[Uosenate] Update on the letter from the Senate and list serve guidelines reminder.

[Pedro Garcia-Caro]

Dear colleagues of the UO Senate,

I am not sure you are all appraised of the current negotiations between the UO administration and the encamped students as news have been largely muffled. The negotiating team gave the students a two-day ultimatum yesterday afternoon, with this letter: https://freespeech.uoregon.edu/uo-response-encampment-demands<https://freespeech.uoregon.edu>
without any offers to move the dial on either our academic programs on the Middle
East or on our administration's commitment to a more transparent and ethical approach to investments.

In the face of an impervious administration, with a president who is not even yet vested formally, but who is already prepared to strike at peaceful protests, we need to be prepared and proactive as this action will further erode our place in the state and the nation and damage our campus climate and lack of trust, driving it to even lower levels.

I would like to co-sponsor new legislation to create a student-staff-faculty task force to work on ethical and legal frameworks to oversee Oregon Foundation investments and Academic Priorities. The guiding principle is simple: Donors transform their private dollars into public money by getting a tax break through donating to us. And yet, they don't own us. They should not have the final word on our academic mission or on our investment in knowledge production. We have gone too far into this model of lack of accountability and a task force and emerging legislations derived from it will reaffirm that the educational mission and our academic freedom are both preserved from undue influences. Please write to me directly if you would like to work on this motion.

Regardless of where you may stand on what’s happening in Gaza, or the recognition of the state of Palestine, which many EU countries are pushing for in the UN as I write these lines, this is not at all an issue about regular party politics, but about the ability to voice dissent here and now and to transform an educational institution to put its dollars and resources where it puts its words.

With great concern, yours,
Pedro


Pedro García-Caro

Associate Professor of Spanish | Department of Romance Languages | School of Global Studies | 325 Friendly Hall | 1233 University of Oregon | Eugene, Oregon 97403-1233 | (541) 513-8706 | pgcaro at uoregon.edu
https://cas.uoregon.edu/directory/romance-languages/all/pgcaro
________________________________
From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> on behalf of Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 7, 2024 4:46:25 PM
To: uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>; Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu>; Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu>; Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu>; Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] Update on the letter from the Senate and list serve guidelines reminder.


Dear Senators,



We are resending this email because it might have gone into people’s spam folders. Thank you for understanding.



Best,



Gerard.



From: Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu>
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 10:41 AM
To: uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>, Senate Vice President <senatevp at uoregon.edu>, Alison Schmitke <schmitke at uoregon.edu>, Sandy Weintraub <sandymw at uoregon.edu>, Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu>
Subject: Update on the letter from the Senate and list serve guidelines reminder.

Dear Senators,

Senate Leadership has drafted a letter supporting the right to free speech of the protest camp, which we plan to send to the President on Wednesday at noon.

As a reminder, the Senate listerv is designed for formal Senate business and we request that you refrain from using the listserv for political and ideological statements related to this matter. At this point, the e-mail messages are counterproductive to the Senate’s work.

We encourage you to email Senate Leadership directly with your ideas and concerns. We also have office hours on Mondays from 1-2 p.m. and online on Tuesdays from 10-11 a.m., during which we can discuss these issues properly. The list serve is reserved for Senate Leadership to send information to the Senate, post agendas and documents, and release information related to formal Senate business.

We appreciate your understanding.



Gerard Sandoval and Alison Schimitke



Gerard Francisco Sandoval, PhD

President, University Senate<https://senate.uoregon.edu/>

Professor, School of Planning, Public Policy and Management<https://pppm.uoregon.edu/>

University of Oregon

147A Hendricks Hall

Eugene, OR, 97403-1209

541-346-8432



Alison Schmitke, PhD
University Senate Vice President
Senior Lecturer II
Undergraduate Degree Program Director
Education Studies
College of Education
University of Oregon


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