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…
UO Matters
Today, from ProPublica: “Lobbyists Warn Colleges That Participating in Sexual-Assault Survey Could Make Them Look Bad” Tonight, an expert on these surveys will speak at the UO Law School: “Encouraging Innovation to Prevent and Intervene in Campus Sexual Violence,” a talk by Nancy Chi Cantalupo June 5, 2014 6:00 pm – 7:00…
From the ODE: An open letter from a fellow Duck: The past few months have, undeniably, been the hardest and most challenging time in my life. This is such an overwhelming experience and one that I hope that no other student on campus ever has to live through. Given what…
But they still want the academic side to pay them $2.4M for special athlete only tutoring. Funny how Eric Roedl and Rob Mullens managed to keep this new revenue a secret from the UO Senate for so long. To put $115M in perspective, UO’s projected spending next year – including…
6/3/2014 update: Because of problems getting a quorum for this last minute meeting, the Senate Exec will meet with those senators that are available, to make progress on the issues below. Room 110 LAW, public.
6/1/2014: Senate to meet Wed June 4 in an extraordinary session on conduct, athletics, kitchen.
Room 110 LAW, 3PM, Agenda here. Note room change. No live video, but I’ll see what my phone can do for a recording.
Hard to think of a more appropriate skill. From the NYT website:
6/3/2014: Bruce Blonigen (Economics) appointed Associate Dean for Social Sciences: MEMORANDUM TO: College of Arts and Sciences Faculty & Staff FROM: W. Andrew Marcus, Interim Dean SUBJECT: Associate Dean of the Social Sciences Based on the advice of a committee of distinguished senior faculty and others, I am pleased to…
Betsy Hammond in the Oregonian, here. The report, here, paints the Association of American Universities (Bob Berdahl, former President) as an outdated old boys club, and calls for a “New AAU”. Dave Frohnmayer, UO President from 1995 to 2009 and now a noted tobacco company attorney, blames UO’s decline over…
6/16/2014 update: Aided by a massive infusion of PAC cash from redacted t-shirt sales, I managed to get re-elected to the UO Senate.
Packed agenda here. Board of Trustees of the University of Oregon Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting June 3, 2014 Tuesday, June 3, 2014 – Public Meeting – Ford Alumni Center, Room 403 9:00am 1.0 Convene Call to Order and Welcome Roll Call Looks like a full house, about…
That’s the latest rumor, from the SBNation sports blog. Frankly it seems wildly implausible that another university will take any of these three, after reading the DA’s report. Yes, Alex Gardner concluded he couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that what happened March 8-9 was a gang rape, but most…
Rumor is the exhibit includes Darron Thomas’s pipe, which he donated to the Knight Library archives. It’s empty, of course, because, well, he’d smoked it all. From the Emerald, here.
6/1/2014 update: The Chronicle of Higher Ed has a fascinating story, here:
MARVIN CLARK JR. was sold. Fresh off a recruiting visit to the University of Oregon two years ago, he was convinced he wanted to play there.
He loved the Ducks’ fast-paced offense, the team needed a player at his position, and one of his youth coaches had played for an Oregon assistant. That was the type of edge that could help in a battle for playing time.
The campus wowed him. Everywhere he looked, he saw the Nike swoosh. The company’s co-founder, a big Oregon donor, had helped finance some of the nicest facilities in the country. For a kid who had spent time in homeless shelters, it seemed like nirvana.
A year ago, Mr. Clark made it official, committing to the Pac-12 program over more than a dozen other suitors. Around the same time, he had surgery to repair a fractured foot, forcing him to miss several months on the court. A fractured foot, surgically repaired with a screw, set Mr. Clark’s plans back a year ago.
He was prepared to graduate from high school last year, but Oregon’s coaches had encouraged him to spend a year at a prep school. The week he returned to the court, two Oregon coaches visited him there. It was his first game back, and it showed. After the game, he says, the coaches started to walk out of the gym without offering a word.
That night Mr. Clark hardly slept, fearing that he had lost his scholarship. The next day he called one of his coaches, who had been in touch with Oregon. Mr. Clark’s instincts were right—Oregon had moved on. …
5/12/2014: Did Lorraine Davis vet Brandon Austin?
I’m guessing President Gottfredson has received hundreds if not thousands of emails and letters from alumni and parents about his mishandling of the rape allegations, and UO’s failure to deal with the larger campus problem. An alumni petition has now been started, here: … As U of O Alums, we…
5/30/2014 update: Rumors prove false. The Trustees have now posted the June 12-13 meeting material, here. The delegation revisions start at page 55. At first glance this new draft seems to have addressed at least some of the Senate’s problems with Geller’s initial secret policy, but expect further review by the Senate’s ad hoc committee, chaired by President Rob Kyr (Music).
In other news, the board will host a public roundtable lunch discussion with former Interim UO President Bob Berdahl on Thursday, June 12. Berdahl’s brief presidency (and the hiring of Sharon Rudnick) was instrumental in persuading the UO faculty, including me, that a faculty union was needed to counterbalance the bat-shit craziness in Johnson Hall. As it has proved to be.
Among Berdahl’s last acts at UO were giving Jim Bean and Randy Geller three-year contract extensions, the dismantling of President Lariviere’s transparency initiative, and big raises for Rob Mullens and his coaches.
Highlights of his earlier career as UC-Berkeley President include committing the university to an unaffordable football stadium, quickly followed by a lucrative golden parachute buyout. Given the current situation with Mike Gottfredson and our Trustees, it is clear Berdahl’s expertise on buyouts will be invaluable.
5/30/2014 update: Gottfredson hiding new draft of “Delegation of Board Authority” policy from faculty?