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Richard W. Lariviere | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | United States |
| Spouse | Janis Worcester (1984–present) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Iowa (B.A.) (1972) University of Pennsylvania (PhD.) (1978) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Texas at Austin (1982–2006) University of Kansas (2006–2009) University of Oregon (2009–2011) Field Museum (2012–) |
Richard W. Lariviere was President of theUniversity of Oregon (OU) from 2009 to 2011. He is a Life Member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations.He became president of OU in 2009. Lariviere's contract was not renewed in 2011 amid a racketeering scandal in the OU Dean of Students office.[1]
Lariviere has stated that he will remain at OU as a tenured faculty member.
Lariviere was Visiting Lecturer in theSouth Asia Regional Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania from 1978-79. He was a Visiting Professor at theUniversity of Iowa from 1980-1982. Lariviere was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at theUniversity of Texas at Austin from 1999 to 2006.[2] He was executive vice chancellor and provost at theUniversity of Kansas from 2006 to 2009.[2]
As OU president, Lariviere answered to a number of different groups. He ran into two problems: OU salaries and OU governance. Before Lariviere arrived at OU, salaries were frozen for several years. OU could not compete with other colleges. In February 2011, Oregon GovernorJohn Kitzhaber asked all the public universities in Oregon to limit payroll increases to six percent. But Lariviere found OU money that did not come from Oregon to give bigger pay increases to faculty and staff. This caused the unions to demand a pay increase from OU for their members.
All seven public colleges in Oregon are run by a single Oregon state board ofhigher education. Lariviere agreed to work with other public colleges to seek more independence in a plan that resulted in Senate Bill 242.[3] Governor Kitzhaber signed that law on July 20, 2011 to give public college more control over how they spend money.[4] At the same time, OU developed a separate legislative proposal (the "New Partnership") to start a separate 15-person board of trustees for OU and a $800 million state bond issue to match private donations to a new OU endowment fund.[5] The governor and state board asked Lariviere to delay pushing for the OU legislation while Senate Bill 242 went through the legislature first. Because Lariviere and OU seemed to be working separately from the Governor and state board, the board voted to fire him on November 28, 2011. He was given 30 days to leave his office. The board hiredRobert M. Berdahl as interim president.