Klamath Falls, ORE. – State lawmakers passed two bills of major significance to ˿Ƶ Tech and higher education, SB 270 and HB3120, during the 2013 legislative session. The bills authorize fundamental changes for all of ˿Ƶ’s public universities in how each is governed, how they seek budgets and program approval, and each public university campus’s relationship to each other and to the community colleges.
˿Ƶ Tech will host a Klamath Falls Community Forum to explain the new legislation, and discuss the different governing board options that are being considered for ˿Ƶ Tech by the State Board of Higher Education and the Governor.
The Community Forum on Governing Board Options will be hosted by President Chris Maples and his President’s Advisory Council and ˿Ƶ Tech Foundation Members on November 18, 2013 from 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., in the Mt. Mazama/Mt. Scott Rooms in the ˿Ƶ Tech College Union. Community members, business leaders, education partners, elected officials, alumni and friends are invited to attend.
"This is a huge opportunity for ˿Ƶ Tech’s students, business and education partners, and our community," said ˿Ƶ Tech President Chris Maples. "Our goal is to help ˿Ƶ Tech achieve 40-40-20 in ˿Ƶ and provide the best educational value for our students. We need our community’s help with this important decision."
Last July, the state legislature and governor authorized all three large public universities, OSU, PSU, and UO, to be organized and managed by individual institutional boards that will report to a new Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC), which will oversee all of higher education, including ˿Ƶ’s community colleges.
The governance of the three regional universities and the state’s polytechnic, ˿Ƶ Tech, is now being deliberated by the State Board of Higher Education and a legislative committee. President Maples is initiating a process with ˿Ƶ Tech’s broad campus community – students, faculty, staff, business partners, alumni, donors, communities and advocates – to ascertain whether or not a university governing board, a “consortium or small system” board with the regional universities, or a branch campus model with a larger university is in the best interest of students, the university, the Klamath Falls community, and the state.
Background information and a video may be found at www.oit.edu/strategic-partnerships/government-relations/governing-board-info-options.
The Klamath Falls community is encouraged to attend.
