I've worked a few places going through mergers and big leadership changes. No matter how good the changes might be, there are always a lot of people who are pretty vocal about the change being bad. I get it. You have one set of expectations and are part of an institution with a particular vision and then it all changes. And it sounds like it might not have been done particularly gracefully at OHSU.
I kind of had some reservations after hearing about the new direction. It almost sounded like the new emphasis on research and raising the prestige of the institution was coming at the expense of the strong clinically-focused culture and reputation that already existed. And from the D3 and D4 experiences, it also kind of sounded like the role of the students was to throw themselves at the new goals and vision without regard for their own goals and needs.
After getting to go on a really comprehensive tour of the new building and talking to D1s and D2s, I feel like I kind of get what's going on more and that the changes make sense. The emphasis on training dentists to serve the needs of Oregonians is still there and the lower classes and incoming students have a clearer idea of what their four years will look like. The only negative that I heard repeated by multiple people is that they need more patients in the clinic. They're working on that, but have more work to do. Hopefully the opening of Tilikum Crossing will make the new building more accessible and take care of some of that problem for them.