Support Letters -2025

In August 2025, many of our allies mobilized to help us fight rushed cuts and layoffs at the UO! These letters showed UO leaders the broad public support for both our efforts to fight back against damaging cuts, and our efforts to demand shared financial governance and transparency.

While we are still concerned about the smaller number of layoffs still expected in September 2025, we are no longer actively soliciting letters of support against a specific round of cuts. This page will remain up as an archive of the public support for our programs, and our faculty, at the University of Oregon.

Moving forward, we will focus on soliciting public support for our effort to reform shared governance and financial transparency at the University of Oregon—both for the public good, and so that we never again face a unilateral cuts process that erases faculty, student, and worker voices.

Learn More: Our Goals

Letters from Elected Leaders

• Letter from Oregon Legislators to UO Leaders – signed by Rep. Lively, Sen, Manning, Sen. Prozanski, Rep. Nathanson, Rep. Fragala, and Rep. Fahey
• “AAUP President Denounces Planned Cuts at the University of Oregon” – American Association of University Professors
• “UO Senate Open Letter on Budget Cuts” – signed by 700+ UO community members (and counting)
• “ASUO Resolution to Condemn Faculty Cuts at the University of Oregon” – Associated Students of the University of Oregon (student government)
• Public Statement of Support from Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson, early Sept 2025 – “Our faculty and educators are incredibly valued members of this community—they deliver life-changing research, mentorship, and educational opportunities. So it is very concerning to learn about proposals that would eliminate entire areas of study and terminate both long-term and recently-hired faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences. I urge the UO administration to work with faculty and affected programs to create the time and space for alternative solutions, and to move toward this open engagement as quickly as possible. As our workers and institutions are facing unprecedented pressures, I would ask everyone to recommit to meaningful collaboration before taking actions that exacerbate an already-challenging situation.”

UO Faculty Collective Letters

• Aug 21, 2025 – “Letter from Global Studies & Language Faculty to UO Leaders”, UO Global Studies & Language Faculty
• Aug 19, 2025 – “An Appeal from the Department of Religious Studies at University of Oregon”, American Academy of Religion (AAR)

Letters from Scholarly Organizations

• American Academy of Religion (AAR) – “A Letter to the Leaders at the University of Oregon”
• Austrian Studies Association, Coalition of Women in German, German Studies Association, Association of Jewish Studies, and Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies – “Joint Letter from Officers of Academic Associations in German, Scandinavian, Austrian”
• Academia for Equality Board (International) – “Letter to UO Leaders”
• Genocide & Holocaust Studies Crisis Network – “Letter of Protest Regarding Program Cuts at the University of Oregon”
• Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University – “HEFNU Letter to University of Oregon re. PLAN TO ELIMINATE HOLOCAUST STUDIES”
  

Letters from Scholarly Community Members

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Religious Studies – “A Letter to UO Leaders and the Board of Trustees”
• University of Virginia Department of Religious Studies – “A Letter to UO Leadership”
• Memorial University Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences – “Possible Discontinuation of the Department and all Faculty in the Department of Religious Studies“
• Judaic Studies Scholars – “Letter to the University of Oregon Administrators”
• University of Utah Faculty – “Letter to UO Leadership from U of Utah Faculty”
• “A Letter from Four International Scholars to UO Leaders in Support of German & Scandinavian”
• Professor Emerita Juliet Flower MacCannell, Outstanding Professor Emerita, UC Irvine – “Contemplated changes to the curriculum at the University of Oregon”
• Professor Kate Trumpener, Yale University – “CONCERN over the Future of the Humanities at Oregon”
• Professor Richard Block, University of Washington – “A letter of support for colleagues in German and Scandinavian”
• Professor Christoph Zeller, REEES Chair, Vanderbilt University – “Schnitzer School of Global Studies & Languages, elimination of programs”
• Professor Leslie Morris, German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch Chair, University of Minnesota – “Letter to UO Leaders”
  

Letters from UO Community Members

• Alex Mentzel (Gates Cambridge Scholar) & Nayantara Arora (Rhodes Scholar) – “Distinguished UO Alumni Statement on Planned Program/Faculty Cuts” (a larger group letter from distinguished UO alumni is in process)
• UO Philosophy Department Faculty – “Letter from the University of Oregon’s Philosophy Department faculty”
• UO School of Music and Dance Faculty – “Letter from the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance faculty”
• UO School of Global Studies & Languages Faculty – Letter from the faculty of the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages
• Professor Jonathan Skolnik (U-Mass, Amherst), former Assistant Professor in German and Scandinavian at the UO – “Letter Regarding German and Scandinavian, Holocaust and Religious Studies”
• Jonathan Warren – “Letter from a Concerned UO Parent to Provost Long Regarding Planned Cuts”
  

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Guidance for Writing Letters

If you want to write a letter of support on our behalf to the University of Oregon, please send it to UO leaders directly:

• UO Board of Trustees:  trustees@uoregon.edu
• President Karl Scholz:  pres@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3036
• Provost & Senior VP Christopher Long: provost@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3081
• Chief Financial Officer Jamie Moffitt:  jmoffitt@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3003
• CAS Dean Chris Pouslen: poulsenc@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3902

After sending your letter to leaders, you can provide a copy to us at info@uauoregon.org so we can publish it here on our site. Several templates (and general guidance) are provided for different types of letters in the menus below.

We mainly publish personalized letters on the site. If you want to send an auto-filled email instead, you can use our mass campaign on Action Network.