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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2001)
UO administrators discuss year's achievements By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald Just one week remains in an ac ademic year that has seen its share of controversial issues; a likely tu ition hike, diversity and a feud be tween athletics and academics have been the highlights. Dave Hubin, executive assistant president at the University, and John Moseley, vice president of ac ademic affairs and provost for the University, recently sat down and gave their opinions on these and other topics. Question: What were some of the goals you had in mind for the University this year, and do you feel they were achieved? Dave Hubin: I think we made significant progress in a variety of important goals. The balance of athletics and academics [is impor tant]. I’m very pleased that one of the things our University Senate, along with the cooperation of our Athletic Department, has reached is a movement to remove the state subsidy from athletics. I think that’s a good statement of a balance of athletics and academics. Some of the other things for this office that are goals are still outstanding. In other words, we will not know what the budget is for this year un til the Legislature concludes its work. Therefore, we won’t know what the tuition will be set at, and one of our goals has been to keep tuition increases at a level where they don’t preclude access. We’re very much committed to access and diversity amongst our stu dents. John Moseley: A goal I’ve had actually over the last two years is to get the University on a little more stable financial footing and to use those funds differentially in improving our undergraduate pro grams. I think we’ve made some great strides in that direction. We’ve also concentrated on hiring the best faculty. We’ve made some great hires this year. A second goal I had was to try to improve both the quality and diversity of the stu This is the first in a two-part series of Q&Aarticles* Tomorrow’s will feature Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Anne Leavitt and Dean of the Charles H.Lundquist College of Business Philip Romero. dent body. We’ve done that through recruitment and scholar ships. [Faculty] feel good about the quality of students in their classes. Another issue that was getting to. be pretty serious is faculty salaries. It doesn’t do you any good to hire high-quality faculty if you can’t keep them. We were starting to hurt there. [But] we’ve made some progress on that. Q: For the first time in four years, the University is facing a possible tuition increase. Are you concerned about this, and how do you feel this could affect the University? DH: I know that we wish that the state [was] stepping forward with the funds necessary to avoid a tuition increase. Over the years, there has been a shift in the bal ance of the responsibility in pay ing for higher education, with much more of it falling to students and students who graduate having astonishing debt loads. If the state isn’t stepping forward with the funds to sustain the quality we provide here, the only alternative is to sustain that quality with tu ition increases. Oregon as a state has been remiss in its commitment to funding higher education and has allowed more and more of it to fall to the students. I think that’s regrettable. JM: I don’t think anybody has the right to assume that any greater service we buy will not increase in price over time. I have strongly supported the tuition freeze. I think that the level of tuition in crease is probably a reasonable bal ance. In an ideal world, the state would better support higher edu cation. Tuition is one of the great bargains of the Western world. The state is wise to make an invest ment in young people because it will fuel the economy and the so cial values of the state. Tuition is only a small part of what it costs to go to school. I am very much an advocate for higher public support for higher educa tion. The better public support we can get, the better job we can to do to hold down tu ition increases. Q: There has been a fo cus on diversi ty this year at the campus. Do you believe the University does a good job in this area, and what can we do to ensure students and iaculty are a diverse group in the future? DH: It has been a welcome and important focus. One of the things that has been pleasing — we have had as a goal, and as an institution, to nurture the diversity that we know is at the heart of a good edu cation for all of our students. We have made some good strides. Our enrollment numbers and diversity of incoming classes has increased. We’re not at all complacent. We have made good strides in setting the foundation for what will be called the Center on Diversity and Community. This we foresee being a unique research and service in stitute within the University. I think [diversity] will always be an unachievable but very laudable goal. We will always be working toward the diversity that we know makes this institution stronger. JM: It’s been a big focus for the last two years. Six years ago, we put into place a minority hiring program for faculty that provides specific support to departments, and that’s been quite successful in increasing the number of minority faculty we hire. Have we made progress toward our goals? Yes. We are also working right now with a number of groups to look at the possibility of a central administra tive position to provide overall leadership in that area. Q: Are you concerned with the ever-growing importance of sports in today’s academic scene, and the funding that reflects that? DH: I think in a national con text there has to be attention to reining this in. I think we’re for tunate at Oregon that we have not faced the abuses you see in other circumstances. Part of it is the commitment and quality of lead ership we have in the Athletic Department. But we exist within a social context that has come to — in almost a jaw-dropping way — emphasizing] the entertain ment aspects of athletics. I think there is value in the movement that professor Jim Earl has, in a sense, led in trying to get nation al attention to keep it balanced. At the same time, we’re fortunate here to have the attention and not be out of balance as some. JM: I am concerned about the es calation in costs in sports. I sup port the letter that our senate, the OSU senate, and that most of the Pac-10 [schools] have signed on to, which really calls for a de-escala tion in costs. We can have excel lent sports teams without the level of spending we’re really forced to, to become competitive. I know our athletic director, Bill Moos, is in fa vor of some kinds of constraints to stop that escalation in spending. I am also a big supporter in having a competitive athletic program, but not just in football and basketball, but across the whole spectrum. I want us to find that balance. It is also a way the University of Ore gon’s name gets out there. I want us to have good, strong sports teams, and I think that provides opportunities for education for several hundred students at the University who wouldn’t other wise be here. Q: What are some of the things the University needs to do to en sure a successful future? DH: One of the things we’re looking at, with Dave Frohnmay er’s leadership over the next five to seven years, is a period of what some might call strategic plan ning. We’re looking at a period of coordinated and thoughtful ex amination of where our strengths are. One of the things we will be attentive to is our national, re gional and state visibility. We’re aware that we have a profile na tionwide that makes us second to none in the state. We need to make sure that profile is under stood Within the state, and that we’re reaching to all parts of the state. The other thing I think we need to do, through our public statements and planning, [is] to emphasize and make clear to the public what [are] the strengths of a liberal arts school. The real leaders are those who are ground ed and educated in the liberal arts as well as their professional education. JM: One thing we need to do is keep on moving in the direction we’re moving, because we’re moving in a successful direction. I think our biggest threat is the lack of state support. We’ve got a high-quality student body, a high quality faculty, a beautiful cam pus and a successful athletic pro gram. I think we’re moving in the right direction. Based on what I expect to happen out of this leg islative session, we won’t lose ground, but it will be more of a maintenance budget. 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