IFS Remarks to the OUS Board

September 19, 2003

Portland, Oregon

Bill Danley, President, Interinstitutional Faculty Senate

President Lussier , Chancellor Jarvis, Board Members, University Presidents and Officers, Students, and Guests;

A special welcome to President Ed Ray of OSU and Henry Lorenzen, our newest Board member, and hello again to our newest student board members, Brigit Burns and Rachel Pelliod.

As President Lussier surmised, my remarks today do indeed reflect on the latest legislative session and our weakend economy. Let me say first, though, how much Oregon’s faculty members appreciate the work of this board and the Chancellor and his staff in dealing with the challenges of this term. Thanks to each of you -- I know we don’t say that enough.

Another legislative session has ended, as usual with higher education getting less from our state general fund than the amount promised by our RAM funding model, less than other states’ average funding of our peer institutions, less than the governor had requested, less than it would take to deliver on promised salary and cost-of-living increases, less than needed to offset dramatic student tuition increases, and less per student than almost every other state in the union. While our politicians scurry around trying to attract a baseball team to Portland, our state is crumbling.

Here we are right now in beautiful, friendly Oregon: highest unemployment rate in the nation, health care for children among the lowest in the nation, lowest high school graduation rate in the nation, only one in four of our high school graduates are ready for college. One of only two or three states in the union without a sales tax, our politicians squabble while our health care system deteriorates, our schools have overcrowded classes and inadequate programs, and our universities struggle with inadequate resources to keep our Oregon students here and try to attract new industries to Oregon. Our universities are in a battle with other states to win the hearts and minds of our brightest students and our best faculty members, and yet this year we have the highest faculty retirement rate in years and the highest tuition increases in years. Does this sound like an economic climate a prospective industry would look for in a new location?

We are in a battle to win economic security for our citizens, and we can’t provide basic services. Oregon is becoming the new Mississippi, the new Haiti, the new Third World among our other states (I say this at the risk of insulting Mississippi and Haiti), and the abysmal funding for higher education is an indicator of the depth of our economic tar pit. The fact is that we can no longer compete with states we used to make fun of -- they are investing in higher education and for them it’s paying off.

For too long we have listened to the anti-tax zealots, the no-government libertarians, the greedy rich, the idealogues from other states. Oregon needs a balanced revenue system, a strong revitalized economy, and courageous politicians to get us back on our feet. Our universities can be the economic driving force to attract new industries and keep our good Oregon students and faculty members here, but we need to be better than 72% of average. We don’t need extravagant buildings or ivory tower isolation. Director Wustenburg had commented earlier about this “goal”. I recall a comment at our IFS meeting last spring: “... if 100% of the RAM funding is “average”, or mediocre, we now find that a goal of 72% means that we admit that mediocrity is unattainable...”, which to me is unacceptable. We do need competitive salaries and decent benefits for our faculty, and a tuition rate for our students which won’t doom them to an unpayable debt at graduation.

Oregon state agencies are forced into competing with each other for scarce resources: K-12 against higher ed, education against social services, public safety against roads and transportation. None of us wants that situation, and Oregon can’t afford it. We simply need more revenue wisely distributed and budgeted. We need a fundamental change in our system of allocation, avoiding our present over-reliance on the unpredictable income tax. We need the courage to tell our citizens that to provide the services they need and want it will take an attitude adjustment and more revenue.

A few legislators showed some courage in the last session by stepping out of their partisan bickering for the good of Oregon, and I hope that trend continues. I think it must continue if we are to get beyond the mess we now are facing. Oregon’s faculty members in higher education are good citizens, willing to pay our share of a wisely-crafted and balanced tax structure revision. I suspect other public employees feel the same way, and I’m betting that a majority of all Oregonians feel the same way. We expect to receive in return a fair wage, decent benefits, and to teach a student body which is not overburdened with debt. We do not have those things today.