Dec 9th 2019, in the middle of finals week Fall term, the UO Board of Trustees met and voted on a $100K performance bonus for President Michael Schill. The next meeting of the Board will be during finals week Winter term and similarly assure the near impossibility of student engagement with UO’s governing body. The December meeting was punctuated by creative acts of student protest. The Graduate Student Union President Ellen Gillooly-Kress made a speech as a theatrical character called Schillbot_3000 where she mocked Schill as a heartless robot. In addition, the trustees hosted a lunch where they divided into groups of three and meet with an equal number of students who were selected by response speed to an arbitrary mass email.
Trustees Chair Chuck Lillis and Vice Chair Ginevra Ralph recommended giving President Schill a $100,000 performance bonus for fulfilling the basic expectations of his position. He also receives a $60,000 annual raise, has a $15,000 car allowance, and free housing. His annual compensation nears $1 million. It’s especially egregious in a year when UO administration has stated they have no money for workers’ wages, needed to raise tuition, attacked graduate employee health care as being “too rich” and attempted to impose drastic cuts to the Labor Education Research Center.
The Board of Trustees also considered authorizing $120 million in bonds to complete construction of the Athletic Village for the World Athletics Championships Oregon21. These bonds will be repaid by making UO students incur higher room and board expenses.
~Insurgent
