Severance payments to former coaches, from 2015 to present: Presumably the money came from Duck boosters who couldn’t think of a way to support UO’s academic mission, or just don’t care. I wonder if the Foundation and UO Development exempted these donations from their usual administrative and fundraising charges, as…
168 search results for “kevin reed”
Daniel Libit has won many public records lawsuits against the athletic department at the University of New Mexico, his alma mater, trying to bring some light to their various athletics scandals. He’s recently gone national at “The Intercollegiate”, and asked me to do a podcast about my muckraking experiences with Duck athletics. I’d never even listened to a podcast so of course I said yes, and this is the result:
LATEST PODCAST: In our new, occasional series, “Heretics in the Temple,” @DanielLibit talks w/ Oregon economics professor Bill Harbaugh, the man behind @uomatters, and the so-called “Open-Records King of Eugene.”
iTunes: https://t.co/vWjNiSIpd7
Website: https://t.co/hDV39uji1N pic.twitter.com/GZ2syUOC9n
— The Intercollegiate (@TheIntercollege) January 14, 2020
During the recording of this Daniel asked me about the time – reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education – when UO GC Kevin Reed made this public records request:
From: Kevin Reed <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Public Records – Request for Documents 2017-PRR-172
Date: February 3, 2017 at 3:04:14 PM PST
To: William Harbaugh <[email protected]>
Cc: Public Record Requests <[email protected]>
Senate President Harbaugh:
In answer to your questions:
1) I seek all communications concerning or mentioning the STC you made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate (Vice President, President or member or Chair of the STC), regardless of which media or device you sued for your communication.
2) No. I do not believe FIRE or SPLC qualify as “media.” If it helps in narrowing the search, please feel free to limit my request to communications with reporters, editors or other personnel associated with the Register Guard, the Oregonian, the Daily Emerald, The Chronicle of Higher Education or Inside Higher Ed.
But, given that you have shared that you correspond with FIRE, I will make the additional request under the Oregon Public Records Law:
Please share any communications you have had with persons associated with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in the past 12 months, made in your capacity as an officer of the University Senate or member of any of its committees, which communications relate to or concern freedom of speech or academic freedom at the University of Oregon.
Kevin S. Reed | Vice President and General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
219 Johnson Hall | Eugene, OR 97403-1226
(541) 346-3082 | [email protected]
(Yes, of course I sent him the records, at no charge, and then I sent his emails to the reporters. They laughed and then reported on it, as reporters will do.)
I told Daniel that I thought Kevin’s records request – which he clearly made as UO General Counsel, twice – was “illegal”. I’m no lawyer, but that seems like a reasonable conclusion given that the first page of the free online Oregon Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual says:
I. PUBLIC RECORDS A. WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO INSPECT PUBLIC RECORDS?
Under Oregon’s Public Records Law, “every person” has a right to inspect any nonexempt public record of a public body in Oregon. This right extends to any natural person, any corporation, partnership, firm or association, and any member or committee of the Legislative Assembly. However, a public body may not use the Public Records Law to obtain public records from another public body. Similarly, a public official, other than a legislator, acting within an official capacity may not rely on the Public Records Law to obtain records, although the individual could do so in an individual capacity. This does not prevent a public body from sharing records with other public bodies; it merely prevents a public body from using Public Records Law as a mechanism to obtain the desired records. [emphasis added] …
Sensibly, Daniel reached out to General Counsel Kevin Reed for his thoughts on this before including my comment in his podcast. Reed strenuously objected to my opinion of his public records request:
On Jan 13, 2020, at 4:59 PM, Kevin Reed <[email protected]> wrote:
Daniel:
I say that the use of the word “illegal” is an absurd stretch, not that the AG’s position (which I took 10 years ago) is absurd. Please don’t misquote me.
And saying that a lawyer has broken the law is not subject to “interpretation.” If your publication has counsel, I suggest you check with them. If you choose to defame me in your publication, you do so at your own peril.
Kevin S. Reed | Vice President and General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
219 Johnson Hall | Eugene, OR 97403-1226
(541) 346-3082 | [email protected]
“Your own peril”. Yikes.
