Dear Campus Community,
First and foremost, congratulations to the more than 4,800 graduates who will be walking across the stage in a few short days! You all define the success of PSU!
To begin, here are some highlights from the committee meetings held on Thursday, June 5.
- Governance Committee (GOV) discussed the results from the recent board survey that focused on the skills and competencies for potential trustees. This conversation brought in leaders from ASPSU and the Faculty Senate.
- Academic & Student Affairs Committee (ASAC) had two briefings on the state of enrollment and the Graduate School. Both of these briefings acknowledged the broad challenges that higher education is facing at the moment and the potential impacts to our student population.
- Executive & Audit Committee (EA) moved forward four action items, which will be shared below, and closed out the meeting with an executive session on cybersecurity.
- Finance & Administration Committee (FA) focused their conversations around the budget for FY 2025-26, which all moved forward to the full board.
Next, we want to highlight actions from the full board meeting on Friday, June 6.
- Action Items that were in the consent agenda: Implementation of SB 273 and the report due to the legislature in July, FY 2025-26 Internal Audit plan and election of board officers.
- FY 2025-26 Budget The board moved forward with a preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year, with two items of note. During the September meetings, a revised budget and plan will be brought to the board outlining how we will close the structural deficit by FY 2028.
- Model for Partnerships and Investments advanced following a recommendation from the Committee on Socially Responsible Investments & Partnerships. The resolution noted that the university will use an institutional neutrality model for investments and partnerships, and highlighted some additional actions — such as establishing an advisory committee for review of concerns that are raised about potential investments and partnerships and development of a process for tracking partnerships — that will take place over the summer. Support for this model was not unanimous and led to beneficial debate among the trustees, but it does provide the maximum support for free speech and free inquiry on campus and does not preclude the university from taking principled stands on issues as appropriate. Updates will be shared with the Board of Trustees and the campus community in the fall and as needed.
During the board meeting, we also had three standing reports that I would like to highlight for the campus community:
- The Portland State University Foundation (PSUF) shared updates on their work this past year including their fundraising efforts and allocations of funds back to the university. The Foundation is on track to meet their annual $45 million fundraising goal, which would be the largest for PSUF to date.This report represents a snapshot of what they will be sharing when they bring back a more comprehensive impact report to the board in the fall, a recommendation from the Committee on Socially Responsible Investments & Partnerships.
- Jill Emery shared her final report for the Faculty Senate as presiding officer. The report recognized the impacts of this past year, but also shared hope for how we can move together as we develop a plan for financial sustainability.
- Brady Roland closed out this portion of the meeting with a passionate and moving call for us to come together. While I don’t quite have the words to describe her remarks, I encourage you all to look at the meeting recording as her remarks again remind us why we are all here — for our students.
Recognizing Trustees
- Student trustees AJ, Jasmine, and Angelika are all set to participate in the commencement ceremonies later this week. All three of our student trustees have brought forward the voices of students, and I have appreciated their perspectives on the issues that have come before the Board over the past year. I wish them well on their next chapters and I have every confidence in their future success.
- Greg Hinckley is officially rolling off the board as the longest serving trustee and board chair. As I shared in my remarks, he embodies an advocate for PSU not only by his service on the board but through his dedication to the campus community.
Public Comment
During the full board meeting, we heard 14 people share public comments and reviewed a number of written comments submitted for the record. The key themes from the public comments questioned a recent employment action, the institutional neutrality model for partnerships and investments, and the ongoing campus environment.
While we cannot comment on personnel matters, we heard the concerns and I have consulted with President Cudd about the matters that were brought up during public comment.
The model for partnerships and investments was also mentioned many times during the public comments with concerns raised about the implications of institutional neutrality. As highlighted above, the model is being introduced in part to protect free speech on campus and a new advisory committee will be established to provide a venue for concerns to be raised from the campus community.
Closing
For my final message as board chair, I want to reflect and share some remarks as we move into the summer and prepare for the upcoming year. I have had the pleasure of serving as first the search chair for President Cudd's hiring committee and now as the board chair for the past two years. While I believe we can all agree that the past couple of years were not what we had hoped for following the pandemic, one thing I believe to be true is the dedication, willingness and care that our entire campus community has for the long-term success of our beloved institution. While we will undoubtedly have more challenging times ahead of us, let us come together, collaborate, listen and believe that as we move forward, we must do it together, we must believe in each other, and we must do this for our students, our staff, our faculty, and our community.
While we won’t see each other until the fall, I want to remind everyone that we are in this together and look forward to ensuring that we move forward together.
Benjamin Berry
Board of Trustees Chair