The Register Guard
December 10th, 2014
As the University of Oregon’s new Board of Trustees gropes its way toward a sure-footed understanding of its role and responsibilities, apprehensions are likely to arise that the governing body will claim too much power, or will abandon long-standing arrangements with other authorities. The UO Senate is expressing those apprehensions now, and is expected to vote today to ask the trustees to delay consideration of a policy perceived as marginalizing the Senate. A delay might do no harm, but fears of a power grab are misplaced.
The UO’s charter, dating to 1876, states that “The president and professors constitute the faculty of the university, and, as such, shall have the immediate government and discipline of it and the students therein. The faculty shall also have the power, subject to the supervision of the board of regents, to prescribe the course of study to be pursued by the university, and the text books to be used.”