UO provost acknowledges blowback as scrutiny over potential cuts mounts

University of Oregon Provost Chris Long acknowledged community backlash over possible program eliminations and layoffs during a Board of Trustees committee meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Long said engagement with UO’s schools and colleges and the University Senate about the university’s plan to balance its budget — which could include program cuts and reductions — has been “significant.” He said this “open approach” has led to the circulation of preliminary information, some of it incorrect, that has resulted in anxiety, uncertainty, anger and frustration.

“However difficult, this is from my perspective the price of leading a budget reduction process that is attempting to be consultative in a meaningful way,” Long said. 

Long’s remarks opened the Board of Trustees’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting, which includes five trustees, one of them a student.

UO faculty members are bracing for further layoffs after 42 employees from the College of Arts and Sciences received layoff notices in June. Officials have said they will notify employees directly affected by additional budget cuts starting the week of Sept. 7.

UO’s faculty union, United Academics of the University of Oregon, has said this next round will include about 25 tenured and tenure-track faculty. Administrators plan to eliminate Religious Studies, Judaic Studies, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, while at least eight other programs face reductions, according to the union.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Long insisted that no final decisions for program closures have been made and said those decisions will take shape in the next two weeks. 

Officials plan to present the university’s final plan to correct its $25 million to $30 million budget deficit during the Board of Trustees Sept. 15-16 meeting, which is taking place in Portland.

“The University of Oregon has a longstanding tradition of strength in the humanities and social sciences,” Long said during the meeting. “We’re working to preserve as much of the diversity of our course and program offerings as we can.”

When committee chair Elisa Hornecker asked if trustees had any questions or comments about potential program closures and budget issues, they said they did not. The committee last met in May.

Kristy Hammond, the faculty union’s operations director, said the administration’s process for consulting with faculty involves only discussions with deans and department heads, as well as the Senate Task Force on Budget Reductions, which she described as a closed group of five or six faculty members.

“It is true that we do not have the full information that the upper administrators have, and that is part of the problem,” she said. “We are asking for transparency, rather than relying on people to come to us to tell us what is happening on our campus.”

Scrutiny over UO’s potential layoffs and program cuts has intensified in recent weeks as budget conversations continue. Criticism has centered on the lack of faculty involvement in department and program-specific budget reduction plans and UO’s alleged targeting of the humanities and social sciences for cuts. 

More than 60 faculty members with the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages sent a letter to the administration last week condemning cuts rumored to be coming to the school.

“The current proposal fundamentally restructures the newest school at the University of Oregon, and without input from or meaningful deliberation with faculty and leadership in the school,” the letter reads.

The faculty union’s petition opposing the cuts had more than 2,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon, and the American Association of University Professors called on UO to drop its plans to eliminate whole programs and lay off faculty in a statement Tuesday. 

The union has also launched a website about the proposed cuts, and on Wednesday afternoon distributed a list of action items for faculty members ahead of the Sept. 7 announcements.

One item calls on faculty to send a mass announcement about the proposed cuts to students on Thursday via Canvas, the university’s online course portal.

“Faculty are greatly concerned that these rushed cuts could cause irreparable damage to UO’s overall course offerings and educational opportunities for students,” the template announcement reads.

The union plans to deliver its petition to Johnson Hall — the university’s main administrative building — and hold a press conference outside the building at 10 a.m. Friday, before the UO Senate Executive Committee convenes an emergency meeting at noon.

During Wednesday’s Board of Trustees committee meeting, members also discussed the university’s academic program request process and template and UO’s policies on artificial intelligence.