Who is CORE?

CORE is a non-profit advocacy group of faculty (tenure track, fixed term, adjunct), students and all those interested in changing the politics of public higher education in Oregon. We recognize that the problems facing Oregon are part of a general crisis in higher education in the United States at large.

We align ourselves with groups across the nation that are fighting similar battles in their institutions, which are collectively represented by the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education.

CORE Principles for the Oregon University System

To ensure the quality of higher education in Oregon, we recommend the administrations of the OUS system adopt the following principles and move towards implementation immediately.

1. Increase the percentage of university budgets devoted to classroom instruction to ensure smaller class sizes and more full time faculty with greater job security.
2. Cap tuition for students at no more than the inflation rate.
3. Offset revenue loss with cuts to administration, sports, new buildings, and facilities. At every turn, prioritize faculty – student interactions.

We believe that the Oregon University System's core mission, to provide accessible, quality higher education to Oregonians, must be preserved. We believe that quality higher education for all is a public good, like clean air and water. We all benefit from living within an educated, politically savvy, critically astute society. However, we recognize that the university system has not been making the most of the funds it has received.

The cost of higher education has mushroomed over the past twenty years in an unconscionable fashion. As public funding has decreased, the cost has been passed on to students, and the results are alarming. For example, Portland State tuition has more than doubled over the past ten years; tuition increased by 9% last year alone. The debt burden we are now passing on to students is unsustainable. Yet, even as costs have skyrocketed, the percentage of its budget that the university devotes to classroom instruction has steadily shrunk. We are asking students to pay more for less. If we are calling on Oregon citizens to renew their commitment to higher education, we have to match that appeal with a demand that the university focus on its core mission: to provide Oregonians with a quality education.

The PSU administration, like many other OUS schools', has responded to this down economy by asking faculty and students to shoulder the burden: they demand that faculty teach more classes, with more students in each class. We are educators; we are students. Anyone who has had a teacher who really made a difference knows that quality education cannot be measured by standardized tests. Education teaches us to see the world through new eyes; the university is where we learn to think not only pragmatically, but also creatively, critically. And we know that the university's attempts to "rationalize" education, to make it more "efficient," cuts that quality to the quick. We will fight with everything we have to maintain the standards that have given students a real chance to change their lives for the better for decades.

See Resources & Data for research on the connection between Student Success and CORE's Principles.