SOU Now- Reorganization and Retrenchment

What has occurred this past year, what is occurring now, and what are the future impacts? Opportunites on the horizon for SOU

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What Retrenchment Means for SOU

Written by Parker Mills

Southern Oregon University was forced to declare retrenchment this year due to years of state disinvestment, changes in Oregon University System accounting policies, an unexpected drop in fall enrollment and two of the largest graduating classes that SOU has ever seen.

Currently, SOU relies on student tuition for the largest percentage of its revenue, meaning that low enrollment and large graduating classes caused the university to drop below the 5 percent fund balance required by the State Board of Higher Education. The fund balance represents the university’s cash-on-hand in relation to the overall operating budget; the required fund balance is designed to protect public universities from short-term financial crises.

Currently the administration is pursuing furlough days, staff reductions, structural changes, as well as program eliminations to achieve the required 5 percent fund balance by the end of the 2013-15 biennium.

Majors that are being eliminated include physics, art history, and French as well as the elimination of the geography, geology, and German minors. However, for those students currently involved in these majors a two-year teach-out program will be offered. This means that, for those students promised affected majors in their calendar year, program representatives will work with students to create plans in order for those students to graduate with their promised majors. Such plans include classes taught by emeritus professors, and working with community employers; if this system works, then the administration will consider a single option major. While it seems like these program cuts are all over the board, they have been carefully considered with such factors as student want and total graduation rates.

Languages at SOU are being hit especially hard with Spanish as the only remaining language in which a student can earn either a major or a minor. However, due to community outcry, language studies in French, German, International Sign Language, and Japanese will continue with out a major or minor option. The retrenchment plan states that the university will, “support international studies, study abroad, and students wishing to work overseas.”

Another big change at SOU is the amount of university seminar (USEM) classes offered. USEM classes are courses required for all incoming freshmen; these courses teach incoming freshmen how to use library resources, as well as making sure their writing level is that of a college student. The reason the administration is eliminating these classes is due to the introduction of alternatives in general education such as advanced placement classes and freshmen increasingly bringing transfer credits into their first year. The administration believes that this change in general education will allow them to offer fewer traditional first-year courses.

While not all programs are being cut, students will notice significant changes in all programs. These changes are due to the academic restructuring of all remaining departments. An example would be the combination of the Theater and Music departments into the Performing Arts Department. The combination of these departments is predicted to save .95 full-time equivalent in contingent faculty.

The administration hopes that by sticking to these changes they will be able to offer students a more involved learning experience while stabilizing the university by achieving a 10 percent fund balance by the end of the 2015-17 biennium. 

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Student body president Tommy Letchworth breaks down retrenchment

Video shot and edited by Parker Mills

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Administrative Perspective on Retrenchment

Written by Danielle Torme

“Retrenchment is a mechanism through which we can make decisions regarding faculty, while the realignment and resizing plan allows us to notice faculty and reorganize programs that have personnel implications,” says Susan Walsh, associate provost and dean of graduate studies. She clarifies that while the two are similar in reformatting the school, and happen to be taking place at roughly the same time, the process of retrenchment and reorganization are very different. In other words, both plans are being carried out with the single goal of streamlining the efficiency of this institution, and to create a more efficient faculty and administration. According to Walsh, our current school organization is similar to that of Research I institutions. In other words, a large school of Arts and Sciences that totals 80% of the institution, and two smaller schools totaling the other 20%. The goal of this new transition is to, “flatten out the hierarchy”, and to transition into a new format of seven divisions led by seven newly appointed directors. These new divisions are the Division of Undergraduate Studies; Center for the Arts; Division of Humanities and Culture; Division of Science, Technology, Math and Engineering; Division of Social Sciences; Division of Business, Communication and Environmental Studies, and; the Division of Education, Health and Leadership. Each newly created division will be staffed with a director and administrative chairs. .

