The University of Oregon Situation

In January 2015, news sources began reporting about a situation at the University of Oregon involving university records, a professor, and two archivists. SAA leadership and the SAA Committee on Advocacy and Public Policy are looking into the situation. In the meantime, the steering committee of the Issues & Advocacy Roundtable thought it might be helpful to provide links to some of the news coverage of the situation. The list of links will be periodically updated. Please be aware that these sources have not been vetted and do not indicate an official stance. If you have thoughts on the current situation or other resources to share, we hope that you will engage the Issues & Advocacy listserv or tweet @archivesissues.

"Archivist James Fox Says UO Interim President Scott Coltrane's Team Betrayed, Scapegoated Him," by Richard Read, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 4/17/2015

"Former UO Archivist James Fox Tells His Side of His Dismissal," by Diane Dietz, in The Register-Guard, 4/17/2015

"Faculty Rallies to Support University of Oregon Archivist," by Lisa Peet, in Library Journal, 4/16/2015

"The Side of Records Management We Rarely See," by Lisa Hoover McGreevy, in Fierce Content Management, 4/15/2015

"UO professors sign a letter of support for #librarygate archivist" by Alexandra Wallachy, in The Daily Emerald, 4/13/2015

"Professors' letter urges archivist's reinstatement" by Register-Guard and News Service Reports, in The Register-Guard, 4/13/2015

"More than 100 UO professors sign letter urging suspended archivist James Fox's reinstatement" by Richard Read, in The Oregonion/OregonLive, 4/12/2015

Letter from UO faculty to UO President Scott Coltrane, Provost Frances Bronet, Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Doug Blandy, Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Barbara Altmann, and Dean of Libraries Adrienne Lim, urging the reinstatement of James Fox, 4/3/2015

"UO archivist involved in records leak left job for personal reasons, union says" by Laura Frazier, in The Oregonion/OregonLive, 3/27/2015

"Archivists Suspended in Records-Leak Case Won't Return to U. of Oregon" by Nick DeSantis, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/26/2015 

"2 UO library archivists cast off" by Diane Dietz, in The Register-Guard, 3/26/2015

"Archivists suspended in UO document leak will not return, university says" by Laura Frazier, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 3/25/2015

"Professor behind UO records leak regrets that archivists lost their jobs" by Laura Frazier, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 3/25/2015

"Records Incident Report" investigation report document, released by the University of Oregon, 3/24/3015

"UO Leaks Investigation Grows to 30,000 Documents, Could Be Released Soon" by Richard Read, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 2/23/2015

SAA Response to Member Request re University of Oregon Records Release Incident by SAA Council, 2/17/2015

"Harbaugh Dumps University of Oregon Records on UO Matters Blog" by Jennifer Fleck, in Daily Emerald 2/3/2015

"Other Views: Nothing to See Here; Move Along" by The (Eugene) Register-Guard, in Mail Tribune 1/30/2015

"Open Letter to the UO Community" by Adriene Lim, 1/29/2015

"Professor Returns UO Document" by Diana Dietz, in The Register-Guard 1/29/2015

"UO professor Bill Harbaugh returns 22,000 pages, declares victory in exposing 'obsessive secrecy'" by Richard Read, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 1/29/2015

"Leaked Documents Returned to the University of Oregon" by Kira Hoffelmeyer, in Oregon Daily Emerald 1/28/2015

 “The Open-Records King of Eugene” by Eric Kelderman, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/27/2015

“UO: Stop reading, return records” by Diane Dietz, in The Register-Guard, 1/27/2015

“Eugene Register-Guard Calls Out University of Oregon For Claiming Release of Records Was Illegal” by Nigel Jaquiss, in Willamette Week, 1/26/2015

“Leaked University of Oregon letter warns professor to immediately return 22,000 pages” by Richard Read, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 1/26/2015

“Oregonian reportedly releases names of two suspended archivists involved in leaked documents” by Francesca Fontana in Daily Emerald, 1/26/2015

“Public Records Argle-Bargle at the University of Oregon Archives: Librarians on Hot Seat?” by Laura Orr in Oregon Legal Research Blog, 1/26/2015 

“University of Oregon warns professor against releasing more documents from the President’s office” in Daily Reporter, 1/26/2015  

“The Case of the UO Records” in Register-Guard, 1/24/2015 

“University of Oregon officials urgently try to recover records from still-unidentified professor” by Richard Read, in The Oregonian/OregonLive, 1/23/2015

“U of O seeks return of documents it calls illegally released” in The Daily Astorian, 1/23/2015

“U of Oregon accidentally releases 22K pages of confidential data to professor” by Keith Button in Education Dive, 1/22/2015