On September 30, 2020, President Schulz included in an email to the university community the suggestion of using descriptors for the different campuses. I ask that this be reconsidered. Offering some campuses with a specific descriptor (e.g., HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS: SPOKANE; FLAGSHIP CAMPUS: PULLMAN) but not others (e.g., REGIONAL CAMPUSES: EVERETT, TRI CITIES, AND VANCOUVER) implies a tiered status, which could impede applicants and opportunities for Everett/Tri Cities/Vancouver as well as neglect the true diversity and unique qualities each campus brings to the system.

I ask that the campus’ descriptor titles be discussed further to reflect the “one university/geographically dispersed” practice.

From the President’s September 30th email:

• We have been reticent to assign designations to our 6 campuses, but it is clear that in order to have an interconnected set of unique campuses each needs a distinct designation, mission, and vision while remaining aligned with the One WSU system operating principles identified in the system five year strategic plan. I am suggesting that we use the following designations moving forward:

o ONLINE CAMPUS: GLOBAL.
The WSU Global campus provides opportunities for students to complete a WSU degree from anywhere around the world, with no constraints on location.

o FLAGSHIP CAMPUS: PULLMAN.
The WSU Pullman campus is the largest and most established campus in the WSU system and has significant numbers of both residential undergraduate and graduate students. It is the focal point for a significant majority of research and scholarship.

o HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS: SPOKANE.
The WSU Spokane campus is statewide in scope and is the center for education and research in nursing, medicine, and pharmacy.

REGIONAL CAMPUSES: EVERETT, TRI CITIES, AND VANCOUVER.
The WSU Tri Cities and WSU Vancouver campuses offer bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in a wide range of fields. The WSU Everett campus emphasizes opportunities for students in the north Puget Sound area to earn a WSU bachelor’s degree with a special emphasis on industry-aligned learning and applied research.

Action Taken toward a Resolution:

On December 10, the Chair of the Faculty Senate gave a report concerning this Constituent Concern, summarized here:

During our meeting with Provost Chilton, we expressed to her the concerns that many faculty believe that “regional” is a pejorative term.  She replied that she believes the term describes certain campuses’ strengths but also went on to say the term “regional” starts the conversation.  She is open to suggestions as to how campuses are distinct.  Also, faculty are free to contact the provost’s office and communicate with her how they might describe some of the campuses within the WSU system.  Finally, the provost said she would talk with the chancellors of the respective campuses as well concerning this issue.

We understand the goal the WSU administration wants to accomplish by canceling spring break. And we understand they made this decision based on the concern of spreading COVID and bringing back more cases because we also share those concerns. But the logic is skewed, misguided, misinformed, and focusing on the wrong thing.

Instead, WSU should be implementing repercussions for the people who choose to party or not wear masks despite WSU’s COVID policy. Other universities have implemented punishments for people they discover not following their policies. For example, NMSU mandates a day-long zoom class with an essay for first-time offenders. As far as I know, WSU isn’t doing this; there aren’t consequences for people who don’t follow policy.

WSU shouldn’t be making significant decisions that affect the ability of students to perform without their input. And this is the biggest problem; students didn’t get the chance even to debate the topic. We are paying for an education; we should get a say in decisions like this.

I have Graduate students in our department from all different campuses contacting me because they believe this is an unfair decision based solely on the fact that irresponsible students could potentially make the wrong decisions. They feel like, and I think most of us can agree, they are being punished for the actions of the few students who have made bad decisions and WSU has failed to admonish immediately.

Our students need the mental break that comes with spring break, but that isn’t the only reason why spring break is essential.

Parents (both faculty and students) expect to spend that time with their children and not need childcare during that week.

Many students go back to their family doctor or dentist for annual check-ups during this time too.

Not to mention it is a time for students and faculty to catch up on work without having new things added to the workload the next day or have an exam immediately afterward. Spring break is prime grant writing time. Without time to write grants, research doesn’t get funded.

TAs and faculty often take this time to grade reports/essays during spring break, and classes are planned with this in mind. It would take at least twice as long to grade all of those reports/essays when school is in session.

Researchers use spring break to go out into the field to collect data.

And prelims are often scheduled right after spring break, so Ph.D. students use it as a time to study for those.

Response:  This COVID-19 emergency measure was put forward from the Provost’s Office, discussed during the September 24 and October 8 Faculty Senate meetings and then passed by the Faculty Senate on October 8.

This is an extreme decision made with zero input from students. This is a huge inequitable practice that will cause more harm than good for students. By letting this decision pass, you are putting your students last.

