Dear Peter:

Many thanks for forwarding the message from IFS Pres Elaine Deutschman. I am very pleased that she managed to wrestle a faculty voice at the strategic planning meeting - she should be congratulated as I bet she met some stiff resistance.

Regarding issues to discuss, I list below a few issues that are paramount to faculty at the U of O. Please note that this list has been generated without consultation due to time constraints, thus I speak only for myself.

•  1. Quality vs access. Access may be "the most critical issue of public interest" (quoted from the facilitator's report of 18 Apr 02), however access without quality is counterproductive to our educational goals and mandate. The current outcry about the declining quality of Oregon's K-12 schools attest to the public's desire for quality AND access. The insistance on quality in our educational institutions is not limited to K-12: it should not be forgotten that Lane Community College recently increased tuition by ~25% rather than cut programs and quality.
• 2. Financial stability. No institution, public or private, is capable of meeting its goals and expectations if its financial solvency is constantly undermined. A long term, stable funding solution for education, both higher and lower, must be found.
• 3. Individual institutional flexibility. Each OUS institution serves different populations with different needs and requirements. Efforts should be made to increase the flexibility of institutions in order to achieve their individual goals rather than homogenize the entire system to provide everything for everybody at all campuses. Mediocrity should not be an aspirational goal for Oregon's higher educational system.
• 4. Research and teaching are complementary not contradictory. Research and teaching are two arms of the same organism -- as a society and as individuals, learning does not occur without generating new knowledge. Research is not a backwater of academia but the heart of the learning process. It must be strongly supported.
• 5. Managed growth. For 15 years the U of O has strained to make due with less, and less, and less. Now we are facing budget cuts and increasing enrollment. Something has to give - either we get enough funds to teach the extra students we are facing or we must limit enrollment. If neither option is chosen, we will be unable to provide our services even at current levels, let alone do better.
• 6. Faculty involvement in OUS decisions. Faculty are the heart and soul of the Oregon University System but our voice is usually not heard when hard decisions are made at the Board, OUS and Legislative levels. All decisions, both major and minor, should have faculty input. Good communication equals a better system.

Professor of Biology Institute of Neuroscience University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403 USA Phone: 1-541-346-4510 FAX: 1-541-346-4548