To the OSU community and our friends:

I'm pleased to report that this afternoon, the Legislative Emergency Board (E-board) voted to increase the spending limitation for the Oregon University System, including Oregon State University. As explained in last week's campus-wide budget forum, this will enable OSU to meet the considerable budget challenges for the remainder of 2009-11 biennium without layoffs, without additional furloughs and without double-digit tuition increases. And as long as the budget cuts anticipated for the 2011-13 biennium do not exceed the 15 percent we've been advised to expect, we will be able to continue those commitments to our students and our employees, while making the targeted investments in new faculty hires, facilities and information systems recently announced by Provost Randhawa.

We're able to do this because of additional tuition dollars generated by the growth of our student body and because of careful management of our resources. As the state Dept. of Administrative Services and Legislative Fiscal Office underscored in their recommendations today to the E-board, "Being diligent in containing costs and continuing efforts to find efficiencies, such as those currently being undertaken at Oregon State University, will ensure the system and its institutions are on more solid financial footing for the 2011-13 biennium." The new spending authority granted by the E-board will ensure that we continue to provide a high-quality educational experience for the students who have chosen OSU. It will also provide a greater level of stability for the university overall, which will make possible a more informed level of planning and a greater level of certainty for all of us.

Special thanks are due the members of the E-board, especially its co-chairs, Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Dave Hunt, who have committed to enable universities to retain whatever fund balances they have available without threat of legislative re-distributions that could send these funds to other agencies. Significant challenges remain within the state budget as legislators seek to meet the needs of Oregon's other agencies. Given these challenges, I particularly appreciate the regard they've shown toward the state's public universities and our students. Finally, I want to express special appreciation to my colleagues at OSU for their dedicated service and extraordinary accomplishments in very difficult times and for the genuine sense of community they have sustained throughout.

Edward J. Ray President, Oregon State University