Response:  This COVID-19 emergency measure was put forward from the Provost’s Office, discussed during the September 24 and October 8 Faculty Senate meetings and then passed by the Faculty Senate on October 8.

Spring break needs to be re-instated, my club FormulaVanCougs Electric where we design and build electric racecars use that time to fundraise and meet with potential sponsors to lobby for funding which is vital for our club, we have already missed the time window to apply for senate funding because our campus’s Office of Student Involvement failed to notify any of our club members of when the application period started and when it closed. We just got John Lynch as our faculty advisor and now we are getting set back after setback. We don’t need more time for winter break we need time off for spring break. If you have a highway you do not put several gas stations at the beginning of the road and only put a few gas cans along the road, you need to have your gas stations equally spaced out along the road so you don’t overfill on gas and you don’t run out of gas either.

While it is commendable (and perhaps overdue) that the Provost’s office is willing to fund a cluster hire around racism and social inequality, it is, frankly, irresponsible and undermining to demand that full-blown, interdisciplinary proposals, endorsed by college/campus leadership, be completed within only seven days. Such a short timeframe, unreasonable even under normal circumstances, is necessarily disadvantageous to those individuals who are already working beyond capacity due to the pandemic (many of whom belong, ironically, to groups affected by existing structures of inequality), and to dangle such a funding opportunity in a time of overall austerity without providing the appropriate time to respond to it is shortsighted, self-defeating, and simply unfair to those individuals unable to drop everything else they are doing to pull together an appropriate response to such an exciting opportunity. Please allow units time to confer and organize around thoughtful proposals – at least 3 weeks.

Many of my constituents have contacted me with this concern: with the extended winter break now in the new Spring schedule, how will this affect the pay cycles for those faculty on 9-month appointment?

On September 24th, Pac-12 officials announced resumption of football games, including three scheduled for Martin Stadium (Nov. 14th, Nov. 27th, and Dec. 12th). Fans will not be allowed into the stadium, but WSU has a long history of enthusiastic “tail gating” as an alternative means of attending and supporting football. From a public health perspective, and in the interests of our community’s hopes of reopening K-12 public schools, is anything being done to discourage people from coming to Pullman for these games and participating in traditional tail-gating activities?

I’m concerned with WSU making such changes to the academic calendar in regards to spring break without considering the actual functional purpose within the academic structure for faculty, students and staff. That said, this is not enough time for faculty to do field work or make changes to research plans. I would rather see us possibly make spring break later in the semester or have the semester end a week later as well as consider other remedies before taking action on this agenda item. My primary point, as always, is if there has been enough discussion on the matter or consideration of the long-term ramifications of such action–which has potential draw backs. We already this last spring, over break, were expected to turn-around our F2F instruction to online format in less than a week which involved significant extra labor by faculty and staff. The bottom-line I’m not supportive of this move at all.

Response:  This COVID-19 emergency measure was put forward from the Provost’s Office, discussed during the September 24 and October 8 Faculty Senate meetings and then passed by the Faculty Senate on October 8.

Dear Senators,
I would like to voice my concerns on the proposed changes to the Spring 2021 academic calendar. I understand the reasoning behind the benefits for delayed start section, but I disagree that finals week can be counted as a week of instruction; 1) no class meetings other than the final exam time is scheduled during finals week so there is no class instruction that week; 2) many classes do not require a final exam so again no meetings that week. MWF classes historically lose 2 lecture days per semester and that will not change so now MWF classes will lose 5 lectures; essentially another week of instruction lost.
I agree with part of the proposed changes. Moving back the semester start by nearly two week, cancelling Spring break to eliminate potential corvid transition due to travel is appropriate. We are an institution of higher education and so we should be doing what is in the best interests of our students rather than undermining their education. Eliminating a full week of instruction is not in the student’s best interests.
I urge all Senators to amend the proposal and require 15 weeks of true instruction followed by a week for final exams.
The Spring 2021 semester would start as proposed on Wednesday January 20, 2021 and end 1 week later, so final examinations will begin on Monday May 7 and end on Friday May 14.

Thank you for your consideration.

Response:  This COVID-19 emergency measure was put forward from the Provost’s Office, discussed during the September 24 and October 8 Faculty Senate meetings and then passed by the Faculty Senate on October 8.

I am writing in support of the proposed change to the Spring semester schedule. Such a change seems wise from a COVID-19 perspective. Additionally, from a faculty perspective, it would give an additional 2 weeks to prep Spring classes for online delivery. While we had all summer to work on fall classes, the winter break is much shorter. So, personally, I would welcome those extra 2 weeks!