Tag Archives: Tobin Klinger

UO won’t release emails, but accuses KATU of misrepresenting facts

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UO’s PR flacks are making our university, our new interim President, and our new board of trustees look ridiculous, and we cannot afford to look any more ridiculous. Tyson Alger in the Oregonian:

EUGENE — The University of Oregon has responded to its alumni regarding a KATU story that ran Monday night suggesting that Oregon officials may have delayed the expulsion of three men’s basketball players in order to maintain the team’s academic rating.

Although the university declined to comment when reached earlier this afternoon, The Oregonian has obtained an email sent out to alumni late Tuesday evening that denounced many of the claims in the story.

“There are multiple errors in this story including inaccurate information about law enforcement activities, dates that should not be correlated to one another, and misrepresentation of the expertise of a retired UO faculty member,” the email states. “…The story hypothesizes that the university’s actions were driven by the NCAA-required Academic Progress Rate, or APR. This is inaccurate and that fact was conveyed to KATU. APR is calculated on a rolling four-year average with the latest data from a previous year, which makes transfers or scholarship non-renewals have significantly less impact than characterized by the story.”

The full email can be read below:

Dear Alumni and Friends,
KATU-TV aired a story series about the university and as an important friend of the UO we want you to have the most accurate information in case you get questions.

There are multiple errors in this story including inaccurate information about law enforcement activities, dates that should not be correlated to one another, and misrepresentation of the expertise of a retired UO faculty member.

The university took appropriate action when allegations were reported, and we are confident that our steps were necessary to ensure campus safety and integrity of criminal processes.

The story misrepresented the communication between the university and Eugene Police Department. EPD’s communications director Melinda McLaughlin told the reporter that EPD asked the university not to do anything that would compromise the investigation. The UO honored that request, and the police department was grateful.

The story hypothesizes that the university’s actions were driven by the NCAA-required Academic Progress Rate, or APR. This is inaccurate and that fact was conveyed to KATU. APR is calculated on a rolling four-year average with the latest data from a previous year, which makes transfers or scholarship non-renewals have significantly less impact than characterized by the story.

The story also tries to connect departures by former President Gottfredson, a chief human resources officer and general counsel as part of its timeline. The changes in leadership used in the news story are unrelated to one another and should not be connected in this manner.

Please visit the UO’s news website for facts regarding the university’s actions and thank you for your ongoing support of UO.

UO Public Affairs Communications

“Please visit the UO’s news website for facts?” That’s a funny one.

If Coltrane wants to build credibility he needs to fire these PR flacks and release the public records that Gottfredson redacted because of claims of attorney client privilege, frank discussions, and made up FERPA claims:

Robin Holmes and Tobin Klinger embarrass themselves and UO in RG

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Update: Apparently Klinger was one of the ghost-writers for this Robin Holmes Op-Ed. In fact it’s not clear if Holmes even read it before it was submitted. The once secret email trail is here.

7/15/2014: UO’s VP for Student Life Robin Holmes (paid $241K a year plus family bowl game junkets) has an op-ed today in which she restates UO’s discredited story that kept the March 8-9 rape allegations secret because of student privacy, and defends UO’s handling of sexual violence in general.

Why should we believe VP Holmes? UO is still refusing to release many facts, including pages of emails about UO’s response that, by UO’s own statements, were redacted not because of student privacy concerns but because of “attorney client privilege” and because they contained “frank discussions” about how UO’s administration responded to the rape allegations. The same with UO’s decision to admit Brandon Austin. UO has still not responded to public records requests for documents showing the agendas for the apparently secret meetings of the “external review panel” on UO’s response to the rape allegations. Two weeks, no response. And UO wants $413.87 to see documents on how VP Holmes and the UO administration selected the people they wanted to review their own performance. UO’s response:

The University of Oregon has received your public records request for “any documents showing the nominees President Gottfredson, Athletic Director Rob Mullens, and VPSA Robin Holmes, or their offices, have received for the External Review Panel on Sexual Misconduct and Response, and any communications with potential nominees to this panel”, on 06/03/2014, attached. The office has at least some documents responsive to your request. By this email, the office is providing you with an estimate to respond to your requests.

The office estimates the actual cost of responding to your request to be $413.87.

Her op-ed is just self-serving cheap talk from someone who is hiding the documents that would show what really happened, and help UO prepare for the next time.

Also today, newly hired UO strategic communicator Tobin Klinger has a letter to the editor complaining about Diane Dietz’s “Bowl of  – – – -‘s” reporting:

Eugene and its people have lived up to my vision. Eugene is access to independent film, unique foods, outdoor activities, cultural happenings and community pride. I don’t know that this shines through on the pages of The Register-Guard, particularly with the sophomoric “reporting” of Diane Dietz. I admit to having a bias. Dietz covers my employer, the University of Oregon. In my role as head of UO public affairs communications, it is my job to defend the integrity and the reputation of the university. I advocate for faculty, staff, students, administration and athletics. I advocate for the Ducks. Earning positive attention is a challenge with a reporter who is more interested in pandering to the lowest common denominator than demonstrating the value of higher education.

UO’s public safety budget has gone from $3M to $6M a year since the decision to convert to sworn, armed police officers. (Compare that to the $1.5M a year Gottfredson has allocated to faculty “cluster hires”. Ms Dietz’s article makes it very plain just how badly that money has been wasted. UO fired the officer who complained about the bowl of dicks list, and promoted the two officers who updated it on UO time. With the UOPD credibility destroyed, UO had to get the Eugene PD to investigate the March 8-9 rape allegations. President Gottfredson never even bothered to tell his police chief about the outcome of that investigation.

The fact that UO adds to this waste by padding its payroll with spokespeople like Mr. Klinger ($115K a year, and not even the best paid of the still growing flock) to write booster pieces about the Ducks, instead of investing that money in its educational mission, is yet another leadership failure from Gottfredson.

Go away Mr. Klinger. UO needs more faculty, not more PR flacks.