10/6/2016:
From: Angela Wilhelms <wilhelms@uoregon.edu>
Subject: Standing Meeting Reports
Date: October 6, 2016 at 2:08:43 PM PDT
To: Senate President <senatepres@uoregon.edu>, Quinn Haaga <qhaaga@uoregon.edu>
Cc: Amanda Hatch <ahatch@uoregon.edu>, Jennifer LaBelle <jlabelle@uoregon.edu>
Bill and Quinn,
I hope this email finds you both well and enjoying the start of another busy academic year!
Chair Lillis asked me to extend an invitation to both of you to present a standing report at the Board of Trustees meetings, beginning with the next meeting in December.
ASUO and University Senate standing reports were a part of board meetings during the first several meetings. However, they were removed from the agenda in favor of written reports when some presenters used the time to speak to the audience and rally crowds, rather than update the board on the progress and goings-on within the respective organization.
The Chair believes that we are past some of those practices, and he trusts that trustees can resume receiving updates from you (or your designees if you cannot attend) that are informative and insightful.
We ask that you still provide a written version of your report so that trustees can read it in advance and come prepared with any questions. The oral reports are scheduled for 5 minutes each, so you could easily include more detailed information in the written material. These are not intended to be two different reports.
Amanda will be in touch prior to each meeting with the time, and she’ll be your point of contact on logistics and details. Barring some reason to adjust the schedule, these will almost always take place near the very beginning of the meeting after public comment.
Let me know if you have any question!
Angela
P.S. Since the December meeting is in Portland, we will have a live teleconference feed to a room on campus so that the two of you, as well as people interested in making public comment, don’t have to travel to Portland. Amanda will have those details closer to time as well so that you can share it with your respective groups.
Angela Wilhelms
University Secretary
University of Oregon
O: 541.346.5561 | C: 503.931.5426
9/6/2016: Senate Pres Harbaugh letter to Board Chair Lillis
Dear UO Board Chair Lillis, and UO Trustees:
I am writing to you as UO Senate President. Last week the Board Secretary asked me to submit written comments to you for this week’s meeting, and then to answer questions at some point during the time you have set aside on your next agenda “for public comments”.
I refused, because I believe, as have all previous UO Senate presidents since UO independence, that our Board of Trustees should be willing to give the Senate some specific time on their agenda for discussing academic matters with them. I see that the UO student leadership also does not appear on your agenda. Apparently they have also been put in the public comment period.
This is not normal. The boards of governors of other AAU universities regularly set aside scheduled time on their agendas for the representatives of the faculty and the students – and what else is a university about? – to speak, ask questions of the board, and answer the board’s questions. (Besides, the comments from the public are often among the more interesting parts of the board meetings, and I hate the idea that the Senate’s time will take away from the public’s.)
The UO Senate has in past years scheduled time for both Chair Lillis and Trustee Ballmer to speak to us. The Senate made sure these presentations were well promoted, and that everyone understood their importance. Turnout was large and these interactions helped the faculty and the university understand the board, and built some trust in it. As Senate President I welcome requests from any trustee to speak, and I will treat them with the same respect that the Senate has done in the past.
In that spirit, I hope that your next agenda will explicitly schedule time for the Senate leadership to address the board and to ask and answer questions about academic matters. I promise to bring plenty to the table.
Yours,
Bill Harbaugh
Economics Professor & Senate President
University of Oregon