March 4, 2009 - Debunking Budget Rumors

Colleagues:

I have been hearing from concerned students and their parents about decisions they are certain have already been made to eliminate or drastically cut back academic programs. I felt it was time to communicate directly with our students on that matter, and my message to students appears below.

My focus in the message to students is on academic programs because those are the rumors I am hearing from them. We really need your help here. People, when feeling anxious and threatened, often suspend their critical reasoning abilities. To illustrate, one message I received from a parent concerned a decision he was certain we had made to cut by 50% one of our largest, high quality academic majors that is also critical to many other programs across campus. Makes absolutely no sense but that is the point: common sense can go out the window in times like this. So, as you encounter rumors yourselves, please interject your good sense. Encourage people to check out the rumor on the rumor control forum. And, reassure people that decisions will be made through an open process that all will be able to be a part of and that will be guided by the principles you have helped develop earlier this fall. Do let our students know that protection of core mission and program quality is prominent among those principles.

Our students are not alone in feeling the stresses. I know you are experiencing the same. Much of this stress comes because there is great uncertainty emanating from factors beyond our control: what is happening or has yet to happen in Olympia. But, beginning in 2 weeks, we will take firmer control of our fate, and, whenever that happens, it has been my experience that we feel more positive, even in troubled times, as we are in action, together, transparently shaping our futures.

What happens in 2 weeks? We go through a budget presentation process that is open to all. It will be webcast. There you will see the possible reductions coming, bottom up, at various cut levels. You will see, I believe, that units have worked hard to develop reductions driven by explicit priorities and strategic analyses. I also believe that you will find planning unit leaders going the extra mile to protect, as much as possible, current employees.

Again, and as always, thank you for your help and your patience,

Bruce