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Posts tagged as “Michael Gottfredson”

UO commemorates 3rd annual Gottfredson Day by not suing him for legal fees

8/9/2017:  Three years ago yesterday the UO Board of Trustees paid President Mike Gottfredson $940K to leave town immediately. Half up front, the rest within two weeks. In exchange, Gottfredson released UO from all liability related to his brief and disastrous employment as UO President and agreed to pay his own attorney costs, etc:

I’m no Harvard law professor, but I think it’s the $940K that makes that a legally enforceable contract, not just a promise:

 

But will UO enforce it?

As reported in this Jack Moran story in the RegisterGuard last month, after winning dismissal of the federal court case by the three former Dana Altman basketball players and alleged rapists who had argued that UO and Gottfredson had illegally ruined their basketball careers by kicking them off the team and campus without due process, the UO General Counsel’s office announced that they would sue the players for legal costs:

The University of Oregon is seeking reimbursement of nearly $53,000 in attorney fees and court costs from three former Ducks basketball players who sued the UO after being kicked out of school following a rape investigation in 2014.

The university on Friday filed a motion for fees and costs in U.S. District Court. The move comes nearly two months after a federal judge dismissed civil lawsuits brought by the players, who were banned from campus for up to 10 years but did not face criminal charges after a female student accused them of sexual assault.

In the request for reimbursement, lawyers for the UO characterize the lawsuits — filed by Brandon Austin, Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson — as frivolous and unreasonable.

“The university rarely seeks prevailing party fees,” the motion states. “But in this case, plaintiffs pursued claims that lacked any reasonable basis in law or fact, which forced the university to waste considerable public resources.” …

Seems iffy, unless of course you’re one of the Miller Nash Graham & Dunn attorneys that UO is paying by the hour at $350 per. In contrast the contract with Gottfredson is pretty clear cut. So why won’t the UO General Counsel’s office unleash Miller Nash et al to take Mike Gottfredson to court over his share of the Austin et al legal fees?

I don’t know, but there are many more details in the court docket here, including plenty of expensive conversations with “Dr. Gottfredson” in the detailed billing records:

8/8/2016: UO to mark 2nd Gottfredson Day with traditional appearance in Federal Court

[Remember the Hat Day is November 21].

Mike Gottfredson 2nd highest paid public Univ administrator for 2015

So he should be able to pay UO back for his legal defense, right? Andrew Theen has the report in the Oregonian, based on the latest Chronicle data: Michael Gottfredson, a former University of Oregon president, received more than $1.2 million in compensation during the 2014-15 school year, making him the…

Baylor fires Ken Starr after mandatory prayer policy fails to end rapes

It’s the usual big-time college sports story: the athletes were raping undergrads, and the coach and president were doing their best to cover it up. The WaPo has a report here. Baylor’s faith-based sexual assault policy doesn’t seem to have worked out so well for the survivors: Pray for the wisdom of our leaders as they…

More students punished for sexual assault are winning in court

11/5/2015: Jake New has the analysis in InsideHigherEd. The start: Last week, Brandon Austin, a former college basketball player, filed a lawsuit against the University of Oregon for $7.5 million, arguing that administrators there violated his rights when they suspended him over his alleged involvement in a gang rape. Austin was…

Register-Guard editors call out Gottfredson as a timid paper-pusher

8/21/2014: I’m hoping Coltrane’s meeting with the RG editorial board goes a little better than Gottfredson’s did! 8/21/2013, here: … And if a president proves lacking in either vision of his own or the ability to execute the vision of others, the board can replace him. Gottfredson’s response to this…

Don Kahle and Austin Meek on Frohnmayer, Gottfredson, Lariviere, Lillis, Nixon, and Gleason

8/15/2014 update: RG sports columnist Austin Meek gets Dave Frohnmayer to take a little time out from his work lobbying for BP, to talk about UO and sports: Critics would say Oregon’s sports boom came at the expense of the school’s academic reputation. Frohnmayer disagrees, saying Oregon made academic progress in…

UO Pres Mike Gottfredson resigns for $940K cash, Coltrane is interim

8/9/2014 update: Christian Wihtol reports in the RG that UO was not obligated to pay Gottfredson $940K. 8/8/2014 2:30 pm update: Still a beautiful day out there. Gottfredson’s separation agreement, here. $940K, half in cash within 5 days. Dr. Gottfredson agrees not to sue The University or its employees 8/8/2014…

How did Mike Gottfredson’s annual performance review turn out?

Gottfredson’s contract calls for annual performance evaluations: Last year Gottfredson refused to release any details about his evaluation. At the March meeting this year the UO Trustees discussed how they would take over this responsibility from OUS. Anyone hear of any followup? At many universities these evaluations are public as a matter…

Did Bob Berdahl double-dip with UO and the AAU?

7/26/2014 update: The scandal about Bob Berdahl’s 2005 UC-Berkeley retirement payoff led to substantial UC-system reforms. Berdahl moved on to the Association of American Universities, at a healthy salary. He retired in June 2011 as AAU president, and in October 2011 The Chronicle of Higher Ed reported that UO President Lariviere had hired Berdahl as a “special advisor”…

Oregonian sportswriter says Gottfredson acted like a child

John Canzano in the Oregonian, here. I don’t empathize with the Ducks coaching staff or UO administrators. They’re the goats here, protecting one another. Coach Dana Altman hasn’t fielded my inquiries for comment. Altman looked physically ill, trying to sell the university’s version of events during that shrouded and awkward news conference. The…

Gottfredson pads resume with credit for Academic Freedom, after getting Tim Gleason and Randy Geller to fight it for 18 months

He has no sense of shame. He is trying to claim credit for what was accomplished by 18 months of hard work by the Senate and the United Academics faculty union, over his determined opposition: The policy as approved by the Senate April 9th is here. Notable points? Members of…