New Partnership Update
On October 1, UO President Richard Lariviere presented the University of Oregon’s proposal for higher education reform to the Oregon Legislature’s Higher Education Work Group. The UO proposal titled, “Preserving our Public Mission through a New Partnership with the State”, outlines a new approach to educating more Oregonians at an affordable cost. The hearing is a step towards consideration of the New Partnership proposal by the 2011 Oregon Legislature.
President Lariviere told the legislators that the proposal is a path towards helping today’s young people earn the college degrees that will provide a much-needed boost to our state’s struggling economy. “Fundamentally, the New Partnership proposal is a tool to ensure college tuition stays within reach of middle class Oregonians”, Lariviere testified. It accomplishes this through governance reform, increased accountability, and a new financial partnership.
The discussion that followed the presentation was substantive and is summarized by The Oregonian. One legislator described it as the “one of the most significant proposals in higher education we have had in decades.”
The New Partnership initiative recommends the creation of a local governing board for the University of Oregon, similar to the way the University of Washington or Oregon’s community colleges are governed. Under this structure, the University of Oregon would become more accountable to the state and the state’s financial commitment would remain the same (at a historically low level) for the next 30 years.
State funding would be reorganized to support a public endowment for Oregon’s students, and the state funding would be matched dollar for dollar by private money. It is a new idea for how to finance public higher education that offers greater capacity for managing college costs. The state’s fixed support would service the debt on general obligation bonds that will support the education of Oregon’s students. Had this endowment been in place in 1991, its annual payout would have grown to $154.7 million by this year (almost triple the projected $57 million UO expects to receive from the state for 2011, less than 7% of UO’s budget) yet the state’s funding support for the endowment would be the same as it was in 1991.
The Oregon University System (OUS) has its own proposal to grant increased autonomy for all of Oregon’s public universities. President Lariviere supports the OUS proposal as “taking important steps to provide all of our universities greater flexibility.” The proposal put forward by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, includes a provision that would allow the state board to create local governing boards and delegate some authority to such boards. It does not specifically endorse the establishment of a board for the University of Oregon or any other institution.
President Larivere has asked OUS to take the “second step” of including the establishment of local boards for institutions that are ready as part of its proposal to the Legislature. UO’s goal is to secure the support of the state board proposal and the New Partnership proposal. If successful, the combined reforms will position our state for greater prosperity in the increasingly competitive knowledge-based economy
What alumni can do - Learn about these proposals and become an advocate. Envision a platform for higher education in Oregon that includes more responsive governance, greater accountability and a more affordable education for middle class Oregon families.