MEMO TO: UO Senate President Jim Earl UO Senate VicePresident Nathan Tublitz UO Senate Secretary Gwen Steigelman
MEMO FROM: Peter B Gilkey (IFS Senator)
MEMO RE: IFS Meeting 3 February 2001

Dear Jim, Nathan, and Gwen:

I attended the IFS meeting at WOU this weekend; the other IFS senators (Jim Isenberg and Ann Tedards) and the alternate (Chris Phillips) were unable to attend.

The meeting began with a very useful presentation by Betty Youngblood (President of WOU) on the mission of WOU. It was then followed by an address by John Minahan (Provost of WOU) concerning current budgetary problems OUS faces in Salem. He describes it as ``worse than measure 5 - there we had time to adjust but the date here is June 2001''. He spoke of ``maintaining our essential faculty'' and announced there had been a ``freeze on administrative hiring'' at WOU. He emphasized that ``faculty are an enduring committment'' and promised to keep that fact in the ``center of what we do''. He promised to do as ``little harm to students and faculty as possible.'' The quotes are approximate rather than exact and reflect my handwritten notes on what he said. It was an uplifting speech that emphasized his commitment to the central academic mission of WOU. He urged the IFS senators to let our campuses know the seriousness of the situation.

We also had an update on the budget situation by Dave Barrows (PSU-AAUP lobbyist) and Steve Bender (Legislative Fiscal Office). Jim Willis (OUS Board Member) spoke of the moral dilema that puts higher education in competition with other basic human needs in the state. He spoke of the issues posed by having limited resources and felt every campus should be planning for both the upside and the downside.

Jim Willis and Ben Rawlins (OUS Legal Services) spoke upon proposed revisions to OAR 580-021-0050 (Grievance Procedures). What is being envisioned is a revision to the present system that leaves local procedures intact for the most part but which on our campus would have PTRAC and FGAC make their recommendation to a "grievance officer" rather than to the "institution president" and which would substitute the "institution president" rather than the state board as the last appellate level in all but a few exceptional cases. A public hearing on the proposed rule changes will be held 21 February 2001 with final board action anticipated at the March meeting. Proposed OAR 580-021-0050 (14) states "... After consultation with the appropriate faculty committees and approval of the Chancellor's office, each institution shall adopt its rules by September 1 2001". Thus the matter has some urgency and assuming positive action by the board in March will obviously require expedited action by the "appropraiate faculty committees". I have the proposed OAR revisions and can make a copy available to you if needed.

The meeting of the IFS on Saturday dealt mostly with budgetary matters. We were informed that plans are going forward for the rally for higher education 6 March in collaboration with a number of groups. The IFS plans to hold its April meeting (6/7) in Salem to be able to talk to state legislators. The IFS received documents from the OSA (Oregon Student Association) concerning their lobbying efforts - I can make a copy of that available to you if needed.

Finally, I should be most grateful if you could keep me (and the other IFS Senators and Alternate) appraised of relevant UO Senate actions that are relevant to the state system as a whole so we can do our mandated task of interfacing with the IFS.

Respectfully submitted

Peter B Gilkey, InterInstititutional Faculty Senator