The first phase of the presidential search is well underway. The presidential search committee will be hosting a series of forums to gather input from the community on what it wants to see from its next president.

Events include:

A student forum:  7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3, EMU Gumwood room
A faculty and staff forum: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, EMU Walnut room
A Eugene area community forum: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, Knight Library reading room
A Portland area community forum:  5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, White Stag Building, 70 NW Couch St.

University trustee and chairwoman of the search committee Connie Ballmer said “These public forums are a way for stakeholders and constituent groups to share with the committee thoughts about key characteristics, experiences and skills the next president should have,” Connie Ballmer, university trustee and chair of the search committee said in Around the O.

“In addition, they provide an opportunity for people to make direct nominations and learn about the process.”

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation voted to authorize a strike, Friday night.

The vote came after a long contract negotiation with the University of Oregon centered around cost of living increases, parental leave, healthcare and more. Bargaining between UO and the GTFF began in November, 2013 and the GTFF contract ran out in March, 2014. See the complete timeline here.

Both the university and the GTFF have until Oct. 27 to submit their final offers to a state mediator, after which time the GTFF must wait 30 days to officially strike. During the 30-day period, the university has the option to bring new offers to the bargaining table. A potential strike would be close to dead week and finals.

Acting Provost Frances Bronet said that the university is ready in the event of a strike in Around the O.

“We have policies and procedures in place to ensure classes continue with as little interruption as possible.”

Updates to come.

Follow Alexandra Wallachy and Francesca Fontana on Twitter @wall2wallachy @francescamarief

University Senate was action-packed and attendance-packed at its meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

The Senate Task Force to Address Sexual Violence and Survivor Support co-chair Carol Stabile presented the task force’s recommendations at the meeting held in Lawrence 115.

The recommendation is titled “Twenty Students Per Week,” addressing the statistic that one in five women is assaulted during college according to the Center for Disease Control and the White House.

“The problem of widespread campus sexual violence is not a new one,” Stabile and the report said. “But national attention to the problem, inspired by campus activists, scholars, lawyers, politicians and the leadership provided by the White House has broken the silence and secrecy upon which sexual violence thrives.”

Stabile emphasized the role of athletics and fraternity and sorority life in sexual violence.

“We cannot ignore the fact that, despite the relatively small number of students directly involved in their activities,” Stabile and the report said, “Athletics and Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) play disproportionately powerful roles in facilitating or tolerating conditions in which sexual violence occurs on campus.”

The recommendations targeting Greek Life include the immediate suspension of FSL expansion, assigning research and analysis of FSL to a senate standing committee and the formation of an FSL Sexual Assault Task Force.

The task force also recommended the empowerment of Senate Intercollegiate Athletics Committee to address sexual violence and a Title IX training for FSL, athletics, band, debate and club sports.

The recommendations are divided into three parts: critical policy changes, prevention and education changes and administrative changes were accompanied by the office responsible for making said changes, the projected cost and deadline.

The first deadline is Nov. 19, Several costs are currently to be determined, but some of the bigger sticker prices include $205,000 to hire a Title IX coordinator and three deputy coordinators. Later during a question from the audience interim President Scott Coltrane said that the numbers, “made his eyes bulge a little.”

All discussion of the recommendations will be held until the Nov. 5 University Senate meeting, in addition to a student forum Nov. 3 and task force meeting Nov. 4.

Also during the meeting Coltrane and acting provost Frances Bronet discussed strategic planning and the UO’s competitive excellence plan and Connie Ballmer talked about the presidential search. Ballmer is the chair of the presidential search committee, she started off the meeting  with an update on the current search. Ballmer repeated the search will be closed to protect the privacy of presidential candidates and that there is no timeline for the search.

“If we do not find a great candidate we will keep looking,” said Ballmer.  “We will work with urgency and speed but we will not rush.”

During the discussion portion, university student senator Andrew Lubash asked about distinctions between the presidential search and advisory committees, highlighting that the presidential search committee has more power in the search. Lubash also asked Ballmer if she thought it was odd that two members of the search committee are married.

“I have not thought about that,” Ballmer said. “I will think about that.”

The next meeting of the University Senate will take place Nov. 5, in Lawrence 115.

After an afternoon of heavy rain, several buildings on the University of Oregon campus experienced flooding. Allen Hall began to flood after 2 p.m., according to Allen Hall staff.

Students and staff helped move furniture from the lobby, put sandbags in front of the doors and placed plastic garbage bags around electrical outlets after water began seeping through the front doors.

Campus Operations staff member Tory Thorton said that he’d also seen flooding in Willamette Hall, Beall Concert Hall and the Knight Library.

If you have photos of the flooding around campus, tweet them @DailyEmerald.

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation voted to vote on authorizing a strike in an emergency meeting Friday, October 17. In a vote between holding a contract ramification vote or a strike authorization vote, two-thirds of the GTFF voted to authorize a strike, according to GTFF president Joe Henry.

The GTFF is seeking paid medical and parental leave in addition to a wage increase to meet the cost of living in Eugene.

Bargaining between the GTFF and the University of Oregon started in November of 2013, and since March the GTFF has worked without a contract. The GTFF also voted to authorize a strike last spring, but the federation has yet to strike.

GTFF Strike Authorization

University of Oregon announced the launch of a public capital campaign Friday. The goal: $2 billion.

This is the public phase of what has been a private fundraising campaign, and in the last four years that campaign has raised $700 million.

The Emerald interviewed Mike Andreasen, vice president for university advancement at UO. Andreasen oversees fundraising and alumni associations.

$2 billion dollars is a pretty big total. What gives you the confidence that you can raise $2 billion in the next four years?

MA: “I’m so impressed with how much the donors have already. We had this party last night and as we began to plan for it, many donors came to us and said ‘We want to make sure that our gifts are in and counted as part of that $700 million.’ That shows me that there’s great enthusiasm and great confidence, and I think that these ideas of scholarships, pathway Oregon, presidential scholars, these cluster hires around faculty, they are inspiring our donors, and I’m very confident that by declaring this number, by focusing on students and faculty, donors are going to really stretch themselves and make gifts bigger than they every imagined.”

So did we get a lot of donors last night?

MA: “We did. We had a wonderful event, I think we had over 600 people, and we wanted to thank those donors that have already given and we asked them to continue to give more as part of the program last night.”

There were a lot of rumors last night that Phil Knight was going to donate a billion. Do you have any idea where those rumors started?

MA: “No idea. And you know, frankly I’m a little disappointed about that because our donors have been amazing, including Phil and Penny. They’ve given already, I know they will continue to give.”

How is this campaign different from the last?

MA: “I don’t know that it’s different in the sense that we’ve always wanted to encourage donors to support students and faculty. Of course, one difference in this campaign is that it’s a much bigger number, only because of the success of the last campaign that we can imagine and dream and get that excited about a $2 billion number. But I think we have more donors. Last year we had more first time donors. Last year two-thirds of all gifts went to academic purposes. We feel that we’re positioned now to really take fundraising and the role of philanthropy in our university to a whole new level and that’s evidenced in the big number, the big goal.”

You said in a June interview that 5 percent of donors will make up 95 percent of donations. Can you speak a little bit to those numbers?

MA: “It’s an interesting trend in higher education, not just for us, certainly in public universities, that increasingly these large campaigns are really driven by some very large gifts, and that’s just the way of the math. But I want to make really clear, because for me personally this is something that’s really important, we are just as grateful and excited about that first $100 gift as we are about someone who makes a $10 million dollar gift. Every one of these large donors began their philanthropy at Oregon in a small way, years in past. We’re always trying to grow the base of donors, get more alumni to participate, more alumni to give to their college, to a scholarship, to whatever program they’re most inspired by. Then of course we’re working with some extraordinary people who have the ability to make really large gifts and really impactful gifts. We do both, so that’s part of the agenda and that’s what we love to do.”

With increasing scholarships and cluster hires, it seems like we’re looking to boost our ranking. What schools are we looking to be on the same level as?

MA: “Certainly we are very proud to be a part of the AAU… but as we think about the kind of position we are in that organization and other organizations, we want to be a leader. We want to have unique areas of research that people know Oregon is an expert in and Oregon has a unique perspective to it. So we have to maintain that position in the AAU, we have to grow our reputation within that organization, we also have to grow our reputation internationally. More and more this is a global educational world, and we’ve got students coming from abroad. We’ve got Oregonians going abroad. So we want to make sure those partner universities around the world also look to Oregon as a leader.”

Any chance we’ll ever be known as the Harvard of the West? 

MA: “I don’t know, but that’s not a bad idea I suppose… Harvard could be known as the Oregon of the east, that’s an even better aspiration.”

Do you think this [capital campaign] will help us to recruit a new president?

MA: “I do. I think it’s an exciting time for the university as they begin that search process. I think to be a presidential candidate who’s looking to a university that’s full of excitement and enthusiasm and that knows that the donor community will be there with them I think that’s a great part of the Oregon story. The loyalty and support is just extraordinary. I think if a presidential candidate was looking at Oregon, they’d be inspired by what we said last night and what we intend to do in the coming weeks and months.”

University of Oregon alumni are gathered at a private event at Hayward Field. Here’s what the internet had to say about what’s going on inside the tent:

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It’s all about Oregon tonight.

View on Instagram

Hayward Field has been transformed into a nightclub. Photos soon. #sources #GoDucks — Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

Bill Bowerman would not recognize Hayward Field tonight. #bigtent #bigask #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/gP2oQswpDI

— Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

Here’s another view of the gathering crowd inside a tent set up at UO’s Hayward Field for tonight’s announcement. pic.twitter.com/1lKnfhaSjS — Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

The lights go down in the big tent at UO’s Hayward Field and an emotional video begins. #bigtent #bigask #GoDucks

— Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

Dave Petrone, cabinet chair for the UO fund-raise campaign has been speaking at Hayward Field. From UO Emerald: http://t.co/cqeJhCjmmr — Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

http://t.co/Fr1iCFMGhU #Uogiving Scott. Coltrane announces #uo campaign goal of 2 Billion dollars. #Iforegon

— Paul J. Clifford (@PJC4Oregon) October 18, 2014

Interim UO Prez Scott Coltrane announces a $2 billion fund-raising campaign with $700 million contributed. #GoDucks — Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

The @Univ_Of_Oregon has announced a $2 billion capital campaign.

— Matthew Kish (@matthewkish) October 18, 2014

Universities typically don’t announce capital campaigns until they are fairly certain they can hit the goal. #GoDucks — Matthew Kish (@matthewkish) October 18, 2014

Gotta imagine @Univ_of_Oregon has had a conversation with Phil Knight ahead of tonight’s announcement and he’s onboard with $2 billion goal.

— Matthew Kish (@matthewkish) October 18, 2014

People attending the UO fundraising event at Hayward Field now hearing story of faculty achievements. — Allan Brettman (@allanbrettman) October 18, 2014

RT @Univ_Of_Oregon UO launches public phase of state’s largest ever fundraising campaign, http://t.co/bWO3hjxWPH #GoDucks #UOGiving

— AroundtheO (@aroundO) October 18, 2014

 

 

For more coverage follow the Daily Emerald here.

University of Oregon interim president Scott Coltrane discussed a long-term push to increase diversity on the evening of Tuesday, October 14.

Coltrane and acting Provost Frances Bronet addressed the University-wide Diversity Committee in the Knight Library.

According to Around the O, the meeting focused on how to expand diversity and inclusion at the University of Oregon.

“First of all, we firmly believe that equity, inclusion and diversity are the work of everyone, not just a select few or a particular department,” Coltrane said. “I ask our colleagues, friends of the university and community partners to work with us in assembling an overarching, strategic framework for equity, inclusion and diversity, as well as individual plans for every unit on our campus.”

Coltrane hopes to increase diversity by making a statement setting the university’s commitment to diversity, creating policy that encourages diversity, finding fundings to carry out initiatives and by establishing priorities.

Coltrane asked the University-wide Diversity Committee to create a public statement on the UO’s commitment to diversity.

“The main message is that diversity is a key component of our mission and something we need to reaffirm from the top and at all levels of the institution,” Coltrane said.

The current UO mission statement includes, “a dedication to the principles of equality of opportunity and freedom from unfair discrimination for all members of the university community and an acceptance of true diversity as an affirmation of individual identity within a welcoming community.”

The 2014-2015 freshman class was the most diverse in UO’s history, with 27% students of color.

Follow Alex Wallachy on Twitter @wall2wallachy

Live coverage of Wednesday night’s ASUO Senate meeting:

Senate Agenda

Three University of Oregon students have been tasked with representing 24,548 student voices for the current presidential search. Easy, right?

There are many stakeholders in the university’s current presidential search. Connie Ballmer, who leads the presidential search committee, recently appointed 14 members to an advisory committee, known as the Presidential Search Advisory Committee.

The committee includes three students: Beatriz Gutierrez, Kate Karfilis and Brennan Heller.

“Our first goal with the advisory group was to ensure broad representation from a variety of stakeholder groups,” Ballmer said. “Once those key constituencies were identified, we sought input from a number of people around campus who interact with those groups to get recommendations about individuals known for being thoughtful, engaged and creative.”

Ballmer described Gutierrez as a natural choice for the committee. As ASUO president, Gutierrez works with the Board of Trustees and has lobbied for more student involvement with the presidential search.

Gutierrez is the one who asked Board of Trustees’ chair Chuck Lillis to add more students to the advisory committee. Originally, the board only had one spot for an undergraduate student and one for a graduate student.

“Chair Lillis met with Bea, she made the suggestion to add a third student, specifically another undergraduate student.  That made perfect sense to us,” Ballmer said. “As Bea pointed out, she represents all students in her role as president of the student body, so having someone focused on undergrads along with someone focused on graduate students made sense.”

Gutierrez emphasized that the next UO president should have a sense of the student experience.

“We are the majority here. We pay for this institution to function so it’s really important that we’re involved in those processes and decisions,” Gutierrez said.

Karfilis is the graduate student representative on the committee. A fifth year graduate student studying molecular biology, Karfilis also has leadership experience serving as the president of the UO Women in Graduate Sciences.

“Understanding the needs of graduate students in general is something that I know well,” Karfilis said.

Karfilis wants the presidential search committee to consider a woman for the position. She also hopes that the new president will prioritize high caliber research at the University of Oregon.

“The UO has phenomenal faculty researchers doing exciting work, and great graduate programs to go along with that,” Karfilis said. “And so I would love to see the new president be excited and interested in working with the research institutes here to make Oregon a top research institution.”

Heller was the third student added to the committee.

“Brennan brought a nice cross-section of experience,” Ballmer said. “He’s a sophomore with a different academic focus than the other two, he has experience in residence life work and he’s a student leader in one of UO’s most successful programs (the Clark Honors College).”

The three students and other 11 members of the advisory committee are required to keep the presidential candidates confidential. The committee plans to hold an event as early as November to hear from the public.

“We’re trying to figure out a best time and date to do a public forum,” Gutierrez said. “Where people can let us know what they’re looking for in a president, kind of like an advisory to the student representatives.”

Follow Alexandra Wallachy on Twitter @wall2wallachy