Walsh then explained how this new organization was created. She states that the president asked several staff members to look over a collection of proposals, after which the faculty put forward their own proposals. Then she, along with a group of staff members, worked to cherry-pick ideas from several different proposals and accumulate them into one encompassing idea. They then proposed this to the faculty senate.

Walsh believes that these changes won’t be too noticeable for students in their every day life. However she believes that this organizational change will create more opportunities for students through newly created synergies within departments. She feels positively that these new organizations will create a better ability for interchangeability than before. She states, “Change is always experienced differently. For example, the Division of Business, Communication and Environmental Studies is thrilled, while other programs would have been content to stay the same. But change is hard, there’s always a transition. The timing is possibly exacerbated by the retrenchment increasing the resistance to these changes.”

However, she feels strongly that this change is necessary for the school’s survival. Walsh explains that this is a very volatile time for institutions across the nation, not just in Oregon. “Everyone is talking about the need for change. In order for us to make it as an institution, we need to rely on less funding from the state. We have to find a different way of doing things because our job, first and foremost is to remain stewards of higher education.”

Picture reprinted with 

the permission of Dr. Walsh

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“Going through retrenchment and reorganization is hard, but it’s all about change,” says Greg Jones, Director for the newly created Director of Business, Communication, and the Environment. Ongoing budgetary struggles forced SOU to enter retrenchment after completing a reorganization process designed to help the university streamline services for efficiency, while still serving the region and its students well through the academic programs offered.

Jones was the chair of the Environmental Studies program before accepting this new position. He says the reorganization and retrenchment process encouraged departments to look for synergies and opportunities.

 “You have to adapt or you won’t be here in the future,” Jones said.

According to Jones, the Environmental Studies program felt there was some synergy with the business and communication departments in the aspects of sustainability. So, the three departments joined together to form the Division of Business, Communication and the Environment. The idea of creating divisions is to move from large colleges to streamlined schools that create opportunities for students to receive interdisciplinary content while pursuing their degrees. SOU created seven divisions through the reorganization process.

“Change is hard in many ways, it never comes easy” said Jones of the reorganization process. But, he believes change is inevitable, comparing the university to a business saying, “If we were abusiness, we would have to do this.”

There are many facets of the recent changes at SOU, one of which is to ensure the university is relevant and the right size for the region it serves. Jones believes opportunities exist anytime a process or collaborative relationship is developed and SOU is no exception. Without the retrenchment and reorganization processes, SOU may not have identified some of the recent collaborations and ideas that are currently being implemented.

Jones captured the overall process by saying, “Change produces opportunity.”

These new ideas are providing future students with increased opportunities for interdisciplinary coursework leading directly to jobs. Students selecting environmental sciences as their primary major will now have more flexibility and creativity in meeting their educational and occupational goals. For example, students will now have much more flexibility to earn certificates in Emerging Media and Digital Arts, Applied Art, Hospitality and Tourism or Nonprofit Management.

“It’s very creative,” Jones said. He believes the new model will allow provide students with a greater potential to fill a niche when they get into the job market.

Jones also believes students in general won’t see a huge difference in class sizes. He referenced the fear that students will see larger classes go from about 50 students to 100. Jones says that is not the case.

He believes faculty will see a larger impact than most students, as their workload will increase by serving more students. Most of the changes will be in already larger lecture based courses. Those that previously had 50 students may now have 60, according to Jones.

He explains that the university recently ran the numbers on student to faculty ratios over the past two years. According to Jones, the student to faculty ratios haven’t changed for the entire university in that time period. So, while there is a lot of buzz about the negative impacts of the retrenchment and reorganization process, according to Jones, the changes that are being implemented provide many opportunities for current and future students. 

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Video Edited and Shot by Parker Mills

Story Written by Tamara Henderson

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In the aftermath of retrenchment, Southern Oregon University has been faced with the challenge of reorganizing and reformatting the structures for school administration, faculty and classes. With this transition, along with the school’s reorganization which followed a year-long process of prioritization, the school’s academic departments have been given the challenge of combining ventures in order to create seven different university divisions.

