My career as a college professor ended 10 years ago, with cuts to faculty positions including my own. I was asked to work administratively through the budget cuts to a dozen of my colleagues. Top of mind in my job as acting dean was the fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers to maintain solvency for our regional rural university in La Grande, and to do so with an understanding of the human cost.

In administering the cuts imposed by my predecessor, how the cuts to professors would impact curriculum, and how we would continue to serve students, there were many heart wrenching conversations. In at least one instance we found a way to save the job of a newly tenured professor, but otherwise I had to say no when a request for new projects came forward, unless there was a compelling connection to our rural needs.

Aware of how tight our budgets were, my worries increased one summer, when we faced replacement of equipment for scientific research essential to student learning. This was followed by scheduled maintenance of complex equipment with technicians required to come from out of town to fulfill the contract. I learned that National Institutes of Health grants with overhead costs covered this maintenance expense, while the replacement equipment was handled by an in-house solution.

As recent reports out of Washington, D.C., of federal freezes to grants and efforts to transfer the overhead costs of those grants to universities came out in the news, it brought to mind that summer.

That kind of ongoing expense was not possible for us to maintain over time. Today that kind of change will bankrupt many public colleges and universities that do not have the endowments of Ivy League universities familiar to our new president, vice president and members of his administration making these decisions.

So I read with interest of Republican members of Congress who have spoken out on the impacts their states are experiencing as a result of funding cuts. Maine Sen. Susan Collins addressed the budgetary pressures on frozen research grants and overhead costs transferred to the universities as “devastating.” West Virginia Sen. Shelley Capito noted impacts to her constituents’ health and well-being in cuts to the NIH as “drastic.” And Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran raised concerns about impacts to farmers in his state who sell to countries served by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson pushed against U.S. National Parks Service staffing cuts.

We in Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District have similar concerns for the health of our public institutions and the communities served by them. Our agricultural businesses throughout the eastern counties, rural hospitals that serve many small communities with the support of federal grant funding, two community colleges and Eastern Oregon University, they all have an impact on many other businesses and the well-being of thousands of constituents.

And yes, we too have a national park, Crater Lake, in our district with seasonal tourists bringing business

to surrounding gateway communities, some 560,000 in 2023. According to Idaho’s congressional representative, “The hiring freeze has been a problem because now’s when we’re hiring seasonal employees for the parks — that’s a challenge.”

I hope our congressman will take courage from his colleagues, and speak up as well for the needs of his own district.

In the weeks since Inauguration Day, our local newspaper has been reporting on regional community entities facing unknowns on projects funded by federal grants. “Trump funding freeze hits home” on Feb. 5 reported on several Northeastern Oregon projects. A week later on Feb. 12 an article brought more detail under the headline, ”Health centers brace for possible funding limits. Providers face uncertainty with flurry of federal changes pending.” It’s apparent the funding freezes, some of which continue in spite of judicial stays, as well as a flurry of firings, are having negative impacts far beyond Washington, D.C., in our regional communities.

With Rep. Cliff Bentz’ town halls underway, I hope he’s not just offering platitudes. We have a right to expect his action on our behalf. We can reach him by phone, text message on his website, or snail mail at: 202-225-6730; bentz.house.gov; 409 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515.