Dear Fellow members of the IFS

Here are the notes I made up from the meeting with the governor yesterday. He met with a bunch of UO administrators and faculty members. He gave us a 30 minute speech, took a question on the consequences of what would happen if the funding measure failed, and then had to dash off. So there wasnıt much opportunity for given and take. I emphasize, these are rough notes I took down. They certainly should not be regarded as normative.

He had talked to a parent of a UO student and had good news - things were going well! He felt there was a tendency to look at what was wrong with higher education. His message was that the public investment in higher education was worth it. While we should always acknowledge what doesnıt work, for the most part there is a tremendous return on higher education. He noted that previous governors had all said that higher education - post secondary education - was a priority but that nothing had ever happened. There was a policy of disinvestment. That we placed a higher and higher burden on private fundraising. During the period 95-01, econonomy grew 20% and we still disinvested. Thus higher education was not the priority that everyone said it was. The difficulty is that government is on a short term time frame. Need immediate returns or will walk away from an issue. However both business and Oregon need to look long term. The way to get there is infrastructure investment. The way to long term stability is investment in education. We need to focus the publicıs attention in order to be able to do something. Former Governor Goldschmidt is the person to make something happen.

The governor needed to send a message that this is important to all of us. He emphasized that post secondary education inculdes the community colleges. The Community colleges are getting squeezed even more than the 4 year Universities. They are underfunded. We need to get them into the debate. Doesnıt know how the office of the chancellor fits in with what he wants from the 7 institutions.

The governor is a product of public higher education -- he knows the tremendous value of higher education and the opportunities that it creates. But he is worried that people with ability donıt always get in. That higher education is tending more and more to be only for the priviledge people. Thus access is at the top of his list. But another issue is excellence. OUS has many excellent programs and we need to keep them there. The liberal arts are furniture for the mind. But Oregon also needs to have investments that grow the economy. We need to reverse the disinvestment in higher education - to put in more money. To do the right things now that will play out 15 years later. Not to always think short term.