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Talking Education with Richard Lariviere
In some ways, the new University of Oregon president Richard Lariviere sounds like a lot of emigrants who come to Oregon. First, he thought he'd take a look around just to get to know the state a bit more, but he quickly fell in love with the place. He says he and his wife Jan were contantly amazed at the sheer beauty and the diversity of Oregon's landscape. As he told the University's Quarterly Magazine,
The people who have driven around the state with us are probably sick of Jan and me interrupting every conversation every fifteen minutes, saying, 'My god, look at this!'
He's only been here since July but he's already weighed in publicly about the big funding issues higher education faces — some of which we touched on in our show a couple of months ago about the Future of Public Higher Education. Since then, former University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer released a report that outlined proposed changes to the structure of the state's three largest universities.
And of course, since the civil war football game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State kicks off this Thursday, it seems like as good a day as any to be broadcasting from one of the state's flagship universities. Whether you're interested in how athletics or academics will fare under Richard Lariviere, we'd like to hear what's on your mind.
Are you a college student in Oregon — either at the University of Oregon or elsewhere? Do you have a son or daughter who attends? Are you satisfied with the availability, affordability and stability of higher education in the state? What questions do you have for the University of Oregon president?
GUEST:
- Richard Lariviere: President of the University of Oregon
Note: This program will be broadcast from the home of Richard Lariviere.
Tagged as: college · university of oregon
Photo credit: University of Oregon
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As president of a once presitgious University, what strategies would you enact to rebuild the population of graduate students at the University. Currently the total graduate population is about 15% of the total student population. The backbone of any research University is its ability to maintain critical mass in terms of graduate students to sustain that research. Our 15% ratio is at the bottom compared to any other "presitigous" Research University. Do you regard this as a serious problem and if so, what real implementation steps do you propose to reverse this trajectory?
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How will you deal with the task of restoring confidence to a once proud UO Faculty, which has been worn out by large classes and crippling workloads, and demoralized by low pay and lack of effective voice in University policies?
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Here's an interesting (and potentially relevant) recent forum in the Chronicle of Higher Education asking Are Too Many Students Going to College?
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That was very good reading, I feel strongly that public funded education should not be all inclusive, No one is owed a college degree.
My motivations are partly selfish, I have almost finished my degree after 12 years of attending classes in my free time, and it has always played second fiddle to work and family. If we handed out degrees it just diminishes the value of my education, and soon a BA would be required to work anywhere.
I think, just like in business, a high barrier to entry is necesarry to add value to anything.
College is availible to anyone through a multitude of resources, the GI Bill has funded the lion share of my education and the rest has been paid out of pocket.
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How unfortunate that many label college as purely a financial equation. That it is only worth the effort if you reap an economic benefit in the end. That the journey is one with the end goal of a high paying job. You're finished learning---goodbye, now make your money, have a rich life. Education and the accumulation of knowledge, whether organized or acquired through an institution, are the most important features of humanity. Knowledge is one of the major components that makes us who we are as a species---that makes our lives worth living---that allows us to hope. Knowledge gives us the hope that through more of it, with more of it, we can make the world an improved place. Of course we fail, sometimes our learning perhaps makes the world worse off, but in the end, this quest, is all we've got.
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Walking around the U of O campus recently we were struck by the number of new buildings and evidently, more are on the way (alumni center). Please speak to the funding sources for this capital expansion versus the on-going budgetary shortfalls.
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Just a question....and I'm sorry if someone else has asked this.
As a parent of a student and a taxpayer, I'm interested in why a major game was scheduled for a school night during the last week of school, when students might be working to finish the term? I like a good game as much as anyone, but what does this say about priorities and the message it sends to students?
Also, your term started a week later than PCC, for example. But the term ends at the same time. Are the students getting fewer hours of instruction?
Thanks.
Thank you.
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I left Eugene finally earlier this year, (not that I was satisfied with Eugene as a whole anyhow,) but specifically my experience at UO ejected me in disgust somewhat prematurely, though my parter still can't make the move for a few more months.
While at UO the Dual-Enrollment program basically stole my financial aid my first term there after I found out asking 8 times in 3 phone calls wasn't enough to find out what I was supposed to do to be dual-enrolled (with the local community college). I was accepted for an International Internship & then told noone had read my application, when part of the reason I had incompletes barring my acceptance was things like being misinformed by my department's advisor about classes, not to mention about the fact of my new diagnosis of PTSD - when the advisor was for the Psychology department! I, however, have nothing but good things to say about two of my teachers in my time there: Marjorie Taylor & Meredith Meyer; they were both excellent & highly organized teachers.
My partner, also, had a great experience with the Master's program of Landscape Architecture, specifically with a teacher first-named Kenny.
