Forum Post
Will the faculty senate put together an open letter to the administration on priorities in response to the looming federal budget cuts? Across the board cuts are not the way to position WSU for the future, we need to focus on our mission and strengths.
Suggested priorities are the direct land grant mission: Teaching, Research, Extension. We need to make sure these aspects are not diminished. Second priority are those that directly support that mission, such as departmental admin and support staff, office of research grants support, facilities and janitorial, etc. These are the boots on the ground essential for the university mission. The university should be asking itself where can it streamline without effecting the mission. Sports? Maybe it should be seriously considered to drop down to division 2 sports where we could be competitive and more cost efficient? Upper administrative bloat? If the administration cannot clean their house first, can we trust them to make the best decisions for the rest of the university? The faculty senate should be proactive with recommendations to the WSU administration in light of the changing landscape of education.
Response
The Faculty Senate Executive Officers have been notified of this forum post and will respond back once more information becomes available.
Comments
The faculty senate should absolutely prepare a letter open to all faculty and staff for comment and ideas. According to the memo from the Provost yesterday, budget planning will be decided between higher administration, which will try to be transparent as possible. This is not the correct approach, if only because the bloated administration is quite significantly to blame for the need to address the budget. It is also concerning that in times of financial struggles, the incoming president is already announcing their unconditional support for the PAC 12 driven athletics approach. There has been enough discussion here to demonstrate that Football and other athletics are a financial drain. These are probably not the only things to target, nor should they be seen as the only things to chop. But they should at least be considered for “optimization” too!
We have asked the Provost to come to this Thursday’s senate meeting to address the email that was sent specifically and answer questions from the faculty. We have also asked Kim Christian to address the Senate with an update. As Senate chair I am interested in hearing more about strategy than was available in the email as well as how Senate will continue to be effectively engaged. We have recently approved and posted our goals and initiatives which provide a starting point for discussion. We have also had, for the first time, Senate representation on the university budget hearings, the Athletics Budget Committee, and the Health Sciences Budget Committee. We would welcome specific budgetary suggestions via Senate members and faculty as a whole once the state and federal appropriations become more clear. The land grant mission is pivotal to WSU and should be its primary focus in the Teaching, Research and Service mission. We anticipate hearing from the Provost on Thursday the upcoming process of administrative position review and assessment in addition to the Academic initiatives already underway.