ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) — Southern Oregon University is headed for another retrenchment, meaning it will pare entire programs rather than make across-the-board cuts.
President Mary Cullinan said Thursday the school will start cutting faculty and programs next year, the Medford Mail Tribune reported.
She said it was a result of rising enrollment and falling state aid.
Between 1999 and 2011, Cullinan said, Southern Oregon’s appropriation declined by about $13 million, not adjusting for inflation, while the university now serves about 800 more students than it did in 1999.
“We can’t be all things to all people. … We’ve got to prioritize. We have to decide what we’re really going to focus on,” Cullinan said. “The state has stepped away, and we have to make choices.”
She said the goal is to trim $3 million to $5 million in expenses over the next three years.
Cullinan spoke to about 160 people packed into the university’s Meese Auditorium. Most were members of the faculty and staff.
According to the bargaining agreement with faculty members, Cullinan can declare retrenchment if “the current or projected budget of the university has insufficient funds” to maintain all essential programs and services and fully finance employee contracts.
In 2006-07, Southern Oregon cut 24 academic programs and 22 faculty members in retrenchment.
Over the last year, the school has been ranking academic programs based on the number of majors and graduates, finances, and importance within the community, region, state and nation, among other qualities.
Students already signed up for a major will be able to finish their degrees, Cullinan said, but it is unclear whether their courses will be taught at the university, online or at Rogue Community College. It’s also unclear who would teach them and how long those students would have to complete their degrees.
Cullinan said the cuts aren’t a crisis: “It is a positive response to forestall a crisis. This university is going to be here for another 140 years.”
Faculty members disagreed.
“You keep repeating what we’re going through is not a crisis, but this feels like a crisis to me,” said Carol Ferguson, a biology professor who teaches 11 courses. “It feels very much like a crisis.”
