The sense of wonder I feel about Oregon and its flagship university is as potent now as on my first day — the character of the people, the quality of the institution, the geography, the colors, the perfect temperatures and the fun peculiarities of this community. Only a great place can claim Wayne Morse and Bill Bowerman among its heroes, have a statue of Ken Kesey in its civic square and crown a Slug Queen each year. Eugene exudes innovation, originality and extraordinary excellence.

Do you see what he did there? Lariviere invoked all of Eugene’s major cultural touchstones: old hippies, track and field and endemic celebrations of our own counter-culture. Well played, sir.

In the rest of the guest commentary, Lariviere touts the University, its faculty and its mad research skills:

In 2008-09 fiscal year, our sponsored research programs brought in more than $100 million in grants and contracts, much of it directly related to research discoveries and commercial applications. External funding has consistently increased for the past decade. The University of Oregon is now among the top universities in the United States in terms of its return on research through licensing of technologies.

Beyond a passion for teaching and research that is second to none, there is a drive for innovation, collaboration and interdisciplinary exploration that I have not experienced on any other campus. A new academic plan, called “Big Ideas,” brings faculty and students together in new ways to answer broad questions about society and our world. This is another example of how the UO is on the leading edge in higher education.

Over at UO Matters, the author is nonplussed:

[N]ice words, but we got those from Frohnmayer all the time – prestigious AAU membership, extraordinary faculty, opportunity for students – yada yada. Reads like Frohnmayer’s speechwriter wrote it. (Yup, same guy.) This is just cheap talk. Lariviere needs to make some changes very soon or we really will have a union.

I find it especially deplorable that Petitioner chose to allege meritless charges of discrimination simply to supplement her complaint. I find this troubling because the allegations themselves are apart of the public record. Any person alleging discrimination before the court needs to carefully articulate the issues in their complaint, because of the damaging implications of discrimination allegations.

In other words, Washington is saying Haley tried to drag Kallaway’s name through the mud on purpose by calling her prejudiced

But Student Sen. Carina Miller, who applied to be Kallaway’s chief-of-staff but was passed over in favor of Ella Barrett, questioned the decision in an interview that happened too late to make the deadline for tomorrow’s paper.

“I feel the people that applied were more qualified than the person that got the position,” Miller said. “I thought I would have a fair, legit shot and I feel like Ella got the position because of her close personal relationship with (Emma).”

As far as taking the matter further, Miller said, “I’m just waiting to see what happens next.”

Again, not tremendously surprising considering Miller was one who ran against Barrett for the position and nobody probably expected her to change her position just because the court threw out the claim. She had some pretty amusing quote in an article Robert wrote earlier about this.

But, I guess it just goes to illustrate that Miller probably she isn’t going to invite Kallaway and Barrett home with her for Thanksgiving.

Perhaps acting Senate President Alex McCafferty was listening (if so, thanks!)? The ASUO just sent out its agenda for Wednesday night’s Senate meeting and it looks well different from a lot of what we’ve seen from McCafferty (It’s at the bottom of the post).

McCafferty has confirmations for the senators Emma Kallaway appointed over the summer up first. Who does that help? Considering the appointees (former Sens. Carina Miller and Hailey Sheldon) are close friends of Nick Gower’s, probably him. How? Well, right after their likely appointment, he will face a vote to see if he or Sen. Nick Schultz is the Senate’s new president. Two good friends on the body? Probably helps.

There are, of course, other explanations. Miller and Sheldon are sitting on the same Senate as whomever is the new president, so McCafferty might simply have thought it was fair to give them a chance to vote. That’s almost beside the point, though, since he could, if he wanted to sway the vote in Schultz’s favor instead, have put them afterwards. That is to say the Senate president has more power than his non-voting, non-speaking role suggests.

Here’s the agenda. The new Constitution Court hires are in there after the funding requests, which usually go first.

1) Call to Order
2) Approval of the Agenda
3) Senate Confirmations
a. Seat 5
b. Seat 8
4) Senate Officer Nominations *Executive Session Pending*
a. Senate President
b. Senate Vice President
c. Senate Ombuds
d. Senate Treasurer
e. Senate Academic Chairperson
5) Special Requests
a. PRSSA
b. ASUO Exec (2)
6) Con Court Nominations
a. Casey King
b. Casey Sanders
c. Andre Washington
7) Approval of the Minutes
a. 9/30/09
Officer Updates
a. Exec
9) New Business
a. PRRC Nomination
10) Adjourn

Soto was poised to enter her second year in the Senate, having been elected on Rock the Yellow in 2008. She ran for vice president on a ticket with fellow Sen. Nick Schultz in 2009.

Soto was among the Senate’s more adamant and informed supporters of progressive and student union-related initiatives. She was also active in the College Democrats. She found friends in unlikely places in the ASUO — anti-establishment presidential candidate Ryan McCarrel loudly cited a friendship with her, while members of the Oregon Commentator staff were also friends because they knew her through the school’s rugby teams.

