1/29/2016: Diane Dietz has the report in the RG here. CoE Dean Randy Kamphaus:
Kamphaus wrote that he shares the alumni’s desire to see SEP continue and flourish, and he pledged to work for a smooth transition.
“The dialogue surrounding this decision has been thought-provoking, respectful, and focused on the future,” he wrote.
It’s true, the Keep SEP Alive Facebook page has been very respectful – in notable contrast to the behavior of Kamphaus, who tried to kill SEP program without any discussion with the parents, students, and teachers whose lives he was messing with, and who then made his Associate Dean take the heat in the press for a week. He did show up to announce he’s giving the program a reprieve, however. Classy.
Meanwhile there’s still no explanation for why he made this decision in the first place, or for how the collaboration with Oak Hill will work in practice, or how it will maintain the high quality of SEP.
1/28/2016: Revenge of the Nerds? Maybe, but so far the Jocks are winning
Rumor down at the faculty club tonight is that the money to restore UO’s Summer Enrichment Program will come from cutting the stipends of the assistant coaches who run Dana Altman’s summer basketball camp, as Diane Dietz of the RG reports that UO leaders are reconsidering the decision to kill its academic Summer Enrichment Program for high school students:
High-level University of Oregon leaders are discussing the fate of the UO’s 35-year-old summer “nerd camp” for gifted teen-agers.
The College of Education announced about a week ago that it would no longer offer the two-week residential Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) that provided intellectual and social enrichment.
The closure sparked a protest from some of the 7,000 or 8,000 alumni of SEP, who are now spread across the United States, including some of them at elite colleges and universities.
A Facebook page titled “Keep SEP Alive” picked up 653 members in one week; members say they are conducting a letter writing campaign, producing videos with personal stories and politicking with officials they hope will help them preserve the program.
Earlier this week, Lauren Lindstrom, UO associate dean of research and outreach at the College of Education, said the university made the decision to close SEP for economic and noneconomic reasons.
The Register-Guard requested financial information that would show the size of the shortfall, but the numbers may not be available until early next week, a UO spokesman said Thursday. …
They closed SEP because of a budget shortfall, but they need time to put together the budget numbers. You don’t have to be a nerdy economist to be skeptical of that claim.
1/24/2016: New Ed School Dean Randy Kamphaus ends UO’s SEP pipeline program