Oregon Compact on Higher Education

A Living Document prepared by United Academics of the University of Oregon

The “Oregon Compact on Higher Education” is intended to contest the “Trump Compact” and to unite college and university students, staff, faculty, and allies across the state around our own positive vision for higher education reform.

Higher education in the United States has arrived at a crisis point. The rise of a market-oriented logic in higher education has transformed our colleges and universities into entities resembling private, profit-driven corporations. Students are increasingly regarded as sources of revenue, with escalating tuition costs leaving many deep in debt. And now the Trump administration has provoked assaults on free speech, student activism, and diversity efforts on our campuses, and is attempting to extort loyalty pledges from college and university leaders in exchange for funding.

In response to this erosion of our educational mission and assault on our freedoms, we stand in solidarity with one another in defense of higher education that is independent, democratic, and economically just, and that advances the common good.

After decades of disinvestment and recently intensified attacks, we unite to preserve, protect and defend higher education:

I. For the Common Good

We affirm that the mission of higher education in the United States is to create, preserve, and disseminate knowledge and educate students for the benefit of the common good. This mission unites nonprofit institutions, technical and vocational training programs, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and research universities and institutes.

This mission has been undermined by:

• the withdrawal of state funding from public colleges and universities
• the rise of a market-oriented logic in higher education
• escalating tuition costs and crippling debt for students
• brutal attacks on international students and faculty and on student and faculty activists
• censorship of faculty and students who research and teach on race, sex, gender, history and other targeted topics

To realize their educational mission, institutions of higher education must operate independently, with shared and democratic systems of governance, fair labor practices, and transparent modes of financial stewardship that free students from burdensome debt.

II. For Academic Freedom and Independence

Academic freedom is an essential component of freedom of expression, the bedrock on which all democratic freedoms rest. The freedom to think critically, to question, to disagree, to teach, to innovate, and to pursue knowledge wherever it leads without censorship, intimidation, persecution, or deportation is the lifeblood of education and democracy. It encourages questioning that can unsettle the status quo and challenge what may seem, at a given time in history, to be common sense. Together with other freedoms and protections enshrined in the US Constitution, academic freedom enables the people to pursue truth and justice, engage critically with power and society, and envision, organize, and build towards the future.

True academic freedom requires:

• the independence of colleges and universities in matters of research, admissions, curriculum, and governance
• a refusal to bow to government, corporate, or donor pressures to ally with specific ideological positions
• sufficient public funding that does not dictate the nature or aims of knowledge produced in and pursued at the institution
• the right to engage in civic education and debate, facilitating the negotiation of historical injustices and the pursuit of restitution, reconciliation, and justice  

The free pursuit of knowledge is inherently diverse and boundless, collaborative and cumulative, and encompassing of critique and disagreement. We steadfastly resist the erosion of and attacks on academic freedom and further commit to advancing a system in which it can truly flourish. Education is liberation – and academic freedom is its foundation.

III. For Democracy and Shared Governance

True academic freedom demands that knowledge be accessible to all members of society regardless of class, country of origin, migration or citizenship status, sex, gender, sexuality, race, religion, political beliefs or disability. Students must not be treated as customers, consumers, or mere human material molded according to the demands of an exploitative labor market. Rather they must be empowered as indispensable collaborators in their learning.

True fairness and economic justice require:

• the reinstatement of robust checks and balances at colleges and universities, in place of top-down management practices that mirror, and consequently facilitate, the de-democratization of society
• the formation and strengthening of student governments and college and university senates, enabling faculty, students, and staff to play a substantial, and not merely advisory, role in shaping policies and curricula
• students, faculty, and staff serving as voting members on college and university governing boards
• the protection of colleges and universities as meeting places for people who come from different backgrounds, with different values, aspirations, and expectations

We affirm that institutions of higher education should serve as training grounds in the history, values, aspirations, and challenges of democratic life. In the face of the current push toward authoritarianism in this country, we commit to an equally fierce push to defend democratic values and shared governance in institutions of higher education.

IV. For Fairness and Economic Justice

True academic freedom requires secure employment and labor rights. An educational system aligned with democratic values requires empowered workers at every level, expanded tenure protections for faculty, tuition-free attendance for students, robust rights for student workers and staff, and deep public investment, centering the common good – not private profit.

True fairness and economic justice require:

• the ability for all students to receive education without indebting themselves, no matter their background or family finances
• an end to unlawful union-busting activities, including interference in unionization drives
• the categorization of all student workers as employees by default
• a high-density of full-time positions, given that precarious, casual employment produces a vulnerability to academic freedom that managers, donors, and politicians can exploit if so inclined
• reduction of the average ratio of upper-administrator compensation to faculty and staff, including graduate and undergraduate student employees, to an equitable standard
• full financial transparency in regard to colleges and universities’ budget and asset allocations

We affirm that higher education institutions’ financial problems cannot be solved by casualizing work or exploiting students of any nationality or state of residence for tuition or fees. We commit to working towards free tuition for all students. This is achievable by altering our current systems of taxation to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share, and tax burdens on the poor are alleviated. Just as those who came before us recognized that primary and secondary education for all was a necessary public good, we recognize that free higher education, in all its forms, is similarly necessary for the good of all in today’s world.

We, the undersigned, unite to preserve, protect, and advance higher education for the common good, founded on academic freedom and independence, democracy and shared governance, fairness and economic justice.