The University of Oregon announced significant changes last month to its speech and debate program.
"After consultation with academic leaders, Clark Honors College made the difficult decision to end staffing support for the UO Forensics program," said a statement issued by the university in September.
The UO said the program would continue to have access to approximately $180,000 in funding from student fees. This amounts to roughly half of what the program had previously received, according to a Sept. 25 report from Oregon Public Broadcasting.
A result of the new financial constraints, the annual tournament hosted at the Honors College has been canceled.
In a news release, Forensics Program Director Trond Jacobsen called the Robert D. Clark High School Invitational Tournament “one of the oldest continually running and most respected speech and debate competitions west of the Mississippi”.
He said the budget cuts make it impossible to provide the resources for the tournament.
