• In October 2014, before my arrival on the UO campus, the university announced what was then an audacious goal of raising $2 billion to strengthen this institution in ways never before considered. It has been an honor to work alongside so many of you toward this unprecedented goal. Thanks to the incredible generosity of our alumni and friends, we have reached $1.87 billion and will, at some point over the next year, cross that $2 billion threshold. It has been a massive undertaking that has transformed this campus in amazing ways and created new opportunities for Oregonians. I am deeply grateful to the more than 95,000 donors who have contributed to the campaign.
• Dear University of Oregon community members:
It is incredibly exciting to see the University of Oregon campus return to life at the beginning of the academic year. The crisp fall air, the flaming hues of changing leaves, and hustle-bustle associated with move-in, the first day of classes, convocation, meeting new people, and rekindling friendships gives me a renewed sense of energy, hope, and enthusiasm. I cannot wait to see what each of you—students and members of the faculty and staff—accomplishes and achieves in the coming year.
• As we close out the 2017-18 academic year, I offer my warm congratulations to all of our graduates. I also want to thank everyone—faculty, advisors, graduate instructors and researchers, and staff—who helped our graduates reach the finish line. Together, we accomplished quite a bit this year. We took big leaps forward in advancing our academic enterprise: we broke ground on the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact and hired a permanent executive director to lead this extraordinary effort to further the mission of science in the service of society; we invested in promising new academic programs—from data science and science media to embedding education researchers in high schools—and we continued to hire and invest in world-class scholars in fields such as obesity prevention, Black studies, anthropology, and volcanology to name a few.
• Ensuring the University of Oregon has an inclusive and welcoming campus for students, staff, faculty, and the community is a top institutional priority. We must continuously look for ways to strengthen and enhance efforts to address and reduce incidents of discrimination and harassment. To further these efforts, the UO is consolidating its Title IX and Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity offices under a newly formed Office of Civil Rights Compliance
• Late last night, the university sent out a campus safety advisory about two serious crimes involving UO students that happened recently in neighborhoods near campus within the Eugene Police Department’s (EPD) jurisdiction. We sent this information to campus as soon as we were able to confirm these incidents with EPD. These assaults follow a series of armed robberies and other crimes in recent weeks near campus that have shaken our collective sense of safety and security. They are of serious concern to us, as we know they are to our students, their families, faculty, staff, and neighbors.
• n the last week, a rash of five armed robberies near the university has disrupted our collective sense of safety. One of my primary concerns at all times is the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff, and the proximity of these crimes to campus is distressing to us all. I have asked Police Chief Matt Carmichael to do everything within University of Oregon Police Department’s power to both help solve the crimes and increase efforts to protect members of the UO community from these types of incidents.
• Last Friday, Provost Jayanth Banavar received the 2018–19 tuition and fee recommendation from the Tuition and Fee Advisory Board (TFAB). In response, he opened a public comment period for campus stakeholders and held a public forum that allowed him to hear directly from students. He and I greatly appreciated hearing from students at the forum, and thank everyone who invested time in this important process and shared their points of view.
• As I write this Open Mike, I feel the earth move under my feet. Before you get concerned that I am singing Carole King songs or having a nightmare about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, you should understand that just outside my office massive trucks and bulldozers are busy breaking ground for the new Willie and Donald Tykeson Hall, the college and careers building.
• We should all be concerned about tax reform efforts being considered by Congress. Simply put, many of the legislative proposals could substantially impede the ability of universities such as the University of Oregon to deliver an excellent, affordable education to our students.
