In the Oregonian, here. And a story about how colleges retaliate against faculty who speak out about rape, here. And a post from UO professor Jennifer Freyd on laws against such retaliation, here. My earlier post on the administration’s statements about Freyd is here. The RG story is here, with…
UO Matters
6/13/2014: [UO Matters: Because of the importance of this meeting to the UO community, I hired freelance reporter Dash Paulson to report on it. His summary is below, followed by a detailed report on what happened at the meeting. His summary is below, followed by a detailed report on what happened at the meeting. As usual, things in quotes are quotes, otherwise it’s the gist of the conversation. I have edited Mr. Paulson’s report a little, but have not made any substantive changes. Paulson’s report on the June 12 session is here.]
Summary:
As at yesterday’s meeting, the Trustees were fully engaged and asked many questions, including some tough and skeptical ones.
Randy Geller began by briefing the board on their ability to call closed executive sessions, the potential pitfalls of FERPA, and their basic powers to discuss records.
President Gottfredson made extended remarks, first addressing sexual assault and saying campus safety for students and was the top priority. “There are students on our campus who feel unsafe. Like you I believe that’s unacceptable. As I believe, as you believe, any instance of sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual assault isn’t acceptable. Not even one…There is nothing more important for ourselves to concern ourselves with.” He concluded those remarks by saying “We’re going to lean into this as much as we can. This is a big, important problem for us.”
He went on to speak about the dramatic changes that have occurred at the University and how important it is for the University of Oregon to change its governance model, “On my own checklist of things to do, having this board checks the first box. And the first box is we have to do things differently at the University of Oregon.”
Provost Scott Coltrane spoke about the new Clusters of Excellence hires and the process that went into selecting the top ten areas for cluster hiring. “We have buy-in from the faculty on this. But you’ll see the final list is very heavy on the sciences and applied sciences.” The list highlights the ten areas that will be a top priority for hiring. “I’ve gotten a little feedback on this … last week I got letters from faculty about how social sciences and humanities weren’t included here, and of course as former dean of College of Arts and Sciences they were unhappy with me.
Coltrane will be working with those faculty whose proposals weren’t picked and “who are a little cranky right now.” [Editor: The faculty objections are about the process as much as the specific proposals that were funded. See post with Department Heads letter here.] Some nearly made the top ten, such as environmental humanities and Geospatial revolutions. “We’ll be funding some of those also” but not at the same level. Cluster funding doesn’t replace other hiring, just different. We can refigure and reshape [this process] in future years with your help.”
Finally there was a long explanation to the board on the current status of the capital campaign from Mike Andreasen, Vice President of Advancement.
At the end, President Gottfredson paid tribute to Sam Dotters-Katz, who will be graduating, and to Randy Geller, who will be retiring this year.
The details:
Convene 8:33
Lillis: Randy is going to give us some reminders on our responsibilities as Trustees.
6/13/2014 update: Senate President Kyr has posted the written version of his remarks to the board on the role of the Senate, faculty and staff service in shared governance, and the Delegation of Authority policy here. The main substantive issue the Senate has with the delegation of authority policy, as submitted by the administration and passed by the board, is that it gives President Gottfredson control over Senate committees. The disputed language is this:
3.4 Committees, Councils and Advisory Groups. The President of the University shall establish and
define the charge of any and all University committees, councils, and advisory groups, except as provided in Board action.
This is a serious challenge to faculty authority, at odds with AAUP recommendations, and will have to be revisited soon.
I will post the report from Dash Paulson on the day 2 of the Trustees meeting later today.
6/12/2014: [UO Matters: Because of the importance of this meeting to the UO community, I hired freelance reporter Dash Paulson to report on it. Mr. Paulson had written several excellent stories as an Emerald reporter, including the first substantive interview with President Gottfredson, in January 2013, here. His summary is below, followed by a detailed report on what happened at the meeting. As usual, things in quotes are quotes, otherwise it’s the gist of the conversation. I have edited Mr. Paulson’s report a little, but have not made any substantive changes. Dash will have another report from day two. The Trustees web page is here, bios here. Diane Dietz has a report in the RG here, and UO’s “Around the O” blog has the official slanted PR flack report online, if you care enough to search for it.]
