9/27/2010: Mat Wolf of the ODE has a story on Friday’s riot. Remember all those stories about how computers and texting make our students withdraw from reality? Never mind – turns out somebody organized a party with facebook and it got out of control, the cops were called, and now…
UO Matters
9/27/2010: The NRC rankings of US graduate programs have been released to UO administrators and the press but are embargoed for public release. Sorry, we took an oath. The release has been delayed for years by a cage fight over statistical methods, and the data will be from 2005-6. Still,…
9/26/2010: I’m no Sanskrit scholar, though I learned some interesting things from this video of President Lariviere explaining the history and logic of the language – to 9th graders. I particularly like the bit on the power of words, and the ancient efforts to understand the mystery of their power.
9/26/2010: I’m hoping that the Friday night freshman riots don’t turn into a regular event. I also hope that DPS does not attempt to use them as a reason for yet another big budget increase. 110% in 6 years, while crime rates are decreasing, should be enough. So long as…
9/25/2010: State Treasurer Ted Wheeler has called for a halt to state borrowing, saying the state is at its limit. From Tim Sickinger in the Oregonian. Lariviere’s plan for a $800 million bond would reduce state costs, because the bond payments would surely be limited below current direct appropriations to…
9/24/2010: The RG reports that the Villard Street Pub will be torn down and replaced by private student housing. Meanwhile, the UO owned Romania car showroom on Franklin has been recommended for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Not kidding. Actually, the website eugenemodern.org has some gorgeous photos…
9/23/2010: The “Dream Act” would have given people who were brought into the country illegally as minors by their parents a road to citizenship. Anne Saker of the Oregonian gives one example: Lopez was 6 weeks old in 1990 when his parents came into the country illegally and settled in…
9/22/2010: John Hunt has an Oregonian story on the latest in Ducks basketball troubles. They are expected to fall below NCAA academic standards in Spring, and then have their allowable practice time and scholarship support cut – unless the NCAA gives the new coach a break. A commenter points out…
9/22/2010: USA Today has been doing a lot of good reporting on college athletics, backed up by a database they painfully compile from FOIA requests to public schools for the reports those schools submit to the NCAA. (The NCAA – a non-profit which gets a tax-exemption by arguing they act…
9/21/2010: The new website for the proposed faculty union is a bit sleepy, but has a few new posts. Meanwhile, the SEIU staff union is fighting OUS over the furlough situation: The Oregon University System is refusing to eliminate furloughs for classified workers. OUS Labor Relations Director Rick Hampton and…
Update: VP for Finance Frances Dyke has issued the first of what I am guessing will be many corrections to the memo below. I’ll post the final version after they converge. [PLEASE NOTE: The original version of this e-mail contained an error regarding past increases in faculty/staff parking fees. Rates…
9/16/2010: I don’t know the details but some sort of scandal is brewing with the bball team. George Schroeder of the RG has a piece on it here. Presumably some sports agent gave one of the players a few grand to make it through the school year before he signed…
9/16/2010: From a report in the Chronicle by Katherine Margan: Faculty members at Texas A&M University are, by and large, generating more money than they are costing the university, although some of the most prestigious professors would appear to be operating in the red, according to a controversial report prepared…
9/15/2010: “Transformative change has been seeded.” Effective Aug 2011, he’ll return to teaching and research in the School of Ed, presumably while trying to keep his second job at OSLC. My opinion of Martinez and what he has done is not a secret. This is an opportunity for a big…
9/15/2010: Despite the steady national, state, and local declines in property crime and violent crime (reported in recent front page stories in the RG and the Oregonian), and the continued decline in state support for UO, it turns out that Frances Dyke has authorized some pretty serious and expensive efforts…