These include undergraduate studies, business, communication and the environment, education and health, science, technology, engineering and math, center for the arts, language and culture, and social science and public affairs. David Humphrey, previously the director for the Department of Performing Arts, will now accept a new challenge as the director for the Center of the Arts.

 In spite of the many changes occurring on campus, and the resulting challenge of adaptation, Humphrey feels confident and optimistic about this new transition. The newly founded Center of the Arts will not only include the performing arts, but EMDA (emerging media and digital art), art and art history, and creative writing.

According to Humphrey, the idea for a Center of the Arts began over a year ago, long before school wide reorganization became an actuality. He says, “Discussion for joining and creating the Center of the Arts began over a year ago. We wanted to bring visual and performing arts together. Creative arts and EMDA then decided they wanted to be a part of it as well.

The intent was to make sure the arts are more accessible for students because what we find is that art students in particular are multi-talented and we wanted to make it possible for new coming students to explore different forms of art. We’ve looked into streamlining degree programs as well as creating programs that are more pertinent to today’s day and age and preparing students for a future career in the arts.”

Robert, aka “Bobby” Arellano has been serving as the director for the Center of Emerging Media and Digital Art for the past four years. He also feels excited and optimistic regarding the change stating, “When the subject of reorganization came around, the arts, visual art and art history, EMDA and writing were all really ready to become more involved with our friends in performing arts. I went to a lot of the meetings where we discussed best how that would happen, and realized that performing arts, which have always kind of been their own area at this school, were a natural family to writers, visual artists, and digital artists. So we decided to create this overall Center for the Arts.”

Randolph Jones, a professor for EMDA agrees and believes that the general outcome of this this reorganization will be a positive one. “Ultimately this is going to create a better atmosphere of learning for students because there will be better planning for curriculum that complement each other more.”

While the subject of change within a school can be daunting, Professor Arellano feels strongly that this integration will benefit the performing arts and visual/creative arts as well. “I really believe, I have faith in this, as someone who was an art student that we’re making this a better school for artists who need to be prepared to collaborate. Collaboration is just a part of the arts. Whether you’re acting on the stage or on the screen, it’s important to have some facility with digital media—how to work with writers and visual artists. Similarly, I think our digital media students are going to benefit from this by having some professional actors and musicians to collaborate with as well.”

However in the aftermath of retrenchment, and in order to make some of these changes possible, some difficult decisions had to be made. Several courses and majors have been cut including art history. While it is sad to see these majors discontinued, Humphrey believes the choice was necessary to the survival of the university.

Administration and staff were forced to examine which majors and classes had the lowest consistent enrollment, and with that information, make a very hard and difficult decision.

Humphrey says, “When I came here two years ago, I looked at the size of the university and the number of programs that were offered with only one or two students in it, and I was astounded. I was wondering how the university was able to support that and they can’t. It was time that the university did some pruning, and the financial crisis has really caused the university to need to do that. Pruning is important because it creates new growth and new opportunities, and I believe that through this process we will come out much stronger and be able to provide our students with a much deeper education than it would have been possible to do before. We’re focusing our energies and that’s what the university needs to do.”

And while the art history major will no longer be offered, classes in art history will continue to be taught. Art and art history are not alone, however, in making the tough decisions. Music will also have to streamline curriculum, cutting the individual concentrations, and instead transitioning to a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in music. Additionally, EMDA will begin to transition more into a creative arts area, which will include art history.

As the Center of the Arts begins its transition, Humphrey believes this transition is only the beginning. He explains that they are currently in the process of renaming it the Oregon Center of the Arts, and that establishing this creative nucleus will not only impact the school, but the region, the state and even the country.

