President Bailey’s Video Update for May 2026

President Bailey focuses on one topic in this month’s video message, and it’s an important one: how SOU has started from the recommendations of the Deloitte consulting firm and is now crafting a plan for the university’s transformation that leans more into institutional values and community connections. There is no disputing that the final plan – which will be presented to the SOU Board of Trustees June 18 – must pare about $20 million from a budget of roughly $100 million. The process is one that focuses on potential tradeoffs and alternatives to some of the Deloitte recommendations “to make it fit SOU,” the president says. The university is seeking input and ideas from both campus and the community, but the timeframe for making modifications to the plan is narrow. “We have our role to play in this,” President Bailey says. “We really have a couple weeks to put a plan together, and a year to implement it.” And he emphasizes that the goal is a final product – and a transformed version of SOU – that can serve as a model for other colleges and universities in Oregon and around the country that are feeling similar financial headwinds. “We can’t just become a smaller version of ourselves,” he says.