’s PR Orders online. I don’t think any other counties do.)

2008 AG’s Public Records and Meeting Manual. Former AG John Kroger didn’t want it on the web. I posted it illegally in 2009, to much amusement, and Kroger then backed down.

2011 AG’s Public Records and Meetings Manual. (AG Kroger, January 2011)

2014 AG’s Public Records and Meetings Manual (AG Rosenblum, November 2014)

Some UO links: 

The buck gets passed to Lisa Thornton:

Task Force in Eugene, hearing announcement:

Continue reading and commentLive-Blog: AG Ellen Rosenblum and Transparency Czar Michael Kron bring Public Records Law Reform Task Force to UO

Closes 5PM today: Vote for UO Senate and Committee membership

By uomatters on 05/09/2016

Max Thornberry has a story on the Senate in the Emerald, here. Some extracts: “American universities are the best in the world because of our strong tradition of academic freedom,” [Incoming President Harbaugh] said, “and because of the principle that the faculty, not the administration, controls the academic mission in…

Continue reading and commentCloses 5PM today: Vote for UO Senate and Committee membership

Are university responses to Black Student demands grounded in research?

By uomatters on 05/07/2016

The RG has a list of the demands from UO’s Black Student Task force here, along with UO’s responses so far. Here are some of the demands and responses: 2: Create an African-American Opportunities program that is comparable to the Opportunities program for Latino students. In fall 2016, the enrollment…

Continue reading and commentAre university responses to Black Student demands grounded in research?

UO Faculty Club still has 100 free tickets for Donald Trump event

By uomatters on 05/05/2016

The chair of the UO Faculty Club’s Refreshments and Entertainments Committee has asked me to post this message: Dear UO Faculty Club Members: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be speaking at the Lane County Fairgrounds on Friday. His campaign organization has sent the Faculty Club 100 free tickets for this important…

Continue reading and commentUO Faculty Club still has 100 free tickets for Donald Trump event

“OSU Will Force Incoming Students to Take ‘Social Justice Training’

By uomatters on 05/05/2016

Students will learn to report bias incidents (like pro-Trump chalk messages).” That’s the headline in the libertarian magazine Reason, here: Critics of the current intellectual climate at university campuses believe classrooms are indoctrination camps where left-wing academics brainwash students into becoming social justice activists. They are mistaken. The most pernicious and…

Continue reading and comment“OSU Will Force Incoming Students to Take ‘Social Justice Training’

EWEB loses public records case, must pay RG lawyer Jack Orchard $70K

By uomatters on 05/04/2016

Christian Wihtol has the long story in the RG here. EWEB’s current management and board didn’t have much choice about fighting the RG lawsuit, given the double-secret contract their predecessors had signed with Seneca. EWEB paid their own lawyers $100k for losing this case, and is still paying millions more to Seneca and other failed green energy projects,…

Continue reading and commentEWEB loses public records case, must pay RG lawyer Jack Orchard $70K

UO in top 50 for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer students

By uomatters on 05/03/2016

5/3/2016: Diane Dietz has the good news here:

The University of Oregon is one of the 50 best universities nationally for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ)” students, says the ­rating service collegechoice.net.

… The UO also offers gender-­inclusive housing where students can room with members of any gender they wish. In academics, UO offers a minor in queer studies through the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

Plus, this year the UO is redesignating up to 111 restrooms on campus as gender-­inclusive facilities.

The UO Economics Department was one of the first to get the “All Gender” restrooms, and I can report that Ted Cruz’s worst bathroom nightmares were not well grounded in reality. It seems most of Indiana’s republicans agree.

9/21/2015: Progressive UO economists first to try out gender neutral bathrooms in PLC

Continue reading and commentUO in top 50 for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer students

W. Andrew Marcus (Geog) appointed as Permanent CAS Dean

By uomatters on 05/03/2016

5/3/2016: Schill’s on a roll. Four down, one to go:

Colleagues,

W. Andrew Marcus has been Interim Tykeson Dean of Arts and Sciences since 2013, and he knows both the amazing opportunity and daily challenges of the University of Oregon’s largest college. That firsthand knowledge and a 15-year UO career that has been defined by incredible dedication, committed leadership, and an unflappable passion for his college make him a clear choice to serve in the role on a permanent basis.

