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. I think to be
more successful we’ve somehow
got to work with the state to bet
ter appreciate the value higher
education brings to the state.
MOSELEY
HU BIN
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