Recently in General Category

He speaks to attendees of conference about importance of community involvement

MONMOUTH -- If you're a member of the Latino community and in a tough spot, don't tell famed actor Edward James Olmos that it's someone else's doing.

He doesn't buy it.

"The future is in our own hands, and we can't make excuses like 'I didn't have a mother,' or 'I was abandoned,' " the Tony-award-winner said. "I've seen too many children living on the streets who have managed to survive.

"If you have the desire to learn, you have to express it. Believe me, you will get a helping hand."

Olmos made the comments during a press conference at Western Oregon University on Friday.

He was there as keynote speaker for the 20th annual César E. Chávez Leadership Conference at Western Oregon University.

The conference is the largest gathering of Latino high school students in the Pacific Northwest.

Its goal is to encourage Latino youths to become leaders and be informed citizens on issues within their community.

Students attended workshops on leadership, community engagement, and college preparation.

They also met with representatives from colleges, universities and business.

In the past four years, WOU has increased the number of Latino students on campus by more than 65 percent.

Those figures are expected to grow across the country in the coming years, as Latinos are predicted to become the largest segment of the population by 2050 officials with the U.S. Census Bureau said.

Olmos spoke to the students about the importance of graduating from high school and college, becoming leaders and community involvement.

During the press conference, he faulted the Mexican government for what he said was its consistent inability to educate and employee its citizens.

"Mexico is a mess," he said. "The people come here because they have to survive."

Olmos also criticized the United State's abbreviated efforts to reach out to people who don't speak English but who want to learn, calling it "disastrous."

Still, there's hope, the Los Angeles-born Olmos said.

"The César Chávez Leadership Conference is the reason we have hope," he told students. "You're here to acquire knowledge, but in the end, your responsibility is to share it."

tguerrer@StatesmanJournal.com or at (503) 399-6815

More than 400 Latino students from across the state attended the event organized by MEChA

Rosa Ortiz hopes Wednesday's trip down from Salem for the Raza Unida Youth Conference at the University will not be the last time she sets foot on a college campus

this year.

The conference's organizers, from the University's Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, hope so, too. MEChA organized the event, held in the EMU, to convince the South Salem High School senior and more than 400 other Latino students who also attended from across the state that they can come to college.

"We want to show them they belong here," MEChA outreach coordinator Jairo Castaneda said.

It's a difficult job. Statistics suggest that nearly half of Latino high school students do not graduate and that the majority of them do not go on to higher education. And even among those who do, at least at Oregon public colleges, almost two thirds do not graduate. The conference itself might not be enough to change that, said North Salem High School migrant specialist Cipriano Manon-Munoz.

"One visit is not going to make them see the light," Manon-Munoz said, adding, "University was not in their mind. Survival is in their mind."

Nevertheless, conferences like Raza Unida across the state hope to help and reverse the trend. And they are growing.

More students than ever before attended Wednesday's conference, the sixth MEChA has hosted. Six years ago, Castaneda said, there were no more than 12 students. The hundreds who attended this year came from as far as the outskirts of Portland.

It was more than could fit in the EMU Ballroom, where breakfast, lunch and the dance that ended the day took place. During breakfast, students filled up all 30 of the tables set out in the room, some sitting in others' laps, others merely lining the walls. By lunch, worried EMU staff moved some classes to rooms across the hallway.

MEChA is aiming to move the event to McArthur Court next year. "We need bigger space," conference organizer Diego Hernandez said.

Liza Rodriguez, who does community outreach at South Salem High School, said, "It's really powerful when you get students in a room with 500 other kids who look like them."

One of Manon-Munoz's students, Flora Maciel, who hopes to study nursing or business, said Raza Unida helped. While she was at the conference, she got counseling on financial aid and admissions at schools. "I got to check if I was doing the right thing," she said. "I'm not applying for colleges yet, but next year it will be different."

Ortiz, one of Rodriguez's students, said there are still challenges ahead for her in applying to Western Oregon University. Neither her father, a construction worker, nor her mother, who works in a cannery, attended college.