So far, PSU makes similar mistakes a lot, having lost my financial aid case & paperwork twice during my first term, for the first 10 weeks of my first term there, one teacher in particular is shockingly rude to students, as if they are, middle school age? I don't know any teacher would talk to anyone as she does, & obviously Psu doesn't care, another doesn't show up to office hours or take responsiblity for intelligibly writing up assignments. There are other examples important information is generally not kept straight a lot there either.
However, I do find, that at Psu they can understand my writing better. I was educated at home by my father, who is a former Kent University professor (UK's Oxford system), & my thought process has always seemed to function quite a bit differently than my peers in some way. While at UO few understood the ideas I would have for papers, while at Psu it is the reverse, & quite refreshing!
I do highly approve of the Pres at UO no longer being a sweatshop corporation...enthusiast.
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I also absolutely despise public funds being spent on the hypermasculinized sport of football. While I agree that it is very good that men in patriarchy have an outlet for their gross allowance of aggression, & the fact that I actually love sport in general, I find the culture of homophobia & sexism surrounding fooball to be an abomination. On a positive note, I've recently heard, to my surprise - this isn't the feeling that came across while I lived in Eugene - that at least a few players on the team really seem like nice people. -
alexae1367,
It sounds like you should also tune in tomorrow when we discuss the purpose of high school sports! http://is.gd/5bmsF
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Are other competitive sports somehow preferable to football? The culture of most competitive sports is similar. No public funds should be spent on any of them.
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Yep, competition in itself is pretty questionable, better to play for fun
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I'm an alumni of UO College of Business Admin (double major and double minor).
Below is a recent post I made to the Register-Guard on this subject. In a nutshell the summary of my post.
1. Undergraduate programs are being short changed by everything else going on at the U of O.
2. Long term tenured professors are taking too many sabbaticals and on leave too often and not teaching many undergrad classes. At least in the CBA. I took some surveys during one year I was at the UofO and over 50% of the CBA department professors were on sabbatical at one time. Some departments 2/3rd's were MIA.
3. Do not compare the u of O with the Harvards, Princetons, Yales, Stanfords, etc. Compare the U of O with West coast public universities.
4. At the U of O tenured profs and administrators ARE PAID TOO MUCH. The instructors and untenured teachers ARE UNDERPAID. As well as community college instructors.
FULL POSTING (PART One):
The university is extremely top heavy with administration, where primary funding is "funneled" away from supporting programs for undergraduates. Instead funding is funneled towards graduate programs, research, marketing, publication, public relations, promotion, lobbying, more marketing, expanding campus foot print (needed or not), athletics, outreach (PR), international marketing, etc,
UO undergrad programs on the whole are just not competitive, they are a disgrace, when comparing costs versus results. Besides the primary/secondary teaching ed programs, the U of O is NOT a university undergrad students (or their parents) should be considering. If you want to prepare yourself for the real-world, much better options exist. Alternatives not requiring a four plus commitment, not requiring mortgaging your future, for a piece of paper that says you're alright, and then, not requiring a two year internship AFTER graduation just for a basic paycheck. If you're not sure go to a community college and then transfer (the instructor to student ratios are much better and courses are led by professional instructors). -
PART TWO:
The U of O "brochure" sure is nice but the "education mission" of the university is all smoke and mirrors. Undergrads get the shaft yet pay the majority of the infrastructure bills. The Oregon legislature continually props up University, informing the general citizenship that the states "commitment to" higher ed funding is all about helping educate it's kids (undergrads) and the well instructed media runs with this message. But state government, well instructed by the university employed lobbyists, fully understand the primary benefits of it's funding decisions are not to assist undergraduates, rather the primary beneficiaries are programs focused on those whom "reside" at or ride the coattails of the university system. No matter how the OSBHE/OUS bean counters like to spin it.
And to be sure "Frohnmayers Plan" is not reform. Rather his plan is self-serving to the interests to which he is beholden. Commercialize and Privatize. The long term interests of Oregon and it's citizens are immaterial to his arguments. It is my view David Frohnmayer has lost any credibility and has devalued any legacy he may have had.
I suggest cutting the University in two. One half with a primary focus on undergrads, whose administration and professors are employed primarily for the purposes of teaching undergrads (not publishing and research). The other half can administer the remaining programs.
And then the state should refocus most of it's funding and investment decisions on four year undergrad programs as well as community colleges.
But at the same time ultimate decision making authority and responsibility for the entire OUS should be retained by the legislature (including implementing improved audit controls). -
Ref cutting the university in two, I spent the first half of my college career at City College of San Francisco, a "commuter" community college. I have to say that the quality of education (and the commitment of the students) there was better than at UC Berkeley.