Report on June 12 session:
Dash Paulson here, providing you a report on today’s meeting of the board of Trustees. Professor Bill Harbaugh asked me if I would be willing to do this job earlier in the week because he had to fly to a convention. I had to think about it. When I enrolled at UO, Richard Lariviere had just taken over as President. His firing two years later devastated his supporters, but for some people like me it opened a window into how this University actually works because I read UO Matters to see what the hell was going on. The blog was irreverent. It was interesting. It was biting and often unforgiving. I’ve grown to disagree with some of Bill’s intimations, but there’s no one else writing about this interior world with the same veracity and dedication as him.
UO Matters has mattered a lot in the affairs of this University over the last 6 years, and I think I can say Bill’s independence remains unquestioned. For those reasons I’m actually pretty stoked to be the first student contributor to this blog.
Report:
The Trustees today were engaged and eager to learn. Ann Curry is particularly vocal and has asked more questions than the rest of the Trustees combined. Chuck Lillis and Allyn Ford seem very conformable; the general feeling is that everyone is trying to learn quickly; everyone seems intent of being good at their new role. President Mike Gottfredson has repeatedly emphasized the board’s new authority and power and Randy Geller has told them they’re responsible for pretty much everything now. Chuck Lillis is a gracious and humorous chair for the board, but prepared to forge ahead with the business of the board. All committee proposals and policies were adopted, mostly unanimously.
One matter of concern was over the recent GTF strike vote. Three grad students spoke during the public comment section. The Trustees were not pleased they weren’t given forewarning of the potential for a strike. The Trustees in general seemed sympathetic to the GTFs and some of them stressed they want to be kept in the loop about GTFF issues and other labor bargaining.
Senate President Kyr spoke about the controversial Delegation of Authority Policy. In March the Trustees agreed, on urging of Kyr and John Bonine (Law), to get input from the faculty and the Senate before adopting this policy. The Senate committee made substantial changes. The administration accepted some of those, and rejected others, before sending a revised proposal to the Board for consideration. Today Kyr showed the remaining differences between the two documents, and asked the board to consider accepting more of the Senate’s language, and to set up a working group with the Senate to work out language regarding Senate control over its own committees and Board participation in labor negotiations.
The latter concern inspired an amendment, which was originally proposed by Kurt Wilcox, voted down, and then Dotters-Katz proposed different language which was adopted:
“Upon request by the chair of the board or a majority of the trustees the president will provide the board with requested information regarding personnel and employment matters, including labor relations and approval of collective bargaining agreements.”
With that language in place, and despite senate president Robert Kyr asking them to delay a vote, the board adopted the policy with the encouragement of Chuck Lillis and President Gottfredson who explained they could go back and change it anytime.
Call to Order (Chair) 8:35 a.m. the board has been called to order
Roll Call (General Counsel): Everyone is present except Professor Susan Gary
Chair Comments, Discussion of Meeting Agenda (Chair)
Chuck Lillis asks that everyone be ready to make swift progress this morning, “We also have the budget for 2015 and it requires action”
The story on today’s Trustees meeting, by UO strategic communicator Jennifer Winters, is here. UO Matters will have a more accurate story on what happened at the meeting soon.
for protecting their athletic brands, instead of protecting their students from sexual violence. Their excellent editorial here. Speaking of which, “Around the O” has a press release on the 160over90 PR firm’s branding efforts here. Meanwhile, still no news on when Gottfredson’s self-appointed “External Review Committee” will meet to investigate…
6/12/2014: Full report now posted at https://uomatters.com/2014/06/dash-paulsons-report-on-day-1-of-the-june-12-13-trustees-meeting.html Big news so far is that the Trustees voted to approve the delegation of authority policy as submitted by Randy Geller, with an amendment requiring Gottfredson (or his successor) to make direct reports to the board on labor negotiations. Apparently he never bothered…
6/12/2014 update: Coleen Flaherty of Insidehighered.com has a write up on this too, here. UO is getting quite a reputation in the national higher ed press, a story last year on Gottfredson’s efforts to subvert academic freedom is here.
