University Senate passed motions on a range of matters at Wednesday’s meeting, including allowing emeriti faculty to vote, discussing the imminent closure of the EMU Post Office and opening the floor for a lengthy discussions about the UO Foundation’s financial future.
Motion to Adopt Revised Retired and Emeriti Faculty Policy
The Senate passed a resolution with four abstentions to a policy that grants emeriti faculty members certain rights and privileges post-retirement, including voting rights, working space, research and travel opportunities, as well as free parking and Student Recreation Center use. Most of the amenities were agreeable to all Senate members, but some raised questions about the provision that allows retired faculty to vote in their respective departments as long as they remain on the University payroll and serve an active duty in an instructional or research capacity.
Biology professor Frank Stahl presented the policy and said emeriti faculty should still be able to have a say in the democratic processes of their departments despite their retirement.
“If you are still on the payroll, you have a vested interest in the operations of the department,” Stahl said.
Peter Keyes, an associate architecture professor, responded by saying that depending on the life expectancy of emeriti faculty from any particular department, they may create a voting imbalance with younger professors in the same department.
“Suddenly we are looking at a very big voting bloc,” Keyes said. “Forty percent of the votes (in a department) could come from retired faculty.”
EMU Post Office Closure Letter
The Senate passed with one nay and one abstention to a motion to send letters to U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and to U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio condemning the EMU Post Office’s imminent closure. A slightly altered version of the letter will also be sent to the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission asking them to remand the closure decision. ASUO members Kaitlyn Lange and Amelie Rousseau voiced their concerns that the EMU Board was not aware of the closure decision until recently and their hopes that enough publicity might convince the Postal Service to reconsider.
“They actually didn’t give the EMU … notice that they were leaving until two weeks ago,” Lange said. “They are leaving and aren’t coming back (and) they have made that very clear to the administration here.”
Rousseau remained hopeful.
“With the amount of public pressure we are putting on the United States Postal Service, (maybe) we can maintain this service,” Rousseau said.
UO Foundation Open Discussion
UO Foundation President Paul Weinhold and Chief Investment Officer Jay Namyet took the floor midway through the hearing to answer questions about the Foundation’s role in the New Partnership, a new budget plan that involves the Foundation’s managing of $800 million in state bond monies. Both Weinhold and Namyet said the Foundation’s function would essentially stay the same and that the only significant change would be in the amount of funding it handles.
“The system is broken,” Namyet said, “(and) we now have to start thinking about enlarging the endowment.”
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