Medical leave rule changes
criticized for suicide policy
ASUO President Adam Petkun says students were left
out of the decision-making process regarding the revision
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
A proposed revision of the Universi
ty’s medical leave policy “comes up a
little short” in helping students who
may be suicidal, ASUO President
Adam Petkun said Friday at a hearing
about the changes. He said the alter
ations no longer guarantee students’
rights to receive credit for interrupted
work, to be readmitted after being
placed on leave or to use the health
care provider of their choice, among
other issues.
He also said in written testimony
that students weren’t adequately in
cluded in the revision process, calling
it a “serious oversight.”
“I support the University’s efforts
to update the student medical leave
policy and to address suicide issues
in a way that protects the University
community,” he said. “However, I
am concerned that it comes up a lit
tle short in terms of helping, assist
ing and showing concern for stu
dents who are at a difficult time in
their lives, usually for reasons be
yond their control.”
As the only student who spoke at
the event, Petkun was one of three
people to attend the hearing organized
by the Office of the General Counsel.
Vice President for Student Affairs
Anne Leavitt and Student Advocacy
Director Hilary Berkman also attended
the hearing.
Leavitt, who helped create the revi
sion along with General Counsel to the
University Melinda Grier and Counsel
ing and Testing Center Director Robin
Holmes, said she would take the testi
mony “to share it with others and take
a look and see if there’s something
there we haven’t thought through.”
She added that if Petkun and Berk
man find aspects of the change confus
ing, others might find them confusing
as well.
“If there’s a showstopper in there
we’ll fix it,” she said, adding that if no
major changes are needed the revision
will move forward.
If approved, the changes will amend
the Oregon Administrative Rules gov
erning medical leave at the University.
Petkun, whose written testimony
was the only one logged at the hearing,
said he worked with Berkman to for
mulate it.
Berkman said that while she’s had
“opportunities to consult the rule and
advise students about the rule,” she’s
never been involved in the application
of the medical leave policy.
“I have a lot of questions about the
rule, and I think a lot of the com
ments made address small features,”
she said. “The students that this rule
is going to impact are ... in a really
difficult moment in their lives, and I
would think that the University
would want to be in the position of
both doing what they consider best
practices for the University and also
taking into account the individual
needs of the student.”
Petkun said that under the
changes, students are no longer guar
anteed incompletes in classes they
have substantially completed. In a
memorandum to Hearings Officer
Connie Tapp, Petkun said incom
pletes suggest a student will return,
while a withdrawal “does not leave a
similar suggestion.”
“Under the existing rule, a student is
assured of not losing the work that he
or she has earned at the time of the
medical leave, if that leave occurs late
in the term,” Petkun wrote. “Under the
proposed rule it is entirely up to the
Vice President’s discretion whether the
student forfeits the work....
“ (The University) should continue
to require mandatory incompletes for
students that must leave on medical
leave late in the term. ”
Petkun also expressed concerns that
the changes no longer guarantee stu
dents readmission after being placed
on mandatory leave, noting that the
new rule’s “requirement that a student
submit a ‘plan’ for re-enrollment is
vague, unclear and confusing.”
“It appears that the rule anticipates
that a student returning from medical
leave will or should be required to act
differently than other students, but it is
unclear in what manner,” he wrote.
“The new rule should provide clear di
rection to students attempting to re
sume their student status and should
not include ambiguous requirements.”
He added that “there are no rules for
re-entry for those students that have
taken a voluntary leave.”
Leavitt said voluntary medical
leave cases will be treated like other
instances when a student leaves
voluntarily.
Petkun also wrote that while stu
dents are currently “entitled to select
professional assistance and evaluation
by a private physician or psychiatrist of
their own choice,” the proposed rule
mandates that a newly formed Suicide
Assessment Team must approve stu
dents’ choices.
