President Karl Scholz and Provost Christopher P. Long sent the following message to staff and faculty on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.
Dear colleagues,
In our August 18 message to faculty and staff, we promised to provide details this week about the steps we are taking to reduce the projected $25-30 million deficit in our Education & General Budget. Today we are sharing the impact of the decisions we are taking.
We have identified $29.2 million in total recurring budget reductions that will substantially close our structural deficit. Of that total, $4.3 million represents permanent, non-labor related savings gained through cost-cutting in supplies and other spending. However, because by far the largest share of the Education and General Fund is comprised of salary and other payroll expenses, closing the budget gap necessitated reducing our labor costs.
We eliminated 59 vacant positions across nearly all employment categories, mitigating the degree to which we had to reduce filled positions. We also reduced the budget for pro-tem faculty and student worker positions. Commitments to current graduate employees will be honored; however, the institution will be funding fewer new graduate employees in the future. Nevertheless, we still had to eliminate 117 filled positions across the university, roughly half of which occurred earlier this year. These are distributed across officers of administration, classified staff, career faculty, and other staff.
Through careful consultation with deans, department heads and the University Senate, we were able to substantially close our budget deficit without eliminating any degree programs. And while we are cutting 20 filled career faculty positions and 14 unfilled tenure track faculty positions, we are not eliminating any filled tenure track faculty positions. More detail can be found at StrengtheningUO.uoregon.edu.
Every member of our community plays a role in advancing the educational and research mission of the university. Layoffs are a painful but necessary step, taken in consultation with leaders across the university. In making these decisions, we have prioritized the university’s academic mission and student success. The following principles were used to inform our decisions and our process:
Preserve the mission of the university
Our plan prioritizes our efforts to deliver the highest quality education possible to our students and support UO’s research mission, given available resources. Oregon Rising—our university’s strategic plan—has helped guide how we will invest in our future, even as we make difficult decisions. While our current actions put us on stronger financial footing, we will need to continue to carefully steward the university’s resources as we navigate a challenging and changing landscape for higher education.
Consultation
Decisions were informed by meaningful consultation that included leadership teams in the schools, colleges, administrative portfolios and with the University Senate Task Force on Budget Reductions. We have sought input from deans, department heads, and administration vice presidents as they proposed creative ideas to reduce budgets in ways that minimize the impact to our academic and research mission.
Responsible, strategic adjustments
Administrative and academic leaders were tasked with making decisions that involved reducing services, closing vacant positions, or, in difficult cases, eliminating current positions. In making such decisions, we asked leaders to be both strategic and creative, using local knowledge and long-term planning to inform the actions we have taken.
Communication
We have communicated proactively and regularly. University leadership and the Board of Trustees have been discussing our long-term financial challenges for several years, including at public board meetings in 2023, 2024, and as recently as June 2025. The university’s financial outlook is also frequently reviewed in collective bargaining sessions. This spring, as our budget picture became clear, the Board of Trustees directed us to initiate a plan to address the structural deficit.
More information—including a recording of the town hall in June, links to Board of Trustees meetings, and a list of FAQs—can be found at StrengtheningUO.uoregon.edu
Our colleagues who are being laid off make significant contributions to the university. They work in higher education because they believe in our mission to advance knowledge, conduct research, and support the aspirations of those pursuing degrees. The departure of such colleagues from our community is painful both for them and for those remaining at the UO. They will be missed. We will provide substantial transition support for all employees facing layoffs. This includes counseling, job coaching, financial advice, and other resources. These are available on the HR webpage for career transitions.
We understand these decisions have an enormous impact on our community and that the budget deficit has been a source of anxiety for our staff, faculty, and students. While today’s message outlines the hard choices we’ve made, it also marks a turning point. These actions, although difficult, support the university’s precious mission of education and research.
Sincerely,
Karl Scholz
President
Christopher P. Long
Provost and Senior Vice President