We, the undersigned members of the Oregon State University community, call on President Murthy to reverse the termination of tenured faculty in the College of Health and reaffirm the university’s commitment to shared governance, academic freedom, and tenure protections.

In August 2025, three tenured Professors in OSU’s College of Health received “not for cause” termination notices following a sudden “reorganization” of the Family and Community Health Program. The Administration cited OSU’s loss of a federally-funded Oregon SNAP-Ed program as justification, despite the fact that these tenured faculty positions were not supported by the SNAP-Ed grant. The funding loss appears to have been used as a pretext to downsize an entire College of Health program.  

The terminated faculty have dedicated decades of service to OSU through their teaching, research, service, and Extension in partnership with Oregon’s communities. Despite having earned tenure - intended to contractually protect continuous, “indefinite” employment expectations of their tenured academic faculty positions - these highly accomplished women scholars, OSU full professors, were neither consulted nor offered alternatives to unexpected job loss, such as voluntary FTE adjustments, reassignment to another unit, or accelerated retirement and emerita. Everything about the manner in which the terminations were carried out raises serious concerns about the erosion of academic freedom, shared governance, due process, and job security for all faculty. These terminations blatantly violate OSU’s own policies on program reorganization and elimination, Oregon state statute, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement between UAOSU and the OSU Administration. If three OSU College of Health tenured professors were terminated in this way, in this instance, we are left to believe that academic faculty position elimination and “not for cause” termination can happen like this to any faculty member, in any position, at any time. Taken with the sudden elimination of the Search Advocate Program and the Social Justice Education Initiative earlier this year, it is another troubling sign of the OSU Administration’s disregard of honoring policies and regulations.

By eliminating tenured positions without transparent, inclusive shared governance processes, the Administration has undermined the core principles of the Academy. Tenure is not a privilege—it is an individually earned, foundational promise that safeguards academic freedom and ensures OSU remains a trusted source of education, research, engagement and Extension service for all Oregonians. Tenure in its protection of academic freedom serves as a key pillar of a democratic Academy. This Administration’s action threatens public trust in Oregon’s only land-grant university and its mission to equitably engage and extend research and education across the state. At a time when academic freedom faces increasing pressure nationwide, OSU must stand firm in protecting its “Prosperity Widely Shared” principles and professoriate that define a world-class public land-grant university.

We respectfully urge President Murthy to restore trust in tenure and shared governance by immediately reinstating the three terminated Professors to their College of Health positions.