12/21/2007: Oregon State economist William Jaeger has produced an interesting report on Oregon’s taxes, demonstrating that they are well below the national average. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Also interesting is this study on happiness by state (of residence, not of mind). Oregon is #30.
UO Matters
12/21/2009: Sent to Doug Park, UO’s public records chief, after several unsuccessful attempts to get a response from UO’s AAEO Director Penny Daugherty. As discussed here, UO’s current plan is way out of date. Hi Doug: I’m still unable to get a response from Penny on when UO’s affirmative action…
12/21/2009: Here’s an interesting report on what states and universities can do to “improve college access and success for underrepresented students.” UO’s plan – dump $2 million a year on Charles Martinez and his do nothing Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity so they can prepare reports on plans –…
12/17/2009: Anyone who has been in UO classroom recently – particularly an honors class – will be struck by how few male students there are. Girls are doing better and better in HS, boys not so much. Apparently some selective colleges have been giving boys an advantage in admissions, to…
12/17/2009: Here’s a long and interesting article from Insidehighered.com on UW Provost Phyllis Wise’s decision to accept an offer to join the Nike board. I’m not a Nike basher – the way to improve the lives of low wage workers in poor countries is to buy what they make, not…
12/16/2009: UO is hiring a new Vice President for Development, and a new Vice Provost for Enrollment Management. We have hired search firms for both positions and posted public announcements of the openings on the UO website and in the Chronicle. This marks the second and third time in recent…
12/15/2009: The Chronicle has a long article on the increase in the unionization of adjunct faculty: Aware that adjuncts are finding reasons for wanting to organize, unions are wooing them—in no small part because the numbers of tenure-track faculty members that can be added to union rolls is shrinking. “If…
12/14/2009: From the Seattle Times: University of Washington Provost Phyllis Wise is facing growing criticism from students, faculty and lawmakers for taking a seat on the corporate board of Nike, which last year signed a contract with the UW worth a minimum $35 million to the university.
12/10/2009: From the Chronicle: “At public research universities, the average presidential salary is $412,981, the average salary of a full professor is $113,248, and the ratio is 3.64.” At UO?
The union campaign has already had one positive effect – the administration’s new use of “Colleagues” as the salutation in their periodic emails to the faculty, instead of their customary “You unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit”. I can’t understand why the Provost left UO Matters off his list of…
12/7/2009: Interesting op-ed from insidehighered.com on the UC systems troubles. The claim is that the universities are exaggerating the extent of the problem: Even with the revelation that many of the top earners are administrators and that there are now more administrators in the UC system than faculty members, many…
12/7/2009: CJ Ciaramella has a short story on the union survey in today’s ODE.
12/5/2009: The OPB show “Think Out Loud” is doing a show Monday on the subject of access to public records. This is about AG Kroger’s new “Government Transparency” Initiative. Among other important reforms Kroger has appointed DOJ lawyer Michael Kron as “Government Transparency Counsel”. Kron’s job responsibilities include ensuring that…
12/4/2009: This brief from UO law professor John Bonine to President Lariviere takes on UO General Counsel Melinda Grier and her claim that the faculty’s role in university governance is limited to student discipline and the curriculum. Quoting, It is important that the University Senate, members of the ad hoc…