Good morning trustees,
This summer I returned to the writings of Hannah Arendt, a philosopher on whom I have long depended in difficult times. In her essay, The Crisis of Education, she writes:
“Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it, and by the same token save it from that ruin which, except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and the young, would be inevitable.”
To love the world enough to take responsibility for it requires understanding, which for Arendt involves the persistent activity by which we come to terms with things as they are, not as we wish them to be.
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This is the spirit in which we have sought to lead through a very challenging spring and summer. The budget decisions announced last week have been among the most painful our community has faced in years. And they have weighed heavily on all of us.
Every difficult conversation we had this summer, all the data we examined, and every option we considered, carried the knowledge that each member of our community is a world unto themselves, with families to care for and expenses to cover. This process has tested us, but it has been rooted in a commitment to look reality squarely in the face and to find a sustainable path forward that prioritizes the student experience and the educational and research mission of the university.
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From the beginning, we sought to pursue an open and consultative decision-making process, even as we recognized that it would increase anxiety across campus.
We began with campuswide messages outlining the scope and scale of the deficit and the timeline we faced. We held a town hall on June 9, answering as directly as we could as many questions as we could. We worked with our deans to identify the principles that would inform the process, and they engaged department heads to draw on local wisdom at the unit level. University Senate leadership established a Senate Task Force on Budget Reductions so we could share confidential budgetary information and engage in good faith, honest, and substantive consultation.
This openness came at a cost. Preliminary information surfaced publicly, and was, at times, inaccurately characterized as settled and decided. From the outset, however, we committed to a decision-making process that was as open as possible, balancing consultation with the need for confidentiality in decisions affecting individuals. The financial realities we faced were serious and structural, and we had to consider all our options, including degree program closures and tenure-track faculty layoffs. We determined, however, that those options would be too damaging to the student experience and to the teaching and research mission we set as our top priority.
In the end, we were able to find a pathway that allowed us to structure the almost $30 million in budget cuts without closing any degree program or laying off tenured faculty. Still, we must recognize that the burden of these cuts has fallen unevenly across other parts of the institution. People who have made important contributions to the life of the university have lost their jobs, and for this, I am sorry.
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As we discussed yesterday, we will need to continue working to close the budget gap, particularly on the academic side. My hope is that the space we’ve created will enable meaningful deliberation across campus as we consider how best to align our expenses with our revenues.
We will need to do less; and so, we will need to continue to make difficult, strategic decisions as we navigate these uncertain times. For their work this summer, I want to offer my deepest gratitude to our Deans, Associate Deans, Department Heads, and unit leaders, as well as to Senate President Dyana Mason and the Senate Task Force on Budget Reductions. Their candor and courage have prepared the ground for more honest engagement on the long-term sustainability of our academic programs. Together, we will carry forward what we’ve learned this summer to strengthen our connections and respond to the realities before us.
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Despite our budget challenges, we remain focused on moving the work of Oregon Rising from planning to action. Returning to fully in-person advising in our IntroDUCKtion programming this summer, we have seen a 6 percent increase in incoming first-year students enrolling in 15 credits or more this fall. Historical data indicates that early course load is a consistent indicator of students both staying at UO past their first year as well as graduating in four years or less. In addition, we are preparing to launch this fall two national searches for the next deans of the College of Education and the School of Journalism and Communication.
Next month, we will welcome Deborah Keyek-Franssen, as our new Associate Vice Provost for UO Online and Continuing and Professional Education. When we talk about the importance of new revenue streams for the university, combining UO Online with Continuing and Professional Education offers us a tremendous platform for growth, and Deb brings a wealth of creativity and experience from leading online programs at the University of Utah and the University of Colorado System.
We also continue our work on making our institution a destination for transfer students. We will be signing a dual admission and enrollment agreement with Lane Community College this term. And last week, in my role as co-Chair of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Transfer Council, I had the opportunity to participate as a panelist at the Ford Family Foundation’s symposium on transfer students where we continue to build relationships of trust and collaboration with community colleges as we work to improve transfer pathways for Oregon students.
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Let me conclude, by returning to Arendt, and specifically to her description of the activity of understanding, which she describes as “an unending activity by which, in constant change and variation, we come to terms with and reconcile ourselves to reality, that is, try to be at home in the world.”
As a community devoted to education and the practice of understanding, we have a shared responsibility to reconcile ourselves to reality and to continue to cultivate capacities of meaningful engagement that will enable us to make good on the promise of the research and teaching mission of the University of Oregon.
Thank you.