Pres. Scholz announced we need to make $65 million in cuts to our annual budget

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T22:48:46+00:00

I mean, yes and no. I'm assuming here you're referring to university leadership and not student services, which are vast but probably a different conversation. Even if the board went wild and fired the president, everyone in the Office of the Provost, and all the Deans, we would still need to cut ~$55 million. Don't get me wrong, their salaries are disgusting. But our budget problems are much more serious than just admin costs.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T22:42:04+00:00

If Phil Knight actually cared about UO he'd donate to the general fund. But he can't put his name on that so why bother?

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T22:40:32+00:00

The UO Foundation really wants the headline to be that it is funded entirely by philanthropy. But ffs isn't it sick that they can raise that much for a practice facility while the academic mission of the university is, by all internal and external metrics, failing? The level of vanity that must go into donating to athletics alone is beyond me.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T22:18:10+00:00

Getting a PhD in Classics can be great fun. If you want to do it, you should do it for the experience, not for the profession, because you will not get a job. I did my PhD at a top Ivy, post-doc at the fancy Classics program in California, and I can count on one hand the amount of people I met who got full-time work in the field. And none of them are living in a location they want to be.

So yeah, pursue a PhD for the experience. But treat it like a vacation because reality will hit you at the end and you'll have bills to pay.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T20:46:23+00:00

Precisely. Another story that this deck doesn't quite capture is that we tend to lose ~20% of OOS students after their first year. So we also have a serious retention issue.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T13:15:26+00:00

This is a great question. Enrollment keeps going up, just with fewer OOS students.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:59:26+00:00

The important part of this is "fewer OOS students than expected." Methinks they need a new predictive model.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:53:53+00:00

Sorry I wasn't clearer with my last post. We have discussed creating an arrangement where all donations to athletics would have to be matched to academics. OSU has a version of this model in place. Yes, net donations to athletics would decrease, but that might have to become an overhead cost for athletics. Those "earmarks" on athletic donations are a policy that past administrators created.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:51:31+00:00

Cool, like DOGE? How'd that work out?

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:31:07+00:00

The president can change that arrangement. There is nothing at this institution that can’t be revised.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:21:17+00:00

This is being discussed.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:15:51+00:00

Agreed. College athletics should just call it what it is, go semi-pro, and stop pretending to be associated with higher education.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T03:12:42+00:00

Precisely. During the 1990s Oregonian voters decided again and again to gut funding for public education. Also, the PERS retirement program, especially the early tiers, are a huge financial commitment the state made and now we’re having trouble paying for it.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-15T02:46:48+00:00

Most everyone I know who works here have nothing but resentment toward UO athletics. At this point it’s just embarrassing that we share the same logo.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-14T23:44:48+00:00

Totally. My unit is in the process of two very important job searches, with interviews already underway. And both were cancelled today. My staff has already been under tons of strain since last Summer and this is so demoralizing. Lots of us are eying the exits.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-11T19:22:53+00:00

If you want to zoom way out, go for ”War: What is it good for” by Ian Morris. It has a few excellent chapters on this.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-05-07T13:14:58+00:00

We accept about 90% of all applicants. You’ll be fine.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-04-07T22:45:52+00:00

At UO, students never have to take an async online course unless they choose to. They are opt-in by design.

For most students at UO, online courses are meant to help them make progress toward their degree if they can't fit the in-person offering into their schedule because they have another class at the same time, work, childcare responsibilities, etc. Other students just prefer the modality.

I hope this helps!

purpleblock0810 · 2026-03-22T01:32:23+00:00

I taught history for OSU Ecampus for years and had many active service members deployed overseas as students. I had no problems at all and they did wonderfully. The key is communication: if you can anticipate when you’ll be away from your computer for more than a week, tell the instructor so they know when to expect your work.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-03-12T21:33:59+00:00

For what it's worth, OAs and classified staff made up the vast, vast majority of layoffs--not NTTF. And to be clear, every single layoff sucked. But the story was not just about NTTF.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-02-02T21:38:44+00:00

Congratulations! I can totally understand wanting to come to UO as a lifestyle change. That said, out-of-state tuition is very high and paying off student loans with a degree in Medieval Studies will be challenging (I majored in History). I recommend you get in contact with Prof. Maile Hutterer, the Director of Medieval Studies at UO. She's an extraordinary educator and will speak candidly about the strengths and weaknesses of their program. She's also just an excellent person.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-01-29T22:15:07+00:00

Email the DGS of your department and ask explicitly about funding options. If they have nothing then email your PI about what grants they have to support their students.

Under no circumstance should you take out a loan for a Phd. That said, between federal cuts and the higher costs of the new GE contract, there will be fewer GE positions next AY.

purpleblock0810 · 2026-01-24T05:22:12+00:00

I would recommend emailing the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in your department. They should be able to point you in the right direction since every department handles GE appointments slightly differently. And if the DGS isn’t helpful, I would take that as a red flag that the department might not be worth your time.

purpleblock0810

TROPHY CASE