Post

There is a huge gap for professors in different ranks and different departments. Many professors are paid less than assistant or associate professors. For example, the department of mathematics and statistics covers more than 20% total teaching credits in college of art and sciences, the professors in the department are the lowest paid professors across the whole university.

~Anonymous Constituent 

Response

We appreciate the concern. We recognize that salaries are irrational in that they don’t reflect the range of faculty contributions to WSU. The Faculty Senate continues to advocate for faculty salary increases.

Comments

Post

REQUEST 1: Please have the doors to the Faculty Hoteling Rooms in SPARK left unlocked.

The calendar system for booking the hoteling and conference rooms in SPARK is not currently working. This has lead to several problems:

•  The only way to book a Faculty Hoteling Room is to go to the room itself, hope that the touch-pad is working, then reserve the room.
• In order to actually use the room, you must go down to the front desk and ask the very helpful staff to come and open the room for you. The Faculty Hoteling Rooms are kept locked at all time unless a faculty member has asked at the front desk to have a room unlocked.

The result of this is that Faculty Hoteling Rooms are inconvenient to use and very useful rooms in SPARK sit locked and empty all day and evening. The reason I was given for keeping the doors locked is that faculty have complained that sometimes students are using the room and behave in a less than gracious manner when asked to leave. I suggest this be handled with a poster on the door clearly indicating that priority for room use is first given to faculty with reservations, second to faculty without reservations, and that students may only use the room if there are no faculty requesting its use at that time.

REQUEST 2: Fix the hardware problems with the projector and AMS equipment and/or allow us to use our own equipment.

The tech support person in SPARK is great. But he spends a lot of time getting classroom equipment up and running on a daily basis. I now tease him with “see you next class”, when he comes to fix things in my classroom. I give up 5 – 20 minutes of teaching time about every third class. My colleagues teaching in SPARK express similar frustrations, from projectors that don’t work, to classrooms that don’t connect properly to students on other campuses, to recordings that only pick up half the class, or the wrong class, etc. Although I appreciate VP Davis’ concern that if I and my students were running their own personal zoom, WSU tech support might not help us with technical issues (the crimson support desk provides great service when I call), I can assure you that I have had far fewer technical issues working with students and colleagues over the last five years using our my own laptop than I had in the first three weeks of the semester in a WSU classroom. And if it is WSU equipment I am using, I can not fix it, so I have to put up with losing class time and the frustration for all of us working with a system we cannot trust and have no personal ability to fix. I would also point out that I expect my students to use technology to do homework and participate in out of class activities, so the expectation that they can use their own equipment is already there. Finally, I want to make sure when we look at the cost of upgrading or repairing a an IT system in SPARK, we are comparing it to the cost of paying IT people, day after day, to keep the equipment running.

REQUEST 3: Fix the broken door next to the parking lot.

Having the door broken means that someone with accessibility issues has to go to door farther from the parking lot, access to health services, access to the Access Center, etc. in order to exit the building.

Final Comment:

As we watch student enrollment and national rankings fall, having what should be our premiere building for educating students in such an obvious state of disrepair does not reflect well on our commitments to students and faculty.

Response

We reached out to the Provost’s office. Please see their response:

We appreciate the concerns shared by members of the Faculty Senate regarding IT issues in the SPARK Building and Webster Hall.   After discussion with our partners in Academic Outreach and Innovation (AOI) and Facilities and Operations, please find below preliminary responses to the shared concerns.

