Today a University of Oregon economics professor Bill Harbaugh posted on UO Matters that he is dumping the content of the confidential president archives online.
The archives posted are from 1878.
Bill Harbaugh is the person who received the 22,000 pages of current records.
“I’m posting it all despite the threats from VPAA Doug Blandy and Barbra Altman, the claim of Interm President Scott Coltrane that this is unlawful, and the protests of Interim Provost France Bronet that this is immoral,” the professor wrote in his post entitled “UO professor goes rouge, posts confidential presidential archives on internet.
“From my reading of the post, it was intended to be a joke. The archives are from 1878,” Julie Brown, UO Director of Communications said.
“But if you haven’t figured out already, don’t worry about a Johnson Hall witch hunt for clicking the link – these are the 1878 UO Presidential Archives,” the Harbaugh writes in the post.
Harbaugh highlights three sections within the 1878 archives that show pay cuts, discriminative hiring and violation of the UO’s civility policy.
“All joking aside, think for a minute about the historical insights, and the glimpse into the humanity of these people that you get, 136 years later, from reading just a few pages of their letters,” Harbaugh writes. “What might people in 2150 learn about us, and themselves, from doing the same?”
Harbaugh goes on to say that those reading documents from the present in the future will not get this chance, due to his understanding of the plan by UO Interim General Counsel Doug Park and Library Dean Adriene Lim to ensure embarrassing documents are redacted before they enter the UO’s Presidential Archives.
“How shallow,” Harbaugh wrote.
Harbaugh dumps 100-year-old University of Oregon records on UO Matters blog
Daily Emerald
February 2, 2015
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