President VanLuvanee, Chancellor Cox, Members of the Board,

Once again and finally, it is a privilege to address you on behalf of IFS.

IFS met at PSU on Friday, 7 December and Saturday 8 December 2001. At the Friday meeting we were greeted by President Dan Bernstine and Debbie Murdock of his staff. We also had fruitful discussions with Directors Leslie Lehman and Roger Bassett, as well as State Representative Betsy Johnson of Scapoose, and Vice Chancellor Vines and Bob Bruce of the OUS staff.

Each of these visitors gave us important perspectives and information on the direction of OUS. Director Lehman explained that one of OUS's problems in dealing with the Legislature has perhaps been its willingness to muddle through with smaller budgets than are necessary to make the system work well, but that now it's time to speak out more assertively about the needs of higher education. This view was echoed in the comments of Director Bassett. He noted that one major problem we have is that public opinion is not on our side, because public education is just another pubic service, the crippling effect of which is compounded by the fact that the terms `public' and `public education' have `lost their tread,' to quote him, and that a fundamental belief of many in the public is that any surplus in the sate budget is fat and that their tax dollars should come back to them in one way or another. Against these realities, he recommended that its partisans should, as he put it, `run higher ed for statewide office;' that is, campaign for the system with the deadly seriousness, attention to critical constituencies, and urgency characteristic of a race for the governorship or the US Senate.

Perhaps a significant beginning to such a campaign was Mr. Bruce's appeal to us as faculty to help with the `town hall' presentations the Board is initiating throughout Oregon in the coming year. IFS members were receptive and willing to assist in getting the system's message to the public.

A more difficult audience than the general public is the Legislature and Representative Johnson gave us an unusually candid assessment of the state of knowledge in that body about higher education and the disposition of members toward it. She said, for example, that few lawmakers understand the RAM model and that certain of them perpetuate the myth that higher education advocates are `a bunch of whiners.' It was crystal clear from her remarks that we have a great deal to do between now and the next session if we are to get a fair or at least friendly hearing in what promises to be a financially meager environment.

From our Saturday session two primary issues emerged and I have been directed by my colleagues to raise them with you. I want to acknowledge Director Willis's pledge concerning IFS's inclusion in the search process. However, we respectfully renew our request to you for faculty and students to have a formal role at some strategic point in the process of the search for the new chancellor. Notwithstanding the Board's ultimate responsibility for choosing the next leader of the system, IFS and faculty throughout the system strongly believe a consensus on that person can best be achieved and, at the same time, the principles of shared governance be best served by an effort formally involveing faculty and student representatives.

The second matter concerns the OSU budget shortfall. OSU senators gave us a detailed description of the mechanics of budget cutting there and though we were disturbed by the volume of the figures involved, IFS was deeply impressed by the process the OSU administration has begun. It seems to us consultative and collegial; it seeks to engage rather than merely address the entire campus; in short, it appears to be a model of shared governance. IFS applauds this effort and commends it to others as a model for the process that looms everywhere in the coming months. We ask that the Board study the OSU experience and urge it, insofar as it is appropriate to their situations, on other leaders of the system.

These are my valedictory remarks to you and I feel great ambivalence about the occasion. On one hand, an important responsibility to my colleagues in the system, with all of the attendant pressures that suggests, to articulate their most pressing concerns, will be lifted from my shoulders forthwith. In that regard, I am particularly relieved to know that this seat will be taken by the very able Professor Elaine Deutschman, Professor of Mathematics at OIT, to whom you were introduced in October. Professor Deutschman, a six-year member of IFS, will represent us with distinction.

On the other hand, these reports have afforded me the opportunity to do what all faculty members would love to do: frankly tell those who make the policy under which we all function what's on their minds about citizenship in this system. It's hard to give up the soapbox, especially at this parlous point in the history of OUS, but it is also definitely time for a fresh voice to be heard.

However, if you will indulge me one last time, I would like to conclude my sessions with you with a few final observations gleaned from the months I've spent at these meetings and those of IFS.

First, I've learned the professors are the heart and soul of OUS. As I have traveled around the state to each campus, I have been struck by the accomplishment, energy, and dedication of the faculties at each university. Representative Johnson called me after the meeting to say how impressed she was by the conversations she had after her presentation, specifically the passion faculty felt about what they do. To me, that is typical.

In that regard, the thing that has been hardest for me this year, particularly when composing these reports, has been to hold in my mind simultaneously the opposing ideas that this is a great system and that we struggle against mediocrity at every turn. I've often wondered what it is that allows us all blandly to acknowledge the danger that the system will slide into insurmountable difficulties for lack of funds, but that we're still doing great. In my mind, it always comes back to the teachers and scholars: they are treasures and I'm proud to be their colleague. Second, I believe we should always remember that our system of public education, AP through graduate school, is one of the most significant cornerstones of our society. Thus, I hope you will bear in mind as you lay your plans that it is not just to create graduates equipped to enter the economy that the schools exist, although that is an important mission. The universities also must turn out persons who remember the past, have faith in the future, place a high value on reason as a way to deal with the world, appreciate equality, and practice tolerance. It is they, the liberally educated, who will be best equipped to lead a free and democratic society.

Above all, I ask that you not forget that access ought to be the sine qua non of all planning for the system. You should strive to provide opportunity to every single Oregonian capable of benefitting from a university education. It may be trite to say that the students are our future, but it is a home truth worth remembering every time you sit down at the table to decide the fate of the system. Thank you.