A group of six current and former University of Oregon students protested President Michael Schill’s recent $100,000 bonus in front of Johnson Hall Tuesday afternoon.
The group held signs with headshots of board of trustees members that read, “This trustee does not support me!” and shouted to students as they walked to class.
Manuel Mejia Gonzalez, a former student who said he was priced out of UO, shouted, “Board of trustees and CEO Schill don’t care about UO. Come join us — prevent tuition from increasing again!”
The university responded to the protest, stating the majority of Schill’s bonus was given back to the students in the form of a scholarship.
“President Schill has generously donated the majority of his bonus back to the university to help those students most in need,” a university spokesperson said. “The president’s employment contract allows for a merit-based annual bonus and, for a second year, he has given the majority of these funds to establish scholarships in the PathwayOregon program for first-generation students.”
The UO board of trustees awarded President Schill with a $100,000 annual performance bonus at its meeting last December. Schill donated $75,000 of the bonus to create a PathwayOregon scholarship in his father’s name.
In 2018, Schill received a $76,000 bonus from the board, which he donated to create a scholarship in his mother’s name.
Sarah Pishioneri, senior at UO studying political science with a focus in labor studies, said, “In terms of that being the excuse for giving him $100,000 bonus, I’m not buying it. The university could invest that $100,000 into say, a student group and let students see where they want to see that money be spent.”
Pishioneri said she organized the protest after she connected with other students who were upset about the protest on social media.
“We’re really trying to build solidarity with students, staff and faculty and community members on this issue,” Pishioneri said. “It’s a public institution, the public needs to be involved in the conversation. If they aren’t willing to have it, we’ll just start it.”
She said the group is holding a community meeting from 4-8 p.m. on Saturday at the Multicultural Center in the EMU to establish goals and connect with students. “We’re inviting students, staff, faculty, community members who care about our public university, and we’re going to try and develop a long-term strategy to change how our Board of Trustees is appointed,” she said.
Pishioneri said the group hopes to create a mentor program to mobilize younger students to get involved with student activism.
“What happens is most students reach their senior year and then they realize what’s wrong with the university and then they leave,” Pishioneri said. “We’re trying to develop a mentor, mentee program with undergrad students who are freshmen and sophomores — some way of continuing the conversations with students.”
Ardeshir Tabrizian contributed to the reporting of this story.
