8/14/2010: German rich guy questions the logic. From Der Spiegel: Peter Krämer, a Hamburg-based shipping magnate and multimillionaire, has emerged as one of the strongest critics of the “Giving Pledge.” Krämer, who donated millions of euros in 2005 to “Schools for Africa,” a program operated by UNICEF, explained his opposition…
UO Matters
8/14/2010: Steve Duin has an interesting column on Masoli in the Oregonian today.
8/12/2010: When John Moseley and Lorraine Davis retired, then President Dave Frohnmayer wrote them extraordinary golden parachute contracts to take advantage of the PERS system. UO paid them half time for 5 years – Moseley for running UO-Bend from his Deschutes fishing lodge, and Davis doing the odd administrative job,…
8/11/2010: there is a sign that UO is moving towards being a normal public institution acting more or less for the public good, with decisions made in the open, on the basis of rules and some sense of shared purpose and central direction. But then I’m always an optimist.
8/11/2010: Interesting article in the Chronicle on the increasing role of the Gates Foundation in higher ed issues. Not everyone welcomes them: Diane Ravitch, in a chapter of her recent book, Death and Life of the Great American School System, takes aim at Gates and other business tycoons’ foundations. “Education,”…
8/10/2010: Ryan Buckley of the Daily Emerald has an article on an all-volunteer program some UO faculty started to encourage local low-SES students to go to college. KEZI has a brief clip on President Larviere’s talk at the camp, here. Mark Baker had an earlier article on this in the…
8/10/2010: Greg Bolt of the RG has an article on the Jock Box, based on the cost estimates the Oregonian obtained from UO with a public records request. The article does not explain how the tax-deductibility of this sort of donation means that regular taxpayers picked up about half the…
8/9/2010: The Chronicle and several other papers quote Senate Pres Nathan Tublitz on the Jock Box: Cost of U. of Oregon’s New Center for Athletes Draws New Debate Over Priorities The $41.7-million cost of the University of Oregon’s new academic center for athletes prices out to more than $1,000 per…
8/8/2010: From Greg Bolt in the RG. If I understand it right more students than expected are coming and fewer than expected are dropping their dorm room contracts. Seems like housing is handling it much better than in 2008, when they shuffled the overflow across the river. This time they…
8/7/2010: From Rachel Bachman in the Oregonian. $41,677,868 total. Almost 20% more than a Gehry. I’m no economist, but after tax deductions, this breaks down to about $22 million from Phil Knight, $16 million from US taxpayers, and $4 million from Oregon taxpayers. The gift that keeps on taking. The…
8/5/2010: Imagine what they could do with the $905,000 the VP for Diversity budgets for administrative expenses and reviewing “diversity action plan strategic reports”. Camp for a cause | A series of University of Oregon summer programs aims to give low-income high school and middle school students a taste of…
8/5/2010: From InsideHighered.com With backing from the New York State Human Rights Division, Csaba Marosan is suing Trocaire College, saying that the Roman Catholic institution discriminated against him because of his accent (he’s from Hungary) and because he is straight, ABC News reported. The state agency investigated his complaint and…
8/5/2010: From Eric Kelderman in the Chronicle: One year into her tenure as chancellor of the State University of New York, the State Legislature handed Nancy L. Zimpher her first major political defeat, rejecting a package of regulatory changes meant to allow public universities to earn more money outside of…
8/4/2010: At Missouri State, we mean. Change a few names and this story from the Springield Missouri News-Leader is eerily similar to the ones Ryan Knutson wrote for the Oregon Daily Emerald. The quote at the end from the new president sums it all up: “I will not ask for…
8/3/2010: From the Volokh Conspiracy, word on a potentially important circuit court decision imposing strict limits on when universities can charge controversial speakers for security. I don’t know if this will affect what UO does, e.g. with Pacifica Forum.