"It's more difficult for us because our parents don't have the history," she said. "So we're learning at the same pace as they are."

But, she said, "That pushes me to go further than they did. For them."

By Bill Graves
The Oregonian

Oregon public university leaders and presidents have agreed to share some of the pain from the recession and budget cuts by voluntarily accepting smaller paychecks this year, bucking a national trend of pay raises for college executives.

The chancellor and presidents at all seven campuses of the Oregon University System agreed to freeze their salaries at July 2008 levels. They also took a voluntary 4.6 percent salary reduction from March through June last year and have kept their salaries at that level for this school year, which ends June 30.

"We have been fortunate in that I don't think salary has been a handicap in hiring the good people we've hired in the last couple of years" to lead Oregon universities, said Paul Kelly, president of the State Board of Higher Education.

Elsewhere, pay for university presidents continued to climb in 2008-09, though not as fast as in recent years, according to a survey of 185 public-university chief executives by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Base salaries stopped growing for a third of the top leaders, and total compensation declined for 10 percent of those, the Chronicle reported. The median compensation for college presidents rose by 2.3 percent, to $436,111.

Presidential salaries in the Oregon University System range from $414,397 for Richard Lariviere, president of the University of Oregon to $176,929 for Mary Cullinan, president of Southern Oregon University. Christopher Maples, president of the Oregon Institute of Technology, volunteered to take a 9.2 percent pay cut, reducing his salary to $181,690.

Oregon State President Edward Ray and Lariviere receive $180,000 of their salaries from their colleges' foundations. Each also get $114,300 from the foundations in deferred pay. President Wim Wiewel of Portland State gets $108,984 of his salary from his school's foundation. The presidents all get state-owned housing, and all but John Minahan of Western Oregon University get a car or a stipend for one.

Chancellor George Pernsteiner's salary remains unchanged from last year, at $236,455. He also gets housing and $12,700 in deferred pay.

Dr. Joseph Robertson, president of Oregon Health & Science University, earns $811,252 this year, down from $1,043,455 in 2008-09. He and other executives voluntarily took a 20 percent cut in base pay and declined all performance pay beginning Jan. 1 of last year.

Robertson gets paid more than other presidents because he oversees a broader enterprise that encompasses nursing and medical schools, hospitals, clinics and research institutes. OHSU operates outside the state university system as an independent public corporation with 12,600 employees and a $1.8 billion annual budget.

In neighboring Washington, Elson Floyd, president of Washington State University, earned $648,000 last year. University of Washington President Mark Emmert was the second-highest paid public university president in the country with a total compensation of $905,000. The nation's top earner in the Chronicle survey was President E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, who collected a total of $1.6 million.

State Board of Higher Education leaders say Oregon presidents are paid lower than most of their peers overseeing similar institutions.

"We need the right presidents at these universities, especially now, if we are going to improve the quality of higher education in this state," said Jim Francesconi, vice president of the board. "Pay is not the only factor, but it is an important factor in recruiting and landing the right people into this highly competitive environment."

Scott Burns, a PSU geology professor and recent president of the Inter-Institutional Faculty Senate for Oregon public universities, said he has never heard a faculty member "gripe that the president's salary is too high."

Portland State President Wiewel is "worth every penny," he said. "He's a great leader. He's doing a good job. . . . The question is how long can we keep him here."

Bill Graves: 503-221-8549; billgraves@news.oregonian.com

The Associated Press, CNBC, Corvallis Gazette-Times, R&D Magazine, News-Times, The Advocate, Ashland Daily Tidings

PORTLAND, Ore. - Public university presidents in Oregon are bringing in smaller paychecks in attempts to help soften budget woes at their schools.

The moves by Oregon's administrators to freeze salaries at July 2008 levels and take voluntary salary reductions during part of 2009 bucks a national trend of pay raising for college executives, The Oregonian reported.

Paul Kelly, president of the Oregon Board of Higher Education, said the state's been fortunate that the salary has not been a "handicap in hiring the good people we've hired in the last couple of years."

