Lead: Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission voted to recommend “institutional integration” across the state’s public colleges and universities, asking lawmakers to direct the commission to produce merger and shared‑services proposals by next January. The commission framed the move as a cost‑containment and sustainability measure amid slowing state revenue growth and enrollment forecasts. Its paper urges options from shared back‑office services to full mergers and calls for periodic program reviews to ensure academic and financial sustainability while assessing impacts on underrepresented students. Why it matters: State‑level pressure to combine institutions or deepen systemness signals a policy pivot away from the “every campus for itself” model. Campus presidents and trustees should expect increased legislative oversight, program reviews tied to funding, and incentives to consolidate administrative functions to preserve core academic missions.