The University of Oregon Board of Trustees met virtually May 19 and 20 to discuss COVID-19 updates, naming a new residence hall, approving proposed programs and other updates.
It was the last board meeting for several trustees, including Peter Bragdon, Andrew Colas, Allyn Ford, Joe Gonyea, Mary Wilcox, Katharine Wishnia, Laura Lee McIntyre and UO Senate President Elliot Berkman. Their positions will be filled by the seven trustees nominated by Gov. Kate Brown.
COVID-19 updates
Associate Vice President and Chief Resilience Officer Andre Le Duc presented the board with the latest COVID-19 prevention efforts on campus. He mentioned the complexities of keeping up with the changing guidelines over the past couple of weeks as Lane County has fluctuated between risk levels and different mandates.
In May, the Oregon Health Authority provided some clarity on facial coverings that align with CDC guidelines, and two days later, the university issued a statement announcing masks are no longer required outdoors on campus.
As of May 18, more than 60% of people ages 16 and above in Lane County have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 40% are fully vaccinated. For the zip codes directly around the UO campus, around three-quarters of people 16 and above have been vaccinated.
“This is a shoutout to our students and faculty that we are really driving the vaccination rates in the country, which is great to see,” Le Duc said. “We are going to continue to do that.”
Autzen Stadium is continuing to vaccinate Lane County, including UO students and staff. It is now running daily and serves as the “prime vaccination site for max vax.” Children over the age of 12 can now receive the Pfizer vaccine.
University finance and treasury
Vice President for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt provided the quarterly financial update, which included the quarterly financial and treasury reports and two fiscal years of expenditure authorization updates.
Finances have not shifted much from the last quarterly report — spring 2021 over spring 2020 enrollment for undergraduate students was down 5.4%, a similar drop to fall over fall and winter over winter this academic year. The reduction in students will affect the Education & General Expenses fund for the next four to five years.
While the financial loss was significant, COVID-19-related one-time cost savings, such as workshare savings and a hiring freeze, are expected to mitigate most of the losses in the budget. The projected E&G fund deficit fell from $2.3 million to $1.5 million.
The current balance of outstanding debt is approximately $813 million. UO’s Internal Bank structure is set up so that borrowers must repay the loans before 2045.
The 2021 expenditure authorization proposed was $1.13 billion, and the 2022 expenditure recommendation will be discussed at September’s board meeting.
New residence hall naming
DeNorval Unthank, Jr. will be the name of the new residence hall being built on the corner of 15th and Agate. The building is set to open this fall.
Unthank was the first African American to graduate from what was then called the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at UO. He designed schools, offices and residences across Oregon and developed projects for the Black community in Portland.
Unthank is currently the name of a dorm wing in Hamilton Hall, which will be torn down in 2023. Others who have a named space in Hamilton will be honored on a plaque in the new DeNorval Unthank, Jr. Hall.
World Athletics Championships Agreement
UO is hosting the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in July 2022 at Hayward Field. The third-largest sporting event in the world, the 2022 Championships will be the first held in the U.S. and the first on a university campus. The 10-day-long event will feature 2,000 athletes from over 200 countries.
“This is really an opportunity for our university to be shown on an extreme platform,” said Carlyn Schreck, assistant vice president for presidential initiatives and liaison for the event.
The university will enter several agreements with Oregon22, the organization in charge of planning the championship meet, to ensure that the costs of providing appropriate facilities and services for the event are compensated. The aggregate value of these agreements is unknown, but the university estimates it to be between $4 million and $6 million. Any expenditure over $5 million requires board approval. The vote passed unanimously.
New program proposals
Director of Native American studies Kirby Brown proposed a new undergraduate major in Native American and Indigenous studies which, if approved, would be the only undergraduate program on campus with “explicit commitments to serving Indigenous nations and communities,” he said. Oregon has nine federally recognized Indigenous nations and a Native American and Indigenous population 50% higher than the national average.
“It would provide Native students with a visible place intellectually and academically where they would have a home, but it would also bring together this really incredible environment that we’ve been able to create over the past few years,” Brown, also an associate professor, said.
UO has offered a Native American studies minor since 2013 housed in the Department of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies. The major would have an interdisciplinary track and a language track, each requiring 56 credits. The program will be an extension of the current minor, so it will not cause UO a financial burden for at least the first couple of years.
The board approved the proposal unanimously.
David Wacks proposed a new Ph.D. program in Spanish. It will focus on the Spanish language and Latin American literary and cultural studies. It will be the only Spanish Ph.D. program in Oregon, which will allow the university to respond to the demographic shift and growing Latinx population in the state.
As with the NAIS major, the Spanish Ph.D. program brings no financial barriers for the university, as it can be staffed with existing faculty and GEs. The board approved the proposal unanimously.
Updates with UO Online, UO Portland, Title IX and Office of Investigations & Civil Rights Compliance
Vice Provost for UO Online Carol Gerring presented the Online Education Initiative, which focuses on the role of online courses to support student success. The 2020 pivot to remote instruction accelerated the development of online courses for undergraduate students, and an online Master’s of Psychology launched in winter 2021.
Jane Gordon, vice provost for UO Portland, outlined strategic goals for the Portland campus to support and expand experiential learning, offer new graduate degrees and enhance professional education.
Nicole Commissiong, associate vice president and chief civil rights and Title IX officer, gave updates on the Office of Investigations and Civil Rights Compliance. This is a space where students, faculty and staff can discuss issues with discrimination and harassment. Trustees have a mandatory reporting obligation to the UO community if they see or hear something of concern.
New Title IX regulations came into effect in August 2020. There are new procedures for the handling of Title IX complaints, meaning some complaints must have a full hearing with a live cross-examination relating to the resolution of those complaints.
