Current students and alumni of the University of Oregon’s speech, debate and mock trial teams are on the defensive after learning college administrators plan to reduce support for the nearly 150-year-old program.
The nationally-recognized program, also known as Oregon Forensics, teaches students to research, analyze, present and defend a variety of ideas and viewpoints in a public setting. But even with these sharpened critical thinking skills, some students are having a hard time understanding university leadership’s decisions to cut staff support and remove the program from the school’s Clark Honors College.
“Cutting the forensics program is not only a decision made directly against the program and its members, it’s also a political one,” UO student Kieran Rezvani said at a Sept. 16 board of trustees meeting. “In an era of political strife, cutting a program that aims for inclusion, free speech, education, discussion and advocacy goes directly against the [principles] the university so proudly advertises.”
UO leaders pulled staff resources from the forensics program earlier this month. It plans to transition forensics from a co-curricular program housed within the Clark Honors College into a student-led club. Officials with the university said this move was not an easy decision to make.
“For many years, tuition paid by Clark Honors College students has funded the staff positions for Forensics, even though most participants were not CHC students,” said a university spokesperson in an emailed statement. “In the current financial climate, those resources need to be directed more fully to the students paying into the college.”
The college that housed the forensics program spends about $185,000 annually on a director position and other support staffing for the debate teams, according to a UO spokesperson. Another $174,000, collected from student fees approved by UO’s student government, pays for the team’s travel and competitions.
The move to cut back on the program is part of the university’s larger effort to close a nearly $30 million budget gap this school year. UO officials have said the deficit is caused by rising personnel costs, declining out-of-state student enrollment and increasing financial pressures brought on by the Trump Administration.
Supporters of the debate programs say they understand the budget constraints the university is under. But some are concerned about how administrators are making decisions.
“The decision was made and presented without any consultation with the students in the program, there was no consultation with me as the director of the program or with any of our alumni or donors,” UO senior instructor and Forensics director Trond Jacobsen said. “It was a decision made in the wrong way, in secret and at the last minute with no collaboration.”
Trond also worries about moving the forensics teams out of the honors college. He said having the program at the honors college meant participating students received critical educational and tournament logistics support. Trond said shifting to a student-run group model could destabilize the program.
“It’s really not an acceptable solution,” Jacobsen said. “Student groups are volatile. Their funding is variable. They lack professional oversight to administer a safe and secure program.”
Over 150 UO alumni have signed onto a petition to preserve Oregon Forensics current structure. The letter calls on the university to find a way to house the program within another department or school, noting that the majority of other Big Ten schools operate their debate programs this way. The university contends that debate is not an academic degree program and that “at nearly all other universities these teams are student-run.”
Alumni also asked administrators to restore the program’s fall tournament schedule.
“I’m dismayed that the decision to cancel the program takes away opportunities from current students without any remedies being pursued,” UO graduate Shelby Malstrom said at the September board meeting. She also signed onto the forensics alumni letter.
“Forensics is a gateway to further education and successful careers, which is what a university should deem as top priority,” Malstrom said.
The university said it is working to make sure the program’s competition travel and conferences will continue uninterrupted this fall.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
