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Good morning, Northwest.

Colleges and universities across the nation have until this Friday to decide whether or not to sign President Donald Trump’s higher education compact.

As of this morning, none of Oregon’s higher education institutions have publicly signed on, writes OPB higher education reporter Tiffany Camhi.

Trump’s compact comes at a tough time for Oregon’s education system, as the state’s three largest education agencies stand to lose millions of dollars after federal funding cuts.

In other news, the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program struck a deal to compensate four companies with a combined $140 million as their businesses could be impacted by a new 116-foot, fixed-span bridge.

Here’s your First Look at Wednesday’s news.

– Sukhjot Sal

Oregon colleges say no to Trump administration higher ed compact

The deadline to sign on to President Donald Trump’s higher education compact is quickly approaching. Colleges and universities throughout the U.S. have until this Friday to make a decision on the agreement.

So far, none of Oregon’s higher education institutions have publicly signed on.

The U.S. Department of Education’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is among the agency’s latest tools to bend the nation’s universities toward the Trump administration’s vision for higher ed.

The proposal lays out certain provisions that schools must adhere to, including new admissions requirements, revised campus free speech policies and changes to faculty hiring. The compact doesn’t explicitly state what universities would get out of the arrangement, but it alludes to several “federal benefits” such as student loan access, research funding, approval of student and faculty visas and tax advantages.

In an OPB query regarding the compact, nearly all of the state’s public universities either said they had not been contacted by the federal government about it or that they did not plan to sign it. (Tiffany Camhi)

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3 things to know this morning

• Tough times are ahead for Oregon’s education system, as Oregon’s three largest state education agencies are looking at millions of dollars in potential cuts due to a loss in federal funding. (Elizabeth Miller and Tiffany Camhi)
• Oregon state Rep. Annessa Hartman, 37, has been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She still intends to run for Clackamas County Commission. (Lauren Dake)
• Providence has announced another round of layoffs in Oregon, affecting more than 150 positions. Eighty-four of those are with the Providence Health Plan, the Catholic health system’s Portland-based insurance arm. (Amelia Templeton) 

‘Hush’ Episode 7: Cornered

When Jennifer Massey became mayor of Columbia County’s largest town, she moved from being one of the leading critics of people in power to actually being a person in power. A bombshell report on the local police leads some community members to raise questions about Massey’s intentions when she spoke out about the unsolved case of Sarah Zuber’s death in 2019. (Ryan Haas, Leah Sottile)

Listen

Headlines from around the Northwest

Interstate Bridge Replacement announces $140 million payout to 4 Columbia River users (Erik Neumann)

Patti Adair steps into the congressional race after serving as a Deschutes County commissioner for seven years (Kathryn Styer Martínez)

Tigard City Manager resigns while on leave (Holly Bartholomew)

Oregon agrees to backfill lost Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood (Mia Maldonado)Oregon, California senators call on federal election official to rescind illegal voting claims or resign (Julia Shumway)

Washington isn’t ready to send wolves to Colorado — yet (Courtney Flatt)

Washington has highest menu prices at popular chains, new study finds (Monica Nickelsburg)

Rookie center Yang Hansen returns from G League stint as Trail Blazers fall short in 127-110 home loss to Suns(Associated Press)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

Noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Portland Voices Rock non-audition choir provides a ‘come one, come all’ experience for adults who just want to sing
• State lawyers blame parents in some negligence and wrongful death claims, new reporting shows

50 years after ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Oregonians reflect on a film that changed mental health conversations

Eugene veteran filmmaker Katherine K’iya Wilson still remembers a private screening of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” she attended at Salem’s Elsinore Theatre in December 1975.

The film’s director, Miloš Forman, producers Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas, and actor Jack Nicholson were visibly worried that their work might offend the audience: patients and staff of the Oregon State Hospital.

When the film ended, there was a five-minute silence, said Wilson, 74, who has family ties to the Nez Perce Wallowa Band. Then something unexpected happened.

“Finally, they had a [hospital] spokesperson coming out in tears to tell the filmmakers what a beautiful film it was, and they [the audience] felt that was gonna change the world because they were being depicted as human beings — their identity was not of being disabled or mentally unstable,” Wilson said.

Based on the 1962 novel by Oregon writer Ken Kesey, “Cuckoo’s Nest” tells the story of a struggle against authoritarian control, embodied in the clash between free-spirited patient Randle McMurphy and Nurse Ratched, the tyrannical head nurse of an Oregon psychiatric hospital. (Winston Szeto)

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/19/opb-first-look-oregon-colleges-higher-ed-trump-compact/