As leaders work to finalize a plan to keep the university afloat, SOU students are nervous.
At a town hall Wednesday, students brought up concerns about the role of AI, the possibility of tuition increases and program consolidations.
Provost Casey Shillam responded that the institution will have to make major shifts in order to survive.
“It’s going to be a very big change, and at the same time, how do we do this in a way that isn’t just closing a program and that being the answer, because that can’t be the answer,” she said.
Freshman Mason George said he didn’t know about many amenities and resources the university offers. Doing a better job marketing those, he said, could entice more students to attend.
“A lot of schools will build stuff like lazy rivers to bring students in and make that a centerpiece of their advertising,” he said. “We have enough student programs that we don’t need to make a lazy river. We just need to advertise all of the things that we give to students a lot better.”
SOU’s new website will go live this fall, and the university is already undergoing a marketing campaign.
Other students suggested the university focus on donations and selling off properties.
At a student town hall on June 3, 2026, SOU sophomore Tyler Penney shows President Rick Bailey and Provost Casey Shillam her suggestions for restructuring the university's academic programs.
Jane Vaughan / JPR
Sophomore Tyler Penney presented her outline for restructuring the university’s academic model, with a series of core departments and concentrations within each.
Student body vice president Lillian Alexander agreed, particularly with reworking the general education requirements.
“When narrowing down programs and seeing what students are actually interested in, a restructuring of the gen ed system we currently have would really show you what students are actually interested in as opposed to what they are being put in a box to take,” she said.
SOU President Rick Bailey thanked students for their input.
“The last thing that I think anyone wants is for me to make this decision in a vacuum or in a cave or in a backroom,” he said. “The goal was to try to get as many ideas, proposals, recommendations as we could so that we could get to a better strategic decision.”
At the same time, Bailey said, the institution is facing “an existential challenge.”
“What we put forward and what we end up giving to the board of trustees, I doubt that there will be anyone on our campus happy about it,” he said. “Including me.”
Two new workgroups are currently assessing the university’s administrative footprint and academic portfolio. The groups, made up of faculty and staff, will make recommendations.
A transformation advisory committee — which includes representatives from the board of trustees, students, faculty and staff — has also been meeting and giving feedback.
The administration will release a draft of what’s called the SOU Vitality Plan on June 15, with the board of trustees voting on it on June 18.
Once a plan is approved, all changes to the university must be completed by June 2027, when SOU is projected to run out of cash without any adjustments.
The university must have a long-term plan for financial sustainability in order to receive $15 million from the state legislature, which would help support SOU over the next fiscal year.
JPR is licensed to Southern Oregon University, but our newsroom operates independently. Guided by our journalistic standards and ethics, we cover the university like any other organization in the region. No university official reviewed or edited this story before it was published.
Jane Vaughan is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
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