Presidential salaries in the Oregon University System range from $414,397 for Richard Lariviere, president of the University of Oregon to $176,929 for Mary Cullinan, president of Southern Oregon University. Christopher Maples, president of the Oregon Institute of Technology, volunteered to take a 9.2 percent pay cut, reducing his salary to $181,690.

Oregon State President Edward Ray and Lariviere of UO receive $180,000 of their salaries from their university foundations. Each also gets $114,300 from the foundations in deferred pay. President Wim Wiewel of Portland State gets $108,984 of his salary from his school's foundation. The presidents all get state-owned housing, and all but John Minahan of Western Oregon University get a car or a stipend for one.

Chancellor George Pernsteiner's salary remains unchanged from last year at $236,455. He also gets housing and $12,700 in deferred pay.

The highest paid president is Dr. Joseph Robertson, president of Oregon Health & Science University. Robertson earns $811,252 this year, down from $1,043,130 in 2008-09. He and other executives voluntarily took a 20 percent cut in base pay and declined all performance pay beginning Jan. 1 of last year.

Robertson gets paid more than other presidents because he oversees nursing and medical schools, hospitals, clinics and research institutes. OHSU operates outside the state university system as an independent public corporation with 12,600 employees and a $1.8 billion annual budget.

State Board of Higher Education leaders say Oregon presidents are underpaid compared with peers overseeing similar institutions.

"We need the right presidents at these universities, especially now, if we are going to improve the quality of higher education in this state," said Jim Francesconi, vice president of the board. "I really feel we have the right presidents, and we need to compensate them fairly. ... Pay is not the only factor, but it is an important factor in recruiting and landing the right people into this highly competitive environment."

In neighboring Washington state, Elson Floyd, president of Washington State University earned $648,000 last year. University of Washington President Mark Emmert was the second-highest paid public university president in the country with a total compensation of $905,000.

By Bill Graves
The Oregonian

Oregon public university leaders and presidents have agreed to share some of the pain from the recession and budget cuts by voluntarily accepting smaller paychecks this year, bucking a national trend of pay raises for college executives.

The chancellor and presidents at all seven campuses of the Oregon University Systemagreed to freeze their salaries at July 2008 levels. They also took a voluntary 4.6 percent salary reduction from March through June 2009 and have kept their salaries at that level for this school year, which ends June 30.

"We have been fortunate in that I don't think salary has been a handicap in hiring the good people we've hired in the last couple of years" to lead Oregon universities, said Paul Kelly, president of the State Board of Higher Education.

Elsewhere, pay for university presidents continued to climb in 2008-09, though not as fast as in recent years, according to a survey of 185 public-university chief executives by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Base salaries stopped growing for a third of the top leaders and total compensation declined for 10 percent of those, the Chronicle reported. The median compensation for college presidents rose by 2.3 percent to $436,111.

Presidential salaries in the Oregon University System range from $414,397 for Richard Lariviere, president of the University of Oregon to $176,929 for Mary Cullinan, president of Southern Oregon University. Christopher Maples, president of the Oregon Institute of Technology, volunteered to take a 9.2 percent pay cut, reducing his salary to $181,690.

Oregon State University Edward Ray, president of Oregon State University

Oregon State President Edward Ray and Lariviere of UO receive $180,000 of their salaries from their university foundations. Each also get $114,300 from the foundations in deferred pay. President Wim Wiewel of Portland Stategets $108,984 of his salary from his school's foundation. The presidents all get state-owned housing, and all but John Minahan of Western Oregon University get a car or a stipend for one.

Chancellor George Pernsteiner's salary remains unchanged from last year at $236,455. He also gets housing and $12,700 in deferred pay.

Dr. Joseph Robertson, president of Oregon Health & Science University, earns $811,252 this year, down from $1,043,455 in 2008-09. He and other executives voluntarily took a 20 percent cut in base pay and declined all performance pay beginning Jan. 1 of last year.