6/10/2014 update: UO administration rejects Professor Freyd’s survey of campus sexual violence
Josephine Woolington has the story in the RG, here. VPSA Robin Holmes, who made the decision, is the person who sat on the 2011 recommendations for student conduct code revisions for three years. The UO Senate finally took charge, and wrote and passed the revisions on May 28. Gottfredson has not yet signed them, and the administration’s web site for the current policy still lists former student conduct director Carl Yeh as their point person. (Archived here.) Yeh left UO in August 2013, and Holmes didn’t replace him until this March.
Freyd is asking for $30-$40K to cover the survey costs. (You can donate via the UO Foundation’s website here. Make sure you put “Research on Trauma and Oppression, Jennifer Freyd” in the “additional gift instructions” box, or your money will probably go to Duck Athletics.) The UC system recently hired consultants to conduct a more general campus climate survey, at a reported cost of $661K, albeit for a larger sample.
The strange “external review committee” that Gottfredson, Holmes, and Mullens just appointed to review their own dilatory response to the conduct code and basketball rape allegations – three months after Gottfredson first learned of them – will now decide how to conduct their own survey. Talk about a conflict of interest! The story also quotes Holmes’s $83K “strategic communicator” Rita Radostitz, but don’t expect much in the way of frank talk from her:
The UO Senate does not trust the administration on this issue, and the Senate Task Force membership will be announced shortly. Presumably they will take charge of this matter as well.
6/6/2014 update: Gottfredson’s self-appointed “external review panel” includes old insider
Gottfredson, Mullens, and Holmes have now announced the names of the people they are appointing to the “External Review Panel” to investigate their own actions or lack of actions regarding the March 8-9 rape allegations and sexual violence prevention. Full list here.
The panel will include Bob Berdahl. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2005, in his previous job as UC-Berkeley President, Berdahl got into some trouble over his lucrative sinecure payments, but managed to avoid prosecution:
From an email sent out by Provost Scott Coltrane: Dear School of Journalism and Communication Faculty and Staff: After consulting with SOJC Associate Deans and the Dean’s Advisory Committee at a meeting on May 13, I have decided to defer the search for a new SOJC Dean until spring 2015.…
6/10/2014 update: Transparency is lacking at the UO (Letter to the RG)
In his June 4 letter, David Hubin, the supervisor of the University of Oregon’s Public Records Office, chastised The Register-Guard for omitting information from its May 31 editorial about the pages and pages of colorful redactions his office made to documents concerning the UO’s response to March 8-9 sexual assault allegations.
Hubin said he was “disappointed” the editorial “didn’t provide all the facts about why the university can’t release certain information. The newspaper’s readers deserve to understand the university isn’t hiding the information but is following laws that protect student privacy.”
But, as was explained in the May 30 news report by Josephine Woolington, the UO redacted many of the pages to protect administrators, not students. Those redactions included “frank discussions” between UO officials and emails covered by “attorney-client privilege.” The pages were helpfully color-coded in marigold and blue by Hubin’s office.
The redacted communications are presumably between President Michael Gottfredson, his administrators and “his” attorneys in the UO’s general counsel’s office. Actually, those attorneys are supposed to represent all the university, not just the president. In any case, Gottfredson could waive that privilege and disclose those “frank discussions.” He didn’t.
Such secrecy is part of a pattern. In February, the university even tried to charge our student journalists for budget information on expenditures for sexual assault prevention.
I believe it’s too late for Gottfredson’s administration, but our next president will need to improve transparency and build some trust in the UO community.
BILL HARBAUGH
PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS
FORMER CHAIRMAN, UO SENATE TRANSPARENCY COMMITTEE
6/5/2014 update: UO releases 323 more pages of redacted docs on rape allegation cover-up
PDF of today’s release here. A zip file of all the records I’ve obtained so far is here. The public records office’s response included a disclaimer that this is just a partial release. I’ll update when they decide to release more. The office’s log file is here.
