| Message from President Elson S. Floyd and Provost Warwick M. Bayly | Send to a Friend | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| June 16, 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dear Colleagues, Students, Alumni, and Community Members: The State of Washington and the nation are currently facing the worst economic circumstance since the Great Depression. The impact on Washington State University has been devastating, and it has been felt — in a very personal way — by all of us. The massive budget cut we must endure will result in reductions in jobs, programs, services, enrollments, and degree offerings. Virtually every aspect of WSU has been touched by this fiscal crisis. It is now time for us to renew our commitment to building a stronger Washington State University deeply rooted in our obligation and responsibility to serve effectively our state as its exclusive land-grant research university. But, before we can devote full-time attention to this imperative, we must finalize our official response to the deepest cut to higher education in more than a generation. The process we used was highly collaborative and exceedingly transparent. Over a dozen public forums were held, extensive meetings conducted with constituency groups, testimony provided to the various committees of the House and Senate, and presentations made to the Faculty Senate, Associated Students of Washington State University, Administrative Professional Advisory Council, and the Board of Regents. Additionally, regular meetings were held with the senior leadership of WSU — Deans, Chancellors, and Vice Presidents — to develop approaches, identify budget targets, review area proposals, and receive general feedback. The university's Web site was used extensively throughout the process to provide regular updates and to receive broader university and community feedback. Over 10,000 comments have been offered on different phases of the budget proposals under consideration. The number of articles written and reported by the print and electronic media are too numerous to recount at this time. The Deans, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, other senior university officials, and the two of us met with virtually every student, legislator, faculty or staff member, alumnus/a, and community member who requested a meeting. Thousands of electronic messages received individual responses. In fact, the senior leadership devoted vast amounts of time, energy, and effort to address thoughtfully these types of questions and inquiries. The newly established University Budget Committee was invaluable in providing focus and perspective on the broader institutional impacts of budgetary decisions. The following provides the progression of events leading up to our final budget: The First Cut is Received Washington State University was required to return $10.5 million of the 2007–2009 biennial appropriation to the Office of Financial Management (the Governor's Office) by June 30, 2009. These funds were returned through the following means: Academic instruction, the libraries, the regional campuses, and the new Murrow College were protected from the full brunt of this reduction. In total, the academic areas, including the regional campuses, hold about 67% of the university's permanent funds. However, the academic areas and the regional campuses were assessed only 42% of the total cut. The academic-support areas, which hold about 33% of the permanent funds, were assessed with 58% of the reduction. The following is an excerpt from a message sent to university leaders on October 23, 2008:
"As a result of our efforts, begun in April, to slow down administrative hiring and reduce other expenses, we are currently on track to save $3 million by the end of the fiscal year. These savings are largely attributable to reduced central
expenses and savings from the four-month accrual policy. We are hopeful that efforts to reduce expenses within your respective areas will have led to similar savings that can help cover your portion of the budget reduction.
Since arriving at WSU, President Floyd has emphasized that we cannot afford to continue the practice of making across the board budget adjustments. Accordingly, we are specifically targeting our estimated central savings to protect instructional faculty, graduate students, the libraries and branch campuses. This action will reduce their respective share of the cut from $4.3 million under an across the board approach to $1.3 million. This approach will help minimize the impact of the cut on our students and faculty. At the same time, we must remember that the non-instructional activities we perform on a daily basis, which will be the hardest hit by this reduction, are critical in assisting students and faculty in achieving their goals." Governor/Legislature Agree on 2009–2011 Budget Reduction for WSU After months of testimony and intense deliberations, the biennial operating budget for WSU was decided in the final days of the regular legislative session. The net operating budget reduction is $54.2 million or 10.38% in 2009–2011. This budget was developed using both federal stimulus dollars, which are not expected to be available beyond the 2009–11 biennium, and a 14% increase in tuition for resident undergraduate students for each of the two years. With tremendous concerns expressed regarding the need for enhanced financial aid, the Board of Regents reluctantly approved the tuition increase at its meeting on May 8, 2009. Thus, the final operating budget was built accordingly:
Balancing the Budget for WSU The new operating budget for WSU will become effective on July 1, 2009. While we generally think of budget reductions as "cuts," they are actually reductions in quarterly allocations from the state. In this regard, WSU's allocations will be reduced by $32 million in 2009–2010 and by the balance, $22 million, in 2010–2011. This is an extremely difficult accounting problem because of fund flows and disbursements. As a consequence, the institutional decision has been made to engage in a process called smoothing of funds, which will allow WSU to administer the budget reduction more evenly — $27 million each year. The Final Budget Decisions There were a number of principles that guided the ultimate decisions made to balance the budget. These principles may be found at www.budget-committee.wsu.edu. It is important to note that none of the options were popular and none of the budgetary responses were entered into easily. Difficult and seemingly impossible choices were made in the final analysis. Despite seeking every avenue to avoid this consequence, we sincerely regret that individuals will be separated from WSU as a result of the budget reduction. The alternatives were daunting since approximately 83% of the institution's budget is associated with personnel, which is typical of colleges and universities across the nation. As a result, it was virtually impossible to achieve a reduction of this magnitude without impacting people. Ultimately, we estimate 192 faculty and staff positions will be impacted, including retirements, reduced appointments, and various forms of separation agreements. Due to individual retirement decisions, this number might change. In addition, 167 vacant positions will be cut. Forty-seven employees took advantage of the WSU Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive (VERI): 30 faculty, 16 administrative professional, and one civil service. Several academic programs have received considerable attention over the past several weeks. The status of each is outlined below: Sport Management — WSU will maintain and continue the program and major. The department will remain in the College of Education while a review is conducted regarding its permanent academic home. Theater and Dance — The department and both the major and minor will be phased out beginning immediately. The department will officially close July 2011. All students currently certified in Theater and Dance will complete their course of study. Community and Rural Sociology — The department will be phased out effective immediately with the official close July 2010. (There are no students or majors within this department.) German — The major will be eliminated July 2011. All students currently certified in German will complete their course of study. The budget will be balanced through the following means: The president voluntarily reduced his salary by $100,000, effective January 1, 2009. That salary reduction has already been implemented and will be used towards the overall response to the budget. The Deans, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, and the two of us have voluntarily agreed to participate in and contribute to WSU excellence funds at an aggregate level of 5% of base salary. (For the president, this is in addition to the voluntary salary reduction of $100,000 referenced above.) This action will yield funds totaling nearly $330,000. Participation in this initiative will either occur through salary reductions or individual contributions. The payment method is at the discretion of each individual. As a result of this action, approximately 10 positions have been saved, which otherwise would have been eliminated. WSU faculty and staff are welcome to participate in this initiative; however, their participation will not be used to balance the budget at this time. The process to balance our budget has been painful and difficult for all concerned. The following is a summary of final changes and further clarifications of the budget-reduction scenarios contained on the Web site www.budget-committee.wsu.edu. Budget Actions by Area College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences
Sincerely,
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| Office of the President, PO Box 641048, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-1048 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
