It’s so disappointing to find that we’re here. We’ve said over and over that the PSU administration’s announcement of Article 22 cuts is a hasty and unimaginative plan for a situation that demands something better. We still have resources available to us to reinvest in growth and fight this austerity and this further depopulation of campus and the south part of downtown. But the plan we’re seeing points once again to the same death spiral that has haunted us for nearly a decade. Without real investment in recruitment and employer partnerships, and without the resources and the hustle to better integrate PSU into the Portland economy and education system, we’ve faltered for a decade, and are following that up with more cuts. The Board and the President could have joined us in preventing this harm. The work of members to stop HECC and PUSF cuts and their power in generating promises for long-session legislative solutions for public university funding are reasons for optimism-- and reasons to wait. Members have organized and done the work of demanding more, but the PSU administration has not shown that commitment, and administrative strategies over this decade of austerity have led directly to this point. We need patient, positive, ambitious, and energetic leadership who will compose a plan out of something other than endless cuts and an inescapable doom loop if we’re going to live up to our potential and our responsibilities.
In the upcoming week, there are a number of chances to organize and connect. Members should continue to speak up and out and to demand more. We should not let this moment divide us-- if your program isn’t named in the announcement, you have an immense amount at stake in the way these decisions widely threaten our success. PIVOT’s impacts on recruitment, retention, and student support will be substantial, and demanding real growth and real responsibility is the only real way to shift us out of this loop and away from future cuts. This situation is one that affects all of us here at PSU, and if these cuts are put through, they will have significant repercussions on the university for a long time to come.
Some of the upcoming opportunities of note are:
- Attend the all members meeting Wednesday, March 11th at 5:30pm - (Find the Zoom invite in our latest member communications or email us)
- Members in affected units can attend the Units Meeting this Friday, March 13, 12:40pm-1:30pm (RSVP to follow)
- Become a unit rep (or co-rep)
- Join the grievance, organizing, or comms committee
- Turn out your coworkers, students, and community to the 4/3 Board of Trustees Meeting
- Ask questions of administration inside 4/6 and 5/4 Faculty Senate
- Call President Ann Cudd (503-725-4419) and Governor Tina Kotek (503-378-4582) and demand partnering on growth, not managed decline
- Attend the Special Faculty Senate Meeting – RSVP Monday, March 16, 4-5pm CH 53
- Ask questions at the President's Town Hall – RSVP Wed Mar 18, 2026 12:40 PM - 1:45 PM
In solidarity,
Bill Knight
President, PSU-AAUP