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Across Oregon higher ed right now, massive cuts to unionized faculty and academic professionals are imperiling student learning conditions. This comes in a context where Oregon has the lowest corporate taxes in the US, three Oregon billionaires control about twice as much wealth as the bottom half of income earners in the state, and Oregon ranks 44th nationally in education funding and 37th in per pupil funding. We have a choice to make: sit idly by and allow the dismantling of the public good that is public higher education, or push policymakers to make the Phil Knights of the world pay their fair share.
This Friday, September 5th, Governor Kotek will announce whether she has decided to reappoint real estate developer Sheryl Manning to the PSU Board of Trustees. Manning has a track record of being the leading voice for layoffs of mission-critical union members at PSU. Further, her record at PSU seems in line with her time at Enron’s accounting firm Arthur Anderson, and her sizable downtown real estate portfolio poses a significant conflict of interest. The current Board and the Cudd administration are, in their own words, “cutting to the bone,” with additional layoffs planned over the next two years.
In March, the Board of Trustees’ budget decisions and the Cudd administration’s intransigence over 250 hours of bargaining nearly triggered the first-ever strike in PSU history. In April, PSU Faculty Senate passed a Resolution of No Confidence in the Cudd administration’s “Bridge to the Future” Financial Sustainability Plan (page 63) by a 47-7 margin with 5 abstentions on April 7th. Simultaneously, the Cudd administration has been pushing back against PSU-AAUP members’ longstanding ADA accommodations, refusing to bargain over the impacts of ending remote work, ending the Intensive English Language Program, shuttering the office that does DEI work, decreasing international students from 2,200 to 750, and, in so many ways, doing Trump’s work for him. |
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Today, we’re asking all PSU-AAUP represented workers to pick up their phones to ask Governor Kotek to appoint economist Mary King to the PSU Board of Trustees instead of Sheryl Manning.
To win the conditions we deserve, call Governor Kotek’s office today at (503)-378-4582.
Sample phone script:
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Hi my name is ___________, a [job title] at Portland State University, and a registered voter.
I’m calling to ask Governor Kotek to appoint Mary King to the Portland State Board of Trustees. Following a near first-ever Portland State strike in March and a 47-7 Faculty Senate vote of no confidence in the Cudd administration’s financial plan in April, we need to add diverse voices to the Board of Trustees to better serve PSU’s mission. Mary King is a community leader, a former PSU economics faculty member, Chair of the Economics Department, and served as President of the union for full-time faculty and academic professionals. She’s a perfect fit for Portland State’s Board of Trustees: a respected voice leader to help Board members better understand PSU and public higher ed, push for a budget centering students and encourage the Board to raise public and private money for PSU, strengthening its critical role as a local engine of economic mobility for the most ethnically and economically diverse student body in the state.
Can my students and coworkers count on Governor Kotek to appoint Mary King, so as to strengthen their learning and working conditions?
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Other actions for you and members in your department:
In solidarity,
Karlyn Adams-Wiggins,
Associate Professor, Applied Development Psychology (Black Studies Affiliate)
PSU-AAUP Vice President for Legislative & Political Action |
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