Frohnmayer
continued from page 1
he said.
The three-part series, which be
gan Jan. 23, compared four of the
state’s seven public universities to
a list of recognized peer institu
tions and other institutions cho
sen by the newspaper. The report
found the OUS to be badly lacking
— near or at the bottom of the list
— in many of the categories it ex
amined. Oregon ranks 44th in the
nation in per capita spending on
education, the series reported.
OUS has dealt with a severe fund
ing shortage in the last decade. An
exodus of top talent, both profes
sors and incoming freshmen, is
happening at a higher rate in Ore
gon than in most other states.
“The fundamental point of The
Oregonian series is that Oregon
has never consistently invested in
its universities,” OUS Chancellor
Joseph Cox said. “Universities are
not developed overnight and with
one-time infusions of talent and
resource. It is a sustained effort.”
Cox took out full-page ads in the
newspapers of OUS campuses across
the state to communicate to OUS
personnel. The series was “unfair
to thousands of faculty and staff
who stood with us in Measure 5,”
he said. “I was upset for them be
cause of all that they’ve given.”
The series described the state of
North Carolina as having a university
system that successfully mixes
business investment and state support
to drive that state’s high-tech economy.
North Carolina got to where it is
today after 40 years of “sustained
significant investment,” Cox said.
Oregon has never invested in
higher education like that. In the
most recent legislative session,
through the “heroic efforts of legis
lators and the governor” Oregon
saw the first increase in higher ed
ucation funding in over a decade.
The $100 million increase brought
funding to 88 percent of the aver
age of OUS peer institutions, Coxsaid.
For Oregon to improve its high
er education,thattrendmust continue.
That trend is threatened by tax
cutting initiatives proposed for the
November ballot by Bill Sizemore’s
group, Oregon Taxpayers United.
The initiatives “would have
half again the effect of Measure 5,”
Cox said.
Frohnmayer calls the initiatives
irresponsible.
“There’s no doubt that it would
have devastating, catastrophic ef
fects on the ability of Oregon to
meet its future challenges,” he said.
The series made higher educa
tion in Oregon sound desperate,
but that analysis “flies in the face
of all the evidence,” Frohnmayer
said. Surveys of students and em
ployers who hire University grad
uates show “great satisfaction here. ”
“The word ‘mediocrity’ has no
business as a descriptor of the
quality of education the students
have here, or the quality of faculty
who are here,” he said.
ASUO Federal Affairs Coordi
nator Robin Miller was troubled
by the report’s lack of recognition
of some of the state’s strongest pro
grams, such as the University’s
School of Journalism and Commu
nication, the engineering program
at Oregon State University, Uni
versity Zebrafish research and the
honors colleges at both OSU and
the University.
“I don’t feel these programs
were investigated,” the sopho
more political science major said.
She was also dismayed by the
lack of student perspectives in the
series.
The series failed to recognize
CD-ROM
continued from page 1
pretty far off base,” Moseley said.
“We’re much better than that. ”
Moseley said “The UO Experi
ence” is just one of many exam
ples of the world-leading technol
ogy education that goes on here.
Freshman journalism major
Jackie Reed, one of the students on
hand to showcase the CD, agreed
with Moseley.
“There are tons of computers for
people to use,” Reed said. “I’m sat
isfied with the level of technology
at the University.”
Not only was the CD a chance
for students to gain some valuable
experience in multi-media design
and production, but most of the
voice-over, acting and music in
cluded on the CD was done by
students.
“The project involved about 50
students, many of whom you can
see in acting roles on the CD,”
Moseley said.
Senior psychology major Amy
Juve, who serves as the student
director of orientation, was one of
the actors on the CD.
“It’s cool that I’m able to help
students out,” Juve said. “There
are a lot of questions answered on
the CD that I had as a freshman.
This CD will alleviate a lot of fears
about coming to the University.”
Ill
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how much the OUS is doing with
such poor financial support, but
Frohnmayer remains optimistic
that more support is on the way.
“Higher education in the state of
Oregon is an easier sell because
people see more closely the con
nection between brain power —
higher education — and the eco
nomic health of some of the
fastest-growing sectors of the
economy. The knowledge econo
my isn’t something of the future. It
has already arrived,” he said.
Frohnmayer mentioned bio
technology and electronic tech
nology of all kinds as important to
the growth of Oregon’s economy.
“The second thing that’s becom
ing increasingly apparent is the
gulf between the educated and the
undereducated — that is the in
come gap between those who have
just a high school education and
those who have college or better.
Over a lifetime that will amount to
millions of dollars. And the gap is
growing,” he said.
“I agree [with the series] that
Oregon universities have been
grossly underfunded, especially
in the years since Measure 5,”
Frohnmayer said. “But that’s the
only major point of agreement.”
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