End of Term Message from President Cudd
Dear PSU Students, Faculty and Staff,
As we wrap up fall term and head into the holidays, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for the outstanding community that is Portland State. Your dedication to our students and to this institution is nothing short of inspiring.
As I’ve already shared in marking my first 100 days as PSU’s president, the fall term has been packed with action and while I know we continue to face daily challenges, I am heartened to see the progress we are making on our collective goals.
Looking ahead to winter term, I am pleased to see that our share of fully in-person classes will increase from 55% of all course offerings in fall term, to 61% in winter term. That still falls short of where we were before the pandemic. Making progress toward rebuilding our in person offerings matters greatly to me, not just because a vibrant campus is one of the goals set for me by the Board of Trustees, but also in the promise it holds for students to reach their full potential at Portland State.
Research continues to surface showing that face-to-face interactions matter so much for our mental health and our ability to learn. A recent Unesco report called the pandemic era reliance on technology in education nothing short of a tragedy for the way it exacerbated inequities. Individuals learn in many ways, but there are irreplaceable benefits to face-face interaction with teachers and peers. When you are sitting at home alone in front of a screen you miss opportunities for tacit learning as well as serendipitous interactions that lead to learning breakthroughs. While online instruction can be effective for learning narrowly targeted skills, Portland State must continue to rebuild opportunitiesEnd of Term Message from President Cudd for in person instruction, especially for our undergraduate students.
In addition, our team in University Communications is focused on promoting our fantastic array of events as we continue to move our campus back toward pre-pandemic levels of activity. We need to rebuild our community and a culture of belonging and simply having fun.
Free speech, academic freedom, and concerns about harassment and hate speech have been top of mind this term with tensions around the war in the Middle East running high on our campus. As an institution of higher education, we have a critical and complex role to play at this time. We must protect the right to free speech and the academic freedom of our scholars. At the same time, we are morally and legally obligated to protect our students from harassment and hate based on race, color, religion or national origin. We are seeing students across the country deeply harmed by hate and we have heard this charge from students here at PSU on both sides of the conflict. While the line between speech and harassment can be a murky one, that ambiguity will not stop us from taking action to protect individuals who are targeted based on their protected identity — if you feel you have been targeted, please let us know.
Portland State University stands for the dignity and respect of all persons, as well as the right to advocate for and debate deeply held views about social and political events. We will not tolerate interference with students’ right to an environment free of harassment. We are looking into all such charges and considering what steps we can take to make sure that students feel safe and can participate freely in their education.
To further respectful dialogue, protect freedom of speech and academic freedom, and secure the sense of safety for all of our students, in consultation with Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion Ame Lambert, I am putting together a committee to examine and address our campus environment around issues of antisemitism and anti-Arab hate. We are currently reaching out to prospective members and scoping a charge for the group and I will have more information for the campus about the committee and its focus in January.
After the winter holidays, I’m looking forward to digging in with all of you on our strategic planning effort. There will be multiple ways for students, employees, faculty members, and interested community members to get involved in helping us establish the strategic imperatives that will guide us into the future. I urge you to have your voice heard. There are challenging decisions to be made and this work will position us to make them with clarity.
One of my highlights in recent weeks was watching the Portland State Men’s Viking Basketball team defeat University of Portland with a buzzer-beating basket in a loud and lively Viking Pavilion. I’m wishing all of us that level of energy and excitement in our pursuits as we enter the new year!
Sincerely,
Ann Cudd
Portland State University President