One of our favorite things that is happening in this legislative session is something that appears to be not happening: House Bill 2888.
That’s the bill introduced by State Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth. It seems to be set to die.
The bill would sever the relationship between OSU-Cascades and OSU. OSU-Cascades would become its own separate entity — Central Oregon University. Employees and students would be shifted to the new school, apparently without any say in the matter. The new school would also be prohibited from offering any programs above a master’s degree. OSU-Cascades had announced plans in 2020 to begin offering a doctoral program in physical therapy in the fall of 2021.
Evans believes that OSU-Cascades is growing at the expense of other institutions in the state. That includes Western Oregon University, located in the district Evans represents. And to some extent, he is likely right. The Legislature must makes decisions about where to allocate dollars for higher education. It only has so much money to spend. OSU-Cascades does benefit from its connection to OSU in no small number of ways. Is that really a problem?
While most other colleges in Oregon and across the country were struggling with enrollment even before the pandemic, OSU-Cascades was growing at a steady clip. If meeting student demand for higher education is a goal for legislators and students want to go to OSU-Cascades, giving more money to support the growth of the campus is the right thing to do. Evans should be offering ideas to improve Oregon’s other institutions without the clear aim of undermining OSU-Cascades’ success.
This week is a kind of do-or-die week for legislation, as Gary Warner, who reports for The Bulletin and EO Media Group, put it. If a bill has not had a work session by Friday, it’s likely dead. It’s not certainly dead. It’s likely dead. There can be exceptions and there are workarounds, but generally no work session this week means no chance for a bill.
HB 2888 is in the House Education Committee. It has not had a work session. It is not scheduled for one.
Hooray.