• Concern #1 – Access to the Faculty Hoteling Spaces in SPARK: These rooms are now unlocked during the hours that the building is publicly available.  The rooms were locked because several faculty shared concerns that students would often use these spaces and that faculty were uncomfortable asking them to leave.  With the doors now unlocked, faculty will need, at times, to remind students that the rooms are reserved for faculty use. AOI will post signage asking students not to use the areas and remind patrons that the rooms are intended for faculty hoteling space.
  • AOI is aware of the issues with the scheduling displays outside of the hoteling space, and they are working to replace those panels as soon as possible.  Once those panels are replaced, they will begin to lock the doors again in the future.
• Concern #2 – IT Infrastructure in SPARK and Webster Hall Classrooms: AOI has been notified about these issues, and they are testing the equipment and will work to replace as needed over the coming weeks.
• Concern #3 – Entrance to SPARK being in disrepair: Our partners in Facilities and Operations have been working on a solution to this problem for many months.  As many of us have experienced, supply chain issues have made getting the parts and materials for this repair challenging. The contractor now has the glass and frames for the replacement doors in their shop, and we anticipate the installation of the new doors soon.  A new wind wall will be installed later near that entrance since wind gusts on the west-facing doors contributed to the faster than expected need for repair.

Comments

Post

I have noticed and experiencing this semester an increasing number of break-downs with equipment and video-conferencing connections. In my case, this is mostly in Webster and Spark. They are usually resolved promptly, but it is time for WSU to pay more attention to maintenance of classroom equipment.

Michael Tsatsomeros
Mathematics & Statistics

Response

Please see the response to “Technology in the SPARK Building Is Not Working.”

Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair

Comments

Post

There is concern from faculty and graduate students about the football game within the week, and the blocking of parking spaces. For some of our faculty and graduate students this poses a problem as there are, for example, night labs till 10pm. We were wondering whether those who are required to be on campus to teach could be issued a special permit to park so they can meet their teaching obligation.

Eric Roalson
School of Biological Sciences, CAS Senator

Response

I contacted Chris Boyan at Transportation Services. He said that in addition to buses, there are some parking spaces available first come, first served (these are on the edges of campus). He encourages people to reach out to Transportation Services for help with their specific situation.

Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair

Comments

Forum Post

What is the University Doing to Addressing Culture in the WSU police Department After Resignations?

Over the summer, the top 3 officials in the WSU police force left over mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations.

What is WSU doing to change the culture of the police department? All top 3 officials in the department left over their mishandling of sexual misconduct charges. As the people in charge, they were responsible for the hiring and training of the police officers (and presumably also the WSU police cadet program). What is being done to make sure that the culture of the department is one where sexual misconduct allegations are taken seriously? What is being done to restore trust in the department by other members of the campus community? And to ensure that any issues brought to their attention will be taken seriously?

Anonymous Faculty Member

Response

Please refer to the linked October 5, 2022 Faculty Senate Blog post in response to this constituent concern.

You may also refer to the December 8th presentation (YouTube) that WSU Police Chief, Gary Jenkins shared with the Administrative Professional Advisory Council to address many of these concerns.

Comments

Forum Post

Over the years, I have tried to be a good citizen and have responded to all the surveys I have been requested to take. However, the number I receive each year both internally from WSU and externally from many organizations has become daunting, and I am almost to the point where I’m just going to stop taking them. This year alone we’ve received the COACHE survey, the Strategic Plan survey, the Teaching Academy Assessment survey, the CougContact research study survey, the IRB/HRPP Customer Satisfaction survey, the Work-Life Balance survey, the WSU Faculty Library survey, the Office of Research Services survey, the VCEA Schweitzer Engineering Hall design survey, and possibly others I’ve not saved. At the same time, I’ve filled out seven other surveys from multiple organizations, and I’ve ignored at least as many. We’re told all of these surveys are important and will only take n minutes, but inevitably (for me, at least), they take longer. I don’t know what the Faculty Senate can do about this, but Qualtrics and other free survey tools have made it too easy for groups to create surveys, so I think things will only get worse. I create surveys for my students, but at least I give them extra credit for taking them. The surveys from WSU just add to our stress and to our unrewarded activities.

Anonymous Faculty Member

Response

We raised this issue with leadership. They understand the concern and are working on solutions, including a more centralized vetting of surveys and more targeted distribution of surveys to relevant audiences. We will provide updates on progress.

Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair

Comments

Concern

There is a clause allowing FTE reduction without notice in career-track continuous contracts.

While I believe that the overall results of the new career track name and categories have been positive, my own career track faculty and I are still concerned about the clause in continuous contracts that reserves the right to reduce FTE at any time to (apparently) any level. The provision for 9-months’ notice may be good job security, but it is not good paycheck security. I have heard the argument more than once that such a sudden FTE reduction is extremely unlikely to happen; but if this is so, then we shouldn’t need the clause. All of us (tenure-track and career-track) faculty are subject to FTE reduction in cases of “financial exigency.” Why not have the same standard and criterion for both tracks?

Brian Saam
Physics & Astronomy

Response

02/14/23 Update: Thank you to Brian Saam for helping us to understand this issue, and to Laura Griner Hill for working to address it. Career track continuous contracts will no longer include the language re reduction in FTE without notice.

Original Response: Removing the ability to reduce FTE for continuous contracts would in essence turn Career Track faculty into Tenure Track faculty – providing greater job security to more people and tying the university’s hands. Like other American employers, the university is not going to want to reduce its degrees of freedom. Financial exigency is not a great tool because it has negative consequences, in particular, the lowering of the university’s bond rating, which would make it harder for the university to borrow money at a time when it might most need to. Universities need tools they can use before financial exigency in order to prevent financial exigency. Finally, there is the risk that if the university provided more job security to people with continuous contracts, administrators would give fewer of those contracts (just as they have with tenure track positions). Continuous contracts are a significant improvement over year-to-year contracts, but that advantage could be lost if administrators retreated to shorter-term contracts.

Faculty Senate is committed to improving the work lives of faculty. While we don’t think we can get traction on the issue raised in this concern, we continue to seek other ways of improving Career Track positions.

Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair

Comments

Concern

According to the US News Ranking, over the past 6 years WSU has dropped from 140 to 212 (140 (2018), 140, 166, 176, 179, 212 (2023). We are now last in the PAC 12 (closest is Oregon State at 151). University of Idaho is ranked 176. Other schools tied at 212 include University of Missouri, Lipscomb Univ (Nashville), Kent State Univ, Bethel Univ and Ball State Univ. I am the director of the graduate programs in the Dept of Mathematics and Statistics, and know that international students (especially from China and South Korea) look at rankings before deciding where to apply. We were starting to develop collaborative degrees with a university in Uzbekistan, but they will only send (funded) graduate students to universities that have a world ranking of 300 or below, and we are now above 300 (302 as of 2022 rankings by US News World; 351-400 Times Higher Education). I would like to know:

1. What metrics caused WSU to drop so much in one year (tuition cost? faculty to student ratio? retention?) and
2. Who is responsible for not averting this severe drop in our ranking.

Lynn Schreyer
Mathematics & Statistics

Response

WSU’s Office of Institutional Research has conducted an analysis to understand why WSU’s US News and World Report ranking has dropped. They identify three reasons: 1) Graduation rate: US News looks at the difference between predicted and actual graduation rate. Although our actual graduation rate went up, the difference between predicted and actual rates increased, thus hurting our ranking on this item. 2) Peer Opinion: US News add schools to the rankings which may have contributed to a drop in peer opinion. 3) Faculty Resources: WSU reported Career Track salaries for the first time. This lowered our average reported salary, leading to a drop in this item.

For more information see the summary of IR’s findings (PDF). In that document is a link to more detailed information about the factors in the rankings and WSU’s data.

Christine Horne
Faculty Senate Chair

Comments

Concern

On Friday, 6/24, SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade, essentially removing a longstanding precedent and what was interpreted in 1973 as a constitutional right to abortion under the 14th amendment’s due process clause.

I am sure our university leadership will be providing more comprehensive information and statements this week, but it cannot come too soon. In the meantime, I know many of us are very concerned about the recent SCOTUS decision.