So, I want to thank Daniel for deciding to redact my comments on Kevin’s public records request from the podcast, and saving me the trouble of having to deal with still more peril from UO’s General Counsel.
Full email exchanges between Reed and Libit below the break. Poorly formatted, sorry.
While there is still no sign the GC’s office is willing to settle the gender discrimination lawsuit brought by Prof Jennifer Freyd, this is the second time that I know of that Reed’s office has agreed to settle with a male student who complained that UO had botched its investigation…
Long story. Back in 2012 Interim UO President Bob Berdahl commissioned this memo from then General Counsel Randy Geller, on how he could disband the UO Senate and ensure its former committees were staffed with his lackeys. Snippets: This abolitionist effort failed. President Schill has adopted a more indirect, long…
Dear Colleagues, The Faculty Club opens its doors for the fall term again this week. We’ll be following the same format as before—a happy hour with complimentary hors-d’oeuvres and a reasonably-priced cash bar, open from 5:00 to 8:00 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please come out and join us either…
The Eugene Weekly report by Bob Keefer asks the question, here. Keep in mind Reed’s past claims that even coaches are faculty, at least for the purposes of hiding their employment records from the public.
The LA Times has the story here. It took place while current UO General Counsel Kevin Reed was chief lawyer at UCLA, and it was a precursor to the “Varsity Blues” investigation that’s just led to jail time for some actress. Reporter Nathan Fenno: Five years before William “Rick” Singer became known…
They’re claiming these are educational records protected under FERPA. Michael Tobin and Anakin Welp have the story in the Emerald here. A snippet:
HB 2353 has now passed the Oregon House and Senate unanimously, and Governor Brown is expected to sign it soon: I like how the fine goes to the requester of the records. This emergency legislation is indeed necessary for the sake of the public peace. In the past year the…
5/17/2019 update:
The Oregonian’s Rob Davis reveals still more of the documents UO tried to hide from the public, including more new information about the redactions by Kevin Reed’s Public Record Office.
If I understand the story right, Reed’s office let the lobbying group decide what UO should redact from UO’s public records. They made some interesting choices. Weird. Full story here with links to all the records:
What UO didn’t want the public to know about industry group’s climate bill opposition
… The newly released documents documents include the alliance’s legislative updates, lobbyist reports and memorandums to members. The university originally contended portions of the documents were protected by the attorney-client privilege and by an exemption allowing material submitted confidentially to be withheld in very narrow circumstances.
Ed Finklea, the alliance’s natural gas director, told The Oregonian/OregonLive it was the energy alliance’s attorney who made the redactions when the university released the records. Molly Blancett, a school spokeswoman, said the university “always solicits the input of third parties when it comes to their records that have made their way to the university’s possession.”
The clean documents show a consistent theme in what was initially redacted: References to potential benefits of Brown’s proposed climate change bill. …
5/14/2019 update:
I have it from a generally reliable source that, as of yesterday, UO has withdrawn its membership in AWEC, the industry group that is lobbying against Governor Brown’s Cap and Trade legislation.
5/12/2019: It backfired. Rob Davis has the story in the Oregonian, here. A few snippets:
Back in Sept 2017 the faculty union and the administration signed this MOU here, by which the administration would hold back 0.75% of a 2.0% across-the-board raise for TTF to address “unexplained equity differences potentially related to race, gender, or ethnicity” to be paid starting in Jan 2019. 0.75% works…
Or at least make an inflated estimate of the cost of finding them? Given that Reed is also the Board’s attorney, you’d think this would be a pretty easy public records request. UO’s federal accreditors require the Board of Trustees to conduct a self-study evaluation every two years: 2.A.8 The board…
Oregon’s new Public Records Advisory Council sent its first report to the Governor a few weeks ago. The report notes many problems with Oregon’s Public Records law and with the lack of compliance of public agencies. For example, The report then goes on to note that UO has recently made…
This guy always looks so angry. You’d think he’s trying to get appointed to the Supreme Court. At least this time it’s not about his unpaid student-athletes protesting for #blacklivesmatter. The Oregonian has the latest info on the University of Oregon’s second highest paid employee: By Brad Schmidt and Jeff Manning |…
Can't find what you're looking for? Try refining your search: