Interim President Coltrane make the follow remarks to the University Senate:

This is a challenging time for our campus.  I think it is fair to say the GTFF strike is hard on everyone, and that no one wanted things to get to this point. Frances and I, and our team, certainly hoped to reach agreement, and we have worked day and night to do so.

No one wants to see the GTFs we value so much on the picket lines, but we respect their right to be there. This is putting great strain on our community. And I deeply appreciate the help our faculty and staff are providing to ensure our students are served during this time.

We can debate how we got here – who conceded more – what is fair. I can tell you that I believe that our offer provides the flexibility and security to our graduate teaching fellows that they have asked for– and moreover offers non-GTF graduate students who don’t receive tuition waivers and health benefits – a safety net as well.

As a campus – we are now faced with closing out the fall term. I am pleased with the mostly respectful and smooth operation of the strike and classes for the last two days.

In response to the Senate motion on academic continuity —I appreciate the Senate’s efforts to promote dialog and maintain the university’s academic standards during the strike. The continuity plan for the planned GTFF strike is intended to provide faculty with tools to help ensure we minimize impacts on our students.

Our Academic Affairs Office, under the direction of the Provost’s Office and in collaboration with academic deans, has endeavored to be as open and transparent about academic continuity planning as possible. We consulted with deans, department heads and program directors (all of whom are fellow faculty who share our concerns) when developing the options that were posted on the Provost Office’s website and subsequently updated, and we regularly shared information about options with our deans, department heads, and other faculty.

Given the unique circumstances leading up to strike, the academic continuity plan called for extending options to faculty to allow them to conduct and conclude their classes in ways that meet their academic standards.  I hope all faculty will help us maintain their academic standards.

Because this is an emergency situation, we may not have had time to confer and collaborate about these matters as much as we ordinarily would.  Nevertheless, I am compelled to take action by the authority delegated to me by the Board of Trustees to ensure that our students receive the best educational services we can provide under the circumstances.

I continue to welcome guidance and recommendations from the university senate about ensuring academic continuity, as we share a desire to serve our students and guarantee that they receive grades in their courses.  I trust that we can and will maintain our academic standards during this strike by the GTFF.

Turning to the issue of addressing sexual assault on our campus – I expect to receive the report and recommendations of the President’s Review Panel next week. I will make this report public and it, along with the senate task force recommendations, and the Student Life gap analysis will form the bases of the university comprehensive plan to address sexual assault.

As you know, we’ve spent the last year implementing new practices, adding staff and doing assessments.  A critical part of our ability to make progress is to have good information and data.

To that end, I plan to establish a Campus Climate Survey Advisory Group to provide me with counsel about conducting surveys at UO on the topic of sexual violence and its prevention.  I have begun reaching out to experts on our campus to serve on this advisory group.

The President's Office will also provide funding for two surveys at the UO, one in conjunction with AAU efforts, and one to be developed and administered locally. I will ask the Campus Climate Survey Advisory Group to help me oversee administration of an AAU campus climate survey this spring and also to help me oversee administration of a UO-specific survey during the next academic year.

I value both the national perspective and ability to have comparative data of the AAU effort and the more focused perspective of a UO effort. Not only do we need to be able to measure incidence levels and correlates, but also, eventually we should be able to assess the effectiveness of educational, enforcement or prevention efforts through such surveys. And, by taking advantage of both approaches we will be able to contribute to local and national debates about how to best measure, assess and address this pressing social problem.

Finally, I’d like to provide updates on our policy review process and strategic planning effort.

As you know, the university is embarking on review the hundreds of policies it inherited from the state and OUS system when we transitioned to governance by the board of trustees. It is just a drop in the bucket, but we have identified 67 outdated or inapplicable policies that we are recommending the board repeal. They are all listed on the policy library for review. On October 15th, we provided the senate president and senate executive committee with an initial 100 academic policies for the senate to prioritize and review. We conferred with that group about a process to review the nearly 800 additional policies to ensure they are relevant, current and updated. We are getting closer to having that process finalized and having a representative group appointed for the Policy Advisory Committee.  We expect that group to convene in January.

Finally – on Provost Bronet’s behalf – I’m pleased to report the university wide strategic planning task force work groups met for the first time last week. More than 50 people gathered to discuss how, as a campus, we will turn our aspiration of elevating the university academic and research endeavors to the next level.  The provost has posted information about the groups, the process and the goals on the Provost website. Thank you for this rich collaboration from our campus that will lead us into the future.

I will take a few questions now – but I’d like to leave time for your very full agenda.