Campus leaders and students respond to grim news of UO budget austerity

The day after University of Oregon President Karl Scholz sent the UO community a grim email about budget projections for the coming academic year, campus leaders and students spoke Wednesday about what upcoming financial challenges could mean for the university.

UO Provost Chris Long touched on the topic in a meeting of the UO Board of Trustees’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee during his opening comments.

“The message that went out is really an effort to help the community understand some of the challenges that we are facing and try to communicate in a way that’s transparent and open and honest as early as we can, so that we can work through the challenges that we’re facing together,” Long said. 

He said the budget will be the main focus of the next full board meeting, scheduled for June 2 and 3.

At a Wednesday afternoon meeting of the University of Oregon Senate, which is composed of faculty, staff and student members representing different campus constituencies, Alison Schmitke, Senate president and undergraduate degree program director, said she knew next year would bring significant challenges. 

“Yesterday’s email from the president and provost shared a sobering update on the university’s financial outlook,” she said. “These pressures will test not only our institutional resilience, but also the strength of our shared governance structures.” But she added that challenging times also open opportunities for greater transparency and more meaningful partnerships.

As an example, Schmitke pointed out that the voting members of the newly formed Senate budget committee will meet twice before the end of the term to prepare for its work in the fall. 

While Gerard Sandoval, a professor of planning, public policy and management and the sole nominee for an open faculty position on the UO Board of Trustees, did not speak specifically about the May 20 email, he did weigh in on how he would address challenges in higher education if elected, alluding to the financial issues facing the school.

“I foresee tough decisions that the UO Board of Trustees must make regarding oversight and cutting university costs, potentially streamlining units and politically advocating to gain further support from the state of Oregon,” Sandoval said.

Long, the provost, also spoke at the Senate meeting. He said that he would be unable to outline specific institution-wide actions “for some time,” but recommended a budget town hall meeting on June 9 for faculty to ask questions or submit them ahead of time to be heard as a “difficult period of budget austerity” begins.

“The choices ahead may be hard, but they don’t have to be isolating,” he said. “We’ll face them together with a spirit of listening, shared responsibility and of mutual respect.”

For students, who also received the email, the news was shocking.

Sara Cotton, a third-year doctoral student in anthropology from Georgia and a member of the Graduate Student Union, said she always thought there was money somewhere, pointing to a recent raise for football coach Dan Lanning, who makes $11 million annually. 

Cotton said she appreciated that the email was “surprisingly honest” about the crisis, but was worried about what it meant for graduate student wages and health care.

“We have a contract coming up next year,” she said. “One of my first thoughts was, ‘This is totally [going to] impact it. That’s [going to] be the new talking point.”

Kevin Gerrity, a sophomore majoring in business and an out-of-state student from California, said he had been under the impression that UO was financially stable, thanks to high tuition costs for out-of-state students like himself. He said that though the pressure was part of a nationwide squeeze on higher education, there must be better ways to manage finances. 

“Karl Scholz gets paid, what, 700 grand a year? I mean, that’s a little ridiculous,” he said. [Scholz’ annual salary is $725,000]. “God knows how much other people are getting paid slightly below him.”

—Lilly St. Angelo contributed to this report.