Compared to other small public universities in the state, Oregon State University-Cascades has some major advantages. Its campus is brand-new and rapidly expanding. Its west Bend location — less than 30 minutes from Mt. Bachelor ski area and a few minutes from the Deschutes River — is appealing to outdoorsy students. And it’s connected to Oregon State University, the state’s largest higher education institution.

But one state representative — who represents the town that’s home to Western Oregon University — wants to remove that last advantage.

Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, is proposing a bill that would sever OSU-Cascades with its big sibling in Corvallis, creating a new, separate school dubbed “Central Oregon University.”

Evans said the advantages that OSU gives OSU-Cascades — in particular, being able to offer doctoral programs — creates an unfair playing field for Oregon’s other small public universities, which are struggling to attract students.

“As a person who represents one of the small schools, I’m fine with open competition,” Evans told The Bulletin. “What I’m not fine with is … a university that can punch higher than its weight because it’s part of OSU.”

This school year, OSU-Cascades was one of only two Oregon public universities that saw enrollment growth, with a 4.8% student population bump.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s three small technical research universities all saw enrollment drops in the fall of 2020 — including Western Oregon University, which saw a 7.6% fall in student population.

According to state law, Western, Eastern and Southern Oregon universities can only offer up to master’s degree programs. But OSU-Cascades, because of its connection to Oregon State University, is allowed to offer doctorate degree programs. This fall, OSU-Cascades will launch its first doctorate program, in physical therapy.

OSU-Cascades also has a robust graduate teaching program, in partnership with Oregon State University. That means Central Oregon school districts now mainly partner with OSU-Cascades to train student teachers — but those districts used to collaborate with Western Oregon University, Evans said.

“For the last several years, many of the school districts in the Central Oregon basin have been dramatically less willing to have Western students involved because the OSU program, through Bend, has been expanding their territory,” he said.

OSU-Cascades’ ability to offer a wide array of programs — while still having an intimate campus for students who don’t want the crowded bustle of Corvallis, Eugene or Portland — has lured many potential students away from other small Oregon public universities, Evans said.

“There’s no other public university its size that has the range of courses and flexibility,” Evans said.

With his proposed bill, Evans said he hopes to start a dialogue about the advantages OSU-Cascades has, and why he believes they’re unfair to Oregon’s other small public universities.

“It’s time we have a genuine conversation about what OSU-Cascades is, and what it’s not,” he said. “I think it’s a true regional university in everything but name, with the advantage of having OSU as a big brother that can get everything the other universities can’t.”

Becky Johnson, vice president of OSU-Cascades, said university leaders in both Bend and Corvallis have zero interest in separating.

“We’re not at all in favor of this,” she said. “We get lots of benefits of being associated with a top-tier research university like Oregon State University.”

When asked how OSU-Cascades would change if severed from Corvallis, Johnson immediately dismissed that possibility.

“There would be drastic changes, but I don’t think we should even spend time thinking about that, because I don’t think this is going to happen,” she said.

Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, also said he was against Evans’ proposed bill.

“I think it’s a positive that it has the connection to that main campus in Corvallis. It adds to some of the options that we can offer to students in our community,” Kropf told The Bulletin. “To me, it should be embraced and built upon.”

The Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which oversees higher education in Oregon, did not have a comment on Evans’ proposed bill as of Friday afternoon.

The Oregon Legislature is schedule to start its 2021 session next week.