Rep. Yunker: University bailout reflects failed liberal policies

REP. DWAYNE YUNKER BLAMES TODAY’S $7.5 MILLION SOU FUNDING ON DEMOCRATS WAR ON ECONOMY AND EDUCATION
By Oregon State Representative Dwayne Yunker,

SALEM, ORE. — Representative Dwayne Yunker (R-Grants Pass) issued a statement following the legislature’s Joint Emergency Board vote today to approve $7.5 million of emergency funding for Southern Oregon University (SOU), identifying the institution’s structural deficit as a symptom of the broader progressive agenda strangling the Rogue Valley.

“Southern Oregon University is a phenomenal institution,” said Representative Yunker. “My own son graduated from SOU last year and received an outstanding education. But it has unfortunately become a downstream casualty of the relentless economic war Governor Tina Kotek and Salem Democrats have waged on our region.”

“By systematically suffocating our traditional timber, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors with punishing over-regulation and the nation’s second-highest corporate tax burden, the supermajority has stripped away the family-wage jobs required to keep young families in the Rogue Valley, choking off SOU’s student pipeline,” Representative Yunker continued.

“Furthermore, the radicalization of higher education driven by Salem Democrats has eroded the practical value proposition for remaining working-class families, driving tuition costs sky-high instead of focusing on affordable, career-ready pathways that our communities desperately need to combat our regional healthcare, law enforcement, and wildfire crises,” Representative Yunker concluded.