Good afternoon colleagues,
Thank you, President Mason and Senator Gill for your updates.
In 1967, at a moment of tremendous upheaval in American life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference:
Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
Dr. King understood the difference between true power and force. True power is rooted in love, alive to connection, and animated by justice. Force, by contrast, is coercion without care, strength without wisdom, and violence without end.
Force compels. Power transforms.
Ours is a time riven by competing approaches to power. One conflates power with force, holding that the world is governed primarily by strength, by domination, and by coercion without conscience. The other recognizes true power in shared purpose, in the deep and enduring interconnectedness of things; in the possibilities that emerge when our individual callings find fulfillment in the cooperative activity of community life.
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This understanding of true power is not abstract. It shapes how we lead, how we make decisions, and how we create community together.
I know the cynicism that exists, among both faculty and staff, about the very idea of “flourishing” during these difficult times, both at our institution and across the nation.
But, from my perspective, finding ways to put our commitments to flourishing into practice during periods of anxiety and disruption is critical if we are going to be serious about it.
Flourishing is not about abundance or having everything we need. It is about meaning, growth, and deepening connection. And it can be created even in moments of grief, pain, and struggle, if we move through these challenges with integrity, care, and a sense of purpose.
I raise this today because creating a culture of flourishing is central to our work together and because later in the meeting we will hear more about the upcoming employee engagement survey. I am asking for your support in making this a meaningful exercise.
The survey is a concrete way for us to discern how well we are living our values in our interactions with one another. And to what degree our daily work supports our shared mission.
We have sought to make the survey more accessible by shortening it and by framing the questions with faculty and staff work and priorities in mind.
This survey is just one instrument in a larger composition. Ultimately, our deeper, ongoing work here is rooted in dismantling the toxic culture of higher education that prevents us from doing our most ambitious and meaningful work. It is about establishing the University of Oregon as a place where care, inclusion, and well-being are recognized as the conditions that make excellence possible.
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I also want to talk with you briefly about the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s report on “Spending and Efficiency in Oregon’s Public Universities.”
There has been a lot of conversation about the more controversial elements of that report, including institutional mergers and, more relevantly for us, the concept of the HECC taking an active role in approving and reviewing academic programs.
Let me be clear: I do not support this idea. Academic decisions are best made by those with expertise and local knowledge — by faculty who know their disciplines, their students, and the missions of their institutions.
While other states have moved in this direction, that approach represents an imposition of authority rather than genuine partnership.
However, I also believe this is a timely reminder that we need to continue our work at the institutional level on program review and effectiveness — and we need the Senate's continued partnership in that effort.
The most effective response to outside pressure is to demonstrate our own capacity for thoughtful self-governance. We can show the HECC that we already do this work rigorously and that we don't need external intervention.
My experience serving as the Co-Chair of the HECC’s Transfer Council as we work to establish a state-wide approach to Gen Ed transfer has taught me that trusting relationships and honest dialogue can shift existing dynamics from confrontation to collaboration. This is the path I will pursue with the HECC and with our Oregon Public University partners as we respond to the HECC’s recommendations.
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Finally, let me say a few words about the brutal actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis and across the country.
Many in our campus community are rightly outraged at how the federal administration is using ICE agents to assert an agenda of force and domination. We are appalled by the cold-blooded killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
After developments this weekend, there are also heightened concerns about further ICE deployments in Oregon and Eugene.
I want to reiterate that, to date, there have been no incidents of ICE coming to the University of Oregon’s campus for the purpose of arresting or detaining any member of our community.
Nonetheless, we are dedicated to providing a safe and supportive educational environment for all enrolled students, faculty members, staff, and visitors, regardless of immigration status. We will take robust steps to protect privacy and preserve access to education, while continuing to operate within the bounds of federal and state law.
We have made resources available to our community members, so they know how to respond to a potential enforcement action. As one example of those resources, there is an upcoming Dreamer Ally training being held on February 27th, organized by our Dreamers Working Group. I look forward to this training and hope to see some of you there.
In this dark hour, let us not forget the words of Dr. King “[p]ower without love is reckless and abusive,” it is anemic and it cannot endure. Force — however overwhelming it may appear in a given moment — is ultimately fragile. What endures is true power, animated by love and oriented to justice — the power to protect, to care, and to create community, even in the face of fear.
This is the work we are called to do — and it is work we will not abandon. Thank you.