The University of Oregon Board of Trustees reconvened today to finish their quarterly meeting. The meeting was much shorter than yesterday’s, but contained important decisions and a good look at some future plans for the university. Here are the top three things to take away from today’s meeting:
3) State Support: Governor Kate Brown addressed the board today, sharing her vision of higher education in Oregon. She showed a desire to help UO succeed in the future, and hoped the university could become a world class institution. Brown said she would work with the business and labor community to increase taxes, which would provide more state funding for its public universities.
2) Researching Research: President Michael Schill voiced his goals to turn UO into a premier research institution. Brad Shelton, Interim Vice President of Research and Innovation, spoke to the board about how this would be possible. He asked for more research faculty, something the board mentioned they were working on yesterday, more funding and bigger facilities.
1) Near-Unanimous Approval: There were several issues voted on today, with only three votes taken. The board decided that, since more than half of the resolutions being voted on were seconded motions that had already been approved by the Finance and Facilities Committee and the Academic and Student Affairs Committee the day before, they would just vote on all those motions as one. They passed unanimously. There were only two no votes all day. Helena Schlegel, the student board member, and Kurt Wilcox, the non-faculty staff member, both voted no on the Amendments to Trustee Responsibilities. The amendment asked that board members keep in mind their relationship to the board while speaking publicly. Wilcox voted no because he felt it was simply a redundant addition. Chuck Lillis mentioned that the amendment was written with the student, faculty and staff board members in mind.
The meeting ended with an executive only session, where the members discussed the recent SEIU contract agreement. That meeting was closed to the public and media.