On May 22, 2025, PSU bussed over 100 students, staff and faculty from campus down to the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem. Vikings gathered on the Senate floor to witness the voting of House Bill 2556 (HB 2556), which proposes the official designation of PSU as Oregon’s Urban Research University. The bill was passed with 28 ayes, and 2 excused. The Portland State community in attendance silently celebrated their victory with waving hands from the Senate gallery.
PSU broke for lunch at the Willamette Heritage Center just blocks away from the Capitol, fuelling up for a strong block of lobbying to come later. Secretary of State Tobias Read, gave a speech as students enjoyed their meals. He congratulated PSU on the passing of the bill, and gave personal advice on the best lobbying strategies.
Lobby groups then began loading out back toward the capitol, to meet with their designated representatives in their respective time slots. Teams of students corralled in the offices of various state representatives, and made their case for topics like state investments in higher education, downtown revitalization and workforce shortages.
“I firmly believe that I wouldn’t have taken an entire day of my life to come down here to tell you [Nosse] that we need to keep that University Fund up there,” said a community member lobbying in the office of Oregon State Representative Rob Nosse.
This comment was in reference to the Public University Support Fund, which is the primary source of state funding for all of Oregon’s seven public universities.
PSU advocates filled up the many floors of the Oregon State Capitol building. Folks sporting matching green “Let Knowledge Serve Oregon” t-shirts could be seen in any direction.
What does HB 2556 mean for PSU?
The designation of an Urban Research University highlights an institution’s place as a higher education resource located in a downtown urban environment and signifies a specialization in the college’s values regarding this.
The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities describes, “Notably, these institutions advance innovations that align with their community‐based missions and their students’ entire environment – recognizing that barriers to academic success are intimately linked with financial, geographic, and other socioeconomic challenges. Public urban research universities serve an outsized share of historically underserved populations such as low‐income, minority, and first generation students.”
This designation may lead to advantages for the school’s public image, connecting its core values to its urban environment. It can aid in making the school appear more enticing for things like enrollment and grant approval.
“The dedicated staff at PSU go above and beyond to train our future workforce, address our most pressing issues with cutting edge research, and build partnerships between the university and the community,” said Kate Leiber—Oregon State Senator, whose district includes PSU—as she presented the bill to the Senate floor before the vote. “I’m certain that many here have received the research that PSU has done on a variety of issues that continues to inform the policy that occurs in this building.”
