| Message from President Elson S. Floyd | Send to a Friend | ||||
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| May 1, 2009 | ||||
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Dear WSU Colleagues and Students: Since the country's economy began to melt down last summer, and throughout the deliberations in Olympia, we have all watched and worried together about the prospects for Washington State University's financial future. But more importantly, we have worked together to make the hard choices that would position our university to withstand tough times. With foresight and sacrifice, we implemented budget cuts totaling $10.5 million in the current biennium, allowing us to mitigate some of this budget's devastating impact. Nevertheless, it is impossible to withstand a biennial reduction of $54.2 million without making even more difficult decisions. Each and every one of those decisions is being made within the rubric that WSU must be true to our academic mission and focused on being one of the finest land-grant research universities in the nation. The preliminary budget plan includes cuts in services, travel, hiring and expenditures, course reductions, and the elimination or consolidation of several academic programs. It also necessitates the elimination of approximately 370 employee positions system wide. While we are fortunate that over 160 of those positions represent unfilled vacancies, the reduction of nearly 210 currently filled positions, or approximately 3.3 percent of our employees, will still be required. While this number is not as high as originally feared, we regret the loss of even one valued member of our community. The people most likely to be affected by these decisions have all been notified. These were very difficult conversations for all concerned, but we are fortunate to be able to provide a minimum 90-day notice to permanent staff members who will be notified of separation from WSU due to the budget reductions. Contractual notification obligations will also be honored. We are committed to doing everything we can to ease the transition for affected employees. We will be expanding our human resource services and employee assistance programs to provide additional professional and personal counseling. Once again, without your previous budgetary sacrifices, an even greater number of job losses and program reductions would have been necessary. We are, of course, concerned about any increased financial burden on our students. The Legislature built its budget for higher education around a 14 percent increase in resident undergraduate tuition for each year of the biennium for all four-year universities in the state. This translates to an increase of $870 at WSU next year, which is not trivial. We are strongly committed to helping students who are struggling with financial hardship. The Office of Financial Aid is working hard to find additional sources of funding, scholarships, and loans to offset this additional cost where possible, and the WSU Foundation is redoubling its efforts to raise private funds for financial aid. Students are encouraged to contact the WSU Office of Financial Aid to see what might be available to you. We invite you to join us for an initial question-and-answer session from 2 to 3 p.m. today in T-101 of the Food Science and Human Nutrition Building, with overflow accommodations in the CUB Auditorium and on-line and in other locations as noted in yesterday's email announcement. Throughout the month of May, we will continue to seek your feedback and suggestions. The University Budget Committee Web site is now open to receive comments, and we will conduct a public budget forum on Monday, May 4 at noon in the CUB Auditorium (and available via video stream). In addition, the Faculty Senate will meet on May 7 and May 12 to discuss preliminary budget plans related to program closures in more detail. Other opportunities to provide input will be ongoing throughout May, with the goal of finalizing the budget no later than June 1 for a July 1 implementation. The state's biennial plan for higher education is the largest total budget reduction in history. We applaud each and every one of you for your efforts to maintain the high quality for which WSU is known, especially given these difficult circumstances. You are foremost in our minds as we go forward. We strongly believe that we will emerge from this crisis even stronger and more strategically aligned to achieve our ambitious goals. Sincerely,
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| Office of the President, PO Box 641048, Washington State University, Pullman WA 99164-1048 | ||||