Robertson gets paid more than other presidents because he oversees a broader enterprise that encompasses nursing and medical schools, hospitals, clinics and research institutes. OHSU operates outside the state university system as an independent public corporation with 12,600 employees and a $1.8 billion annual budget.

In neighboring Washington, Elson Floyd, president of Washington State University earned $648,000 last year. University of Washington President Mark Emmert was the second-highest paid public university president in the country with a total compensation of $905,000. The nation's top earner in the Chronicle survey was President E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, who collected a total of $1.6 million.

State Board of Higher Education leaders say Oregon presidents are paid lower than most of their peers overseeing similar institutions.

"We need the right presidents at these universities, especially now, if we are going to improve the quality of higher education in this state," said Jim Francesconi, vice president of the board. "I really feel we have the right presidents, and we need to compensate them fairly...Pay is not the only factor, but it is an important factor in recruiting and landing the right people into this highly competitive environment."

The Oregonian Wim Wiewel, president of Portland State University

Scott Burns, a PSU geology professor and recent president of the Inter-Institutional Faculty Senate for Oregon public universities, said he has never heard a faculty member "gripe that the president's salary is too high."

Portland State President Wiewel is "worth every penny," he said. "He's a great leader. He's doing a good job .. The question is how long can we keep him here."

By Justin Much
Statesman Journal

Events today include a student panel discussion and interfaith service

A year ago during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration on campus, Western Oregon University sophomore Trenton Nettles experienced a memorable moment.

The event's keynote speaker was pioneering civil-rights activist Fred Gray, an attorney and educator who personally knew King and Rosa Parks, representing the latter in her historic case after refusing to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala.

"I was able to meet (Gray)," Nettles said. "That was by far one of the more inspiring moments of my life."

It was the same to many students who met and chatted with Gray after an inspiring address.

For Nettles, who is the current president of the WOU Black Student Union, the inspiration carried over. As the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration unfolds throughout this week, he is intimately involved in the planning and participation.

The events kicked off Tuesday with introductory ceremony along with the beginning of a "shoe drive" for the needy. Highlighting the opening ceremony was a gospel choir from Portland's Highland Christian Center.

Events continue today at noon with a student panel discussion in the Oregon Room of the Werner University Center, featuring WOU students from the Multicultural Student Union. The BSU, the Student Enrichment Program and other campus groups are scheduled to participate in discussions on the state of social justice, equality and how students "Live the Dream" of King.

A commemorative dinner scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday will feature keynote Bridget Gray, a bi-racial poet, performer and syndicated radio host who hails from Los Angeles. Tickets are 9$ for general admission 5$ for students or for shoe donations and $10 at the door.

On Friday the celebration will conclude with a dance from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Werner University Center.

"I believe (MLK Celebration) has grown significantly each year, and it needs to grow more," said event faculty adviser Luis Rosa, the director of the Student Health and Counseling Center. "There has been more student involvement and the university has shown a lot of support."

Rosa said the initial idea was generated out of the Multicultural Student Services and Programs office several years ago. Current MSSP Advisor Yokiko Swain, new to the office this year, said she hit the ground running with the planning and implementation of events such as the MLK one.

Oregon University Systems demographic information shows that WOU has 130 black students enrolled this year. Rosa noted that while the MLK Celebration is significant to that population, it also fosters a wider appeal with diverse multicultural groups, including the 451 Hispanic, 200 Asian and Pacific Island and 91 Native American students.

Nettles agreed, noting that the greater message is a cross-cultural one.

"It applies because you get people from other cultural backgrounds and ethnicities who appreciate and live the message," said Nettles, who hails from Tacoma and majors in American sign language at WOU. "It's very significant that Dr. King's message is being played out."

jmuch@statesmanjournal.com or (503) 399-6736

Statesman Journal

Western Oregon University is hosting its annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration from Tuesday-Friday, beginning with a kick-off event from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Werner University Center's Oregon Room.

Sponsored by the Multicultural Student Services Program, the celebration includes a shoe drive, which seeks new or gently used shoes for families in need.

