ASWU to hold Willamette-Pacific merger town hall

President Thorsett, Provost among speakers at Thursday’s panel and Q&A event

Montag Center on April 8, 2025. Photo by Iris McClure.

The Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) will host a panel discussion on Thursday with President Steve Thorsett, Provost Jennifer Jacobs Henderson, and Director of Student Affairs Lisa Landreman to discuss updates to the intended merger with Pacific University.

Coming months after the initial December announcement, the Q&A will focus on the progress and decisions made following the February meeting of the board of trustees. The board acts as Willamette’s governing body who, alongside Pacific University’s board of trustees, is currently figuring out the legal specifics of the merger. 

ASWU President Stevie Bergstrom (’26), who is also the Willamette College student liaison for the board of trustees, helped organize this meeting with panelists to provide additional clarity for students on the current status of the merger, especially after its sudden announcement in December. 

“As a student that also only has a limited barrier to actually understanding a lot of these conversations that are happening at the board, I just felt like I wouldn’t be able to do the due diligence for how important this is for students,” Bergstrom said. 

Bergstrom previously presented a brief overview of topics discussed at the board of trustees meeting including the timeline of events at the Feb. 26 ASWU meeting. First, a definitive agreement would be signed by May, followed by a corporate merger that would be finalized by the end of 2026, followed by the final institutional merger, which would be another 12 to 18 months after. 

The panel discussion will take place during the regularly scheduled timeslot for the weekly senate meeting, which is from 7-8 p.m. in Montag Den. Bergstrom plans to send out a Q&A form to the student body ahead of the meeting to gather questions. The meeting will also be hosted on Google Meet, particularly after Bergstrom had conversations with Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) students, who also wanted to learn more about the progress of the merger.