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UO Matters

Covid deaths, stock market recovery, and benefit cuts will end Oregon’s PERS retirement crisis even earlier than expected

UO administrators and Republican legislators love doom and gloom stories about the cost of PERS and its outrageous retirement benefits. But the truth is that they’re repeating fake news, and are now going to have to look for a new bogeyman. The truth is that the state could redirect a…

Covid has cut costs of Oregon state employee health insurance by $75M, so far:

Compared to a pre-Covid predicted 3% annual increase, though presumably costs will rebound after elective tests and surgeries resume. I don’t know if PEBB will rebate the savings to UO, or add it to their reserves. If it’s a rebate, it would be about $1,300 in costs per employee, or…

Pres Schill shit-cans Pac-12’s Larry Scott. Will his replacement be Rob Mullens, or someone who supports academics?

CBS here: “We appreciate Larry’s pioneering efforts in growing the conference by adding new competitive university programs and accelerating the Pac-12 to television network parity with the other conferences,” Oregon president Michael Schill said in a statement. “At one point, our television agreement was the most lucrative in the nation…

UO Chemistry students caught paying to cheat on-line.

Daily Emerald reporter Claire Warner has the story here: … Launched in 2014, Chegg Study provides students 37 million Q&A’s “to help students better understand their schoolwork,” according to its website. While many of its customers use the service to do just that, some students pay the $14.95-per-month subscription fee to…

Update: Pres Schill and GC Reed relent on Freyd, after bad publicity and pressure

1/19/2021 update, posted with permission: Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 3:18 PMSubject: Re: PsychList: Inside Higher Ed reports on Jennifer Freyd’s Open Letter to UO Board of Trustees (and the support she has received for this) Dear Colleagues, Today I learned that the University of Oregon (UO) has decided to alter the…

Retirement buyout updates

1/18/2021 update: After years of paying buy-outs to fired coaches like Mark Helfrich, you’d think our General Counsel’s office would have a clue. But, in response to complaints, they’re claiming they’ve just now identified “a tax compliant way” to split the payments: NEW: Retirement Incentive may be split into two…

UO Senate to meet on Robert’s Rules, Excellent Teaching criteria, etc

3-5PM Wed Jan 13, Zoom link at https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/94535299849 January 13, 2021 Senate Meeting Agenda Call to Order Land Acknowledgment; Suzie Stadelman Intro Remarks; Senate President Elliot Berkman/Vice President Spike Gildea ASUO updates Approval of the Minutes December 2, 2020 State of the University President Schill New Business US20/21-03: Change the majority…

Provost reminds faculty they can be disciplined for breaking the NCAA’s rules

Dear University of Oregon faculty, I am writing again with this important reminder from the University of Oregon’s Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee (IAAC). The committee wants to remind all faculty about NCAA rules as they pertain to academic misconduct and academic extra benefits for student-athletes.While most NCAA rules do not…

More big money for another useless Duck coach

https://goducks.com/news/2020/12/30/womens-basketball-oregon-extends-contract-of-graves.aspx EUGENE, Ore. – University of Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens announced today that the University has reached an agreement on a contract extension with head women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves. The extension runs through the 2028-29 season, and the incremental increases are funded through private athletic gifts. In his seventh season with the…