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UO Matters

UO employee put on paid leave after exercising his First Amendment right to be a dumbass on Instagram

Thanks to a reader for the news. Apparently this has gone viral. There’s a story in the Daily Emerald here:

According to Director of Issues Management and University of Oregon Spokesperson Angela Seydel, the university found Serrato’s statementsin his Instagram video “abhorrent and not in alignment with our values or mission.”

Seydel also said that Serrato has been placed on “administrative leave” and an investigation has been opened.

Administrative leave means that Serrato is taking paid time off, pending a university investigation.

In the post, Serrato said to followers, which included some UO students, to “go f— yourself if you voted for Donald Trump.”

Serrato concluded his story, saying “I hope you go jump off of a f—ing bridge,” with a peace sign.

Seydel said that the university has opened an investigation into the matter and are reviewing it under “university policies and the individual’s role as a public employee.”

According to Seydel, while the university is investigating, they will be providing “support for concerned students and employees, including resources for mental and emotional health.”

That last part seems a bit Orwellian to me. What would the appropriate response be? Perhaps President Scholz should look to Shakespeare:

“We consider it was excess of wine that set him off. … If little faults proceeding on distemper shall not be winked at then …”

President Scholz agrees to across the board raises and guaranteed bonuses, no merit evals

For himself not the faculty, of course. Given Scholz’s intransigence in negotiating with the faculty union – the only movement from his Spring proposal of 3% merit pools for 3 years has been to convert the first year to 3% ATB – it’s worth taking a look at the contract…

Provost Long hires $40,000 an hour motivational speaker

“… the event is a must-attend for anyone looking to contribute positively to our workplace environment…”

Dear colleagues,

We are excited to invite you to an inspiring event, “Courageous Civility with Shola Richards,” on Thursday, November 7, 2024, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the EMU Ballroom. Doors will open at 1:30 pm.

Join us for a keynote presentation by Richards, a leading expert in workplace civility, equity, and inclusion. Richards is a dynamic and inspiring speaker, and the event is a must-attend for anyone looking to contribute positively to our workplace environment.

This event is open and free to all faculty and staff and the first 200 registrants will receive a complimentary copy of Richard’s new book, Civil Unity

Next bargaining session is Thursday, October 17 from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125.

From the faculty union: Thank you to all (200+) people who showed up at the last bargaining session. As you heard, the administration is more concerned with talking about bulletin boards than with our salary proposal. Eventually the administration is going to have to actually bargain over salary, and we…

Daily Emerald: Out-of-state enrollment increases, but not as much as hoped

The Daily Emerald’s Corey Hoffman has a good report on enrollment, here: … According to the Board of Trustees meeting minutes from Sept. 16 and 17, 2,984 out-of-state students were projected to enroll in 2024. The actual enrollment was 2,536 students. Although the out-of-state numbers are significantly lower than the…

UO SPICE science open house this Wed evening

Back in 1972, when I was 13, I heard about a similar event sponsored by the UVa engineering school. Every lab had an open house – wind tunnels, oscilloscopes, soil liquefaction, CNC machining with paper tapes. I still remember it all. My parents weren’t interested so I got to go by myself. I spent the next year going into the labs after school and driving the grad students crazy with dumb questions. I have no idea who runs this at UO but thank you!

The UO SPICE Science Open House is tomorrow (Wednesday October 9th, 6:30-8:30pm, Willamette Hall Atrium). Each year we welcome hundreds of children and community members to come explore hands-on science with SPICE, campus groups, and community partners.  We would love for you to join us. Please find our flyer attached. The event is free to the public.

We hope to see you there!

https://www.spicescience.org/open-haus