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PART THREE:
My educational experience at the U of O included having only a single tenured professor my entire junior year, with the rest of my classes were taught by GTF's or "visiting" professors , mostly teaching directly from the book and via multiple choice exams. For my senior year only three of my 400 division courses were taught by university department professors. But most classes were taught by GTF's or visiting professors (some who were visiting the university primarily for collaborative research and publishing purposes and had no business teaching upper division courses, yet alone an introduction to business). While profs are off campus on sabbaticals, or doing on campus research and writing. But NOT teaching. Other UO grads I have spoken with have communicated similar observations.
Late in my junior year I came to the conclusion my education was getting shorted by the university's undergrad program (or lacking thereof). Fortunately I had the insight to recognize I was "sold" a bill of goods, and was able to re-tool and re-focus towards "educating myself", while completing coursework required for graduation. Focusing on my own education and a work ethic made the difference. Sad to say, I don't observe a similar ethic in a majority of todays undergrads. Many are just blindly entering one side of a university machine with false expectations, and then four or five years later coming out the other side of the machine without much to show for it besides huge student loans and opportunity costs. These days the undergrad education one might "receive" at the UofO is comparable to an education one could have received from a quality high school twenty years ago. I apologize if I've given high schools of previous eras short shrift.
B.S. CBA (double major + double minor) / Cum Laude -
please address the issue of credits costing $235 each and that books are constantly outdated and student fees are hundreds of dollars per term. I just got 5$ for a book return that i originally spent $350 on.
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As a U of O alumnus and Eugene resident, I'm concerned about student conduct. As noted in last Sunday's Register Guard front page story, students residing in the neighborhoods near campus have far exceeded prior levels of drunk and disorderly conduct. Apparently, "Thursday" is the new "Friday," and Eugene Police are spending an inordinant amount of time dealing with these issues. At the risk of becoming "in loco parentis," to what extent can the University insist on minimum standards of conduct and, if necessary, enforce them when they are violated?
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I just heard Lariviere say the most pressing issue is faculty salaries!
EXCUSE ME! The most pressing issue is affordability!
Kids these days almost all graduate with large debts and poor prospects of getting a job that will allow them to pay their debts. I was able to work my way through UC Berkeley in the 70's because I had Viet Nam era GI benefits, a good job, and most importantly, the support of the State of California.
That was a different time- the US was still riding high on the economic effects of WWII and there was at least some genuine support of public education as an investment in the future of our country, made more palatable because there wasn't much public sacrifice involved.
Now, we're relatively much poorer and relatively unwilling to tax ourselves to invest in our future. Right now, we're losing the economic race to the bottom- other countries value hard work and education more than we do, and of course, don't live as well as we do.
If we are to maintain the life we've become accustomed to, affordable high quality education will be a very important part of our national and state governments, but that won't happen until we make the decision to make the sacrifices to invest in our students and I don't hear much discussion of that.
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What is the purpose of higher education? Before I graduated from university it was my understanding that one received higher education to become a better-rounded individual first, and to acquire skills that would be useful in the work place second. Today it appears that acquring a university degree is primarily done to acquire a good-paying job as a compliant corporation cog. When I hear about middle-aged college graduates getting botox and teeth bleaching to make a better presentation at rare interviews, I'm saddened beyond words because presentation often trumps substance and competence.
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I disagree with Dr. Lariviere that sports at the university are mainly about entertainment. I learned more lifelong lessons about teamwork from participating in sports than any of my endeavors at the U.
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I think that says more about the university educational experience than about university sports, and I think those lessons in teamwork could better be learned in intra-mural sports than in the more prestigious inter-school sports. Intra-mural sports extend the lessons of teamwork to all, not just to the elite athletes. Would we tolerate a two tier academic approach that only allowed straight A students to participate?
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Did your guest just say that most big time college sports programs lose money? I find it unseemly that what are essentially professional sports franchises exist within academic institutions. But it's outrageous to learn that these are actually money-losing franchises. Perhaps we should end the charade and spin these programs off to the private sector, allowing teams to fly the colors of a particular university for a franchise fee.
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Many of us will give high value to education believing that if we got the best education during college we can somehow expect of a decent job and stable future but I think in the present conditions of the economy we can say that seldom can say that education can still give them the ideal future that they’d always long for. Everyone has heard that the unemployment rate is crucial to ascertaining when the recession is over – and it's true. As long as the jobless rate remains high, and more people are in the condition of underemployment (part time vs. full time) then we won't get too far. Well, the good news is that the unemployment rate fell 2 tenths of a percent over October 2009, and the underemployment rate fell 3 tenths of a percent in the same month. It's a start – it doesn't mean fewer people need payday loans – but if this improvement becomes constant, then real recovery is not so distant.
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Comments are now closed.
As president of a prestigious university, how do you see the growing trend toward full-time virtual education in Oregon's primary education fitting into the OU plans for innovative education solutions?
(Ofeargall, pronounced O'fehril)