UO has gone with more blue and marigold this time – the colors for redacting documents because they contain “attorney client privilege” or “frank discussion”. Green means Hubin’s office is claiming the redactions are needed for student privacy.
I’ve haven’t looked through this much, but there is some frank discussion between Intercollegiate Athletics Committee Rob Illig (Law school prof) and the IAC members about President Gottfredson’s April 29 decision to dismantle the committee for asking too many tough questions. The day after he saw the EPD report, and was still hoping he could cover it up. The faculty emails are unredacted, but the ones between UO’s administrators are in marigold. An interesting double standard!. The cover-up timeline is here.
6/4/2014 update: Dave Hubin takes the dive for Gottfredson’s redactions. Shame on you, Dave.
This is worse than when Hubin tried to charge the student newspaper to see the budget numbers on how much UO was spending to address sexual assault prevention:
His letter to the RG editors, in response to their “Redaction Run Amok” editorial is here. All about protecting student privacy:
As the person who supervises the University of Oregon’s Office of Public Records, I was disappointed that a May 31 editorial didn’t provide all the facts about why the UO can’t release certain information. The newspaper’s readers deserve to understand the university isn’t hiding the information but is following laws that protect student privacy.
Sure it is. Hubin does not mention the many redactions made because they include “frank discussions” between UO officials, or “attorney-client privilege”. These are helpfully color-coded in marigold and blue, respectively, as explained by Josephine Woolington in her May 30 RG story here.
The redacted emails are presumably between Mike Gottfredson and “his” attorneys in UO’s General Counsel’s office. Actually those attorneys are supposed to represent UO, not Mike Gottfredson. And in any case Gottfredson can waive that privilege if he wants, and disclose his “frank discussions”. So what are Hubin and Gottfredson hiding?
5/31/2014 update: Register-Guard editorial board on Gottfredson’s “Redaction run Amok”
resources manager.
JH is in total meltdown. They could really do with taking a look at the article on adamenfroy.com which lists the 5 best PEO companies of 2021, as the services of a PEO company would be invaluable to them at this moment in time. Why? Because they have lost control of payroll, accounting, and basic human resources management, and they’ve put out an emergency bid for consultants. Deadline now extended to June 10. The last time this happened we paid Huron millions. The bid info is on the OUS website: https://secure.ous.edu/bid/opportunities/1654
4/16/2014 Now verified, Mark Yuran gone as UO Chief HR Officer
Sent on behalf of Jamie Moffitt:
http://jobs.uoregon.edu/unclassified.php?subtype=administrative Assistant Director Of Strategic Communications Office Of Strategic Communications For Enrollment Management http://jobs.uoregon.edu/unclassified.php?id=4752 Assistant General Counsel http://jobs.uoregon.edu/unclassified.php?id=4686 Assistant Basketball Coach http://jobs.uoregon.edu/unclassified.php?id=4633 Head Acrobatics & Tumbling Coach Athletics http://jobs.uoregon.edu/unclassified.php?id=4751
$8M Science library donation from Lorry Lokey, here. $10M Softball donation from Robert Sanders, here. AD Rob Mullens and President Gottfredson have rejected calls for a modest tax on athletic donations, or even a requirement that athletics stop charging regular students for the $2.4M athlete-only tutoring at the Jaqua Center…
From the UO archives, 18 September 1895: My OCR chokes on this, but it appoints a committee of 2 profs and 1 student and says “… All proceedings of the Athletics Club concerning Intercollegiate games must have the approval of this committee. This shall in no way interfere with…
The Chronicle has the story here, from UNC. Presumably a few UO employees are making similar calculations.
First UO President Mike Gottfredson tried to claim the Eugene Police hid their investigative report on the basketball rape allegations from him. So the police released their timeline contradicting him. Gottfredson then refused to release the documents supporting his story, claiming they were redacted because of “attorney-client privilege”. Then yesterday…