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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2013)
NEWS FACULTY & CLASSIFIED UNIONS BARGAIN WITH HIGHER ED The eighth time’s a charm? The UO’s faculty union, United Academics at the University of Oregon (UAUO), enters its eighth scheduled bargaining session of the sum- mer Thursday, Aug. 29. “We’ve made a lot of progress in a lot of areas, but we’ve got a few sticking points, as far as salary, faculty-shared governance and more job security for non-tenure track faculty,” says Ron Bramhall, a senior business instructor on the UAUO bargaining team. He says the administration and the faculty have worked out details regarding the hiring and promotion of faculty, and he’s looking to resolve salary and governance issues during the Aug. 29, Sept. 3 and Sept. 6 bargaining sessions. Bramhall says raising faculty salaries is important be- cause they’ve lagged over the past fi ve years, and the UO needs to remain competitive with other institutions. Fac- ulty pay has stagnated over the past fi ve years, with av- erage associate professor and instructor salary decreasing between the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years. “We’re not that far apart in actual dollars,” Bramhall says. UAUO is proposing a faculty salary increase of $20 million, or 15 percent, while the administration is pro- posing a faculty salary increase of $14 million, or 10.5 percent. According to the OUS June 2013 supplemental budget for 2012-13, the UO’s total operating budget was $865,513,412. The blog UO Matters reports that full pro- fessors at UO make about 82 percent of the average salary at other AAU public universities, associate professors 90 percent and assistant professors 89 percent. Bramhall says that the budget refl ects the administra- ‘The tragedy of being homeless is not the homeless person. It’s how the haves treat the have-nots.’ STA C IE BR U M L E Y tion’s priorities and decisions. “We decided we would have our own police force and that we would arm that police force,” he says. “The budget now refl ects that decision.” In addition, UO’s general fund is paying $2 million for tutor- ing student athletes, an average of $4,000 per student ath- lete, a fraction of what’s available for the average student. Retaining faculty input via the University Senate is also a priority for UAUO, but the administration has so far re- fused to codify that in the faculty’s contract. “When it’s working right and it’s working well, the University Senate serves in a system of checks and balances to make sure that faculty’s voice is heard on academics, curriculum, budget- ing and those sorts of things,” Bramhall says. Bramhall encourages supporters to attend the bargain- ing sessions, which are open to the public. “When the room’s full of our supporters, it really helps us make our case,” he says. Observe the meetings Aug. 29, Sept. 3 and Sept. 6 in Knight Library 122. — Shannon Finnell FOREST DEBATE PACKS PUBLIC LIBRARY More than two million acres of public forests, a check- ered history, and federal and state laws confusingly mixed with county funding means that the current O&C lands logging proposal can be hard to wrap your mind around. About 150 people came to the downtown Eugene Public Library Aug. 26 to try to understand the “DeFazio bill,” or as it is more properly known, the O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act. Congressman Peter DeFazio has said the plan for the O&C forestlands (named for the Oregon and California Railroad) solves 30 years of gridlock over logging in Or- egon’s federal forests, but speakers at the “Our Backyard Forests On the Chopping Block: A Community Forum” begged to differ. The bill would split forests between con- ‘The conservation servation and logging community isn’t trusts, but Shawn Don- nille of Mountain Rose monolithic, it’s Herbs, who spoke at the nuanced, but is all forum, said the logging of federal lands under consolidated against rules of the Oregon For- the DeFazio bill.’ est Practices Act and the G R E G B LO C K , aerial pesticide use is WILD SALMON CENTER much more akin to pri- vate industrial timber- land logging and a worry for his organic farm. The DeFazio bill passed out of the House Natural Re- sources Committee in July and now the timber industry and conservationists are waiting for Sen. Ron Wyden, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Commit- tee, to introduce his version of the legislation. DeFazio told EW that Wyden does not favor the trusts, which are a cen- tral element of the plan. Ernie Niemi of Natural Resource Economics said his analysis showed that 5,500 logging jobs would come as a result of the DeFazio plan, but compared that to the num- ber of jobs Oregon already generates. “Every fi ve weeks we are generating as many new jobs in this state as in all this logging,” he said. He pointed out that the logging would cost Oregon in recreation and fi shing jobs as well as quality of life — peo- ple don’t recreate among or want to live next to stumps. Niemi said the logging would also essentially “tax” Orego- nians in cleanup costs for damages such as turbid water and fl ooding and landslides, and it would cost the state as much as $850,000 per acre in long-term monetary damages as more climate change-inducing carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. The forum’s audience represented a wide swath of per- spectives on the O&C issue from former County Commis- sion candidate Andy Stahl, who devised the original plan BRUMLEY’S ART WAS SOLD AT THE 2011 HOLIDAY MARKET HOMELESS, DISABLED WOMAN DENIED BATHROOM IN JUNCTION CITY It was around 2 am when nature called for Stacie Brumley. The Safeway had been closed for an hour, but the public restroom at Junction City’s Laurel Park was a stone’s throw away. That’s where, on June 19, Junction City police cited Brumley, a homeless art- ist, for a curfew violation. She says she explained to offi cers that she has special needs, but no one would listen. Brumley, 53, suffers from a physical disability that necessitates needing a bathroom more often and more expediently than the average person. In 2008, Brumley was hit by a train in Junction City and is still recovering. “There are still times where I wake up and I’m dizzy all day,” she says. Brumley has been homeless since January and thought she had a support zone carved out. She and her most basic possessions have been fl oating between several properties on the north end of the city — King’s Grace Fellowship, Junction City Mini Storage, Safeway and Laurel Park. She says her tent was ransacked when she camped on church grounds and that she re- ceived unwanted sexual advances from men. Brumley used to sleep in her car until police told her they’d cite her for that, too. “I had windows and no privacy, but at least I felt safe,” says Brumley, who, fearing reprisal, ditched the car for pennies on the dollar. A wheelchair and crutches remain packed in the storage unit she now lives out of. The rest of the unit is piled with lithographs — calligraphy and illustrations. A former home- owner and business owner, Brumley sold her art at Eugene’s Saturday Market for years before getting a store in Fifth Street Public Market. Two divorces and a recession later, she is on a waiting list with Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County. “The tragedy of being homeless is not the homeless person,” Brumley says. “It’s how the haves treat the have-nots.” Junction City police were contacted regarding the incident, but did not respond by press time. Citing her overriding need to use the bathroom facility, Brumley’s legal counsel, on Aug. 24, fi led a motion to dismiss the citation. “I wouldn’t pee in a park restroom if I knew there were hours. I just feel picked on,” she says. — Adrian Black P H OTO KI M STI L L /SATUR D AY M A R KE T 8 A ugust 29, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
