SOU reveals realignment plan as cuts frustrate some faculty & students

ASHLAND, Ore. – The realignment plan, introduced last Fall, is the university’s answer to a projected $14 million deficit by 2026.

President Bailey said its something the school has to implement.

“We’re doing this because we want to make sure this university has a solid fiscal fountain for the next generation or two to come,” he said.

Many students and facility gathered to see details of the plan.

In it, around 83 jobs, or 13 percent of the university’s workforce, could be eliminated under the proposed plan.

Many of them are positions that will not be filled, but about two dozen people will be laid off.

Student body president Alicia Gerrity said students are unsettled by the situation.

“I‘m unsure if the tension was settled or was comforted at all, which is a little nerve wracking as we continue to go about our weeks and rest of the term,” she said.

This isn’t the first time SOU has tried to fix its financial issues.

But Bailey said this time will be different.

“This is part of a cultural mindset,” he said. “So it’s not just about we’re about to cut. If that’s all we do. Then three years from now that cost curve will catchup to us. Part of this is also about grants, it’s about philanthropy, it’s about about revenue diversification, things we haven’t really done before.”

The plan also revealed cuts to the theater program.

Several professors and students were outraged.

They said losing professors on the technical and design side would effectively kill the program.

“That’s not true,” Bailey said. “We appreciate our theater program, it’s part of who we are, its part of our identity. The question for us moving forward is how does that program evolve.”

Bailey says the plan has not been finalized and tweaks will be made before it’s voted on by SOU’s Board of Trustees in April.

But he believes these changes are necessary, to keep tuition the same.

“I‘m not going to accept that we’re just going to raise tuition by 15% year over year over year to solve our fiscal problems,” Bailey said. “We would lose a sense of why SOU is here in the first place. And that is to be a service to students here.”

A final town hall will be held on March 9, before the plan is recommended to the Board of Trustees.

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NBC5 News reporter Zachary Larsen grew up in Surprise, Arizona. He graduated from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. At ASU, Zack interned at Arizona Sports 98.7FM and Softball America. During his Junior year, Zack joined the ASU Sports Bureau. He covered the Fiesta Bowl, the Phoenix Open and major basketball tournaments. Zack enjoys working out, creative writing, music, and rooting for his ASU Sun Devils.
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