President Karl Scholz gave the following remarks to the University of Oregon Senate on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
Good afternoon.
It’s good to be with you all again.
As we start another term, I’d like to speak today about a challenge for higher education and how we might try to meet this challenge together, and make a better world for ourselves, our students and the world.
Specifically, I want to talk about polling that a friend sent, both his results and polling from the Pew Research Center.
It wasn’t that long ago that universities were considered to be trusted and a source of progress and national pride. This perception has changed sharply over the last decade. Now, colleges are being viewed through the same partisan lens that has eroded trust in government and media. Our current challenges are particularly acute as we have watched for more than a year as the Trump administration has attacked institutions of higher learning, trying to force them to conform to a specific set of ideologies or pay the consequences.
While the public’s political leanings have some influence on polling results, there’s a trend to a more negative view of what we do across party lines. It shows the public is rethinking whether universities still serve them. This isn’t about Republicans or Democrats or one generation questioning the utility of a college degree. It’s a broad-based loss of faith in the value proposition of college itself.
The numbers are grave. Only 18 percent of Americans say they have a “great deal” of confidence in higher education. It’s rooted in poor performance in key areas. 79% of adults give colleges negative marks for failing to keep tuition affordable, and strong majorities also doubt our ability to deliver core education value or prepare students for well-paying jobs and developing critical thinking skills.
The third concern and loss of trust comes from nearly half of Americans expressing negative views about whether universities expose students to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints. Combine this all and more than half of the country believes that “higher education is an unaffordable and culturally restrictive system that fails to deliver on its foundational promises of intellectual and economic advancement.”
I bring this to you not to make the dreary Oregon winter somehow grayer, but instead in hopes we can find ways to work together on fighting these perceptions at the University of Oregon. No single university is going to solve these things by themselves, but this is a big deal, and these perceptions really shape how we manage our current times. They profoundly influence the state legislature and public support. People aren’t clamoring to say universities are doing great things and the return on investment of public dollars is high. And that’s a problem for us.
The issue is that this perception isn’t accurate to the facts. College is not just a financial investment, but on average it pays off well. College graduates tend to earn 88% more per year than high school graduates during their working lives. These numbers imply college has a rate of return that beats all other conventional financial investments. It’s a person’s chance to invest like Warren Buffett.
I will also say, while anecdotal, my student focus group with the ASUO said they have had no issue and are pleased with the varied perspectives they get in classes at the UO.
I don’t necessarily agree with the polling, the two above points being reasons why. But the perception is a reality and context that we all must navigate, whether we agree with it or not.
For my part, I want to find ways to respect and honor faculty and staff even more so. For us to find all the things we have in common. When it seems like the world is against us—and public universities are facing all sorts of external pressures— we can’t show our internal cracks. So how do we protect ourselves, our mission, our students? One way is to show the world that we are a strong, a unified front. That the UO is moving together toward something great.
I am quite optimistic about our ability to show through our work that we are still incredibly important to the economic wellbeing of our state and region and that a college degree from the UO is something to be valued. I interact with donors, alumni, business leaders, and state and federal legislators, many of whom express views in line with the Pew poll. A large part of my job is to convince and show them the other side. Of the great work you all are doing. Of the incredible research we are performing and the lives we’re changing.
For example, despite state funding that continues to lag behind the national average, 60 percent of our students graduate with no debt. I will concede that this stat doesn’t include Parent Plus loans, but our financial aid offerings give our students a chance to earn their degrees and not be set back after graduation.
And what of post-grad? Graduating on time and career preparation are two pillars of our strategic plan, and along with this body and every unit across the university, we are focusing on ways to make sure our graduates are positioned to thrive in the workforce.
We are also proving we are a vital part of the state’s economic engine. We are partnering with Oregon State to create an innovation corridor in the southern Willamette Valley, working with the local chambers of commerce and businesses so when our students graduate, we keep them in state. Our recent economic impact study also shows that we return more than $15 per $1 spent on public education in this state.
To me the path forward is simple. At the University of Oregon we want to shape the next generation of thinkers. We want to advance knowledge of what it means to be human. We want our campuses to be places where students can come and thrive under the tutelage of world-class educators. Where academic freedom and exposure to other viewpoints isn’t shunned but celebrated.
My friend says at the end of his blog that the polling numbers aren’t really about rejection but rather expectation. Americans still want their universities to succeed. They just want them to do so on terms that feel fair, affordable, and aligned with public purpose. Our challenge is to show that they were listening and leading.
And that’s where I have the greatest optimism. We have outstanding people here. The sentiments in the poll disappoint me more because if we all think about our experience in college, we all have one, two or maybe more faculty members who made profound impacts on our lives or an experience that shapes who we are. That’s what colleges are all about, and it’s up to us to remind our community of that.
Thank you.