Message from President Elson S. Floyd | Send to a Friend
	May 4, 2009
	Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: In follow up to Friday's announcement of the University's preliminary budget plan, I want to encourage you to go to www.budget-committee.wsu.edu to review the details of the preliminary plan and provide your comments and suggestions to the University Budget Committee. In addition, comments regarding tuition can be submitted on the Board of Regents Web site www.regents.wsu.edu. This is a preliminary budget plan. Through vehicles like last Friday's public budget Q&A session, this afternoon's budget forum at the CUB, and the University Budget Committee's comments Web page, we will actively seek public input on the preliminary plan throughout the month of May. With the information gathered during the month, we will work to complete a budget by June 1 and have it ready for implementation on July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year. There is no question finding ways to reduce our biennial budget by over $54 million is a challenging task and the impact will be far reaching. However, we are endeavoring to make these budget adjustments as strategically and compassionately as possible and to use public input to refine the plan. We understand whatever budget decisions are ultimately made, some people will support them and others will not. Despite the current financial circumstances, please know that WSU will continue to pursue our core mission of education, research, and outreach and work to ensure that the University emerges from this budget crisis stronger. I would also like to address three issues which have been circulating in the media: We do plan to extend the minimum notice period to provide 90 days for all eligible employees who are separated from WSU due to the budget reduction. (Contractual agreements which include provisions for longer notice periods will, of course, be honored.) For more information about this and other employee-support programs — including employee sessions conducted by HRS and EAP — please visit the HRS Web site at www.hrs.wsu.edu. Students who are certified to major in a program which might ultimately be eliminated will be provided a reasonable time frame (at present approximately two years) in which to earn their degree in that major. The proposed budget reductions outlined in the preliminary budget plan will not change the number of WSU Extension county offices located throughout the state. We will continue to provide updated information as we work through the budget process. Your input is appreciated. Thank you. Sincerely, Elson S. Floyd, Ph.D. President
Office of the President, PO Box 641048, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-1048