Good afternoon.  

I am glad to be here today. It has only been two and a half weeks since President Trump took office. We have witnessed a blizzard of executive orders and other initiatives. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the ways we are working to meet the moment and position the UO to, at least, minimize harm in this period of disruption. In doing so, I will set the stage for my colleagues who follow me.   

I’ll start by expressing appreciation and echo the sentiments of what UO Senate President Schmitke said.   

A distinctive characteristic of President Trump’s is his ability to provoke and do it over and over. He will say many things outside what we’ve conventionally thought of as boundaries for typical political discourse. Since the 2016 Republican primary his ability to grab people’s attention has put many in reaction mode while he’s on to the next thing. It’s resulted in a new kind of politics.   

We’re seeing it again today. As a university, we should not jump to react to every possible development. Rather, we need to focus on our educational mission, analyze, measure, and understand the actual impact of any changes, and only then take action. And these actions must be rooted in our mission to educate and expand knowledge and understanding.   

We aren’t alone in navigating these challenges. We are in close touch with our peers in the AAU, the APLU and our Big Ten colleagues. I have been networking with AAU presidents and have met with Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici and Senator Jeff Merkley just in the last few days.   

Our Government and Community Relations team is talking regularly with our state and federal delegations as are other members of campus leadership. These are big issues; we’re on them and we are not alone.  In the fall, I appointed a short-term advisory group co-chaired by VP Yvette Alex-Assensoh and VP Kevin Reed. That group is working to help us sift through, understand, and better navigate possible policy and legal implications initiated by the Trump administration. The task force will report to me on a regular basis through the end of the academic year, and possibly beyond that if the situation warrants.   

One of the biggest challenges we and others in higher education are navigating is the lack of specificity of many of the announcements and executive orders. It puts universities in the position of scrambling to try to figure out what is being said, even before figuring out how one might respond. Meanwhile, those orders may be just as swiftly rescinded or challenged in the courts, as we saw last week. This fosters freneticism – a state of being that should generally be avoided in higher ed administration (and policy-making more generally).  

Put differently, I want us to focus on what actually changes should agencies enact new rules or guidance or should Congress enact new laws.   

This is not to say there are not disturbing, important issues we are grappling with. As one example, there was an executive order last week targeting gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19. This is something Kevin and his team are analyzing to determine what, if any, impacts there are for providing care at our health center. To date the University Health Services has not changed course in providing gender-affirming care for UO students who seek it.   

We will do everything we can within the law to support our students. Our efforts are helped by the state of Oregon, which provides broad protections for individuals seeking gender-affirming care and protections for those who provide such care.  

There are similar difficult, unresolved issues with immigration that I believe Dennis, Kevin and others will mention. We are working hard to monitor, work with higher education colleagues and political leaders to support our students and colleagues.  

This is a time to speak clearly about our mission and values to all those who will listen. To repeat myself, we educate so our students can make a good living and lead good lives. We expand the boundaries of knowledge and enhance the understanding of what it means to be human. What we do is profoundly important. Our diversity and inclusion efforts are structured to help all students be successful, whether first-generation students, rural students, veterans, or students from racial or ethnic groups that have historically had less access to higher education.   

Of course, a strength of the UO is we are not a monolith with one singular political perspective. Wehave colleagues, students and other stakeholders who support the Trump Administration. We must respect differences. At the same time, I encourage all to find your people, create community with them and, when possible, find comfort.  

We will continue to focus on the pillars of our strategic plan, Oregon Rising. Please be clear: the UO has a deep, long-standing commitment to creating a diverse and engaged community that welcomes a rich range of perspectives, lived experiences, and cultural and religious backgrounds. This commitment is grounded in our mission as a public university to serve and to advance society. It’s built on that care and shared commitment for one another.  

I’d like to end on a note of gratitude. Even amidst a challenging sea of uncertainty you all have continued to do the good work. It was wonderful to see students back on campus for the start of winter term.  

I was recently in Seattle for the final meeting of our accreditation process—we received many positive comments about the UO from our accreditation team. The School of Journalism also had an incredibly strong recent reaccreditation visit.  

I mentioned Oregon Rising. The President’s Diversity Advisory Community Council provided feedback on some of our goals at its most recent meeting, and our working groups have been reporting back to leadership. It’s exciting to see the strategic plan move from the announcement phase to seeing colleagues digging in and using it to begin to guide our work.  

All that to say: our work as a university continues. We will continue to think globally and act locally. It would be against our values as an institution of higher learning to put our heads in the sand and not be aware of the world around us.   

But, we will be purposeful in how we react to the events of the day. We will do so by monitoring carefully and staying connected to our networks, and doing what we can to support our community.  

I am extremely appreciative of all of you and for the work you do for the University of Oregon.   

Thank you.