“It seems unlikely that members of
the Suicide Assessment Team will be
more knowledgeable and skilled than
licensing boards in assessing the ability
of individuals to practice their profes
sions,” Petkun wrote. “The new rule
adds a level of unnecessary arbitrari
ness and potential bias to the process. ”
Leavitt said the changes are de
signed to give students a choice but
also to give administrators a check on
students’ selection to “ensure us that
they use someone who we have some
confidence in.”
Petkun wrote that there “appears
to have been no opportunity for stu
dents to participate in formulation
of this rule change or to offer advice
and suggestions.”
“As ASUO president, I never actually
received a physical copy of the draft of
the proposed rule,” he said. “I was
never included in the conversations on
the specific rule.”
He proposed forming a committee,
which would include students, to “re
view and comment on the proposed
rule in some detail.”
Leavitt said officials working on the
policy consulted with Petkun but did
not include him in the process. She
added that she thought both her office
and the Office of the General Counsel
shared a copy with him.
Community members have until
noon today to comment on the pro
posed changes.
parkerkowell@dailyemerald. com
Funding: A UO graduate will design arena
Continued from page 1A
holders last month informing them of
the need for donations and listed
specifics about the arena already con
firmed by the firm working on the
preliminary designs.
“We are currently seeking major
gifts for the arena and hope to an
nounce our ‘construction gift’ cam
paign within the next 6-12 months, fol
lowed by a donor seating campaign,”
the March 7 letter reads.
According to the letter, the project is
in its first phase of fundraising and is
focused on securing gifts of more than
$250,000 and soliciting and accepting
pledges for construction gifts between
$25,000 and $100,000.
“The strategy again is to raise the
money from a limited group of donors
and not be in competition with priori
ties in (Campaign Oregon), and we’ll
build an arena that we can afford,”
Williams said.
Each department of the University
has its own base of constituents to ap
peal to, and members of the Athletics
Department’s base are usually con
stituents of other areas of the Universi
ty, Williams said.
“What we tried to do is identify the
people who we know either have the
capacity or whose primary interest is
athletics from among our major donor
group and told athletics essentially that
the money you want to raise for the
arena will need to come from this lim
ited group,” Williams said. “We don’t
raise money for the arena at the ex
pense of other academic facilities and
other campaign projects.”
Once funding is secure, the Univer
sity will need to acquire several parcels
of land surrounding the Williams’ Bak
ery site, the location for the new arena.
Williams said there is no question
about whether the University will be
able to acquire the additional land
through eminent domain, the practice
of the government taking private prop
erty for public use.
“We’ll always be able to purchase
them; the question will always be ‘at
what price?”’ Williams said. “So we’re
not at risk in that regard. ”
University spokeswoman Pauline
Austin emphasized that the University
is not looking to exercise such property
acquisition rights unless doing so is ab
solutely necessary.
“While we will do it, it’s not our pre
ferred way,” Austin said.
Williams agreed.
“Condemnation is an act of last re
sort,” he said.
Williams said the vacant car lot
near the bakery site that was recently
purchased by the University of Ore
gon Foundation will likely be used as
parking space for the arena. A multi
story parking structure is very expen
sive, and more space to park could
reduce the size of such a structure,
Williams said.
“If we could have surface parking at
the (car lot), that would reduce the
cost of the overall arena project,”
Williams said.
Thompson, Vaivoda and Associates
Architects Inc., an architecture firm in
Portland, is working on the arena de
sign with another firm but cannot do
anything too elaborate until funding is
secured, Williams said.
Firm member and University grad
uate Bob Thompson was an obvious
choice to design the arena, Williams
said, not because he is Nike CEO Phil
Knight’s primary architect but be
cause of his extensive ties to the Uni
versity and his prominence in the ar
chitecture field.
“A lot of our conversations about
the arena have been with Phil Knight
over the years, and (Thompson) has
been Phil’s preferred architect. So on
the assumption that the Knights will
be involved in that, they would prefer
to use Thompson,” Williams said.
“But we’re not using him to try to in
duce (donations).”
meghanncimiff@dailyemerald. com
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