UO President & Provost Letter

Dear President Scholz and Provost Long,

As University of Oregon alumni and students, we are writing to express our hopes that our alma mater will help identify solutions to the crisis currently impacting Oregon Forensics: a program that has brought renown to the university for 130 years.

The abrupt and unexpected withdrawal of CHC support for Oregon Forensics immediately impacts hundreds of forensics students directly and others indirectly as well as nearly 400 high school students across the state, with minimal savings in the 2026 fiscal year. If nothing is done to remedy this action, students will lose irreplaceable travel competitions, scholarship opportunities, and the educational benefits of participation in events they have spent months preparing for — This harm will leave a deep and lasting mark on the members of our community and to the reputation of the university should no action be taken to remedy this abrupt decision and the instability it has created. Some students came to Oregon or plan to matriculate here because they were attracted to forensics.

There are several steps you could take to help solve this crisis over the short and long term. We urge the university administration to recognize the unique value of a robust and professional Forensics Department so that: 1) current students can participate in fall-quarter competitions; and 2) a stable institutional home is found where forensics can serve all students and continue to help the university realize its mission.

Switching forensics to a student club is unsustainable given the complexity, professional training needed, and even liability (national and international travel) inherent to Forensics. Student clubs drift from year to year, are reliant on the variable abilities of young scholars, and are unlikely to attract future support from alumni. The student club model is also manifestly inappropriate for the logistical management of one of the largest and best-regarded high school tournaments in the state, which brings hundreds of prospective freshmen to campus.

We understand that these are challenging times within the University and beyond, both economically and socio-politically. And yet, it is precisely because of the nature of these trying times that the survival of student activities firmly grounded in inquiry and public debate — of Oregon Forensics — is so deeply important. There is an enormous body of educational outcomes research that identifies the uniquely powerful educational value of forensics participation, helping students graduate on time and achieve more as undergraduates, acquire and refine life-changing professional abilities and career opportunities, provide opportunities to flourish as individuals, and enhance their leadership abilities and societal impact after graduation.

First, we request that you work with CHC Dean Stabile to effect a restoration of Forensics’ fall tournament calendar. The marginal cost of support for this fiscal year is virtually nothing. The funding for competition and travel is already allocated through ASUO and the Director of Forensics position is contractually funded through December 3rd. Forensics needs only logistical support and approval to spend these funds. Restoring the fall helps UO students, the University, and student programs across our entire state. Tournament registration deadlines and travel arrangements cannot be further delayed. Any delay in restoring a stable foundation for forensics planning this year will cause irrevocable damage to the educational opportunities of current students, and for only marginal budgetary saving, if any, this fiscal year.

Second, we seek your support connecting Forensics to a new departmental home. We also ask for your assurance that Forensics’ endowed funds will remain at the full disposal of participating students and dedicated staff members, as per the alumni donors’ intent. As Forensics departs CHC, we continue to emphasize the importance of finding a departmental home for Forensics. We call for the creation of a Working Group comprised of the ASUO President or other student leaders, members of the DFC, the Director of SGES or their delegate, the Director of Forensics, current forensics students from mock trial and debate, a full professor familiar with forensics, and one or more alumni, tasked to produce a report making making recommendations regarding an appropriate institutional home. We alumni wish to support the University in providing long-term professional staffing and coaching for the Oregon Forensics program in a manner that advances the University’s broader mission and that of the forensics department. Such a home is necessary to assure alumni that their support will directly benefit current and future forensics students.

Forensics is deeply rooted in research, scholarship, free speech, and civic engagement. To see it extirpated from the UO campus would result in immeasurable losses for the student body.

Following the simple step of making immediate forensics activities possible, we look forward to collaborating with you on how best to preserve the Department of Forensics — and its critical mission, well-aligned with the UO’s own — on the UO campus for years and decades to come.

Respectfully, but urgently,

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