“We will focus on Oregon artists,” he explains, “students who come here to study, artists who come here, faculty members, anyone born in Oregon, anyone who drives up I-5. Consequently we have a focus, and that focus is substantial. We’re not just an academic unit but we are a center for the arts.” He explains that the school has already formed relationships with professional organizations locally that will enable this transition to be carried out smoothly.

He explains that the three tiers included in this center of the arts are the academic unit, the allied arts program, and the arts partnerships. The allied arts program includes the chamber music concerts, the summer institutes, the Shakespeare Institute, and the workshops offered over the summer. The arts partnerships include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Symphony and the Repertory Singers. His hope is that the success of the center is much broader and will become significant statewide over time.

Through this center, students will be presented with opportunities to work alongside and to meet experienced artists- not only located in Ashland, but on a much larger scale. Its goal is to provide students the chance to study with talented, professional artists, to experience internships, and for people from all over, to come to Ashland where they can utilize the benefits of this creative hub.

“Oregon Center of the Arts, wouldn’t that be exciting!” adds Professor Arellano, “We have to get a lot of levels of approval and make sure it’s the right fit, but I really appreciate him (Humphrey) and other colleagues having the ambition to say, ‘You know what? We should claim this’. All the arts exist here.

He went on to say, “Folks from all over the country, all over the world love to come here, for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, we have an awesome writers institute in the making, and beautiful facilities in our visual arts and now for digital media as well. It just makes sense! Let’s own it, let’s get the support of the state with regard to politicians, businesses, and other non-profits, and let’s have an ambitious goal that we’re really going to represent Oregon in the world of the arts. This spot is special, and we should welcome the world through this particular chance.”

While the changes to the university have been challenging, Humphrey feels confident and excited about future opportunities, and the future of the university overall. “I think the future looks bright, I think the learning environment is outstanding, we have an outstanding faculty. I think we have everything going for us, now we have to manage our ship and plow through and make it better for the future.”

In the words of Professor Arellano, “Stick with us, it’s going to be awesome.”

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Video shot and edited by Parker Mills

Story Written by Danielle Torme

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Art Exhibition Reflects Frustration with Retrenchment

Story Written by Tamara Henderson

SOU’s recent retrenchment process has caused confusion and frustration among students.  One student, Eden Redmond, found a way to use art as a way to express the feelings she felt about SOU’s retrenchment process.

As a Fine Arts student, Redmond says she just knew her programs were going to be impacted. After the university announced their need to enter retrenchment, Redmond quickly became frustrated with the process. She began attending the all campus forums and describes what she saw as confusion.

Redmond’s art exhibit titled “Retrenchment: Revision” was displayed in the on-campus Thorndike Gallery earlier this spring. Her project and the results it yielded was one of the many student works displayed as a part of Southern Oregon Arts and Research, commonly referred to as SOAR.  The exhibit was created to help the campus community find a new form of dialogue and discourse about retrenchment.

Redmond stated that during the retrenchment process she felt there was a need for reciprocity in the dialogue that was happening. When retrenchment was announced, the information felt very scattered. It seemed to her that students, faculty, staff and administrators all seemed to have a different understanding. There was a “fundamental disconnect,” Redmond said in her presentation.

The art exhibit purposely used SOU colors and the exact same font SOU has chosen for use on their website. The exhibit included a transparent voting box that providing a visual gauge of how people felt about retrenchment. People were allowed to vote for the SOU commitment they found to be of most importance using plain red pieces of paper as their ballot. These red pieces of paper placed in transparent voting boxes provided a visual representation about how people felt about the SOU commitments listed on the website.

Redmond’s exhibit also included a video interview with President Cullinan as a part of her project. She said she received no response from her request to interview other academic leaders and administrators with the exception of Associate Provost Sue Walsh and President Cullinan.

Redmond also displayed SOU’s mission statement and asked the audience to describe their personal mission while at SOU. According to Redmond this was a way to bring critical discourse analysis about the university is experiencing retrenchment. She was surprised at the casual tone some used in their responses.  Interestingly, six pieces had art or drawings.

