The State Board of Higher Education met last Friday to finalize a list of proposed budget cuts for Oregon’s seven state universities, but despite having what board member Tim Young described as one of the best meetings he’s ever taken part in, the board failed to finalize a budget for Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Young, a University political science major, said the board had a “very real and needed” discussion with the presidents of Oregon’s universities, and that it had made a great deal of progress in prioritizing the needs of those universities.
With a predicted state budget shortfall of nearly $300 million looming on the horizon, the Oregon University System has been forced to look at drastic cuts, and some smaller universities worried that they would be left behind in the race for state money, Young said. He added that one of the most contentious issues facing the board in recent meetings has been the situation at Oregon State University. In October, OSU President Paul Risser announced that the college would begin a “redesign” effort in order to stave off the effects of the university’s own $19 million budget shortfall.
But according to Young, Risser promised at Friday’s meeting that OSU’s budget would be balanced for the next two years.
That promise is a source of relief to Young, who had expressed concern that OSU was walking a fiscal tightrope with plans to expand its veterinary school, operate a branch campus in Bend and raise its engineering program to top-tier status.
Gov. Kitzhaber had given the board a Friday deadline for its proposal, but Young said that deadline was pushed back to Wednesday so that the board can make a policy decision based on what’s best for all the schools in the OUS. The board will meet via teleconference before Wednesday to finalize its budget.