Dear Raider family,
Last Friday, after the Oregon Legislature approved short-term financial relief for SOU, I shared with you that work would begin promptly to address our longer-term budget. Our ability to work in conjunction with an outside consultant on a long-term, sustainable plan over the next month and a half is key to obtaining the short-term funding.
The Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) has hired Deloitte Consulting LLC, a global consulting firm with substantial experience in higher education. Our work with Deloitte will result in a long-term financial plan for operational stability that must be submitted to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission by April 30. The plan will serve as a roadmap to a new, fiscally sustainable SOU for the 2027-29 biennium and beyond. To meet this goal, we will need help from our shared governance partners and ultimately from our entire campus community.
This is a VERY quick timeline, so I would ask that if you can be involved, please engage with the Faculty Senate, Staff Assembly or ASSOU. In addition, we hope to launch a website soon with key information and contacts as well as a link to individually provide direct input in the process. Please expect more details on that soon.
Here is a link to the structure of how we will work with Deloitte over the next seven weeks. The Project Team will consist of myself, two members of our Board of Trustees, two representatives of the HECC and a person from the governor’s office. We will work with our partners from Deloitte and will lean heavily on contributions provided through interviews, focus group discussions and direct input. Faculty Senate, Staff Assembly and ASSOU will be selecting representatives in the coming days to interface directly with the Project Team and serve as participants for focus groups.
Due to the tight legislative timeline, Deloitte is planning to host six facilitated focus groups of about 10 to 12 individuals per group that include: 1) Students; 2) Faculty; 3) Staff; 4) Directors and Chairs; 5) Cabinet+ and Deans; and 6) Community. These groups will serve as conduits for your thoughts and ideas as we all help to identify future programs and services that are regionally responsive and financially sustainable. Interviews with key stakeholders and focus groups will begin next week, both virtually and in-person.
The team expects to complete a draft of our long-term financial model by early April; finish an assessment of programs and functions, and report on structural options, by the middle of April; and then submit the Deloitte plan to the HECC and our Board of Trustees by April 30.
We must also be mindful that the short-term financial relief package approved by the legislature last week requires SOU to provide monthly financial statements and updated cash flow forecasts beginning in May of this year to the HECC, the Department of Administrative Services and the Legislative Fiscal Office. The legislature’s Emergency Board – a joint committee that makes critical budget decisions when the legislature is not in session – will be responsible for releasing all or portions of the $15 million funding package, and it is expected to convene only in June, September and December of this year.
Our work to create a fiscally sustainable university will require that we make sobering choices as we identify those programs and services that most critically serve our region. Formidable tasks lie ahead of us, but I assure you that when our SOU community works together we are capable of this and much more. I ask each of you to approach this work with the best interests of our students and the future of our institution in your hearts.
Very Respectfully,