For Redmond, retrenchment was personal. She is a visual arts students striving for a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

“I knew art was going to be a victim,” she says when describing her thoughts when she first heard the university would enter retrenchment. “I was pissed!”  

The chair of SOU’s communications department Jody Waters, Ph.D., approached Redmond about collaborating on this project.

“This is a cry and a shout for communication.” Waters explains that this project is not critical against the university, but instead a different way of framing the conversation.

Waters believes this project shows ways in which we might transform our system of education. She said Redmond’s project, which she calls The Redmond Approach, “reminds us we have a lot of weapons.”

She describes Redmond’s approach to retrenchment as one that invites the speaker to both define the context and the social relation while working within the artificial constructs created by the project. She expanded by saying this project allowed people experiencing retrenchment to revisit the conversation.

It takes the conversation from the, “we must cut,” mentality to one of, “we can do this,” said Waters. Redmond’s exhibit provide a strong example of data sets existing all over the place and all around us.

“This now lives in the world and is a part of the conversation,” Waters said of the project.

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Obscure Deadline May Prevent Some Students from Completing Their Intended Program of Study

Story Written by Tamara Henderson

Despite a two-year commitment to teach out degrees and minors eliminated during Southern Oregon University’s retrenchment process, some students who missed an April 1 deadline for declaring eliminated majors and minors may not be able to complete their intended programs. Reductions in program offerings might also affect SOU’s recruitment and retention efforts.

As a result, the retrenchment plan has left many students uncertain about their academic future. The combined average five year graduation rate in minors slated for elimination is more than 19 (see figure 1). If the five year average graduation holds true, nearly twenty fewer students per year may no longer be able to complete their intended minor due to cuts in the retrenchment plan. 

Figure 1:

Junior Sam Burress is one of the students who has seen cuts to all of her programs. Burress is a Forensics Chemistry major and a photography minor.  

Normally a student applies for a minor as a part of the graduation process. However, Burress declared the Photography minor by the April 1 deadline since the program is being eliminated. This declaration is the only way she will be guaranteed the opportunity to receive the courses needed to complete her intended minor.

Since the deadline of April 1 has passed it remains unknown how many, if any, students working toward a particular major or minor were not aware of the deadline to declare. Since minors don’t typically need to be declared, some students may not realize they may face barriers in obtaining the necessary courses to fulfill a particular minor. Since some underclassmen aren’t meeting with advisors as regularly, it remains untold how many students could be affected.

Aside from the current students affected, future students interested in these programs may not attend SOU now that they have been listed for elimination. Burress said the only reasons for her choosing this school over an Ivy League are now gone with the elimination of both Photography and much of the Forensics program.

A combined total of more than 50 students per year graduated with one of the credentials slated for elimination, which include a combination of majors, minors, certificates, and concentrations. While many of these were targeted for their low student interest, the Forensics concentration within the Criminology and Criminal Justice major has seen more than ten graduates per year.

Figure 2:

SOU is enacting the retrenchment plan because the university fell below the required fund balance. Fund balances, which are a percentage of overall annual budgeted operations revenues, are required to be above five percent. The fund balance represents the university’s cash on hand. Public universities must maintain a fund balance of at least five percent of the institution’s operating budget to ensure it has enough cash on hand to overcome any short-term financial challenges. SOU has fallen below that level and as a result entered into a required retrenchment plan in which reductions to staff and academic program save $7.8 million in one-time savings and $6.1 million in permanent savings.

The goal of the plan is to achieve a five percent fund balance by the end of the 2013-15 biennium and a ten percent fund balance by the end of the 2015-17 biennium. The plan includes reductions to permanent faculty position by 12.58 and includes an additional reduction of 22.52 FTE from known retirements.

