Good afternoon and thank you Alison, Joe, and Taliek for your remarks. 

I appreciate the opportunity to step out from behind my screen on Zoom to be with you here in person.

I also recognize that we gather here at a difficult moment on campus and nationally as we continue bargaining with faculty and students and work to respond to unsettling actions and announcements from Washington. As you know, my personal practice is, in both good and trying times, to do everything I can to pause and reflect, so I can be present to the moment and act with intentionality.

Perhaps, today, I can orient my remarks by returning to the words of Gwendolyn Brooks in her poem entitled Paul Robeson, when she reminds us that:   

We are each other’s harvest: 

we are each other’s business: 

we are each other’s magnitude and bond.

I continue to hope that we can reach an agreement with United Academics as we continue to bargain during the current cooling-off period. While significant differences remain, “we are each other’s business,” and I deeply believe we have a shared interest in resolving these differences without a strike. Even as I say this, I recognize that the likelihood of a strike is growing. 

We are therefore actively working on strike management plans, trying to determine what we will say to UO students and their parents, and how we can support students if we cannot resolve our differences without a strike. Though there are no easy solutions, we will do everything in our power to maximize flexibility for students and protect as much of the integrity of the student experience as we can during Spring Term, especially for our graduating seniors.

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Let me turn now to another focus of attention that is weighing heavily upon me. While we have been monitoring developments at the federal level for weeks, we have now shifted into a more proactive and responsive mode—recognizing that the university, our researchers, and our research mission are facing serious financial setbacks that will likely have a long-term, wide-ranging negative impact. 

Millions of dollars of annual research funding for the University of Oregon through the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation are at risk and, at the moment, are effectively frozen.  

We have not received a new award from the NIH since the issuance of the administration’s first memo in this area in early February. New grant submissions, including those to the Institute of Education Sciences, also face extreme uncertainty, particularly in the wake of yesterday’s announcement that 1300 staff members in the Department of Education have been fired. 

The infrastructure we have in place for career scientists and administrators to facilitate research is itself at risk. And, if it is cut, it cannot be rebuilt overnight. Last Friday, for example, the Administration said it will cut off $400 million in federal existing grants and contracts to Columbia University. Hundreds of researchers have already started receiving notices of cancellation this week. 

You likely have also seen that, due to this funding uncertainty, hiring freezes have been implemented at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Cornell, Northwestern and even public state institutions like Washington State University, University of Vermont, and University of Missouri. Here at the University of Oregon, the viability of many of our graduate programs is at stake, depending on the scope of lost federal funds. 

As a public research university, we are proud of the work done by those members of our community engaged with the research mission and we recognize both the transformative power of the research we do and the terrible implications of its being dismantled so haphazardly and irresponsibly.  

We are also worried about rumored substantial federal cuts to Medicaid and to federal funding sent to the states for law enforcement or transportation infrastructure. Those could indirectly impact us as well, because, if they materialize, the state Legislature will face significant additional pressures on its upcoming two-year budget. Please continue to keep our Office of Research and Innovation appraised of any developments in your area. 

Unfortunately, while we are working to mitigate impacts where we can, we recognize that it is far beyond our institution’s means to directly replace or even temporarily bridge this potential level of lost funding.

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On a more positive note, I want to provide the Senate with an update on our work to make the University of Oregon a destination for transfer students. I recently became the co-chair of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Transfer Council. That appointment has made it clear to me that there is significant legislative and public interest in improving transfer and articulation options between Oregon’s public community colleges and universities, so that we can collectively better serve students from across the state.  

As a small first step, the University of Oregon is entering into an agreement with Southwestern Oregon Community College that would allow students to complete their entire Marine Biology degrees at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston. This means students who want to can stay on the coast, as opposed to the current structure that requires them to complete a significant amount of their coursework in Eugene.  

This change is expected to impact a small number of students, but it is a great example of creative thinking and collaboration in response to student demand. It will benefit both institutions and our state as a whole. We are also working on agreements with both Lane Community College and Portland Community College to ease their students’ path to UO. We will need both the Senate and our faculty’s assistance and involvement on the curricular side of these agreements, so I welcome your collaboration and feedback on how we might best recruit and retain excellent transfer students from across the state. 

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When I first visited campus last year, I was told that what made the University of Oregon different is that ours is a community that demonstrates care for each other—“we are each other’s harvest.”

Even as we enter the difficult weeks ahead, let us remain true to these values, to this commitment to care, and to our shared purpose to advance knowledge and transform lives. 

As always, I am grateful for the Senate and for this time together. 

Thank you.