Southern Oregon University has served students and communities across rural southern Oregon and northern California for 150 years.

Now it is on the verge of closing, not because it failed its students, but because the state never gave it a fair shot.

Oregon funds its public universities at just 80% of the national average, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. For a regional school like SOU, that gap is devastating. A $15 million budget hole emerged earlier this year, and university leaders warned they could not make payroll or pay the electric bill without emergency state intervention. The legislature stepped in, but only after demanding $20 million in cuts.

The result: 212 faculty and staff positions eliminated in four years, nine majors gone, and programs in music, chemistry, Spanish, and international studies wiped out.

For students in this region, SOU is not one option among many, it is the only affordable four-year public university within reach. Roughly 30% of students come from five northern California counties because SOU offers them in-state tuition. There is no backup. State officials have said plainly: if SOU's restructuring plan fails, no institution or philanthropist is ready to step in.

Sign this petition to urge Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and the Oregon Legislature to provide permanent, sustainable funding for Southern Oregon University — before the last university for this region disappears for good.