Good afternoon colleagues,
Thank you, President Mason and Senator Gill for your updates. It’s good to be with you mid-week, as we reach — somehow already — the midpoint of this fall term. Let me begin my remarks today with something I read earlier this month that I found heartening.
The University of Oregon, “attracts independent, creative students who value strong academic programs alongside opportunities to develop new ideas. Its ethos is forward-looking rather than traditional, with a culture that encourages innovation, leadership, and intellectual curiosity.”
Those were not the words of our communications or marketing team — though they very well could have been — but from an article in Forbes magazine highlighting “The Rise of the Vibe School in College Admissions.” The writer, an expert in college admissions, selected the University of Oregon as one of the top ten universities that best represents the shifting priorities of Gen Z students and their parents.
“This generation of rising college students,” she writes, “values authenticity, and schools that deliver a branded version of joy, community and lifestyle are gaining ground.”
If you know me and my values — or my own personal “vibe” — you might imagine that this is music to my ears. Indeed, this vibe is part of what drew me and Val to Oregon ourselves. It is refreshing to hear those positive impressions from the outside world, given that we all sometimes struggle to recognize the joy that rolls everywhere around us, as we navigate the day-to-day challenges we face. At a time when higher education is under attack, the University of Oregon remains a destination. And the members of this body, along with the rest of our students, faculty, and staff, have created a distinctive campus culture that is widely recognized as purposeful, caring, and...cool.
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In the wake of the past weekend, I can’t talk about our special campus culture without also mentioning the remarkable collaboration the university led last week rooted in our long-shared history with both the Grateful Dead and Nike.
That creative fusion of different cultures and different generations captured people’s attention and spurred Eugene businesses and the local arts community to join in with the fun as well. The collaboration captured the way the University of Oregon has helped shape the culture of this community, region, and the world for generations, and how it continues to sustain and enrich contemporary culture in enduring and meaningful ways. As you can see, I got caught up in the enthusiasm myself...or maybe all the time I spent with Spike on the Senate Task Force on Budget Reductions this summer is beginning to rub off on me!
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On a more serious note, part of the University of Oregon’s authentic “vibe,” I believe, is the vibrant dialogue that animates life on campus. Here in the University Senate, we are actively engaged in the difficult and rewarding work of shared governance as we seek to establish what “meaningful consultation” should look like between the university administration and the elected Senate, as we continue to navigate challenging budget conversations. In these highly fractured and politicized times, we remain committed to upholding and affirming academic freedom—in fact, just this morning in a meeting of all unit heads, we had a good discussion of how best to protect faculty as we pursue truth in our classrooms, studios, and labs wherever it leads.
Moreover, despite the difficult moment we can’t allow the university to tread water or develop a mindset of austerity. In order to find a way to continue to lead during this intense period of disruption, we have to keep making progress on the things that matter most. That’s why we are committed to moving from planning to action on our Oregon Rising goals this year, for example. On our timely graduation goal, I am delighted that we experienced a 4 percentage point increase in students overall taking 15 credits or more this fall term — including a 15 percentage point increase among incoming first-year students.
The Senate has already played a role in helping us towards our graduation goals with its work on student record holds. We will need your continued support as we tackle the issue of curriculum complexity acting as a barrier to student success, which I know is another difficult topic.
Continuing to advance also means ongoing work to align our institution’s academic offerings and curriculum with the changing interests of students. Though it might seem dissonant at present, building new programs that both meet students’ aspirations and sustain our future is vital. You will hear about one such master’s program today, proposed by your fellow faculty members and assessed for viability and approved by school and college leadership, my office, as well as faculty-led curriculum committees and the graduate council.
Finally, we need to stand together to protect our state funding in the upcoming short session of the Oregon Legislature. Our voices must be united to ensure we are not diminished by the broader fiscal pressures created by federal cuts to Medicaid and other safety-net programs. The truth is that this university generates $3.7B in total economic impact every year, according to a recent analysis we commissioned from the Parker Strategy Group. And for every $1 the state invests, the University contributes $15 to the state’s economy. For both the individual and the state, there continues to be no better investment in the future than an investment in the University of Oregon.
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Let me conclude today by returning to the Grateful Dead: although at times my first year as Provost has seemed like “a long strange trip,” I am definitely “enjoying the ride” with all of you in this beautiful and special community. And while there will always be challenges to work through, the vibes here are good.
May the authentic, committed work we are doing together during this disruptive period of change be the rich soil in which we might plant the seeds of a future in higher education that more intentionally aligns the values for which we advocate with the lived experiences of our students, staff, and faculty.
Thank you.