However, there were murmurs that Soto was not so popular among union members, and it is notable that she remained by OSPIRG’s side longer than most powerful senators on the left.

It’s likely the ASUO President Emma Kallaway’s appointee to Soto’s seat, representing social science students, will be a similarly reliable vote on the left. It will also add yet another shade of interest to Kallaway’s hiring processes.

Soto cited time commitments, specifically to the rugby team, and financial obligations in her letter of resignation.

Dear All,

I’m announcing my resignation from Senate Seat 14, effective immediately.

I regret that I will not be able to work with many of you as a senator
during the upcoming year. I will, however, continue to work outside of
the ASUO and look forward to collaborating with you all in other
projects, one of them being in the very near future. Zach and Jeremy
and many others will be working extremely hard on the regional Power
Shift conference and I am excited to support them and hope you do as
well.

I was extremely lucky to be involved in a variety of activities last
year that challenged me and helped me grow. Some of them of them were
helping to coordinate a national conference, different employment
opportunities, my involvement with the UO women’s rugby team, and an
executive campaign. All of these activities and more during my junior
year set me back in my studies and it’s something that I must to
prioritize this upcoming year. In addition, financial reasons have led
me to seek employment off campus for the upcoming year, limiting the
time I’m able to be on campus for class and senate activities.

I look forward to completing my senior thesis this year and look
forward to concentrating on my studies once again. I’m also excited to
be taking over the scrumhalf position on the women’s rugby team and
giving my team the commitment they deserve. (Shoutout to the 10th
nationally ranked women’s rugby team!!)

Thank you all for a wonderful year, and I wish you all the very best.

Lidi

1. Call to order
2. Approval of the agenda
3. Approval of minutes 08/26/09
4. Old business
a. Branding working group
b. Revolving loan fund working group
c. Rules working group
5. Announcements
6. Adjourn

Kassa’s choices are Cassandra Gray and Tina Snodgrass, both of whom served on the 2008-9 Student Senate. The court appointments, of course, are an extremely delicate matter for the Kassa and President Emma Kallaway at the moment. Read more about that here.

I can’t promise a fuller story about this tomorrow, because I am currently on vacation (and I have been for the last week and a half) and have a plane to catch early tomorrow morning, but I will file as soon as I can.

If you’ll recall, Kallaway and Kassa declared they would appoint “one non-student and one student not currently serving in the ASUO Executive” to the committee to serve alongside Kassa. Gray, who completed her Masters in Business Administration last spring, is no longer a student.

Both of the appointed committee members ran against Kallaway in the 2008 election on the Oregon Action Team slate Sam Dotters-Katz rode to the presidency. Snodgrass was elected, while Dotters-Katz later appointed Gray.

Gray is very ideological, a bit of an old-school big-business, anti-spending conservative. She also has a reputation for being officious, particular about following the rules herself and emphatic when others don’t (you can see those traits in the op-ed piece she wrote for us in July). It will be interesting to see that kind of attitude applied to prospective hires.

Snodgrass, like Gray, cultivated a hard-working, professional reputation. Though she ran on a conservative slate, her decisions as a senator were often more pragmatic than ideological. The key moment for her was the hearing on OSPIRG’s budget, when, as an ACFC member, she was by far the most sympathetic to the group, arguing for a sharply reduced, rather than eliminated, budget for them.

She was listed as a “board member” for the chimerical Students First slate, on which some conservative leaders ran, but it’s never been exactly clear whether that means anything. (case in point: when I asked ASUO Legislative Affairs Coordinator Rachel Cushman what her duties were as a board member, back during the campaign, she responded with genuine surprise at the fact she was listed as such)

While both obviously have extensive connections in ASUO circles, neither has a reputation for harboring strong political loyalties within the ASUO — that is, they’re neither strong loyalists to former Senate President and rumored conservative powerbroker Athan Papailiou, nor to the student-union/United States Student Association faction known (in the Oregon Commentator anyway), as “Fight Club” (or to any of the other caucuses I know about).

The remaining member of the committee will be ASUO adviser Consuela Perez-Jefferis.

(T)his petition for review is a malicious attempt to remove Respondent after no wrongdoing, most likely as a result of Respondent defeating Petitioner in the 2009 ASUO General Election.

Kallaway has a response to each of Haley’s arguments inside. She questions the applicability of Haley’s citations, and so forth, but the argument against Haley’s first point — that Haley’s complaining about her criteria for fulfillment of duties is a moot point because she’s already published them — is the most intriguing, and seems to be a dangerous beast in legal or quasi-legal argument: an appeal to simple common sense. There are other gems inside, too. Expect a longer article tommorow, when it becomes reasonable for me to press copy editors into service again.

More information and detail will follow after I’m able to talk to Kallaway and Haley myself. The grievance can’t be ruled upon until Kallaway appoints three more members of the ASUO Constitution Court, the committee that interprets ASUO rules, which will happen in the fall at the earliest.

