SOU set to host final town hall for realignment plan before vote

ASHLAND, Ore. – The final town hall for SOU’s realignment plan is Thursday.

The university hopes to erase a projected $14 million deficit by 2026 once the plan is in place.

Students and faculty will have one last chance, to make their voices heard, before SOU’s realignment plan is presented to the board of trustees later this month.

Last month, SOU president, Dr. Rick Bailey, revealed a draft of the realignment plan.

In it, around 83 jobs, or 13% of the university’s workforce, could be eliminated.

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

We don’t know if anything new will be revealed Thursday, but President Bailey made it clear in the last town hall, the plan is not yet been finalized.

“Is it possible then that there may be some tweaks to that plan, I think absolutely,” Bailey said. “We have to be humble enough to know that we’re all flawed decision makers. So what are the things we need to do, the humanity we need to bring to the table, so we actually constructively work on something together.”

We could see some tweaks to the plan tomorrow, before it’s presented to the board of trustees on March 17.

The board will consider the adoption of the plan on April 21.

The town hall begins Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Rogue River Room on its Ashland campus.

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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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