RG reporter Jordyn Brown has the story here: … Additionally, UO refused requests for interviews with representatives of the Oregon Bach Festival, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural and Cultural History and the Labor Education and Research Center about the budget cuts. … This is what we…
UO Matters
Dear Colleagues, I’m writing to ask that you join me in signing a petition in support of the UO´s crucial Labor Education and Research Center. Many of you are longtime friends and supporters of LERC; others have collaborated with LERC faculty and know how the UO benefits from having a…
4/22/2019: Apparently I’m not the only person on campus who appreciates a sophomoric joke about this phallic egofice. From Around the O:
4/11/2019: Duck AD Rob Mullens to charge Hayward fans $50K for Slusher’s Schlong
I swear I am not making this up.
Update: RG photographer Chris Pietsch has taken many wonderful photos over the years and he is one of the reasons we still subscribe. And this may be his best: Story here. A little lite live-blogging. Usual disclaimer: Nothing is a quote unless in quotes. Two TV cameras, about 200 town hallers.…
Just kidding, they’re actually talking about cuts to museums, OA’s and staff, and increasing in-state tuition. There is no sign that the Rob Mullens and the Ducks will even be asked to cut their bloated budget or the subsidies they take from the academic side. This recent report in Oregon…
From the daily roundup that UO’s news service sends out: Return of the Reefer-Crazed Killer Reason Magazine (232K Twitter followers | 3,170,033 unique visitors per month | 42,000 circulation): University of Oregon W.E. Miner Chair and associate professor of economics Benjamin Hansen provides expert commentary.
Dana Altman, from CBS sports: Steve Berkowitz, from USA Today: The plaintiffs’ lawyers have developed a list of roughly 53,000 football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball players who are set to get some share of the settlement money, according to Wednesday’s ruling. Those who played their sport for four years will get…
The last survey I was allowed to see showed that UO students listed our reputation for environmental studies and activism as a bigger part of their enrollment decision than the ~$120M Duck athletic empire. So with freshman tuition deposits due May 1, this protest couldn’t have come at a better…
I was born in the town of Chaplin, Connecticut. New England towns are famous for their Town Hall form of governance. The town Selectmen (now mostly Selectwomen) make proposals about the budget, and then everyone – or every property-tax paying resident who cares – meets, discusses, and votes about the…
Reporter Hannah Kanik has the story in the Daily Emerald here.
4/10/2019: Results from today’s Senate meeting: After a presentation by Sierra Dawson (OtP), Lee Rumbarger (TEP), and a discussion with participation ranging from student senators on down to several unit heads responsible for instructor evaluation, and responses from the CIET committee members, and an amendment to require that the CIET…
I had to miss Friday’s bargaining session, but it seems the administration finally responded to the GTFF’s economic proposal by repeating their previous proposal, throwing in an additional 0.5% per year to make it an even 1%. I know a few economists, and they tell me the western US consumer price index increased by 3.1 % last year, so as might have been predicted this did not go over well.
Likewise, while the administration’s proposal to move some of what it pays for GTFF health care (by all reports it’s a cadillac plan that puts PEBB to shame, although the GTFF did manage to cut what UO paid for it last year) and put it in salary, while optimal to a rational expected-income maximizing risk-neutral agent, is not so optimal under the assumption of utility-maximization and the resulting risk aversion that has been the working model of economists since before there were such things as economists (Bernoulli, 1738). Yes, I know that newer models of loss aversion from psychologists and behavioral economists make this result stronger, but they are not needed to predict the response here.
The messages from the GTFF and the administration are below the break.
As noted in last week’s post about the Faculty Club, the Thursday session is sponsored by the Senate, and all Senators and all OA’s and classified staff interested in university service and shared governance are invited to come discuss this with the President and Provost. I am hoping for a…
For some reason I can’t find this on the Around the O calendar of upcoming events, but there are plenty of posters up around campus: Josh Hunt, author of the University of Nike, will be speaking the evening of Tuesday, April 9 at 5:30 in 100 Willamette Hall. (map) Come…
4/3/2019 free lunch update:
Pres Schill is buying the task force lunch. Burritos. Less than 1/2 the members are here. I’m free-riding. In response to the first question, Schill says that the motivation for this entire process was the lack of “vision” from Marcus and CAS. I guess Tykeson doesn’t count. This is news to the members, one of whom notes that this is the first they’ve heard that lack of vision was the point of this task force, except for a brief comment from Shelton early in the process. A discussion ensues of what “vision” means in practice, beyond mission statements and buzzwords like excellence. Schill says CAS needs some “jewels”. Shiny things he can show the board?
If inadequate vision really is the crux, perhaps this should have been explained to the task force at the start. They seem like an engaged, creative group who’ve revealed their commitment to CAS. Put them to work on creating visions, instead of discussing the optimal re-arrangement of the deck chairs!
The outside member notes that she believes an important vision that would excite donors and the state would be focusing on delivering the best possible liberal arts education, to students who will need a broad education to prepare for the many possible different futures.
The remainder of the meeting was a pretty interesting and engaging conversation between the members and President Schill, who told the task force that he will not be disappointed if they come back to him with the conclusion that the current structure is fine, and some visions.
4/2/2019 update: An ¿exciting? three hours of meetings this week: