Juan-Carlos Molleda, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, is facing scrutiny by University of Oregon officials over his extensive university-funded international travel. Meanwhile, his school’s budget has spiraled into a deficit under his management, a six-month investigation and review of hundreds of financial and travel documents by The Daily Emerald has found.

UO Provost Chris Long told The Emerald on June 5 that Molleda is being internally audited for his travel spending. The audit was launched after The Emerald reported on Molleda’s Feb. 21 email about his travel. His email to SOJC faculty was sent on his own command after The Emerald filed public records requests for his travel records. 

Molleda, 60, has served as dean since 2016. He has many official reasons to travel as the leader of the SOJC, from attending professional conferences to raising funds from donors. He receives an annual travel budget of $30,000 from his job, and university travel rules often have allowed him to draw on endowment funds from the UO Foundation, which are separate from his school’s budget, to pay his additional travel costs.

The cost of Molleda’s travel and first-class flights dwarf those of two other UO deans. In the 2023-2024 school year, Molleda’s travel expenses rose to $46,000, according to travel documents obtained by The Emerald under Oregon’s Public Records Law.

Over the same period, then-Dean of Students Marcus Langford spent just over $11,000 on travel. Then-law school Dean Marcilynn Burke spent $3,700. 

In the past two years, Molleda has traveled to Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Medellín, Querétaro and other international cities. He often flies first-class and adds personal days to many of his trips without disclosing them to UO, nearly 700 pages of his travel records obtained by The Emerald show. 

UO’s travel policy allows for personal travel while on university-funded trips, but employees must disclose those days and obtain official approval in advance. 

His travel records show he hasn’t always followed UO’s rules. During a trip to France in 2024, Molleda failed to disclose he was taking seven personal travel days after his business trip.

The official reason for his university-paid travel, a Paris conference, lasted two days, ending on March 22. Records show Molleda left on March 29, seven days after the conference had ended. His Instagram account, titled “globalprmolleda,” shows him enjoying the sights of Budapest one day before his first-class flight back to Eugene.

Molleda’s Paris trip cost the university $8,069. It’s unclear how much Molleda paid out-of-pocket. 

In 2023, Molleda turned a university-funded trip to Spain and Portugal largely into a personal vacation. The official reason for the trip was for two conferences that took up eight days of his 21-day trip. 

Molleda’s June 24 Instagram post shows him touring, drinking and eating with friends in Burgos, Spain with some photos hash-tagged “summer vibes” and “fiestas patronales,” which translates to “patron saint celebrations.” His July 13 and July 8 Instagram posts show him traveling with friends to a concert in Marbella, Spain and sightseeing in Málaga, Spain, with photos hash-tagged “vacation,” “verano” and “amigos.”

His Spain and Portugal trip totaled $14,203. The Emerald’s analysis of his travel records did not find Molleda’s personal payments.

Molleda’s Instagram posts have raised other questions. He documents his travel adventures during his university-funded trips — from routine shots of streetscapes, to an ayahuasca ceremony in Colombia – on his Instagram for anyone to see. 

At the same time, his school’s budget witnessed a sharp change in its financial health under his leadership in recent years. The SOJC went from having a $262,000 surplus in 2022 to a $1.8 million deficit in 2024.

The journalism school currently faces a $701,000 deficit. A one-time $700,000 transfer from the Provost’s Office this year helped reduce its original deficit. 

Financial records obtained by The Emerald show much of the deficit can be traced back to Molleda approving a $2.2 million increase between 2022 and 2024, largely to pay for faculty positions he created over the objections of the Provost’s office.

During the same time frame, the school’s budget saw only a $269,233 increase in funding.

Molleda has sought to deflect the blame for the deficit onto faculty and numerous UO officials, internal memos and emails show, but the Provost’s office has pointed to his increase in personnel costs as the primary driver of the budget deficit. 

Molleda initially agreed to a June 3 interview with The Emerald, but then declined the interview on June 1. After The Emerald sent Molleda and the Provost’s office an email on June 4 regarding what its investigation had found, he sent a statement to The Emerald on June 5.

In his statement, Molleda said he takes full responsibility for the decisions he’s made as dean, and accepts ultimate accountability for the SOJC’s deficit and financial problems. 

Professor Christopher Chàvez, who heads an advisory council to Molleda and serves as a liaison between faculty and Molleda, said that some SOJC faculty want more transparency from Molleda on how he plans to move forward with the deficit and the future of the school.

“It is my personal opinion that some of the big issues that have been coming up more recently are concerns by some of the members about budget issues, transparency and issues with faculty governance,” Chàvez said.

In his February email to address faculty’s concerns, Molleda said he was scaling back future business trips while detailing his recent travels and how they were paid for.

A dean with international public relation expertise

Molleda was born and raised in Venezuela and developed his expertise in public relations. He holds a PhD. in international public relations from the University of South Carolina and has been an instructor and professor in public relations at several universities since 1999. 

He began his tenure as SOJC dean on July 1, 2016. In his role, he manages a school of roughly 2,082 students and 70 faculty members — the third largest school within UO. He’s paid an annual salary of $332,766.

Molleda has repeatedly won praise for his public-facing work as the SOJC’s dean. A recent report from the Accreditation Council on Education and Mass Communication  cited Molleda’s “immense support” and “incredible advocacy” for SOJC faculty and staff, and that students love that he speaks with them in the hallways.

“The dean is described as a strong external force, who manages up and fundraises with gusto,” the report states. Within seven years, Molleda increased SOJC’s endowment fund from $55 million to $78 million.

The report also states that Molleda is not as hands-on as faculty would like him to be, and that he’s “not particularly good at his own PR within the school,” leading some faculty to mistrust his stewardship and budget management.

In 2022, Molleda’s tenure as dean was renewed despite internal surveys and reviews from faculty finding that he was a poor listener, lacked transparency and frequently shifted blame for his mistakes on underlings, two sources inside the SOJC say.

How the budget deficit was created

The $1.8 million deficit wasn’t created overnight, but instead over two years.

At the end of the 2021-2022 school year, the SOJC finished with a $262,000 budget surplus and hopes to increase the size of the faculty and staff for students. Records show the Provost’s office turned down a $1 million budget increase request from Molleda, instead approving the same spending as in the previous year —$15.8 million.

Molleda had no money for new positions, but hired several new faculty and staff members anyway, an Aug. 5, 2024 memo to the Provost’s office and UO Central Finance shows.

Over the next two years, the SOJC’s personnel costs rose by $2.2 million, while its funding grew only by $269,233, creating the current budget deficit.

Molleda has publicly blamed UO’s Provost’s office and the turnover of the SOJC’s business office staff for allowing the school to fall into a deficit.  

Documents show Molleda had been warned that the SOJC did not have money to spend on new hires in 2022 and 2023. Molleda learned in an email on July 25, 2022, that his school did not receive the budget increase he requested. 

“The Provost did lower this year’s FY23 Budget Allocation to match spend. The OtP (Provost’s office) called me on Friday,” the email by then-UO finance director Chris Krabiel wrote. 

The SOJC did see turnover in its finance office, but a 2024 report from the SOJC shows the incoming budget team was not aware that Molleda planned to hire new faculty and staff beyond the budgeted amount.

In January, nearly a year after the SOJC faced a growing budget deficit, a Provost budget official told outside accreditors the school’s budget was in “crisis” and that “drastic action will need to be taken.” 

The unnamed Provost budget official said they doubted Molleda understood the budget problems the school was facing. “I’m not sure he’s totally come to grips with the changes that need to be made,” the official said, according to the accreditor’s draft report. 

Molleda later released a revised version of the accreditation report to SOJC faculty. The previous quote critical of his leadership was edited out.

The SOJC is facing other financial pressures as well. Graduate student tuition revenue has been falling and the school has increased its spending for adjunct and pro-tem instructors after it granted a flood of requests for faculty sabbaticals after COVID-19. 

In May, Hal Sadofsky, UO’s Executive Vice Provost for Academic Administration, said during an SOJC faculty meeting that the school’s deficit is largely driven by ongoing personnel costs that the SOJC can’t afford. He said that layoffs may be necessary. 

Those cuts would be on top of the projected university-wide reductions called for by UO President Scholz. Scholz said in a May email to UO faculty and staff that each school at UO will see a 2.5% average budget reduction. The SOJC stands to lose at least $445,000. 

In 2025, UO provided a one-time transfer of $700,00 to the SOJC, Molleda said in his email statement to The Emerald. For the time being, the money transfer lowered the budget deficit to $701,000.

Without those additional funds, the deficit would stand at $1.4 million for 2025. That’s the number the SOJC faces going forward without additional revenues or budget cuts.

Molleda said in a Sept. 18, 2024 email to faculty that the SOJC has used UO Foundation funds to decrease its deficit as well. University, Provost and SOJC officials agree using foundation endowment funds to cover the shortfall is not a sustainable strategy, accreditation records show.

What travel is allowed for Molleda, UO employees

Molleda’s offer letter entails that he has a capped total travel expense of $30,000 each academic year through the financial support of UO donor endowment funds – the UO Foundation.

“This research fund may be used to fund your research, travel, professional development, new initiatives, programmatic support and related expenses,” the offer letter reads.

In his Feb. 21 email to faculty, Molleda said the $30,000 is not a hard and fast limit and that he’s free to draw from other funds, such as from his Edwin L. Artzt deanship which is partially funded through the UO Foundation.

“The good news is that my travel goes through the same process of approval as all university trips, follows travel policies, and, most importantly, does not strain the school’s budget, especially as we work to eliminate a deficit, increase efficiencies, and secure more revenue,” he wrote. 

He did not mention that he violated his limit in the 2023-2024 school year, but did mention that his business class flights are allowed under UO travel policies. Molleda’s travel records show most of his flights were first-class, however, which UO travel rules prohibit.

How much money Molleda spent on personal and business travel during SOJC budget “crisis”

Since January 2023, Molleda has made seven international trips totaling $51,470. He’s often leveraged those trips into personal vacation time, using university funds to cover his travel costs while enjoying personal days once he’s reached his destination, records show.

University rules allow employees to add personal days to their UO-funded travel. To do so, employees must submit a travel request and identify the days for personal travel. The employee must provide airfare cost comparisons to demonstrate their personal travel is not creating increased expenses on the university. 

UO approved Molleda’s travel to Paris for a two-day conference starting March 20, 2024 sponsored by the Arthur W. Page Society, an association for strategic communication officers and leaders.

When seeking approval for the travel, Molleda reported in his travel request to UO that he would return right after the conference and that he would not be taking any personal travel days. 

Instead, Molleda extended his trip by nearly a week. According to his Instagram posts, he traveled to Budapest, with some photos hash-tagged #familytime and #familyfirst.

 The UO-funded trip cost $8,069, including his first-class airfare that cost $4,950.

Molleda added personal days on a far longer and for a more expensive trip to Spain and Portugal in 2023.

Molleda’s travel records show UO approved an 11-day university-funded trip for him to attend a two-day conference in Bilbao, Spain, and a two-day conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

He originally proposed travelling from June 27 to July 8, 2023, and that his travel would not include any personal days, according to documents obtained by The Emerald.

After UO approved the trip, Molleda changed his travel plans, adding six days on the front end and six days on the back end of the trip.

His first-class flights to and from Spain cost the university $9,090. Molleda’s additional flights around Spain and Portugal paid by UO brought the total for his airfare up to $9,882, however.

His flight itinerary shows Molleda left for Spain on June 22, six days before the start of the first conference held by Asociación de Investigadores en Relaciones Públicas. 

According to his Instagram feed, Molleda spent time touring, drinking and eating with friends in Burgos and with some photos hash-tagged “fiestas patronales” and “summer vibes.”

Molleda attended the conference in Bilbao, appearing on a panel on June 30, the conference’s final day, that discussed diversity and inclusion in Latin American public relations. 

 Molleda then had five days off before his Lisbon conference, sponsored by the European Communication Research and Education Association.

After the conference ended July 7, Molleda stayed for another six days. His Instagram feed shows him visiting Màlaga, Spain and includes the hashtag “vacation.” 

On July 12, Molleda posted on Instagram that he was at the Starlite music festival in Marbella, Spain, with hashtags #concert and #anastacia. American pop singer Anastacia performed that night.  

He left Madrid for Eugene on July 13.

In all, Molleda spent a total of 21 days in Spain and Portugal. Only four of those days involved attending conferences.

His UO-funded trip cost $14,203.

A question of behavior

In December 2023, Molleda accompanied 13 SOJC students and Professor Ed Madison to Medellín, Colombia and the surrounding cities and villages for a multimedia project covering the “Sounds of Colombia.”

Molleda told UO that he would be taking personal travel days, those falling between Dec. 1, 2023 and Dec. 7, 2023. 

 Students who took part in the program said Madison oversaw the reporting project, but that Molleda had no apparent role at all. 

“It felt like a vacation for him,” SOJC 2023 graduate Josiah Pensado said. “I don’t know if he ever really participated to begin with.”   

 SOJC student Lauren Becker echoed Pensado. Molleda, she said, helped with Spanish translation and was there for “support more than anything.”  

Molleda’s public Instagram shows a trip of relaxation, drinks and food in Colombia. One post stands out.

Molleda is hidden in the back of a group photo, smiling alongside others, after an “#ayahauscaceremony” by “#fundacionconscienciaviba,” as he wrote in his Dec. 4 Instagram post. 

Fundación Consciencia VIBA, which translates to Consciousness Foundation, is a non-profit organization in Colombia that gives individuals the opportunity to participate in a traditional Colombia indigenous ceremony that uses ayahuasca. Ayahuasca, also known as yagé, is a psychedelic substance legal in Colombia through “gaps” in the system, the non-profit states.

In the United States, however, ayahuasca is illegal — its main active chemical is dimethyltryptamine, colloquially known as DMT. 

Those legal gaps for the use of the drug have led to an influx of ayahuasca tourists in the Amazonia and Costa Rica region, a 2019 study by the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service shows.

Pensado and an anonymous student who fears retaliation from the SOJC said that during a boat ride with the cohort, Molleda spoke to some students about his own experiences taking the drug and the benefits of it. Pensado said he also spoke to them about the best ways to take psychedelic drugs. 

 “To a certain extent, he was extolling his virtues and saying that he had done it before,” Pensado said. “He was saying that ‘stuff like that is intense, you gotta do it in this environment.’”

The anonymous student said Molleda spoke openly about the spiritual and the mental health aspects of ayahuasca, which is that it helps people work through problems in their life. The student said Molleda was reading a book about the drug during the trip. 

In his statement to The Emerald, Molleda said that his use of ayahuasca in Colombia was conducted by licensed psychologists, psychiatrists and toxicologists of Fundación Consciencia VIBA. 

He also said that the purpose for his trip to Colombia was for experiential learning with students.

“By directly engaging in national and international student experiential learning programs, I am better equipped to convey their transformative value to the donors who help make such experiences possible,” he said.

Barbara Blangiardi, co-chair of the Journalism Advancement Council, said the board is all in favor of Molleda’s travel, and that he is transparent with the board about his trips in advance, as well as after his trips.

“We’re really in favor. The profile of the SOJC is not only then raised on campus, but across the country and internationally,” she said.

Molleda’s trip to Colombia cost UO $7,986.

His travel records show a UO Foundation Accounts Payable Specialist asking Molleda why he had upgraded to first-class on his flight to Colombia. Molleda wrote on Oct. 23, 2023 that he upgraded “for work to be done.”

His first-class ticket cost the university $2,830. 

How much the future could cost the SOJC, UO

The SOJC isn’t the only school at UO with financial trouble. The entire university is.

In a May email, UO President John Karl Scholz said that UO is facing a “difficult” financial outlook — a $25 million to $30 million deficit — due to federal research cuts, shortfalls of both taxpayer dollars and non-resident tuition, and increased salaries.

Scholz also said that these factors have only “exacerbated preexisting budget gaps” in other schools. 

Within the SOJC and its own budget gaps, Molleda plans to eliminate the deficit by 2026. Its budget projection records show it’s on track to have a deficit into 2027.

Professor Christopher Chàvez, who leads the dean’s advisory council and serves as a connection between faculty and Molleda, encouraged faculty and staff to speak up and voice their concerns about Molleda’s stewardship and SOJC administration.

“The dean doesn’t own the SOJC. It belongs to the faculty, the students and the staff,” he said. “It’s the notion of shared governance. What that means is in faculty meetings, speaking up and making demands. If something is not clear, faculty need to be specific in what they want.”

Chàvez said what more agency within the faculty looks like is being let into key decision making processes more often, or faculty introducing bylaws that limit the power of the SOJC dean.

He said another way is through a vote of no confidence on Molleda, but that it could only be passed through a “critical mass (of) faculty” agreeing to it.

“This is not uniform,” Chàvez said. “There may be faculty that are very supportive to the dean. But there are probably enough that are critical.”

In his statement to The Emerald, Molleda said he remains committed to reducing the deficit and restoring financial stability to the SOJC.

“I recognize where I fell short and sincerely regret any difficulties this caused the SOJC,” he said.