Pacific University and Willamette University signed a letter of intent to negotiate a definitive merger that would create Oregon’s largest private institution, provisionally dubbed the University of the Northwest. Leaders said the combined entity would preserve each campus’s identity while consolidating administrative functions and expanding curricular pathways across liberal arts, health sciences, law and fine arts. The two private nonprofits plan a shared administrative structure while maintaining separate admissions standards, campuses and athletic programs; regulatory approvals from accrediting bodies and state agencies are required. Willamette and Pacific framed the deal as a targeted response to long‑term enrollment declines and fiscal pressures in small private colleges, offering broader program options and operational scale as the rationale. If regulators sign off, the consolidation would join a growing wave of institutional mergers aimed at preserving campus missions while achieving financial sustainability.