Dear Nathan, Gwen, and Greg:

Here is my report on the IFS meeting at the UO on Friday of this weekend. Since I was elected to this position by the UO Senate, I shall continue my custom of reporting to the President, Vice President, and Secretary of the Senate concerning the activities of the IFS. This report will also be posted in due course on the web.

Let me in advance express my deep and sincere appreciation to Gwen for making the arrangements for the room over on the top floor of the Law School - which is splendid beyond compare - and for taking such care to see everything went off well - and it did so splendidly.

On Sunday, UO President Frohnmayer and Senior Vice Provost Davis addressed the IFS for perhaps 30 minutes on various topics. Davis discussed PEBB, the Senate Budget Committee report, and various other matters. Davis began the session in the temporary absence of Frohnmayer but then yielded the floor to Frohnmayer who reported on the political situation and various facets of the state budget for higher ed. A brief discussion of horse racing and its role in University funding was presented.

They were followed by Professor Richmond (who is a member of the state board) and who reported on the opportunities and frustrations of being at the same time a faculty member and a member of the state board. She reported on having made good contacts and working relations with other members of the state board. Former UO Senate President James Earl reported on activities of the UO Senate this year - WRC, Athletics, Senate Budget Committee Report, Instructors and non tenure related faculty, etc. The IFS Senate seemed very impressed at the cordial working relations between faculty and administration here. Earl was questioned closely by Tedards about the plan to reduce the athletic department subsidy.

After a break for tea, Betsy Boyd of the UO Office of Governmental Affairs reported on her role in relating to the folks in Washington. She was followed by State Senator Tony Corcoran and OUS Chancellor Cox.

State Senator Corcoran reported that the `6 month session of the State Legislature in Salem has deprived several villages of idiots'. Chancellor Cox reported that `I am a principled opportunist' regarding the arguments he used to encourage supporting the budget for higher ed to which Corcoran replied `you should rise above it' - referring to the adjective `principled'.

After this brief bit of humor, both Cox and Corocoran reported on the budget situation in Salem which is promising at the present moment but hard to quantify. Both expressed concern about the effect term limits are having on the state legislature - that they tend to elect single issue legislators for which the `long term' is 4 weeks. The support of the business community for higher ed is very important. Both were very worried about the next biennium and even more so about the subsequent one. The Chancellor stressed that the old arguments of higher ed being a public good just don't fly - that higher ed is now seen as a private good. The chancellor warned about the shortfall in the benefits and compensation package - our share of the 100,000,000 shortfall is on the order of 27,000,000. He also warned about the 11,000,000 shortfall in energy costs - the OUS system is considering an energy surcharge on the students. He closed by remarking, presumably in a humorous fashion, that the country seems to have elected EXXON as the President and Vice President of the Country.

Pursuant to the request of the IFS, I handed out the Senate Budget Committee White Paper Update that was transmitted to the Senate recently. I also handed out the texts of the 2 motions regarding athletics passed by the Senate together with a photocopy of the Emerald article on the athletic subsidy "elimination" printed this Friday. Much of the meeting focused on the excellent job the UO had been doing in the whole matter of "shared governance" - Jim obviously did a wonderful job yesterday in getting our points across. In the report of system wide matters

PSU: They have started to rework their Senate Agendas. They have a short "debate" at the beginning of each session on current "hot" topics to liven things up. The athletic department has a 1.5 mil. hole. Next monthy they discuss the role of part time faculty. Going from a difision 2 to a division 1A school has produced a deficit in the athletic department - the increase in revenues did not match up with the costs. They are currently undergoing NCAA accreditation. "Every campus of OUS would love to be like the UO - OSU is currently required to pay off their "athletic debt". The goal is to be financially self-sufficient like the UO - the tuition remission question is a huge one.

OIT: Reports a 32% increase in applications - starting 2 medical programs in Portland - starting up woman's basketball - have moved from Division 3 to Division 2 in athletics.

OSU: Reports starting a school of Ed. The engineering money available has been reduced from 60,000,000 to only 20,000,000. They are joining/reorganizing the school of home economics and health and human performance. Applications are up - is not sure it is a good thing. No evidence of "trickle down" of the new moneys to help the departments affected. No room for students - should put a hold on enrollment growth.

SOU: Reports getting a new (and reportedly quite conservative) president.

The report to the State Board will feature the following 4 areas

1. We are grateful to the board for staving off financial disaster
2. Extend an invitation to Chancellor Cox for strategic planning next fall. Ref October meeting at PSU
3. The issues that resonated with the IFS were the Pebb question and the example provided by the UO in collaborative/shared governance in the areas of faculty salaries with respect to our comparators and the athletic subsidy.
4. Future concerns of the IFS are distance learning and athletics.

1. OSU 5/6 October - mainly a session with the Chancellor on future directions
2. PSU 7/8 December - discuss athletics
3. UO         February (Ann Tedards will be organizing the meeting and will be contacting Nathan)
4. SOU       April
5. EOU       June

Respectfully submitted

Peter B Gilkey (IFS Senator)