While one’s own convictions and feelings about abortion are a separate, complex and personal issues — especially for women, girls, and all people with uteruses– this is also a serious and pressing professional issue for psychologists like myself. Friday’s decision immediately removed a long-standing right for over 50% of our nation’s population. This will disproportionately negatively impact women, children, Communities of Color, the LGBTQIA2+, rural and socioeconomically marginalized populations due to preexisting systemic racism and other health inequities, reduced resources, a pandemic-stressed healthcare system, lack of consistencies across systems, a poor social safety net, among other issues.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas also left an open door to curtailing more constitutional rights — especially targeting minoritized and marginalized communities — in the future. This sends a frightening message to many of our clients, students, and community members in and of itself. The end of this constitutional right will also bar access to necessary healthcare clinics and procedures to over half of the population in at least 16 states within the next month, including a state directly across our border. In 11 of these states there are NO legal exceptions for rape or incest. Many of us are healthcare professionals, and the psychological, medical and health equity impacts of this decision are and will be profound.

As Dr. Frank Worrell, president of our national accrediting and licensing body, the American Psychological Association, noted on Friday: “This ruling ignores not only precedent but science, and will exacerbate the mental health crisis America is already experiencing. We are alarmed that the justices would nullify Roe despite decades of scientific research demonstrating that people who are denied abortions are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem compared with those who are able to obtain abortions.” He added: “The fact that at least 13 states have ‘trigger laws’ automatically implementing abortion restrictions puts people in immediate jeopardy.” Again, one of those states is right across the border from Pullman and Spokane.

I have been heartened by the strong push-back from APA, our more local APA Division 50 leaders on their listserv this past weekend, as well as our fellow scientists and healthcare professionals in the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of Social Workers, all of whom have “condemned” and “decried” the decision as, in the AMA’s words, “an egregious allowance of government intrusion into the medical examination room, a direct attack on the practice of medicine and the patient-physician relationship, and a brazen violation of patients’ rights to evidence-based reproductive health services.”

I call on the WSU leadership –albeit belatedly — to step up as have UW President Ana Mari Cauce and UW Medicine CEO Paul Ramsey to condemn the ruling, confirm the right to abortion in WA state, and support the rights of women, girls, the trans community, and all people with uterus’s to adequate healthcare, bodily autonomy, and psychological well-being.

This is not about political leanings or personal convictions. This is about:

a) Ensuring our commitment as a public institution — one with a medical school, a nursing college and a psychology department — to supporting safe, legal access to abortion care as part of a full continuum of reproductive healthcare services.

b) Helping students, staff and faculty understand their rights.

c) Providing care and counseling to help WSU constituents manage the stress of this transition time.

d) Helping WSU constituents push back as have our fellow institutions of higher learning and our accrediting and licensing bodies.

Susan Collins
Psychology Department

Response

Please see the following statement from WSU leadership: https://from.wsu.edu/wsu-system/2022/reproductive-rights/email.html

Comments

Concern

It is difficult to read emails with the latest implementation of the ‘[EXTERNAL EMAIL] DO NOT CLICK’ before the body of emails. Please request IT survey faculty before implementing changes that affect the everyday lives of Faculty. For example, a faculty survey may have identified an alternative, more preferable, placement of such warnings. Furthermore, IT should present evidence that such changes will actually reduce the number of phishing impacts on WSU faculty. There was also insufficient transparency when WSU IT forced WSU faculty to use outlook and 2-factor authentication.

Where is the academic rigor, data or research behind these decisions? Faculty in other universities (e.g. UW) have more IT freedom (e.g. can choose email clients) and do not have read CAPITALIZED warnings at the start of each external email.

Anonymous Constituent

Response

I discussed this concern with the ITS team and there are important reasons why this “feature” had to be added to our email. Fortunately, it looks like ITS will be able to shorten the message to only [EXTERNAL EMAIL] so more there is more room for the body of the message. This enhancement will be rolled out soon (guessing early August). Sincerely, Douglas Call