November 23, 2003

Peter Gilkey and I attended the OUS Board meeting at PSU on November 21, 2003. It was an interesting and even historic meeting, being the last meeting of the current Board.

Fatemi New EOU President - The new president of Eastern Oregon University, Dr. Khosrow Fatemi, was present and introduced his wife. Fatemi was Dean of the Campus at San Diego State-Imperial Valley, and was a professor at Texas A&M and Middle Tennessee prior to that. He is a graduate of the Abadan Institute of Technology and USC.

Governor Ted Kulongoski Speaks – Governor Kulongoski was also present, and explained his reasons for selecting new Board members. He said that he wanted to put higher education as one of his first priorities, and wanted a Board he knew would represent his views and who knew his goals. He praised the current Board, and its president Jim Lussier. Kulongoski said, “We’re not going home until we start reinvesting in higher education”. He recalled that in his governmental experience with six governors, each has said that the future of Oregon is in its intellectual capital, but that from 1995 to 2001 while Oregon’s economy had grown more than some other states, we disinvested in higher education.

Kulongoski strongly supported the concept of a liberal arts education, saying that education is like “furniture for the mind”. His goals for higher education are access, excellence, economic growth, and reinvestment.

The Governor said that he will “review the function” of the office of the Chancellor, emphasizing that he is speaking of the role of the office, not the individual. This statement may presage other actions yet to come, and was taken by most at the meeting to suggest that substantial changes at the Chancellor’s office are forthcoming.

OSA Report – Andy Saultz, the OSA representative, and other students gave a strong report advocating more recruitment of students of color and stronger financial aid.

Budget and Finance Committee – Bruce Shaffer, the Director of Industry Affairs for OUS, reported on the contributions of the Engineering and Technology Industry Council (ETIC), saying that 40 faculty were being supported by ETIC funds and 17 more were anticipated during 03-05. Ben Rawlins, the OUS attorney, reported that the casual use of social security numbers by university administrations was improper, and needed more consent by the individual. Also, the definition of unclassified employees, including the Chancellor, university presidents, faculty, and deans was reviewed and made clearer and more specific.

System Strategic Planning Committee – Ben Rawlins, General Counsel for OUS, reviewed increasingly complex residency requirements, partly due to new immigration rules and post-9/11 policies. A student speaker, Candice Staple of PSU advocated in-state residency status for immigrants with 3 years of high school in Oregon.

Performance Target Report by Susan Weeks (Chief Information Officer of the Office of Finance and Administration for OUS), and Nancy Goldschmidt (Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Performance and Planning in the Office of Academic Affairs of OUS) – A comprehensive report of each institution’s achievement of high and low performance targets was presented. The full text of this lengthy report is on the OUS web site. Director Kerry Barnett questioned the use of high and low targets, and Board President Lussier repeated his often-stated preference for shorter, easier-to-understand “dashboard” indicators rather than, or at least in addition to, reams of reports.

U of O President’s Conversation With the Board – Continuing with a series of conversations with each university president, the Board this month called on President Dave Frohnmeyer to present the “state of the university”, including biggest problems as well as the opportunities he sees ahead.

Frohnmeyer said that it costs $100,000 to educate a child K-12; those children who do not go on to post-secondary education will never repay that to the state. Only those with bachelor’s degrees will repay in taxes and service what the state funds. He reminded the Board that our peer institutions in other states, on average, have 50% more state supported revenue per student.

He said that our disinvestment in higher education has meant that we are now limiting the number of new admissions to our universities, and that since every non-resident attracted to Oregon supports a resident, when we fail to attract out-of-state students we lose twice.

Faculty Diversity – There was a panel discussion among the university Provosts about faculty diversity. Each Provost said that while we can do better in attracting a diverse faculty, there has been substantial progress so far, and each presented ideas for encouraging more faculty members of color and diversity.

Geri Richmond, the OUS “faculty” Board member, described a very successful program she participated in which has grown to national and even international scope, called COACH, which though started to encourage women in chemistry, has grown to include both women and persons of color in and beyond the field of science.

Bill Danley

Complete minutes and supplemental materials of the OUS Board Meeting may be found at the OUS Web Site