President  Frohnmayer stuck it to the state Board of Higher Education yesterday, saying the state should either more adequately fund the U of O or grant it greater autonomy. Compared to several other states with “flagship” universities, Oregon is rather miserly with its higher education funding. Frohnmayer basically said its time to cough up the money or let the university do it on its own. From the Register Guard:

He closed his board presentation with a choice for higher education officials to ponder: “Fund our mission” or “create a governance structure that lets the University of Oregon succeed.”

Asked by a board member to elaborate, Frohnmayer offered his “blue sky” ideal. It centered on autonomy from legislative and systemwide board oversight, with a UO board of regents exercising authority that would require both legislative and constitutional changes. Key elements included:

• Freedom to set tuition rates higher. The rates “might seem exorbitant,” he said, but would be offset by the resulting financial aid for most students.

• The right of the UO and other state universities to retain the interest earned on student tuition. This interest, which comes to millions of dollars, is controlled by the Legislature and spent on an array of education and public service programs.

• The ability to sell bonds or otherwise borrow for capital projects, without going through the Legislature, the governor and the statewide higher education board.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 16:06 by CJ Ciaramella and is filed under Campus, Oregon, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.