To: Whom it May Concern

From: Emma Kallaway ASUO President

Date: July 25, 2009

Regarding: Criteria for fulfillment of duty

In hopes of further detailing the goals of the current ASUO administration this memo will outline the criteria for the coming year. This memo will address the duty of publishing criteria for fulfillment of duty of the ASUO President: GTN 5.17, “The President shall establish and publish his or her own criteria for fulfillment of duties within in one month of taking office. The President shall also perform all duties as required by this Constitution.” I will be abiding by the rules laid out in the Green Tape Notebook for the bases of my decisions; I will also be working towards five specific goals for further criteria of my administration.

Work Closely with Programs to Improve their Resources

It is important to consider the needs of student programs. The ASUO is comprised of three branches of government as well as 120 student groups and programs. To improve the resources of these programs we intend to focus on the following.

• Streamline the Program Council Meetings to focus on collaborative conversations and useful trainings.
• Review the bylaws of the Programs Review and Committee. The body is meant to help students gain support for their community or group, but at the same time the ASUO budget needs to be managed carefully and support as many students as possible. Better understanding the effectiveness of current and new programs will allow all programs to receive full benefits.
• We have added two seats on ASPAC (Associated Students Presidential Advisory Committee) for international students. This will allow international students and student groups to have their voice heard and allow for better collaboration with other student leaders.
• The ASUO Executive will increase fundraising this year and allow for more co-sponsorships. This will provide another funding option outside of the senate for student groups who need help with special projects.

Improve Outreach to Students

Outreach comes in many different forms and it will be a focus for entire executive staff. Ideas for outreach are below; if these routes do not work we will shift our methodology.

• Utilize personal interactions. We have tabled at every Introducktion session and have obtained interest cards we will be following up on throughout the year.
• Attend Greek Life dinners to give updates and answer questions.
• We are starting to work with a graphic designer and other students to start a re-branding campaign that will allow for better recognition of ASUO and student sponsored events on campus. We will also work on making the ASUO a more welcoming and accessible space.
• Increase information about ASUO Positions- thus far we have advertised in multiple ways for openings within the ASUO and we will always have an interview process for positions.
• The website is a focus for the coming year. We will fill the position on our executive staff and move forward with creating a more comprehensive website.
• Increasing outreach also means working on state and federal issues that are vital to student life. We will be working closely with various administrators, the Oregon Student Association, the United States Student Association, and other organizations to address student issues and provide a strong University of Oregon presence on the state and federal level.

Research Cost Effectiveness of our Current Contracts

Research is very important when understanding the effectiveness of our Incidental fee. It is a priority of this administration to evaluate the usage of the Incidental fee far before the budget season.

• Currently, we are working with various students to better understand how students use transportation options on campus. We are looking for information on how many student use the transportation options provided by the ASUO and if our methods are effective.
• We are also carefully working with General Council and the UO Contracts Department to make sure that our processes are legal and best for students.
• Understanding our contracts early will help keep contract costs low during the budget season. We hope to maximize the Incidental fee without increasing the cost to students wherever we can.

Increase Fundraising

Fundraising is a priority for this administration in order to leave the Senate surplus funds for other programs whenever we can. We also hope to provide co-sponsorships for student groups on special events and projects. We will increase fund-raising in the following ways:

• Looking for ways to improve revenue obtained from the two Street Faires
• Provide a fund-raiser winter term
• A new website will draw more attention to the rental website
• Provide a template for the ASUO and student groups to use when sending fundraising letters to departments or out into the community
• Reapply for Oregon Business Energy Tax credits and create a manual for how to do this for years to come

Research and Plan for Continued Funding of the Late Night library

This is proving to be the most difficult goal of the next year. Finding institutional funding for anything especially during the current economic environment is challenging. These are the different avenues we plan to research:

• Look into contracting the cost permanently within the Incidental fee. This is not ideal because it places the burden on students and often a long term contract can be more expensive.
• Look for long-term partners from academic departments.  This is challenging to do for more than one year.
• Look for shared burden within University of Oregon administration. This is not ideal because it moves the responsibility over to the administration and does not guarantee it will remain an institutional priority in the future.

These are the initial goals and criteria for fulfillment of duty from the current ASUO Executive. Please understand that priorities will shift over the year as new concerns come up. We are committed to these goals and will change methodology as the year continues as it is also a priority for us to outreach and listen to what students would like us to work on. We have a lot to clean up and hope to make realistic promises to students.

I count myself lucky to be working with hundreds of talented students who hope to improve the lives of their peers on this campus and nationwide. We are also lucky to be working with caring and talented administrators who are putting students first in many of their challenging decisions. It has been a pleasure to work with our new President Lariviere and our new Dean of students Paul Shang, they are both a wonderful addition to our campus.

Thank you to my extremely talented and thoughtful Vice President Getachew Kassa, as well as my Chief of Staff Ella Barrett and our entire staff. The ASUO has another talented pool of students and hopes to be a resource for students.

Thank you for this opportunity and I hope to continue to earn your respect as the year progresses.

Sincerely,

Emma Kallaway