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Bureaucratic distraction
In my opinion | Guest commentary
by Guest Commentary |
Two recent events covered by the Emerald are poised to collide in a way that will work to the disadvantage of this University. The first concerned Joseph Wade's suit against the University for allegedly not complying with affirmative action policy in the appointment of Dr. Charles Martinez as Director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. The other is the leadership changes in both the president's and the provost's office. The danger is that the University's new leaders will be distracted by things like Wade's suit, and will not appreciate the important work that has recently been done by the OIED under Dr. Martinez's leadership.
I am not a lawyer and therefore cannot comment on the legal merits of Dr. Wade's case. I can say, however, that where the spirit of affirmative action legislation is concerned, Dr. Wade's suit seems specious to me.
More worrisome is the fact that Wade's suit appears to be a part of a pattern of harassment against the director of the OIED. This harassment has included University professor Bill Harbaugh's complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice that the University's Minority Recruitment Program, or UMRP, violates federal law. These complaints resulted in a Department of Justice investigation of the University. Harbaugh has also apparently filed complaints about Dr. Martinez's continued affiliation with the Oregon Social Learning Center, from which the University recruited Dr. Martinez.
Harbaugh has a long record of attempting to obstruct diversity efforts. Last year, according to the Emerald, after filing nearly 20 public records requests and posing many more questions about University diversity policy by e-mail, Harbaugh received a letter from General Counsel Melinda Grier saying that the University would no longer answer his questions. Rumor has it that Harbaugh has been in contact with Wade about his lawsuit.
What all of this means is that a couple of people - without any mandate from our community - are attempting to obstruct the University's efforts to make progress where diversity issues are concerned. Exercising free speech and voicing dissent is one thing. Attempting to use grievance processes and lawsuits to undermine the implementation of a diversity plan overwhelmingly approved by the faculty senate, and in which University leadership has invested significant funds, is quite another thing. It is an effort by a few to impose their will on our community through bureaucratic means.
I am not a lawyer and therefore cannot comment on the legal merits of Dr. Wade's case. I can say, however, that where the spirit of affirmative action legislation is concerned, Dr. Wade's suit seems specious to me.
More worrisome is the fact that Wade's suit appears to be a part of a pattern of harassment against the director of the OIED. This harassment has included University professor Bill Harbaugh's complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice that the University's Minority Recruitment Program, or UMRP, violates federal law. These complaints resulted in a Department of Justice investigation of the University. Harbaugh has also apparently filed complaints about Dr. Martinez's continued affiliation with the Oregon Social Learning Center, from which the University recruited Dr. Martinez.
Harbaugh has a long record of attempting to obstruct diversity efforts. Last year, according to the Emerald, after filing nearly 20 public records requests and posing many more questions about University diversity policy by e-mail, Harbaugh received a letter from General Counsel Melinda Grier saying that the University would no longer answer his questions. Rumor has it that Harbaugh has been in contact with Wade about his lawsuit.
What all of this means is that a couple of people - without any mandate from our community - are attempting to obstruct the University's efforts to make progress where diversity issues are concerned. Exercising free speech and voicing dissent is one thing. Attempting to use grievance processes and lawsuits to undermine the implementation of a diversity plan overwhelmingly approved by the faculty senate, and in which University leadership has invested significant funds, is quite another thing. It is an effort by a few to impose their will on our community through bureaucratic means.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 9
orwellduk
posted 6/23/08 @ 7:03 PM PST
Accountability=harassment......very interesting.
Paul
posted 6/23/08 @ 8:10 PM PST
I support increasing diversity on campus, but I am taken aback by a few of Dr. Rosiek's comments. Using grievance processes and lawsuits when one believes that proper procedures and statues are not being followed is exactly why those processes were created. (Continued…)
jerry rosiek
posted 6/23/08 @ 9:58 PM PST
Orwellduk:
Harassment = accountability...an equally interesting equation on your part.
Paul:
Your remarks seem to presume that our system of legal checks and balances are perfectly designed and cannot be abused. (Continued…)
Heh.
posted 6/23/08 @ 11:03 PM PST
Reading the first half of this letter, one might think Wade and Harbaugh were on trial for sabotaging the latest Five Year Plan. By the end of the first page, it almost comes as a relief that the second is mercifully turned over to a mostly paint-by-numbers hagiography chronicling Charles Martinez's accomplishments. (Continued…)
Bill Harbaugh
posted 6/23/08 @ 11:07 PM PST
I want to thank Paul X for his thoughtful comments on Prof. Rosiek's piece. I will prepare a more complete reply, and submit it to the ODE as an Op-Ed within the next several few weeks. (Continued…)
Thank you Bill
posted 6/24/08 @ 5:11 PM PST
Thank you Professor Harbaugh for holding these mindless programs accountable.
Anonymous Fan
burke
posted 6/25/08 @ 9:03 AM PST
There is a brutal fisking of Rosiek's hagiography of Martinez at http://oregoncommentator.com
Tom Pain
posted 6/26/08 @ 9:49 AM PST
It's funny about rumors. One I hear is that Martinez gets paid $125,000 by UO, plus a $20,000 "expense account" that he doesn't actually need to submit any receipts for. (Continued…)
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