As your Faculty Senate representatives, we understand that this is a critical time of transition which requires frequent communication. In addition to our regular Senate meetings every two weeks, we encourage faculty to continue to use the Faculty Forums and carefully review the public Board of Regents meetings. Please reach out to us with questions or suggestions for improvement.
The Provost has committed to meeting with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee every week in addition to attending sessions of the regular Senate meetings as requested. He addressed the Senate at our request on February 13 and took questions from faculty in addition to our regular schedule. Town Hall meetings will also be introduced by Doug Call, Senior Vice Provost to specifically address concerns voiced from faculty regarding promotion and tenure and protections under academic freedom. Faculty are concerned about what the recent executive orders specific to DEI mean for teaching as well as for research. As an initial resource, please see the WSU Faculty Speech Guide. At this time, WSU administration has communicated no changes to the Office of Outreach and Education, which focuses on access and inclusiveness for all campuses including faculty and staff. The Resource Guide for Underrepresented Faculty & Staff. The purpose of this guide is to provide an introduction to the resources and cultural riches available within the WSU system.
The Faculty Senate has been focused on the rapidly changing federal impact to our WSU budget and research funding, which helps drive our teaching and service missions to the state of Washington. On February 17, 2025, the Board of Regents held an all-day meeting specifically dedicated to budgetary projection and impacts to WSU at a university, unit and campus level. Please take the time to watch the WSU Board of Regents Special Session 2.17.25 YouTube recording. At this meeting WSU directed the initiation of an economic impact study which was requested in the past by Senate Chair Eric Shelden but not funded. We look forward to having this data on a regular basis, similar to The Economic Impact of the University of Washington which is published and widely disseminated by the University of Washington. Finally, faculty expressed concerns regarding email archiving processes announced on February 5 by a widely disseminated email. A presentation was provided to the Faculty Steering and a follow-up meeting held with Tony Opheim, VP for Information Technology Services. He has agreed to address the Senate on March 20 to explain the process further and a follow-up video has been suggested to be developed for Principio to Jacqueline Southwick. Senate Principal Assistant Beth Doyle and Secretary Matt Hudelson have agreed to pilot test and disseminate materials which will help reassure faculty of the integrity and retention of their emails.