Inter-Institutional Faculty Senate

Western Oregon University Monmouth, OR

February 6-7

Present:

Solveig Holmquist and Bob Turner, WOU

Mina Carson, Dan Edge, and Kelvin Koong,OSU

Jim Tooke and Steve Tanner, EOU

Peter Gilkey and Nathan Tublitz, UO

Marye Hefty and Maureen Sevigney, OIT

Marny Rivera and Laura Jones, SOU

Steve Teich, OHSU

Craig Wollner, Scott Burns, and Robert Mercer, PSU

Guests:

John Minahan, WOU Provost

Bill Linden, AOF

MardiLyn Saathoff, General counsel and Higher Ed Policy Advisor to

Governor

Richard Jarvis, Chancellor

Peter Courtney, President, OR Senate

Phil Conn, WOU President

Denise Yunker, OUS Human Resources

Tim Young, IFS intern

Provost Minahan:

Provost Minahan spoke about the difficulty of dealing with the drastic budget cuts that have beset Oregon. More fund-raising is needed, yet that is a skill more common to administrators in private, rather than public, institutions.

Articulations with CC’s will be put in place, but there is an inherent downside: students are then more likely to take courses at the CC’s rather than at the 4-year institutions.

WOU has decided not to pursue distance learning; the student base is mostly residential and commuter. Western is pursuing out-of-state students and international students. To aid retention, Western has block programmed the freshman orientation class, allowing students to choose blocks that keep them with like-minded (regarding professional goals) peers.

WOU closed a union contract 2 weeks ago. Faculty froze their salaries for 2 years. WOU moved the savings into release time for research.

Bill Linden, AOF attorney

Bill gave an update on litigation between OUS and AOF. State will claim necessity of reducing contribution; ORP maintains that a contract must be honored. State has filed a motion for summary judgment.

It was noted that the ORP situation is precipitating departure of some faculty, and that it is difficult to get faculty of the same quality due to the instability in the benefits situation (coupled with the ever-low salaries).

Details on the ORP situation can be found at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/dirORP/7Feb04.html

MardiLyn Saathoff, Higher Education Policy Advisor to the Governor

Her role: Gather info from community stakeholders, figure out policy issues and choices, and advise the governor. Gov. is sincere in wanting to turn the current disinvestments in HE around. The four “silos” under which efforts of new state board will be directed: Targeting state dollars for economic development, strategies for reinvestment, access, excellence.

$7.5 million has been disappropriated; the distribution to be based on UG enrollment.

$14 M “tax on tuition” that must be returned to GF. If we don’t cut that $14 M, govt will take it out of GF. (This refers to the implied "PERS savings" that must be returned to the state general fund in January 2005, as is currently required by legislative act).

MardiLyn strongly advocated more personal relationships with legislators.

We need to be able to articulate financial info to the legislature clearly and succinctly. HE’s financial structure is not compatible with how state structures its budget. Board is working with the legislature to align budgeting with times when universities have new budget information (e.g., new enrollment figures).

Only two places Gov. can get money for HE: ask for money from the Board, or move money from somewhere else.

Bond money can only be RQ for deferred maintenance or new builds.

Peter Courtney

The 17 Community Colleges will become even more significant as feeder schools for the universities. Suggestion: universities should closely align with one or more CC’s.

Legislative branch of government is no longer equal in power to the other 2 branches, judiciary and executive. It cannot “save” higher education. Oregon legislature cannot change the OR tax structure. Oregon leads the nation in initiative recall.

Fund-raising is absolutely necessary. Get involved in local government—city council, school board, advisory groups to local government. Legislators want to know that faculty are concerned about community life. HE needs to be identified as being involved with local government, and needs to be seen as a cohesive team.

Chancellor Jarvis

Re: the $7.5M designated to come from UG education: Gov says no tuition increase—take the money from administrative services.

If tuition can’t be raised, the only place to get money is from the admin. structure. Chancellor’s office has $10M per year budget. Board will be examining C’s office and make recommendations for cuts within 3 months.

Gov has articulated several directives:

1. C’s office—downsize, outsource.

2. Increase competitiveness (with other public services) in the legislature—more sophisticated, more effective. Neil G. will increase the professionalism of the HE political process.

3. Much closer relationship with CC’s on all dimensions—use of facilities, articulations.

All HE in OUS will take a beating re: graduation rates.

Funding financial aid to maintain access is a high priority. We need money in a dedicated revenue source.

We have been unable to get money from legislature for deferred maintenance. Over 80% of buildings in OUS fall below “acceptable” levels of maintenance. And we have only $11M to deal with this (for whole system). Any bond we would generate must be able to stand initiative for recall.

IFS members were encouraged to connect with Board members in whatever ways possible. Absent a radical change in approach and positioning, there’s no reason that the prop 30 situation won’t happen again.

There is concern among some politicians about the morality of fee remissions: that it’s wrong to take money from one student to lighten load of another student.

Board members feel that they are taking on the state’s biggest problem, and they are motivated to address this. We need to let the new members know that we appreciate their strengths and motivation, and respectfully acculturate them.

Saturday

Schedule changes:

April 9-10 @UO

June 4-5 meeting @SOU

Several senators reiterated the need for personal contact with the Board and legislators, and involvement with our communities in order to keep value of HE on the radar screen. It was noted that people support CC’s with bonds because the CC’s are perceived as arising from the community.

Campus reports:

EOU: New (interim) pres, encouraging grants. Provost in second year. Stress between union and administration.

OIT: All depts. taking 10% cut. Some of the money will be used for professional development—this has increased morale. Proposed center for health professionals.

OHSU: Failure of prop 30 will have large negative effects on OHP and hospitals as well as HE per se. The internet filters have been removed and appropriate research activities can proceed unhindered.

PSU: New VPfor Development. All new buildings will have commercial space on ground floor. PSU will move increasingly to revenue from commercial leasing. All new buildings are “green”—eco-friendly. New engineering building. Much networking with CC’s. Noted that although there is common numbering across the state for many courses, the contents have changed over the years. Perhaps it’s time to re-visit the numbering and content.

Also, PSU has developed a process that allows students to do an automated degree audit. A potential transfer student can also log onto the PSU site and get a degree audit.

WOU: Provost search to replace Minahan, who’s leaving end of spring term. Contract: no raises, one-time incentive of $350, step increases; move up a step but no increase in salary. There is a leave bank for sick leave—other campuses have this too? Registrar search has been going on for 2 years. Alumni director search also.

Time ran out and the reports of UO and OSU were postponed until the April meeting of the IFS.

SOU: Many departments have submitted invited initiatives to the Provost; three will be chosen for funding. New library will be dedicated to Len Hannon. Association for Experiential Education Northwest District conference to be held on campus March 26-28.

Dr. Phil Conn, President, WOU

Union contract negotiations settled. Preserved concept (not money) of step system. More money in professional development and release time. Regarding reducing Chancellor’s office: Will this save a significant amount of money? Not if schools have to take over the eliminated tasks themselves. The smaller institutions, especially, may be hurt by reductions in Chancellor’s staff.

WOU preparing to publish budget book that lists, by name, salaries and other budget info; the book will be available to anyone who wants it.

Denise Yunker

A summary of the materials discussed relating to PERS and ORP has been posted on the web: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ifs/dirORP/dirORP/7Feb04.html

For those who are over 40 and plan to work for at least 15 years, PERS is best choice—understood, and TIAA-CREF so advises. Otherwise, ORP may be best. The institutional vendors for the various plans know the particulars of these situations.

Production of Briefing Book

Craig used the Metropolitan Briefing Book, a PSU-initiated tool for elected officials, as a model of what an OUS briefing book for legislators might look like. The critical issues list comes from focus groups—what are the 10 most critical, and how should they be ordered? Remainder of articles are those that OUS cares deeply about. Audience: legislators, other interested parties (e.g., AOF, IFS, AAUP, presidents, provosts, press), anyone interested in legislation and policy. There was general agreement that the book could be organized per Gov’s four initiatives—access, quality, econ. dev., and reinvestment . Tim Young (IFS intern) will assist with gathering info. Craig will chair committee to produce the book. The final document will be ratified by the various faculty senates.

Respectfully submitted,

Laura Jones, Secretary