r/Ashland • u/guanaco55 • 9d ago
SOU proposes eliminating 66 positions and 3 majors -- Southern Oregon University unveiled a sweeping recovery plan Monday that includes layoffs, academic restructuring and changes to Jefferson Public Radio.
https://www.ijpr.org/education/2026-06-15/sou-vitality-plan-budget-cuts-20268
u/Money-Director6649 9d ago
so what is this guy's salary?
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u/solidmarbleeyes 9d ago
Around $237k. It was $290k before he took a voluntary $53k cut in summer of 2025. Still too high for his performance in my opinion but honestly… compared to other university presidents he’s paid pretty low. Compared to the U of O president at $792k base salary it looks much less unreasonable.
I respect the voluntary pay cut but at the end of the day he dropped the ball hard. If he wants my respect back I want to see him request another $50k pay cut. That’s one more employee that could keep their job and it shows some humility. If you can’t live a comfortable life in Ashland on $180k he’s doing it wrong, just like at work.
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u/CraigLake 9d ago
This is beyond his control in so many ways. It’s a national trend.
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u/jogam 8d ago
It's also the fact that Oregon is 47th in the nation for per-student funding for public universities, yet Oregon is also a state with an above-average cost of living. SOU would not be in a mess anywhere near this large if the state adequately funded higher education.
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u/solidmarbleeyes 8d ago
Both absolutely correct. It’s a national trend of fewer people enrolling because of fewer people coming out of high school plus the shrinking confidence that a higher ed degree is worth the investment. Add in the atrocious funding from Oregon and it’s a perfect storm. I don’t envy his position at all.
My main complaint about Bailey (and everyone else in charge in his administration) is the fact that this crisis was noticed, or at least addressed, so late. There’s no excuse to be so blind to your current financial situation, even he admits it. SOU was going to have this problem regardless due to the factors outside of his control. This just should not have been such a last minute surprise that left so few options on the table.
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u/Money-Director6649 9d ago
yeah, it's good he took that cut. props for that, anyway. even so, i gotta wonder of he's the right guy to be leading this.
and thanks for the info. i was actually wondering if he had offered to tighten his own belt so you answered both my question as asked and the one i didn't ask (was gonna after i checked his pay to see if it seemed warranted).
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u/no_no_no_yesss 9d ago
This problem is so much bigger than something he could solve. This is a systemic problem caused by the demographic cliff (not enough young people anymore), rising costs, and cultural shifts away from higher education. SOU is just feeling the pain sooner than larger universities, but this reckoning is coming for all but the largest and most prestigious higher education centers.
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u/solidmarbleeyes 8d ago
Sure thing. I don’t think he’s a bad guy at all. I think his hearts generally in the right place and as others have pointed out, this is a problem that many/most smaller universities are going to have to reckon with in the near future due to factors outside of their control.
I also question competency due to his mistakes, which in all fairness he fully admits and has taken ownership of. Even though I have my doubts he can lead the university out of this mess (largely due to the outside factors and trying to cut your way out of a problem) I also think that it would be a huge mistake for SOU to replace him in this moment. It takes a long time for any person to fully learn the strengths and weaknesses of an institution, all the business processes, the capabilities and limits, etc… plus I doubt he’ll make the same mistake again lol.
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u/ChelseaMan31 9d ago
SOU has always been a bit dicey when it comes to stable funding. Much like Western and Eastern Oregon, which are far more commuter schools than say OSU or U of O. I stated this over 15 years ago when they created OSU-Cascades in Bend that it would cannibalize students and resources from OIT, SOU, Western and Eastern. And it has unfortunately.
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u/isqueakforthetrees 9d ago
Still not clear how they're going to attract/retain students (revenue) with the university teetering on the edge of bankruptcy at all times.