After forcing students to cover protester damage and declaring itself a 'sanctuary campus,' PSU faces budget shortfall
After years of unrest and opposition to law enforcement, Portland State University is facing a serious budget problem.
Portland State University’s problems are no longer theoretical. Between its self-declared status as a “sanctuary campus,” costly destruction caused by protesters, declining enrollment, and years of financial mismanagement, the school is staring down a $35 million budget hole, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The warning signs were obvious.
Last spring, pro-Palestinian protesters stormed PSU’s Millar Library, leaving behind shattered windows, ripped-out fire extinguishers, and graffiti-covered walls. By the time police cleared the building, damages were estimated at more than $1.2 million. Insurance covered most of it, but students and taxpayers were stuck with a $100,000 bill.
In other words, law-abiding students are subsidizing the destruction caused by their peers.
[RELATED: Portland State instructor placed on leave after claiming ‘I am Hamas’]
Meanwhile, PSU proudly refuses to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The university bars immigration agents from classrooms, dorms, and even administrative offices. Campus police are legally blocked from working with federal authorities under Oregon’s sanctuary state law. Instead of focusing on its core mission of educating students, PSU has built policies that make it a political staging ground.
Now the bills are coming due. Enrollment is down, costs are up, and administrators admit PSU will have to shrink.
President Ann Cudd unveiled Bridge to the Future 2.0, a plan that calls for $35 million in cuts by 2027—the equivalent of 220 full-time jobs. The first phase alone will target $17 million in reductions, with another $18 million to follow.
This isn’t the first time PSU has gone through this drill.
Just last year, the university slashed $18 million and eliminated faculty jobs, sparking a faculty vote of no-confidence. Students watched courses get canceled while administrators insisted they had no other choice.
For the current year, PSU will dip into its reserves to cover a $10 million deficit, but that’s a temporary patch. Unless the administration reverses course on its indulgence of protesters and sanctuary-style politics, students will keep paying more for less, while the university drifts deeper into financial and cultural decline.
