Forming an Investigative Committee To Provide Accountability Analysis

Forum Post

I received the following message from one of my colleagues in CAHNRS. They wanted it to be shared with the Faculty Senate.

“I am becoming quite worried that the WSU administration is running the ship aground. The symptoms have been around for quite some time, and now behaviors and decisions of the administration are coming home to roost, e.g., 6% operating budget reductions, and it won’t stop there – enrollment declines are projected to continue to decline for two more years – as was reported to the Board of Regents, bottoming out, perhaps, at an aggregate 20% overall decrease in enrollment, with the inevitable continuing decline in revenue and budgets.

I have become deeply disappointed in the directions that WSU has taken, in multiple dimensions relating to institutional decisions, priorities, and efforts. Steeply declining enrollments (the worst in the Pac 12, as well as the ONLY one in the negative), declining national reputation, expansion of administration and the WSU “system” coupled with incessant budget cutting of academic units over time (the latest cut just announced), and the inversion of the priority of Deans and academic programs relative to support units and their VPs, are just the tip of the iceberg.

My point is this – is the Faculty Senate concerned about this string of negative developments? Are they concerned enough that they are forming an investigative committee to provide some accountability analysis vis-à-vis the administration’s decisions and actions? I respectfully suggest that wishful thinking that there will be serious accountability exercised by the Board of Regents is a ship that has already sailed … I don’t think so. To my mind, it is time to rededicate attention to shared governance at this institution, and pursue a much more active role of the university faculty.”

~Anonymous CAHNRS Faculty Member

Bidisha Mandal
School of Economic Sciences

Response

We are aware of widespread concern among faculty about these issues. We have been talking with President Schulz about increasing transparency and information flow to faculty regarding enrollment, finances, etc. We expect an initial communication from President Schulz to faculty very soon.

Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair

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