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2013 VS. 2014 Enrollment Data Projections

Story Written by Parker Mills

Over the last several months the students at Southern Oregon University have been hearing foreboding rumors about the state of their university. Rumors of cuts and low enrollment whisper to them the demise of their school, but according to the new Associate Vice President for Enrollment and Retention Lisa Garcia-Hanson enrollment may be on the rise.

At the Budget and Retrenchment forum Hanson laid out the numbers, and while there is no significant improvement, the results are encouraging. In the fall of 2013 SOU saw 3143 applicants, the fall of 2014 SOU saw 3284 applications. Overall this was a net growth of 4.49 percent.

However, out of those applicants 2236 of the 2013 batch enrolled where 2393 of the 2014 applicants enrolled. Since last year SOU has seen a 7.02 percent increase in their enrollment. Which isn’t significant until you realize, or have pointed out by the student body president Thomas Letchworth, that each percentage point gets SOU $500,000 from the Oregon University System.

At a faculty senate budget meetings Craig Morris, the Vice President of Finance and Administration, stood up and said that SOU loses money on in-state students, loses a little less money on WUE students, makes money on out of state students, and makes the most money on international students. Luckily for SOU International enrollment has been on a slight rise as well. Fall of 2014 had 4 more international students than fall of 2013, a growth of 14.81 percent.

The problems of retrenchment go deeper than just low enrollment. One of the factors contributing to SOU’s current financial difficulties is that they are attracting more non-state students than in-state students. Earlier this year OUS revoked $600,000 that had already been allocated to SOU due to the low amount of Oregonians attending the school.

In the fall of 2014 there was a total of 767 Oregon residents enrolled at SOU. These 767 Oregonians were greatly out numbered by the rest of the school. SOU’s student population is mostly composed of Western Undergraduate Exchange students, non-residents, and international students.

Accepted WUE students counted for 1,025 of all incoming freshmen in the fall of 2014. The majority of these WUE students, 635, come from California. The remaining 390 students come from 13 different states, however no other state has as many WUE students at SOU than California.

To add to the high WUE enrollment problem in the fall of 2014 SOU saw 1,149 non-resident students enroll. This once again puts SOU in the precarious position of failing its fiduciary duty of educating Oregonians.     

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SOU Retrenchment May Affect Local College Rates

Written by Tamara Henderson

For local supporters of building a more educated citizenry in the Rogue Valley, Southern Oregon University’s budget woes, recent retrenchment and proposed changes in governance make the job of encouraging students to go to college that much more difficult.

Lifelong educator and resident of Wimer, Ore, Linda Hugle says that students and families who don’t see college as a part of their path often have a limited knowledge of the college going process. Hugle explains that when budget and governance concerns are as public as they have been in the past year with Southern Oregon University (SOU), it can lead to misinformation.

Many of the parents in the school districts where Hugle has served are not college educated. Therefore, there is a limited knowledge about how the college itself and the college going process works. Hugle believes the lack of knowledge can lead to fears that are not grounded in reality. All of this makes the job of getting more students to college even more challenging than it already was.  

“It’s already a hard sell to sell the importance of college to a family who haven’t seen it as a reality,” she said. “The minute somebody throws some cold water on it in terms of cost and program offerings, it becomes even harder.”

“Knowing there was a regional point of access made the whole idea of going to college a lot more comfortable because they can see the schools close to home as an entry point,” Hugle said. Students and families who begin to believe that the local point of access may not be a viable option may not look elsewhere for an education. Instead the lack of access may confirm the belief that college is not the right place for some students and they may look to alternative post-high school options.

She goes on to explain that an increase in university costs is felt by everybody. “As students bear more and more of the cost [of a college education], that becomes more of a disincentive,” she explained.

She explains that while some students may not be tuned in to this process, as a school narrows their offerings as a college, they are inherently narrowing the number of students that are interested in that college causing less students to think of the institution as their destination.

From Hugle’s experience, music, education, and criminology were some of the SOU programs that attracted the largest number of students she served. SOU’s retrenchment plan includes reductions within both the music and criminology departments, with some programs being eliminated such as the Criminology and Criminal Justice Forensics concentration. Such eliminations could impact enrollment from regional students if Hugle’s experience matches today’s reality.  

Issues such as these raise very real concerns for the educational attainment rates of local citizens. At a time when more and more educators are working to get students to attend some form of postsecondary education, the impacts of SOU’s budget troubles may have unintended impacts on the college going rates of the Rogue Valley’s high school graduates.  

Hugle serves on the board of directors for the Oregon College Access Network and considers herself someone with a passion for getting youth to higher education. Hugle, now retired, was the principal of North Valley High School from 2005-2010. She held several positions prior to that including principal at another school in the Three Rivers district, Special Education Specialist for the district and teacher.   

Linda Hugle, former principal of three different schools in the Three Rivers School District, speaks about the challenges SOU’s retrenchment process may have on the college going rates of local residents.

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Students Weigh In on Governance Changes at SOU

Written by Tamara Henderson

SOU prepares for a shift in its governance structure during a budget crises that has led to retrenchment.

Following a year filled with institutional crises, Southern Oregon University received some clarity on how the institution will be governed in the future when the Oregon State Board of Higher Education approved, with conditions, a local governing board of trustees for SOU. Student leaders are involved in the process and have a number of concerns about the process for establishing a local board of trustees.

Students, faculty and staff will each have one representative on the local board of the total 11- 15 member board. Student leaders are concerned about the lack of accountability for the local board members because only the governor has the authority to remove a member of the local board according to Associated Students of Southern Oregon University Director of Communications Kristy Wright.

Students believe that there should be some level of local accountability with a process for removal of a trustee. “The board should be accountable to the communities they serve,” Wright said.

She also said student leaders were concerned about the timeline. Because institutional president Mary Cullinan had to submit her recommendations to the governor in April, the student government was frantically searching for a young enough student that has all of the qualifications that are being expected of the student board member.

The student trustee will serve a two year term, but the local board won’t begin its governing authority until July 2015, if the student representative is to be a current student for the duration of their term, the appointee needs to be a freshman, a student expecting to stay through spring term in 2017, or an undergraduate who is committed to pursuing graduate work at SOU. Wright feels there are a lot of requirements that have been placed on students to comply with the process without much regard to the unique constraints students face.

Beyond the structural challenges of the governance changes, student leaders are concerned about the long term implications of the smaller regional and technical universities being governed by local boards, without access to the shared resources previously provided through the Oregon University System and its state allocation.

Wright explained that there are benefits to the state when all the universities work together. She said that students statewide know that it is not always profitable for rural areas to provide access to education, but it is necessary since not all Oregonians can move to get their education; “people have jobs and families,” she said.

“It is our social responsibility as a community and a state to share resources and allocate them where they are needed.” Wright supported her concerns by saying that 30% of students at SOU are over the age of 25. SOU isn’t just educating the traditional student and Wright believes that policy makers need to think in broader terms about who higher education serves.

“As a whole state, we are stronger when all people are educated,” she said.

These changes have come about due to the passage of both SB 270 and HB 4018 in the 2013 legislative session. SB 270 created a process for the smaller regional and technical universities, which includes SOU, Eastern Oregon University (EOU), Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), and Western Oregon University (WOU), to propose a model of governance they see most fit for moving their institution forward.

In a letter to the SOU Faculty Senate, Representative Peter Buckley explained that while SOU, EOU, OIT, and WOU did not support the elimination of the Oregon University System and the OSBHE, its governing board, there are some protections built into the legislation for these institutions. In his letter, Representative Buckley said that he and Senator Bates worked to ensure the smaller institutions were not financially impacted by the loss of the system and in his letter he said that the institutions, “would have a voice in the next steps for their own futures.”