[Uosenate] Senate Exec Mtg Friday

[Pedro Garcia-Caro]

Dear Eric,

Thanks for proposing such a strong and thoughtful alternative open letter. I hadn’t received Barbara’s response, but I think it looks better with that reordering.


I think we could perhaps collate some elements from the original letter sent out by senate leadership? This ask in particular "we ask that the University

Administration and Board of Trustees allow for more time for the deliberation

and strategic, intentional planning, so that ALL stakeholders have a

clear voice in the process." Though maybe asking for more time defuses the strong argument of protestation of the current draft.



 I would also like to suggest the following two additions to your current draft:

End of Paragraph 4: add after “writ large”:

Within the AAU we find no precedents or examples of a comparable attempt to dismantle entire programs or departments and dismiss tenured professors.

I would also insert the following clause between the last two ones, after:



We unconditionally protest the manufactured urgency which is being used to push forward previously unthinkable changes to our University.

I would add:


We unconditionally protest the opacity of the budget models under which we labor, their proven inability to serve the central mission of our campus, the lack of accountability of the administration, and the clear attempts to control and guide our structures of shared governance.

Best,
Pedro

Pedro García-Caro

Associate Professor of Spanish | General Editor, Periphērica: a Journal of Social, Cultural, and Literary History<http://journals.oregondigital.org/index.php/peripherica/index> | Co-Editor, Journal of Academic Freedom<https://www.aaup.org/reports-publications/journal-academic-freedom>

Department of Romance Languages | School of Global Studies | (541) 513-8706 | http://rl.uoregon.edu/profile/pgcaro/

________________________________
From: uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> on behalf of Eric Corwin <ecorwin at uoregon.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2025 10:58:54 AM
To: Barbara Mossberg <barbara.mossberg at gmail.com>
Cc: uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] Senate Exec Mtg Friday

Thank you, Barbara.  I've modified my draft in response to your excellent suggestions.

Best,
Eric

PS As an added note, it was the inclusion of the <uosenateexec at lists.uoregon.edu> address that resulted in a message saying that you did not have permission to post.  Your message did in fact make it through to the other addressees.

--
Eric Corwin

Professor
Department of Physics, Willamette 374
1274 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1274

<corwinlab.uoregon.edu>
cell: 773.706.0488
<ecorwin at uoregon.edu>
<eric.corwin at gmail.com>
________________________________
From: Barbara Mossberg <barbara.mossberg at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2025 7:45 AM
To: Eric Corwin <ecorwin at uoregon.edu>
Cc: Senate President <senatepres at uoregon.edu>; Betina Lynn <betina at uoregon.edu>; uosenateexec at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenateexec at lists.uoregon.edu>; uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu <uosenate at lists.uoregon.edu>
Subject: Re: [Uosenate] Senate Exec Mtg Friday

> Thank you, Eric, and dear colleagues, for all you are and do.

Briefly, I suggest that the stirring last paragraph stating our historic governance responsibility for the learning programs be stated first. Then, we could say in the second paragraph, modifying a bit what you have started with,

 In light of this  responsibility, we, the members of the University of Oregon Senate, must take issue with the wrongs to our learning system proposed….

The wrongs are not only what are proposed, incalculable threats to our learning mission, but how they are proposed. In a University that prides itself on collaborative governance, there has not been a transparent process to determine what cuts actually need to be made, and how they would be made.

Then your letter as follows.

I also reflect with you that the amount to be cut is in fact what was donated to programs in Global Studies. Might we go back to the donor and ask that the global spirit of the donation be expanded to its actual letter to apply to other programs as well? Our learning eco system requires programs of every size and kind. We cannot be global unless all the various snd emergent and historic programs are in place.

The draconian proposals slash verities of thousands of years of accrued knowledge and fought for principles governing higher education. I cannot believe that our UO leadership would want its legacy to be other than preserver of known strategies of excellence. We are on the threshold of exciting growth, and need all of us, all our ways of thinking and construing the world of ours.

Thank you everyone, and blessings,
Barbara






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