Andrew has earned the respect of the faculty, staff, and UO leadership by always maintaining an optimistic eye on the future. Perhaps most visibly, he has been the driving force to conceptualize the Tykeson Hall College and Careers Building, and will now continue that work to make it a reality.

A tireless advocate for his faculty and staff, he leads by example, as demonstrated by his significant reorganization of the dean’s office to optimize its efficiency in the face of budgetary challenges. The high-functioning and dedicated team he has built allows him to devote more and more time to advancing the visibility of CAS, especially among alumni and donors.

Andrew remains research-active, focusing on human impacts on rivers and the use of remote sensing technology to map and understand rivers. Most recently he served as lead editor of the award winning Atlas of Yellowstone. He also served as head of the Department of Geography from 2008 to 2011, associate dean for social sciences from 2011 to 2013, and president of the UO Senate in 2004–5. 

A 1978 graduate of Stanford University, Andrew went on to earn his master of arts in geography from Arizona State University in 1983 and his PhD in geography from the University of Colorado in 1987.

Please join me in congratulating W. Andrew Marcus, now the permanent Tykeson Dean of Arts and Sciences.

Sincerely,
Scott Coltrane
Provost and Senior Vice President

Schill’s on a roll. Four down, one to go:

?: New LCB business school Dean ?

5/3/2016: Andrew Marcus appointed as Permanent CAS Dean

5/2/2016: New School of Architecture and Allied Arts Dean Christoph Lindner, from Amsterdam

4/28/2016: UO’s new Dean of Journalism and Communications is PR expert Juan-Carlos Molleda from UFL

4/26/2016: UO’s new VP for Research, David Conover from Stony Brook

5/2/2016: New School of Architecture and Allied Arts Dean Christoph Lindner, from Amsterdam

Continue reading and commentW. Andrew Marcus (Geog) appointed as Permanent CAS Dean

Senate recommends suspension of controversial tenured blogger

By uomatters on 05/03/2016

Given the threats I’ve had from past UO presidents, interim presidents, provosts, interim provosts, presidential advisors, VP’s, AVP’s, VPAA’s, general counsels, interim general counsels, faculty athletic representatives, and former journalism deans, which have ranged from vague to specific, I’m always curious about where the line on faculty blogging is. This…

Continue reading and commentSenate recommends suspension of controversial tenured blogger

Mandatory reporting would be stricter for faculty than student victims

By uomatters on 05/03/2016

My previous post supporting the policy is here. I’ve also posted the comment below on the Senate blog (which requires a UO ID for login) here. The comment:

I thank Carol and the GSBV for their work on this policy. I think the balance between allowing faculty to confidentially advise their students, while making sure that perpetrators are reported and appropriately dealt with is difficult and uncertain. Given that, and my confidence in the committee’s judgement, I think the proposed requirement that all faculty should be mandatory reporters should be taken seriously

With that in mind I discussed the proposal with other faculty, and out of those discussions I started wondering about how it would apply to faculty who might give advice to colleagues who were being subject to sexual harassment by other faculty. I asked GC Kevin Reed about a generic example, and I’ve put that and his response below.

The gist is that this proposed policy treats faculty victims very differently than students. While students have a variety of confidential reporting options, the policy would require faculty to report the details of such harassment of faculty to Penny Daugherty’s AAEO office, regardless of whether or not the Ombuds office or other confidential resources had been consulted. I think this would prevent many helpful conversations between faculty colleagues. On the other hand it might inhibit serial perpetrators.

I’m not sure yet how this changes my opinion on the policy as a whole. I hope people will read the exchange below and use it to inform their own views.

Question to GC Kevin Reed:

Continue reading and commentMandatory reporting would be stricter for faculty than student victims

UO Parking Alert: Lot 6A cleared of faculty/staff for secret May 4th event

By uomatters on 05/03/2016

Here’s hoping they don’t try a giant white tent again: From: Parking.DL.Parking < parking@uoregon.edu> Subject: PARKING LOT 6A RESERVED FOR EVENT MAY 4TH Date: May 2, 2016 12:10:29 PM PDT To: Parking.DL.Parking <parking@uoregon.edu> Good afternoon, In support of a University sponsored event, the Department of Parking and Transportation will be reserving…

Continue reading and commentUO Parking Alert: Lot 6A cleared of faculty/staff for secret May 4th event