Other events include a student panel discussion and interfaith service Wednesday at noon and 4 p.m. respectively, a commemorative dinner featuring poet and performer Bridget Gray at 6 p.m. Thursday and a dance at 10 p.m. Friday. All events are in the WUC.

For information, contact MSSP adviser Yokiko Swain at (503) 838-8834, e-mail mssp@wou.edu or visit www.wou.edu.

Statesman Journal

If Oregonians want to shake up government, here's a place to start higher education. That starting point could be Dave Frohnmayer's proposal to loosen the state's reins on Portland State, Oregon State and the University of Oregon -- the three major research universities.

Frohnmayer, who retired as UO president this past summer, suggests the three be allowed to become quasi-independent public corporations, similar to SAIF or Oregon Health & Science University. He released his proposal last week.

Corporation status would provide substantial autonomy from the Legislature and state agencies. That could enable universities to set their own tuition rates, streamline the state-mandated red tape and respond more quickly to research and business opportunities, thereby making more efficient use of their resources.

Oregon would follow Virginia's lead in giving universities more independence in return for meeting performance objectives.

Bold action needed

Oregon taxpayers and the Oregon University System have become increasingly disconnected. The state provides only one-seventh of the university-system budget.

Indeed, Oregon ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in per-student funding of higher education. Yet for providing little money to the public universities, the Oregon Legislature attaches a lot of restrictions -- some 6,300 line items for the current higher-ed budget, along with countless time-consuming regulations.

It's no wonder that the three large universities chafe for more independence from state government.

Meanwhile, higher education has not always tended to its relationship with rank-and-file Oregonians. Western Oregon University is one exception, increasing its stature and becoming more entrepreneurial while staying true to its roots as a regional college. But the big universities' desire to attract world-class scholars and researchers, requiring world-class compensation, smacks of elitism to those Oregonians who see little benefit for their own communities.

Enrollment, tuition soar

As tuition has soared, and financial aid has failed to keep pace, many prospective students have fled Oregon for out-of-state colleges with lower net costs.

However, Oregon's public universities enrolled a record 91,580 students this fall. To continue educating the same percentage of Oregonians, Frohnmayer said, by 2025 the Oregon University System would need to add 11/2 UO-sized campuses.

Where would that money come from? The universities are hanging on in the current tight budget, furloughing staff and faculty, and taking other cost-saving steps, but the 2011-13 budget could be even worse.

More autonomy

That's why Frohnmayer wants the Oregon Legislature to act when it meets in February 2010. He proposes that the State Board of Higher Education be given the authority to create one or more independent university corporations.

Each of the research universities granted that status would have its own governing board and the right to set its own tuition rates, admission standards, pay scales and similar rules.

The goal is to make universities more efficient and nimble, even if the state doesn't invest more in higher education -- which it should.

In the proposed system, the overall state board would serve more of a coordinating role. It also would oversee the regional colleges -- Oregon Institute of Technology and Western, Southern and Eastern Oregon universities -- and any of the three research institutions that didn't become an independent corporation.

Former members of the State Board of Higher Ed have suggested going the opposite direction for gaining overall autonomy creating one overall public corporation for the universities, headed by a more powerful chancellor and board.

Don't delay

Either approach could work, but the current bureaucratic system doesn't. If the Oregon University System wants more independence, the Legislature should grant it -- accompanied by firm measurements for defining success. Those benchmarks should include requirements to expand access by increasing financial aid commensurate to tuition increases.

The state's large universities say they can be more effective and efficient if given more autonomy.

Give them the chance to prove it.

And hold them accountable.

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Western Oregon University selected Heery International to provide commissioning services for its $21 million Health and Wellness Center addition and renovation. The project, targeting LEED gold certification, will add approximately 80,000 square feet to the 39,000-square-foot physical education building, originally built in 1935.

The center will include a strength and weight training area, a cardiovascular area, rock climbing wall, team practice area, two-court gymnasium with an elevated track, racquetball courts, new locker rooms, an equipment checkout area, classroom space and offices for campus recreation programs. The aquatic facility will be upgraded as well.