Update: Bean’s now sent round a new email, proving that at least he can read UO Matters, or has someone on staff to sound out the big words for him. His hack job apologies are not as fun as Randy Geller’s, so I’m just putting it in the comments. FWIW, no one believes the OA/UA classification scheme he’s using either. I’m no economist, but I can forecast the short-term outlook for Bean: running UO’s executive MBA program, from his condo up in Portland. Good riddance.
9/21/2012: If Bean keeps up this quantitative streak, in a few more years he (or whoever does his homework for him) may know almost as much about UO finances and staffing as the AAUP’s Howard Bunsis was able to figure out in a few days from the OUS reports. But he still can’t divide as well as a dog:
For the OA’s: (1242-1094)/1094 = 148/1094 = 13.5%, not 8.8%
Our provost could not even pass the placement exam for Math 111. Maybe something remedial, like Math 095? See the Dog’s comments for more. And the comment of the month?
The most important number, not reported at all, is the number of new provosts. Unfortunately, this number is zero.
Stop by the UO Matters newsroom and ask our political affairs staffer (on loan from RBI – thanks, Ms Holmes!) for your free “Rob Mullens for Provost” pin.

Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost
Message for September 21, 2012
Colleagues:
As we welcome new students to campus this week, I want to thank all of you who’ve volunteered to help students move into the residence halls. We are excited about the opening of the new Global Scholars Hall, which gives housing to an additional 450 students and offers an unprecedented academic experience.
In my last email, I discussed how we arrived at the need for increasing our student body to combat budget shortfalls. This week, I’ll show what we did to meet the demands of those additional students through last year. While we’ve done a lot, we haven’t done enough.
In the next few weeks, we will have final numbers of Fall 2012 faculty hires and more accurate projections of staff hires. When those numbers roll in, I’ll revisit this topic.
For now, let’s take a look at how we fared last year.
Between 2008-2011, our student body increased from 21,507 to 24,447, or by 13.6%.
Also, between 2008 and 2011:
- Classified staff increased from 1,483 to 1,585, or by 9.4%
- Officers of Administration increased from 1,094 to 1,242, or by 8.8%
- University administrators decreased by 2, or statistically remained flat
- Tenure/tenure track faculty increased from 646 to 697, or by 9.3%
- Non-tenure track faculty increased from 1,089 to 1,287, or by 8.5%
While we have increased the number of faculty and staff, our hiring has lagged behind the increasing demand of the greater student population.
Faculty hiring has not kept up with the increased number of students simply because it takes a great deal of time and effort to hire high-quality, tenure-related faculty. This year, however, many of the university’s schools, colleges and departments have plans to continue their hiring. It will take several years to catch up to the increased demand.
I will continue to keep you updated on our efforts to meet student demand as the year progresses.
I look forward to your comments at [email protected].
Regards,
Jim
9/7/2012: It seems that Bean – or whomever he hired to hired to help him communicate with his colleagues – is taking the complaints about lack of substance in his previous emails to heart. The comments are open:

Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost
Message for September 7, 2012
Colleagues:
Over the past few weeks we have seen public discussions of our classroom space capacity. I asked to have an analysis of seating capacity done and my office has now received an in-depth analysis of capacity net gains and losses. The basics are:
The total net gain in seats from new capital construction projects, including miscellaneous gains/losses from 1999-2012 is 1,276.
The total net gain in seats from 1999-2014 (with the completion of the Allen Hall and Straub projects) is projected to be 1,376.
Between 2008 and 2012, the UO added 492 additional seats, or 5% of available seats during 2008.
Since 2008, while seating capacity has only increased by 5%, the student body has increased by 16%, from 21,507 to 25,000.
It will take some time for the seating capacity to catch up to the growing student body, as it takes time to raise money to build buildings. The obvious question then follows, “Why did we grow so fast?”
To answer that, we have to look back to Fiscal Year 2009, when we faced roughly a 50% cut in state appropriations over two biennia.
During that period, the University of Washington met its deficit by eliminating jobs for many hundreds of staff, and Washington State closed many academic departments. The University of California system reduced course offerings and reduced student places by the tens of thousands, significantly raising the amount of time to get an undergraduate degree.
In 2008-09, we held town halls to discuss the budget shortfall and how best to address the problem. Our foremost goal was to protect the faculty, staff and students in the UO community. Rather than cut courses, close departments and cut staff, the UO chose a different path: admit additional students.
We chose to spread the pain of funding cuts over a larger number of people over a longer time frame. We knew that would cause discomfort, but we believe we made the right decision to preserve staff and protect faculty and students. In fact, the increase in student body has led to the hiring of many additional faculty and staff (a future email will detail that).
While we regret that space constraints have caused some people discomfort, we have plans to renovate and build new space. Look for 373 new seats this fall in the Global Scholars Hall. In 2013, Allen Hall will bring 302 seats back to campus. The long-term plans call for building at least three new academic buildings.
The Academic Plan called for enrollment to rise to 24,500, and I promised the Senate I would not authorize increases beyond that until infrastructure caught up, and the entire community discussed the impact on our culture. We have slipped to 25,000, but I am working to keep that lid on. We have no additional capacity at this time.
The classroom crowding you are feeling is real, and it will not be completely remediated for some time. But it is not out of control. We chose this path to protect your jobs and to maximize the student experience. I hope you agree that it was the right choice.
I look forward to your comments at [email protected].
Regards, Jim
Bean’s academic plan actually says 24,00 students, not 24,500. Some slip. Where did the money go? Howard Bunsis of the AAUP seems to know more than Bean – and is certainly willing to say more.