The University Senate will look closely at ways to fund the University and keep tuition costs in check, University officials and faculty members said Wednesday afternoon.
The senate, a group of professors representing departments on campus, met for the first time this academic year to discuss higher education funding and other issues at their monthly two-hour meeting.
“Of all the major public sectors in Oregon, higher education has sustained the hardest hits to its budget,” senate President Greg McLauchlan said.
McLauchlan applauded University efforts to raise money without state support, noting that the University now relies more on private gifts than on public tax dollars. But he also expressed possible problems with the funding solutions.
“I would be less than honest if I didn’t express qualms with the trend here — that is, the trend of privatization,” he said.
The meeting, which is usually a forum for members to debate policies and vote on issues, was largely an opportunity for speakers such as McLauchlan, Vice President for Academic Affairs Lorraine Davis and Professor Lowell Bowditch to share ideas and issues to consider during the year.
Presentations varied from a discussion of a higher education reform act currently being considered by the Oregon University System to ways to advertise for academic departments during Duck football games.
Bowditch, reporting on the results of the senate’s annual leadership caucus, encouraged faculty to consider all possible ways to raise funds for departments on campus.
“We shouldn’t let assumptions of what donors might or might not give shape our goals,” said Bowditch, adding that perhaps donors would be just as happy giving money to the sociology department as the music school.
She added that a senate committee was considering recommending a possible “donor tax” so money to the Athletic Department or football program would be taxed and a part of it used for academic programs.
As the meeting wound to a close, campus gadfly Bruce Miller walked in and asked if he could speak during the meeting.
McLauchlan, with the advice of former senate President and current Parliamentarian Paul Simonds, determined that Miller could speak if it was an announcement and if he made it brief.
“Because of a horrible lobbying effort, this University has lost $20 to $25 million in funding in the last nine to 12 months,” said Miller, blaming all the University’s current budget woes on political inaction in Salem.
McLauchlan told Miller the meeting wasn’t a forum to make accusations against the University, and eventually convinced the community crusader to stop speaking, and the meeting came to a close several minutes later.