In 1982 the OUS Board approved this Internal Management Directive, presumably in response to some long forgotten athletic scandal. They reaffirmed it in 2013, and in 2014 the UO Board adopted OUS’s policies and IMD’s wholesale, while they work out revisions. UO has hired Pernsteiner’s former right hand man Chuck…
Posts tagged as “athletics subsidy”
Duck athletics has $350M so far, expects another $430M from $2B fund drive. Remainder for academics.
10/19/2014: That’s half the $700M raised so far in this drive, plus 1/3 of the remaining $1.3B goal, based on the Andreasen quote below. Can anyone explain why the academic side is still subsidizing the athletic department’s bills? The Daily Emerald’s Alexandra Wallachy has a good interview with VP for Advancement Mike Andreassen,…
9/22/2014 update: Gottfredson’s last official act before skipping town with his $940K was to appoint former journalism dean Tim Gleason to replace longtime NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative Jim O’Fallon (Law), after presumptive heir Rob Illig (Law) crashed and burned with his viral “I’m worth $1M, so screw you unemployed law grads” campaign. The FAR’s are having their national meeting in November in New Orleans. For more info about what the FAR is supposed to do to balance the interests of big-time Duck sports and its multi-million dollar employees with our academic mission, try here. Meanwhile the UO Senate needs to decide what to do about Gleason – specifically this proposed legislation from Pedro Garcia-Caro calling for a Senate role in appointing a new FAR.
7/21/2014 update:
This winter Gottfredson set up a search committee to find a replacement for Jim O’Fallon (Law), who has had the FAR job for 25 years and who been the subject of repeated Senate motions and reports calling for a review and replacement. The Senate will take this up again in the fall. Andy Karduna (Human Phys) agreed to chair the committee, despite Gottfredson’s secrecy requirements. Karduna reported to the IAC and the Senate that the secrecy (and presumably Gottfredson’s control-freak job description and the requirement of a year-long apprenticeship to O’Fallon) kept several qualified and interested faculty from applying. Rumor has it that Rob Illig (Law) wanted the job, but his $1 Million salary goal was a bit too steep. The appointment was supposed to be made in June, but apparently there are still no takers.
6/20/2014 update: Gottfredson appoints IAC-lite, to evade faculty oversight of athletics
The day after President Gottfredson got the EPD report on the basketball rape allegations he decided to dismantle the Senate Intercollegiate Athletic Committee and appoint his own handpicked group of faculty to a new “Advisory Group”. Still no word on who Gottfredson will appoint as FAR in training. At least a few qualified and interested faculty refused to apply under the terms of Gottfredson’s secret search. The Senate will vote on legislation for a new search in the Fall, in any case.
Former President Gottfredson’s biggest fundraising success was $10M for a softball stadium. Press release here. Unfortunately Campus Planning estimates the stadium will cost us $11M: I wonder what hidden strings this gift came with. I should know, since I’m on the Senate committee charged with reviewing these athletics gifts. But…
In 2004, UO’s Athletics Task Force Report called for the Duck athletic department to start making payments to help with UO’s academic mission. It never happened. In fact, a few years later Frohnmayer, Kilkenny, and Knight made a series of secret agreements that left the academic side holding the bag…
Provost (now Interim President) Scott Coltrane objecting in April to still pending Senate legislation to eliminate hidden athletic subsidies and enforce the 2004 agreement to make athletics contribute to UO’s academic mission: An End to Subsidies for the UO Athletic Department Number: US13/14-12 Date of Notice: Wed, 11/13/2013 Legislation, Resolution,…
8/17/2014: While UO’s focus on big-time college football has made millionaires of coaches and administrators like junket queen Lorraine Davis, it’s created some tradeoffs for fans. John Tapogna, president of the ECONorthwest economic consulting firm, gives his personal cost-benefit analysis of going to a Duck football game in this RG…
$3M goes from regular students to subsidize athletes. The students are protesting, and the administration has pledged to overrule the athletic director and end the subsidies. That would be at UW, a member of the prestigious AAU and, unlike UO, likely to remain a member. Story here. At UO, the…
6/21/2014 update: The Arizona Republic has the story here. No word on how much Duck money was involved.
2/1/2013: No Policy Update: Duck administrators fly south for Felony Bowl
UO has no policy on free tickets or travel – not exactly “best practices” when it comes to claiming it’s exempt income, folks.
From: “Thornton, Lisa”
Subject: Public Records Request 2013-PRR-185Date: February 1, 2013 12:28:59 PM PST
02/01/2013
Dear [UO Matters]-
The University does not possess records responsive to your request for ” a copy of UO’s policies and/or procedures on paying for travel and tickets to away games and/or postseason games”, made 1/28/2013.
Thank you for contacting the office with your request.
Sincerely,
Lisa Thornton
Office of Public Records
1/28/2013: Ever wonder how the Ducks get our administrators to look the other way about the accounting tricks that leave the academic side holding the bag for millions in athletic department costs? Free junkets are part of it. The Fiesta Bowl has a long history of corruption, see here.
But they still want the academic side to pay them $2.4M for special athlete only tutoring. Funny how Eric Roedl and Rob Mullens managed to keep this new revenue a secret from the UO Senate for so long. To put $115M in perspective, UO’s projected spending next year – including…
“The problem now is to obtain far-sighted leadership. … Oregon needs a man (sic) who can visualize and vitalize the great functions of scholarship and research. … The “over-emphasis” on athletics is intensified mainly by the neglect of other needs.”
5/5/2014 Update: That’s according to the report by Margie Paris in the Senate minutes, here: Looking at the issue of whether student athletes receive preferential benefits, the task force considered the levels of financial and academic support, registration, and enrollment benefits. They concluded that there are preferential benefits, particularly in the…
The Oregonian’s rough estimate is $4.3M in new revenue.
Troy Brynelson has the report in the ODE, here. The cover illustration is a little over the top, but the facts seem correct: this blog can be controversial, and, obviously, I haven’t vandalized any cars, I am disturbed to hear that someone has, and I feel bad for the students…
Andy Greif has the details in the Oregonian. Maybe he should try the Urban Farm? The UO student government pays the Ducks about $1.6M for tickets and then gives them to students – but apparently $0 is too high a price for basketball. Altman’s contract pays him a bonus for…