The University announced Thursday that it will remove its top lawyer from her position.
Melinda Grier, who has served as the University’s general counsel since 1998, will spend the rest of her contract teaching at the School of Law. A statement issued by the University said Grier had been terminated “without cause,” which University spokesperson Phil Weiler said means “there was no performance-based reason for it.”
However, Weiler declined to answer questions about what the reason was, instead directing inquiries to University President Richard Lariviere, who did not respond to them before the Emerald went to press.
An employee in Grier’s office said Grier would not answer questions about the subject, instead directing the Emerald to Weiler.
Grier, in her capacity as the University’s head lawyer, is also officially part of Oregon Attorney General John Kroger’s staff, but Kroger’s spokesperson Tony Green also declined to answer questions about Grier’s employment.
“We can’t comment on the hiring of the University of Oregon’s employees,” Green said.
In the absence of any substantial information about the reasons for Grier’s transfer to the law school, many drew their own conclusions from the decision.
Grier recently made news for her role in the controversy surrounding payments to former University athletic director and head football coach Mike Bellotti when he left the school. It was reported that Grier refused to grant several requests for the contract, and she later admitted she hadn’t known Bellotti did not have a contract with the University until after Bellotti’s departure made news. Several media outlets published articles suggesting that had been the reason Grier left the University.
Grier was also known for resisting requests for the University’s public records, and an article in The Oregonian revealing that Grier would lose her position came a week after Lariviere announced to the University Senate that he intends to create a policy more welcoming to public records requests.
“We’re going to be as open and transparent as the law allows,” Lariviere said at that meeting. “We’re going to hold ourselves as accountable and responsible. We may have to hire someone to (respond to requests for documents), but there are credibility issues here that would make it a worthy investment.”
The University will now begin a search for a new general counsel and appoint a temporary occupant for the position in the interim, the statement said. Weiler said it is unclear how long that will take. He also said it is unclear when Grier, whom he said is now on vacation, will begin teaching in the School of Law.
There, the statement said, Grier will teach employment discrimination law. She will do so until her contract ends on June 30, 2011.
Oregon State Board of Higher Education President Paul Kelly, Jr., the only source The Oregonian named in its article about Grier, did not respond to requests from the Emerald for comment.
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