As the discussion focused on the University’s Strategic Housing Plan drifted rapidly toward questions regarding University funding, University Senate President Gordon Sayre cut off Provost Linda Brady.
Unfortunately, Wednesday’s University Senate meeting was running about 30 minutes late. But Brady did have time to present a summary of the housing presentation she made to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education last week, and fielded a few questions from faculty and ASUO representatives.
ASUO Sen. Nate Gulley asked Brady whether the revenue from the Westmoreland sale, which the Board finalized under the condition that the University would develop housing designed to fit the needs of all students, would be used to accommodate low-income and minority students who previously lived at Westmoreland.
Brady said the Strategic Housing Plan, which would renovate most on-campus dorms and add as many as 1,500 units, is “not a Westmoreland equivalent plan.” Rather, she said, the plan is a modern approach to on-campus living similar to what many peer institutions are implementing. Its focus is primarily on integrating academia and social life, Brady said.
“We did find that, particularly among students for whom Westmoreland was a choice, that many if not the majority of those students really preferred one of these on-campus options,” Brady said. “The key is proximity to campus.”
Getting upperclassmen on campus is also crucial to academics, she added.
When biology professor Nathan Tublitz inquired about the project’s total cost and source of funding, Brady said the $400 million-plus undertaking would ideally be paid for by F-Bonds. She also mentioned the possibility of seeking private funding sources, but noted confirmation cannot happen until the University’s financial management staff analyzes the project’s situation later this fall. The Campus Planning Committee is scheduled to begin work this spring, and the construction launch date is yet to be determined, as are the questions of what exactly will be built and where.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from interaction with some of our peers,” Brady said. “I’m very excited that we’re going to be able to move forward here.”
Psychology professor Bertram Malle asked Brady whether asking individuals to fund University projects rather than demanding the money from the Oregon legislature is acceptable. Brady pointed to the state’s well-below-average funding of the University, and defended University President Dave Frohnmayer’s presentation to the Board last week, when he asked for either more funding or an independent financial governance structure.
“The incremental allocation that the state would have to make to bring us even close suggests why U of O needs to look differently at its relationship to the state,” Brady said. “I believe the gap is just too great for us to expect the state to get us there. We’ve had one good biennium, but other states have had good biennia as well.”
Also at the meeting, the senate unanimously passed a motion to endorse a global warming awareness symposium. The motion also encourages faculty to participate with students in scheduled programs on campus relating to climate change, or devote class time to discussing it.
Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America will take place early in 2008 and involve University students and faculty, with guidance from the University’s Office of Sustainability. The symposium will coincide with similar events at colleges and universities nationwide.
Brady also reported on the University’s Diversity Plan and Underrepresented Minority Recruitment Program.
All units except for the School of Journalism and Communication’s Strategic Action Plan have been posted on the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity’s Web site, and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity will work this year on prioritizing the Diversity Plan’s agenda – sustaining engagement on and off campus, and analyzing diversity’s contribution to academic quality.
The UMRP, meanwhile, has been revised and clarified as “part of the Diversity Plan process.” Last year, the plan was publicly scrutinized when economics professor Bill Harbaugh called it illegal for basing faculty compensation partly on race. Frohnmayer repeatedly defended the program’s legality.
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