
Leaders from Portland State University's student government showed support for faculty impacted by layoffs at a Jan. 24 Board of Trustees meeting.
Tiffany Camhi / OPB
Tension remains high at Portland State University as administrators continue to navigate a rocky path to financial stability.
Last month, PSU announced it was laying off 17 non-tenure track faculty. The cuts are part of a larger effort to streamline the university’s finances and fill an $18 million budget shortfall.
At Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, faculty and students warned the cuts could negatively impact the university. Department chairs said some of the faculty included in the layoffs teach classes with high enrollment and the cuts could threaten students’ chances of completing certain degree programs.
Angela Coventry, chair of PSU’s philosophy department, said three teaching faculty in her department received termination letters in December.
“Their loss irreparably harms our students and contradicts PSU’s mission to provide accessible, high quality education, foster an inclusive community and contribute to the region’s future through responsible stewardship,” said Coventry at the meeting.
Earlier this month, PSU’s faculty senate voted on a resolution calling for greater transparency surrounding the layoffs. It also proposed alternatives to job losses, like administrative pay cuts and voluntary furloughs.
Students who spoke at the meeting called the cuts shortsighted and questioned the board on decisions to invest in infrastructure rather than education.
“Please, take a pause,” said PSU student Alcina Jeudy. “Take a good look and ask, ‘Are we doing this right?’”
At the meeting, PSU’s board approved a new $85 million student housing project. A university spokesperson said the building is not funded through Portland State’s education and general funds. In a press release announcing the project Friday, the university said it will use debt financing to pay for the building.
In addition to the non-tenure track faculty who received layoff notices last month, a total of 35 faculty are retiring voluntarily at the end of this school year. Most of the faculty in this group have accepted a retirement cash incentive offered by the university in November.
Preliminary figures presented at a Board of Trustees committee meeting Thursday show this program is helping the university save more than $4 million.
The university also plans to reduce its workforce by not filling some current vacancies, not renewing contracts for some adjunct faculty and reducing the number of its graduate teaching assistants.
PSU President Ann Cudd said administrators did everything they could to minimize layoffs. But she said substantial changes must be made to the university’s operations to close the budget gap this year. Portland State is currently on track to close that deficit.
“We’re working for PSU’s future,” said Cudd at the Friday meeting. “Change is necessary despite the pain it can cause.”
Faculty union, university in mediation
Ahead of the board meeting, nearly 100 members of Portland State’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors braved freezing temperatures to rally outside the meeting. The union represents more than 1,200 faculty and academic professionals at PSU.
Members of the PSU American Association of University Professors faculty union picket outside a Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 24, 2025.
Tiffany Camhi / OPB
All 17 faculty who received layoff notices last month are PSU-AAUP members.
The union has been negotiating a new contract with the university since last June. This month both parties entered mediation, with wages as the last remaining sticking point.
Union leaders say there has been some movement from both sides while in mediation.
“We’ve got a lot of support for our position at the bargaining table,” said David Kinsella, PSU-AAUP’s vice-president for collective bargaining. “We hope that it helps bring the administrative team around to negotiate a fair contract.”
Despite some progress at the bargaining table, the union and Portland State administration still disagree on the severity of the university’s financial situation.
A report commissioned by PSU-AAUP last fall concluded that “PSU is in a solid financial position.” But Portland State administrators maintain that the university’s finances are dire.
At the November Board of Trustees meeting Chair Benjamin Berry ordered a comparison of the union’s analysis to the university’s audited financial statements. It was a move that sought to rebuild trust within the PSU community and increase transparency.
The university released that comparison earlier this week. It found that much of the union’s report, which looked at PSU’s finances from 2015 to 2023, was correct. But Portland State’s finance and administration team concluded that PSU-AAUP’s analysis did not fully account for future financial scenarios the university could find itself in, like a continuation of falling enrollment and flattening support from the state.
These are situations that are looking more real to PSU leaders as the school year progresses.

Portland State University President Ann Cudd (left) and Board of Trustees Chair Benjamin Berry (center) listen to public comment at a trustees meeting on Jan. 24, 2025.
Tiffany Camhi / OPB
Kinsella said PSU-AAUP is still looking at the university’s comparison and plans to respond to the board soon.
Union and administration bargaining teams are scheduled for two more negotiation sessions next week. If the union decides not enough progress is made during those sessions it could call for an impasse on Jan. 30. That move would kick off a process that could lead to a strike.
PSU-AAUP has never gone on strike. But strikes have happened repeatedly in Oregon in recent years, including among graduate employees at Oregon State University. PSU student leaders at the trustees meeting told administrators if a strike were to occur, the union would have the support of students.
“If the administration forces a strike, Associated Students of PSU will rally as many students as possible to walk the PSU- AAUP strike lines to fight for conditions for students, faculty and staff, and what we deserve,” ASPSU President Brady Roland said.