Projected job and academic cuts at Oregon State University — the result of an estimated $19 million budget shortfall — are unfortunate. OSU is suffering from the effects of an ailing economy and rising costs, and now the university will likely let those effects trickle down to students and faculty as they attempt to remedy the situation.
To get through these difficult financial times, OSU should focus on maintaining their most successful departments, such as agriculture and engineering, instead of funding smaller liberal arts departments that are forced to compete with the University of Oregon. In turn, our university should focus its limited resources on maintaining and improving our liberal arts programs so that both schools are not forced to compete with each other for enrollment or statewide recognition.
If the state of Oregon wants the two universities to have the resources to compete academically, legislators need to be more vigilant about appropriating funds to the Oregon University System. It is not possible to keep smaller departments and big-name specialty schools afloat in the slowing economy if taxpayers are unwilling to pony up enough for all academic departments.
Another thought: Perhaps OSU should rethink its stake in its Cascades Campus, the Eastern Oregon branch plan. If the school is being forced to cut jobs and departments at the main campus, it doesn’t make fiscal sense to continue with plans for an expansion in Bend at this time. The Oregon University System also might need to reconsider which university is presently better poised to expand on the other side of the Cascades if OSU is unwilling to forgo its hard-won branch campus. The Oregon University System should advise administrators in Corvallis to put off the plans for another year, or at least until the ailing economy begins to recover.