3PM in 115 Lawrence. Official agenda here, live video here. My understanding is that Senate President Paris has cleared the session for as long as the Q&A takes. The UO M timeline on the rape and cover-up allegations is here. Sorry, the live-blog below has gaps – though none as bad as those in the administration’s timeline on how they responded to the rape allegations.
Short Version:
He’s not ready to sign the Academic Freedom policy – his lawyers still need to review it. Speaking of lawyers, I wonder how much Rudnick and Frohnmayer have billed on this so far.
President Gottfredson reiterated his desire to protect UO students. He was very forceful about that. It was a better delivered speech than his usual, but he didn’t explain the many gaps in the timeline, e.g. the 14 day gap, JH failure to send the EPD report to the UOPD, the Geller resignation, decision to dismantle the IAC, etc. He was asked about Senate participation in hiring the FAR replacement. He punted. I asked him if he had ever planned to report the alleged rape to the campus. He didn’t give an answer to that. (If you’ve got any idea how not giving a police report to your police “protects your students” please let him know, for his next speech.)
After the questions ended, I asked the Senate to suspend the rules to consider a resolution about the allegations and the administration’s response, but explicitly not including a vote of no-confidence. The senate voted 30/9 to suspend the rules. People repeated said that the Senate needed to “own this problem” as it involved our core responsibilities as teachers. Senator Martinez proposed that the resolution include a call for a) an investigation of the response to this situation and b) proposals for how to fix issues uncovered during a).
The Senate agreed that we needed to act but that we could not draft this resolution on the floor. The Senate will draft it over the next two weeks, and vote on it at the 5/28 meeting.
Reports: LMS. New Ombud Bruce McAllister introduces himself. Lots of experience, attorney, 1st floor of Anstett. Serves faculty, employees and students – anyone impacted by UO. Has already worked with a few “visitors”, ready to roll out soon. Has one staff person. Four principles: Confidential and informal, does not report (e.g. not the place for Clery reporting. Neutral and independent, although he’s hired and paid by President. Serious about the confidentiality.
Stahl speaks on behalf of Nathan Tublitz, giving notice of motion for a vote of no-confidence in President Gottfredson.
President Gottfredson’s University Update: