Brainstorming for Cost Saving Opportunities at WWU

Perhaps not huge, given scope of budget crisis, but here are a few small ways to save $:
1) I often have to open wide my window (in Arntzen), and see library doors ajar as well; can't the heat be regulated better, and lower?
2) why not post engaging signs on elevators, asking people to please use stairs if they are able? (maybe get students in art classes to do original art on metal plates, which would certainly get attention that a more standard sign would not)
3) Calgary is a great example of smart pedestrian thinking, with many buildings linked. Too late now, but why didn't the Com bldg and the AIC have skyways - the one between Arntzen and Huxley is well-used, and also saves much heat. So whenever there is capital $ again.

In response to the question about how many copies of Microsoft Office we maintain, we actually don't spend any money ourselves on Office. 

The WWU Phonathon, a part of the Western Foundation, makes phone calls to alumni of WWU who are employees of Microsoft.  Microsoft actually offers, through donations, a reduced price to their own employees: so every copy of Microsoft Office on campus is donated yearly by our alumni who work at Microsoft!  So between the Phonathon callers and alumni of Western, we get all of our copies of Office donated through Microsoft!

Patricia

Does it really cost $3,705,000 annually to maintain Wade King Recreation Center ?? ($95 per quarter x 3 quarters x roughly 13,000 students). Maybe some of the unused "extra" funds received from this fee could be re-allocated to academic services that all students actually use. If this is not a possibility, maybe make the Rec Center fee optional and apply a separate temporary "academic services fee" to help make-up the budget shortfall.

Jennifer

A tremendous amount of savings could be attained by switching to a voice over IP phone system instead of traditional land lines, which I believe the university still has. The greatest benefit is that in-network calls would be free, and long distance calls could be significantly less pricy than what the phone company charges. Employees and students would see no difference in the quality of service or usage, although new phone units would likely be necessary.

Several departments on campus offer courses in their majors that are extremely similar. For example, many majors have general "how to do research" classes that are required for accreditation, but are general enough that they could apply to students outside that major as well. It seems like a great deal of money could be saved by identifying such similar courses, and then grouping them into one.

This would reduce costs by requiring fewer instructor hours (since those types of classes are rarely filled to capacity), and reducing classroom usage (which saves energy costs).

 Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Bruce Shepard being paid more than our last president? An easy but unlikely way to save money would be to reduce his pay to whatever the last president's pay was. 

Also, has anyone looked into how much coaches are paid here? I don't think we have the same problem as University of Washington does/did, where their football coach is/was paid more than their president, but someone should look into that. Western isn't known for its sports, its known for its artists.

Western should sell the Armory ASAP if that isn't in the works already. The scene shop has completely moved to its new location, so the Armory is unnecessary.

I see that there have been numerous suggestions for reducing employee travel, and I am aware that a reduction in travel has already begun. I have a suggestion for reducing the cost of any remaining travel that may still occur.

Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that employees are REQUIRED to book air travel through Bellingham Travel Agency. If this is true, I would like to suggest that employees be allowed to book their own tickets online and be reimbursed by the University IF they are able to find a cheaper airfare than the agency can offer. I'll bet that 90% of the time a better deal can be found online than via a traditional agent.

**didn’t read above comments, sorry if this is repeat**

What if you had 2-5 exercise machines hooked up to generate power when people used them. (Similar to when a rat runs on a wheel in a cage)

I am sure it wouldn’t generate much power, but a prof in the engineering department, or environmental science/computer science department could assign seniors (or whoever) an assignment to create a device to attach to the exercise bikes and generate power that can go to a generator and use that energy to good use.

Then students can learn, and we can also benefit from creating our own power. This could be an investment, but how cool would it be to know that when I exercise at the rec center I am contributing to helping the campus save power and become greener! All while I lose weight! Sounds great to me!
 

Doesn't our football team go out of state at least twice a year, chartering a bus to SeaTac, then flying to places such as Minnesota?  That must cost what? At least $20,000 per trip for the team. I agree with Baron apRhys that these should move over to self supporting if they aren't already. 

 WWU does a deplorable job of allowing expertise from the community to contribute to the academic experience of the students.  There is a wealth of talent that is willing to contribute time, mentoring, lectures, money and expertise.  Yet when professionals try, the roadblocks are formidable.  Many of these folks would provide content, lecture, mentor for free, in fact many would contribute more money for the honor.  WWU needs to take a hard look at community relations, and stop pretending that communication is adequate.  WWU needs the community and the community needs WWU.

in regards to spending money on sports, our sports teams really aren't given much funding in the first team. only two of the many coaches are paid, and very few athletes are on scholarship, specifically in track.  we have very limited budgets.

Instead of cutting budgets on special interests groups such as clubs and sports, it seems as if there should be more of a campus-wide effort towards cutting costs.

For those of living on campus:

lets waste less food.

use one plate when eating and use your feet if you want seconds or side dishes (this will also help waste less food since people can't carry as much food without trays)

keep lights off in the dorm hallways unless you need it on.  same with dorm room lights

don't take long showers and/or turn the water off while soaping up.

For those not living in dorms:

make sure lights aren't left on in unused rooms.

Dont turn the water on full blast to wash hands, and conserve paper towel usage

Pick up your trash-less work for janitors means they get done quicker which will cut costs assuming they are paid by the hour.

By conserving energy, we can save a lot of money rather than just jacking up tuition.  I believe Western has a strong enough community that we could come together and become more efficient.  What if we had quarter-long and year long competitions amongst buildings and dorms as incentive to promote conservation?

Correct me if I am wrong, but during economic downturns college admissions are supposed to increase. Why not take advantage of the situation and concentrate on growth.

Hire more professors to teach a more robust selection of online courses. Online colleges are already competing for a larger market share of education dollars. Western will lose students if this type of learning is not expanded soon. How many students have dropped out of Western and would return if they could finish their education online?

Hire more college recruiters to visit more high schools. Western will be competing for students that don’t qualify for financial aid. We should be promoting the new waterfront property while we are at it. If Western is going to build a world class Environmental Sciences building, now is a great time to update literature (yes it’s expensive) so that other people outside of Bellingham know about the plans. Western is a great college, it deserves more attention. Updating literature is a good way to get that attention, and more students.

If there’s a problem getting financial aid for students, why not look at setting up a private lending institution. How many of Westerns benefactors would be willing to give students a loan for their tuition? The stock market is in the tank. I think that many investors are looking for ways to earn some interest on their money; maybe investing in students would be a good thing for them. (No Loan sharks) You can find links for this kind of private lending online. For example: http://financemydegree.com/

• The best way to save economically is also to save environmentally. Grist ran a series this summer about how universities around the country cut down on their environmental impacts and drastically slashed their costs. Western has already implemented some of these changes (trayless dining, printing of some publications on 100% recycled paper), but we could do so much more: inter-dorm contests of who can use the least amount of energy in one month, etc. See http://www.grist.org/feature/2008/09/16/intro/index.html/ for more information. Contests to reduce impact could be between dorms or departments.
• Cutting down on paper use is fine. Definitely switch to double-sided printers. At The Planet magazine, we recycle-bin-dive for perfectly good paper to print our drafts on. Block advertising faxes, set your fax machines to only send a report back if the fax doesn't go through, and stop sending packets of fliers to departments (many people instantly recycle them without reading them). Instead of hard copies, have students turn in papers online. Don't print syllabi. Keep in mind, if you're switching to rely primarily on electronic resources, computers need to be available to students either in labs or to check out, and MyWestern, Blackboard, etc. need to be functional - it's frustrating to no end when you're expected to do everything online and some part of the Web site is down for who knows how long.
• Support alternative forms of transportation: biking, longboarding, skateboarding, etc. It's great to see the new bike racks out by the AIC, but we need more of those and they need to be closer to buildings. That said, cut down on driving on campus. It contributes to weardown of the bricks, and most of the vehicles spend minutes burning gas waiting for crowds of students to part.
• Get rid of trays in dining halls. Don't use so many dishes. Purchse local food.
• Many campus restaurants have switched to compostable cups, but the compost bins are difficult to find, so most of these cups get thrown away, defeating their purpose. Have more compost bins that are well-marked. Increase the number of recycling bins of different types on campus and put them in logical locations. Stop selling bottled water. Compost leftover food at the dining halls.
• Implement more of the technologies used in the AIC elsewhere on campus - toilets with separate flushes for solids and liquids that use less water, lights set to detect motion, energy-efficient bulbs, efficient hand driers, etc.
• Fix leaky faucets.
• Limit lawn-watering. Use grey water. Plant hardy, native plants.
• Stop graffiti removal. That takes up a surprisingly high amount of money.
• Also set mandatory power-saving modes for all campus computers, as the suggetion list says.
• Don't reduce student worker programs. Your students pay your wages. Where else are we supposed to get the money to pay for inevitable tuition increases?
• Don't lower the classifications of and fire the staff and faculty that work so hard to keep this university running. Don't expect them to teach more hours for less pay. Cut back on salaries of those who can afford it.
• Do not increase the use of outside advertising. Work to change things from within. Empower your student body - tell them what they can do, and leaders will rise to take on the challenge.
• Allow local independent restaurants to open on campus.
• Reduce outside printed publications.
• Find the most cost-effective ways to purchase office supplies - remanufactured toner cartridges, etc.

Green concrete sounds fantastic. We should work to implement this all over campus. Could microbes be seeded between existing cobblestones if the water was properly collected and moved (to prevent standing water) after flowing through them?

I agree with converting classes to higher credit amounts (many classes are disproportionately credited, either too high or too low for the corresponding workload), but be wary of which classes you cut. I'm concerned about the potential of upper division classes being cut because there is no one to teach them or there are not enough students enrolled, which could completely throw off my ability to graduate. If you're cutting classes, do it on a case-by-case basis so the professors and students have enough time to respond and/or find alternatives.

I don't know if either Viqueen Lodge or Lakewood are actually profitable (or costly to the school) but if they aren't making money, they should be closed temporarily until WWU has more money to spend. I know that Viqueen Lodge is maintained by volunteers but that is the extent of information that I know about it (maybe proof that not many people know it is even there).

It would be beneficial to all of us to stress revenue increases as well as cost savings.  One way to generate revenue that has

been quite successful in other Universities is partnering scientists with a Technology Transfer organization would allow for

the beginnings of a revenue based upon patents and licensing agreements.  Simple academics (earning grants, publishing,

etc...) needs to be adapted to our current economic environment through Tech Transfer as a model for today's Universities. 

When talks of layoffs started, all I could think of was where would they start?  Would it be classified, exempt or facultyand it got me thinking, what about all of those people who have already retired from Western and come back at full salary and benefits while drawing their retirement. 

I do understand that their knowledge is valuable but nobody is irreplaceable.  Someone else could promote to that position and do just as well and at a cost savings.  I just think that it would be a shame to lay offsomeone who relies on this job as their sole source of income, raising their families, when there are many here who are just here for the benefits. 

Suggestion: Save electricity costs by turning off desk computers, monitors and printers when not in use.

Background: If a long work day is 10 hours, that is 14 hours per work day that a user's computer, monitor and printer can be turned off. Add the weekend to the time off.

Ten hour, five day work week = 10 * 5 = 50 hours
Hours in a week = 7 * 24 = 168 hours
Computer, monitor, printers off hours in a week = 168 - 50 = 118 hours

Percentage of electricity cost savings per week = ( 118 / 168 ) * 100 = 70%
 

 - temporary suspension of (paid) sabbaticals
 - temporarily cut most staff to 1/2 time for the month of August
 - close university for last week of December (i.e., cut most staff to 3/4 time for the month)
 - incentives for faculty/staff to retire early and/or cut back to 1/2 time
 - wait on granting of faculty 'merit' pay until budget improves
 - reevaluate low enrollment courses - if faculty/departments wish to continue to offer these courses then increase teaching loads accordingly
 - eliminate sports field night-time lighting

There have been a lot of really great ideas, especially some very "green" ideas. However, there seems to be some confusion over what students pay for and what will actually help cut the Western Budget. To my knowledge, all Associated Student activities, facilities and services are paid for by student fees.Dining Halls and Residence Halls are paid for by the students themselves. So, ideas like no trays in the Dining Halls are great for being less wasteful, they don't actually help the need for Western Budget Cuts. This is a difficult situation, but it is also an opportunity for learning where the money comes from that provides Western with its outstanding academics, staff, facilities and out of the classroom educational opportunities. I certainly don't have the answers, but I thought I'd try to provide some clarity on this subject.

The Banner data management system creates an inordinate amount of paper and printing waste. Reports aren't available on-screen and must be printed. Every time a report is printed, the system also prints at least one, and sometimes three, pages of (useless) acknowledgement that it printed the job.  Can someone find a way to fix this?  I've complained about this for years, and have been told there is nothing that can be done about it.  It's such a waste!

Perhaps we should be looking at the deeper seated issues at play here and begin addressing a growing trend within the triumvirate of Oil, Autos and Weapons..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28077150/

How is that a single company within our state can recieve upwards of $10 billion per year on a single project while our Universities are falling into economic strife.

Annual Department of Education Budget: $68.6 Billion

http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html

The Department of Defense (DOD) says its budget request for the next
fiscal year – 2009 – is $515.4 billion. George W. Bush’s budget as shown
today by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says the Pentagon
request is $518.3 billion, a $2.9 billion difference. OMB is right; the
Pentagon “forgot” to include some permanent appropriations (also called
“entitlements” or “mandatory” spending) for retirement and some other
non-hardware spending.

$518.3 BILLION! This doesn't even include some other aspects of defense
spending. Lets take a look.

$17.1 billion for nuclear weapons research, storage, and related
activities. (Dept. of Energy)

$70 billion requested to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It does
not include enough money to fight the wars for more than a few months in
2009.

$3.2 billion for miscellaneous defense costs in other agencies, such as
the General Services Administration’s National Defense Stockpile, the
Selective Service, and the FBI’s international activities.

$40.1 Billion for the poorly managed Department of Homeland Security.

$38.4 Billion for State Department for diplomacy, arms aid to allies, UN
peacekeeping, reconstruction aid for Iraq and Afghanistan and foreign aid
for other countries. Countries ripped apart by our own weapons industries.

$91.3 Billion for the Department of Veterans affairs.

$12.1 Billion for Treasury for military retirement.

$16.2 Billion for the interest earned in the Treasury for military
retirement..

Grand Total: $806.7 Billion for our "Defense"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_for_Food_program

Has anybody tried closing the goddamn windows in the hallway of my dorm? Because it's ****ing cold.

 We are, in fact, moving to an e-catalog and hope to have one on-line soon. My office and the Registrar's office are working overtime to make this happen.

We do hope to save tens of thousands of dollars with this move--which will also make for a more accurate catalog. However, how fast we can move to an e-catalog will depend upon campus usage. In the first year we will transition by printing some copies. We can only transition to a fully e-catalog if the university embraces it. People are used to a hard copy catalog and may prefer it. But we will all save money without. So please, embrace the e-catalog!

Steve VanderStaay

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

 Remember, the president's house isn't a house as you and I know it. It is a university facility, used for university functions, where the president happens to live. The house is used for fund-raising and other university events--sometimes 3 times a week. The home is modest and very close to campus--he's not living on Chuckanut or on the lake or even in Fairhaven. That is, he's not in the kind of home or neighborhood a wealthy person would choose to live in if personal comfort was the only consideration. 

When I worked at the University of Montana some years back, they switched from a quarter system to a semester system specifically to save money, and it worked.  I'm sure there's research on how much can be saved by a move in this direction.  However, above and beyond the money issue, I also think that semesters allow both professors and students an opportunity to delve more deeply into the subject matter.  A move in this direction could enhance education.

Paul Piper, Library

I agree with what was said about Banner.  Much much paper is wasted running reports just to look at numbers.  Now, there are roundabout, complicated ways of downloading reports and viewing them on-screen, but for the most part, reports have to be printed to be viewed as best displayed.  Could we revamp Banner, so that it includes a view-online function, as well as copy-paste mode from this online-Banner-viewer?  SO much paper and time would be saved by those of us who do budgets.

If we have such a large deficiet how is it that the university still sees it appropriate to hold dinner events for alumni in the solarium that cost 1000s and 1000s of dollars??

These events are not productive in any sense of the word, alcohol is served in abundance.  If I as a student have to give up some quality of my education, or programs directed towards it how can the school justify something as unneeded as this??

I have never been so upset with this university in my 5+ years here.  Asking for help from students, and pay decreases for faculty while admin are up in the solarium celebrating how awesome they are and getting drunk.  WTF??
 

Andy H

I appreciate the comment, and am interested to know where you're coming from -- can you expand on it a little?... 

As for a general defense of my earlier post, here's the 2008-2009 tuition & fees schedule that the registrar's office puts out: http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/studentaccounts/popup_tschedule.htm.  WWU's been offering this tuition plateau for as long as I can remember -- there's a rates & fees schedule published each year, as far as I know, if you want to dig into the historical data for more info.

I'm trying to think of situations where 10 credits does not cost the same as 18...  What was your experience?

Lastly - just a clarifier -- by "cost the same", I'm referring to what the student pays in tuition, not an overall cost that might include books or other fees, nor what it costs the state to subsidize.

- dave

Re: Comment "If we have such a large deficiet how is it that the university still sees it appropriate to hold dinner events for alumni in the solarium that cost 1000s and 1000s of dollars?? "

It's important to keep in mind that there is generally always a method to the madness. Alumni functions are 'revenue-generating' activities similar to any other non-profit fund-raising initiatives. It's a simple and effective strategy - you serve your target audience (ex: alumni) some appetizers, maybe a nice dinner, and some wine or other alchoholic beverages. Once your audience is relaxed, you talk to them about the need for donations to continue the good works of the university. Those who attend are well aware that they will be asked to pull out their checkbooks and dish-out substantially more than the cost of the food and beverages they were offered. And the request for alumni donations (i.e. donor relations) will continue until you are cold-in-your-grave. Having attended many fund-raisers, I can tell you that the alchohol clearly serves to assist in the fund-raising efforts.

Just based on facts what I have and what I found in FI building:

The exhaust fan, what been used to pull the air out from mechanical room, has 2000-2300 CFM capacity (accordingly to manufacture specifications). This fan pulls the air
out at temperature 83-85 deeg. F. at outside air temp: 46 deeg.F. Delta Temp. is 40 deeg. F.
Also, my calculation based on 24 hour/day, 30days/month, and 12 month/year. I understand, that impossible to get 100% recovery (heat exchange between air and preheating cold water), but this numbers impresses.
With certain percentage taken off, we still can save a huge money, also, based on numbers of similar mechanical rooms on campus.

Amount of BTU’s:

-- 90720 BTU/h : 26.6 kW/hour

637.93 kW/day

19138.2 kW/month

229658.4 kW/year

Based on $ 0.06 per 1 kW: $ 13,779.5 in one year. This is just one mechanical
room In FI building.

Also, based on 1020 BTU’s per 1 cubic foot of Natural Gas it gives us:

88.94 cubic foot of Natural Gas per hour

768,451.8 cubic foot per year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of cause we have different consumptions of hot water depending on buildings, hours, schedules. But, FI is not a housing. This is academics. Looks to me, all housings have a huge consumption of hot water . It means more savings can be made.

My additional researches gave me some valuable info about our steam plan boiler’s efficiency. That is about 72 – 75 %. On top, what we already have it will bring us
Roughly 25% more (based on boiler’s efficiency). If we will do some experiments it will show us the real savings.

The experiment itself is nothing more then preheating the incoming cold water for domestic hot water heaters. It consists of air- to- water heat exchanger installed in an existing exhaust fan ducting. Air-to-water heat exchanger of 120,000 BTU
coasts about $ 240. All sheet metal work can be done without outside contractors.
And water lines can be redone by using PEX tubing (it cost much less then copper tubing).

  We have so many mechanical rooms on Campus with a large heat converters, and, also, we have a large BTU's number

we are loosing.

  Alex.
 

it may be to late for this but i'm slow at thinking of things. what about the athletic department? what about all the money they get for their travels? can they take the bus instead of paying gas for the students? anything else they can cut back on as i'm not sure of all of their expenses.

any incentive for hte departments to cut back on anything, lights, etc. i think some see the importance of the budget cut but old habits are hard to break and if there was some sort of an incentive they may be more willing to participate. it's not their money their spending.

seeing the petty cash reimbursements coming through, are all of these necessary? some of these expenses may seem a little unnecessary. i don't want to cut the fun out of everything but if we're talknig about cutting programs back, then maybe we don't need to have the university buying us pizza. i think priorities are a bit off.

that's all i can think of right now, maybe more later if it's not to late.

These suggestions assume the following:
1-the central mission of our university is to encourage the interplay among teaching, learning and scholarship
2-academic freedom and tenure are essential to maintaining this mission
3-union contracts must be seen as permnent. Any modifictions must come with union approval
4-elements in the university not integral to our central mission should be those subject to initial scrutiny for fund-saving possibilities.

Suggestions for savings:
1-recombine colleges of humanities and social sciences with the sciences-i.e. re-establish the old College of Arts and Sciences.(savings-at least one dean's salary and support staff. Up to 4-5 hundred thousand per/year I am told) This would also greatly reduce duplication on college committees, etc.
2-eliminate Teaching and Learning Academy and other non-teaching 'centers' on campus, especially those that pander to
current academic fads.
3-eliminate all administrative positions on campus that contain the word "vice." Let's go back to Provost, Deans of Students, Business Managers, etc. . Then let's start working on non-academic job titles that contain the words "assistant" and "associate." Administrative bloat has been outrageous on our campus for the past two decades. This may be an opportunity to reduce it.
4-look seriously at the costs of the football and other inter-collegiate athletic programs. Playing games can certainly occur on the club level without the expenses of long distance travel and coaches salaries. This would also make a statement to the larger community concerning the purpose of the university in our state. This suggestion comes after reading in today's paper that U Dub just hired an "ASSISTANT" Coach at a 350,000 per year salary.

Len Helfgott

Let us not lay anyone off even if the position is a low priority to the university. Instead let us share the burden equally by an accros the board cut in wages and salaries of 5%-10%. Losing a job in this economic environment, when the chances of finding a job are extremeny limited, can be devastating to families. Reduicng everyone's earings by a small percentage is much more humane   and tolerable than depriving some people of 100% of theirs. It may also be more efficient on a macroeconomic level when we need more consumption to stimulate the economy not less.       

I agree with others that have proposed salary reductions as a simple, effective cost savings strategy.

Across-the-board, percentage salary reductions offer the following benefits:

• no loss of people, programs, services or quality
• no increased cost to students
• all WWU employees contribute to the solution
• equitable: everyone contributes an equal percentage, those with lower salaries contribute fewer dollars

Another option, related to other ideas that have been previously mentioned, would be to encourage employees to voluntarily use Leave Without Pay

• we could make it creative, called it a Deficit Reduction Drive, and have people pledge to take a number of days off without pay until we hit our goal
• salaries are not cut, so when the economy improves, salaries wouldn’t need to be reinstated
• the program would be voluntary, nobody would be forced to take a pay cut

I do not favor eliminating positions, services or programs, for the following reasons:

• eliminating positions, services or programs lowers quality and puts an added burden on those that remain
• throwing people out of work in this economy strengthens the downward economic spiral
• usually position and program reductions are proposed by people that are unrelated to and unfamiliar with the program or position they are proposing to eliminate. People never suggest eliminating their own position or program
• I like the people I work with and want them to continue to be able to do the awesome work they do

 While the motive behind cutting salary to save jobs is laudable, the argument for across the board, percentage salary reductions in the interest of ‘fairness’ is misguided. This argument uses the same logic as a regressive flat tax scheme. Across the board salary cuts and reduced hours of work affect those with the least disposable income more harshly than those who take home higher salaries.

The suggestions outlined thus far regarding salary cuts and reduced hours (which is just another method of reducing salary) range between .5% and 20%. Our lowest paid permanent employees earn $26544 per year. Any reduction in pay for these folks would be detrimental and demoralizing.

Over the last 15 years, exempt staff have consistently received greater percentage increases than classified staff. Is it now “fair and equitable” for classified staff to take an equal hit?

I would suggest that, as part of the process, decision makers take a look at historical trends over the last 10 - 15 years such as:
1. The percentage increase/decrease in classified staff as compared to the increase in student enrollment.
2. The increase/decrease of maintenance and custodial services as a percentage of FTE per Gross Square Feet (GSF) of building space.
3. The increase/decrease of wage gaps between classified and exempt salaries.
4. The increase/decrease of the ratio of exempt support positions to classified positions. – by department as well as overall.

I would also suggest that additional effort be made to reach those employees who have no ready access to the internet; that they be provided with hard copy of the posts on this forum as well as the latest draft of ‘WWU Cost Reduction Suggestions’; and that they are encouraged to give feedback with the same consideration for anonymity as the posters on this forum.

Turn half of the Lincoln Creak Park and Ride back into a drive in Movie Theater and build a parking structure on the other half. Both could provide a small income for the university and could make better use of the lot. I see a lot of people who are within walking distance of the lot still driving the short distance and then catching the bus.

A more serious suggestion: Begin a complete overhaul on much of our bureaucratic systems and faculty.

We could be doing much better and I suspect I an enormous amount of university money is wasted because of our inefficiencies in this area. I've noticed in most departments (especially financial aid) when I've made appointments for advising, faculty can only give me general information found on the web and more often then not leads to a tedious run a round. Advisors and faculty should not be so tied down by a bureaucracy that they cannot answer my questions or get something done without talking to five other people first. This is very often a huge waste of student and university time. The people who can answer my questions are the people I should be talking to. I suggest looking into the University of Washington’s general bureaucratic systems. I went there my first year and never once had to deal with the stressful situations I've had here. A more immediate solution would be to simply place 'How are we Doing?' cards in each faculty advisor areas. This could easily highlight each department’s inefficiencies and remind the faculty why they are here to begin with: to facilitate the students educations rather than hinder them.

I just dont feel like celebrating the good news that the funding for our new buildings is not in jeopardy. Compared to people, or even equipment, new buildings are not as crucial to our academic mission. Yes we are crowded, but we are operating. And we clearly dont have the resources to clean and maintain new buildings anyway.

I know that this is "different money" but the legislature has the authority to shift money and priorities if they choose to. If, in a couple of years they want us to take more students, then we ask for  more buildings. The money slated for our new buildings is much more than our operating shortfall.

My suspicion is that the buildings are more a gift to the Building Industry than to WWU anyway. Tell the legislature to keep the buildings and fund the teaching we are already doing.

First off, I think cutting the football team was an excellent start, the vast majority of students here get no value out of the football team (or many of the other sports) either from playing or watching. All the sports teams should be figuring out how to be self sufficient.
A couple ideas for trimming costs
- Most of my classes are in Arntzen and the ES building, these rooms are frequently COLD. Students sit in there wearing their winter jackets the whole time while cold air is blowing on us. Let’s turn down the AC! Having individualized thermostats in the rooms would be great, and heat could be turned down significantly when class isn’t in session
- The new building is beautiful, but I still don’t understand why we need the extra classroom space. Most classes on campus end by 4ish with only a few lectures and labs running later. Why not have classes run all evening as well? We could nearly double the number of students here (thus increasing income) and keep using the same space. Yes, we’d need more profs and office space, but the classrooms we have are underutilized.
- I like the idea that others have mentioned on moving to a 4 day week
- There are many classes I’ve taken that have relatively small class size that wouldn’t be changed negatively if the class size was increased and then the class could be offered less often. I’ve really enjoyed classes that have included large lecture situations with smaller lab sections once a week that are taught by grad students
- Motion sensing lights in hallways and classrooms and turning lights off at night
Unrelated to cutting costs, but as an out-of-state student I’m frequently frustrated that I pay about three and a half times what in-state students pay. It isn’t fair considering I’m getting the same education they are, increasing our tuition certainly isn’t the answer.
 

 Eliminate gas-powered leaf blowers--if we're going to pay people to clean up leaves, they might as well be raking by hand, which will reduce noise and fuel consumption and expenditures.

Remind faculty to turn off lights, computers, and monitors at night or when not in use. Turn off all campus computers at night.

Ask faculty to email documents to classes instead of printing out hard copies. 

Reduce number of pages allotted to each student per quarter for printing and copying. 

Take the jump to trayless dining halls--proven to reduce food waste.

Replace grass with a substrate that does not require regular mowing, watering, or maintenance. 

Reduce print ques? You're joking right? I've had an extension or two every quarter I have been here due to the useless printing required by my teachers. "Can I email it to you professor?", "No, I like to have a hard copy to hold while I drink my coffee." so I have to waste my que because teachers are mindless of the waste they promote...

I just got through week one here this quarter, and I noticed almost all of my classes having, "Please print and bring these to class", and, "...must be printed and brought to class...". I think that just because the teachers got their print ques cut is no reason to make the printing "mandatory" for students. I was "forced" to print out a bunch of crap this week that I didn't and won't use. Should we be independently defiant or should teachers be informed to only "require" what they expect to have handed in? Sending us .pdf's mean that we now have these notes in electronic form. Requiring us to print these out and then having the teachers just bring it up on the projector anyway seems retarded. I have the file, I can read the file when I need to, I can even print it if "I" find it important to do so. Also, what the heck is it with teachers requiring books that we barely use? $50 for a book we only use one chapter from? Wouldn't photo copied packets make more economical sense? Useless printing and wasteful requests have me steamed this groggy morning, that's for sure... The staff seem to forget that a class of 35 printing out a 5 page syllbus is a crap load of waste if it's just brought up on the projector and viewed together in class.

I agree.  Now that professors have printing limitations and ques set upon them, all of our assignments are on Blackboard, AND the professors are requiring us students to print it out and bring it to class.  Placing printing limitations on teachers and professors isn't going to be all that effective, because now us students have to print out things to bring to class.

I also find it ridiculous and frustrating that some professors still don't allow laptops to be used in their classroom during lecture.  Students who save paper by taking notes on their laptop should be encouraged, right?  This isn't the kind of attitude we need from professors (now, don't get me wrong - very few professors are this way, and it seems to me that they need to get with the times).

Now, I'm all for saving paper and ink.  And I'd like to use a laptop more often in class or in place of printed out assignments.  But it's extremely difficult when I check out a university laptop and the battery lasts only ten minutes before dying and shutting down and deleting all my information without warning.  What is my student technology fee paying for again?  Seems to me that the student technology (laptops, email, internet access, computer labs) should be self-sufficient except in times when all computers need to be upgraded universally to meet with society's norm (for example, when we eventually replace Windows XP with Vista or Windows 7 several years down the road).  Therefore, before maxxing out on tuition and charging us more than an arm and a leg, look into raising the Student Tech Fee (even by pennies) and keeping the tuition rate down.  If I'm paying for equipment, I want that equipment to work when I need it, especially if a lot of our tuition is going into this sector anyways.

Also, I have issues with our Rec center fee. If the rock wall was supported better, the routes beginner friendly, and the yoga classes free; i would use the rec center. However, charging me for the rec center if I use it or not, then charging again as soon as I want to use it for anything beyond what I can do in my own livingroom or on my bike out in the sun (ok rain, but still) seems like a dasterly deed indeed... Lets not even get started on the mandatory transportation fee. (some of us live less than a 15min from campus.)

One more last post related point... Having teachers set up their .pdf's so that double sided printing ~is~ an option. Emailing me 12 1 page .pdf's seems equally retarded...

Claim: WWU's print quotas and tech fee may not be the most efficient means by which to manage printer resources/materials.

Here's a real-world analogy to help illustrate a vulnerability with the tech fee:

• Someone I know rents out their house.  Renters pay their own electricity bill.  Electricity bill averages $100/month.
• Later, the landlord increased the rent by $100/month, and then simply includes electricity in the rent.  Sounded simpler to her -- one of those cases of "seemed like a good idea at the time".  Electricty use doubles that year -- average bill grows to $200/month.
• Landlord sticks it out for the year, then goes back to having renters pay their own electricity bill.  Electricity bill goes back down to the original $100/month average.

It was an expensive lesson for the landlord, but one they'll never forgot.  The lesson...resources were used more responsibly / efficiently when the users themselves were paying for it directly.

So to connect that to the labs with print que stations, could printed docs just be tracked and then somewhere down the process line, billed to a student's account / munch money / what have you?

---Alternative 1: make use of pay stations, like the copy-machines have

---Alternative 2: have students pre-pay for a specfic quota of their chooising.  let them pay more if they run out.  let them get a refund (at graduation) for unused.

1. This could be done in a cost-neutral way for the university, and yet cost-saving for most students. 

• COST: Right now, everyone pays the same tech fee and has the same print quota (I speculate).  If the cost for printing were paid directly, it could be removed from the tech fee and charged to students in a per-use fasion.
• NEED: In a pay-per-use system, quotas could be removed.  Students who really are frugal, yet still need more than the old quotas would allow, will no longer be blocked.  Students who are wasteful would cover their own cost, instead of having it averaged in for all students to share (as happens now).

As for teachers making students print a lot of materials (so they don't have to use their own respective quota)...I'm not sure which side to come down on with that one.  I mean, if the teacher having you print the materials could just as well have you buy the entire textbook(s) / class manuals from the bookstore instead (and probably at a much higher cost to the student), it seems like having students print the materials is actually way of giving students a cost-break.  Of course, as the one fellow points out -- printing doesn't always seem necessary to the student who could just as well bring a laptop to class.

Double-sided printing versus teachers who send out tons of 1-page .pdf files...  Of course, making a suggestion to the teacher would be a good place to start.  But if you really are in a tough spot, you can always combine the .pdf files into a single file yourself before printing them.

I don't know - just an outsider on this issue, but seems pretty important to folks that we get it resolved.

   I believe Western could save some money by only having one commencement per year.  I checked the websites of 14 of the major 4 year universities in our state and found that W.S.U. and P.L.U. have commencement twice per year because they're on the semester system.  All the other schools accept Western have only one commencement per year, while Western has 4 per year.  With the cost of transport services bringing up all the chairs and stage equipment, plus the cost of the people who set it up, plus setting up the sound and vidio equipment, flowers, flags, and decorations, and all the printed material, and taking it all down again.  I believe we could reduce our cost by 75% by doing it only once per year like nearly everyone else does.

A simple, easy way to cut one cost is to make library receipts optional. The UW library does this.

I agree.  It's actually kind of annoying that I always get a receipt for every book, every laptop, every small non-monetary transaction that I do.  And then I have to go and find a place to throw the receipt away.

Some over sensitive reader has decided to shoot the messenger rather than address the issue. My use of the word 'retarded' was deemed improper. I disagree. I used the word to emphasize the the way in which our system is working against itself to mire the cost saving process. If the reader is sensitive to the word, then they are looking for bigotry and hate where none was given. I never said anyone was a "retarded person". I stated the system/action was retarded in relation to the prior stated issues. We're supposed to be in a college reading level forum right?

Here's my defined use of the word:

re·tard 1 (rĭ-tärd')
Pronunciation Key: v. re·tard·ed, re·tard·ing, re·tards

v. tr.
To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede.
v. intr.
To be delayed.
n.

1. A slowing down or hindering of progress; a delay.
2. Music A slackening of tempo.

[Middle English retarden, from Old French retarder, from Latin retardāre : re-, re- + tardāre, to delay (from tardus, slow).]
re·tard'er n.

I say if you still feel that it's the wrong word, then feel free to censor me because there was no option to edit my post and I don't feel I used it in any wrong context. When a person is tuned to hate, bigotry, and racism they find it everywhere. As "students" shouldn't we rise above such things?
Freedom of speech is either free or not. No directed hate or attack was made, so this would just fall under the old, "we don't like how you talk 'round here boy." As an intellectual community that would be a sad way of viewing text.

I'm responding to the issue of language use as offensive or not. I'm actually on the advisory board that recommended you reconsider the use of the word "retarded," but I'm not replying as a representative of that group, just as someone that thinks a lot about word choice. It is true that there are non-offensive dictionary definitions to back up your language, kind of, but part of "college level reading" is understanding that language exists in a constantly changing social environment and the uses that we encounter on a day-to-day basis are oftentimes more "correct" than what your handy College Webster may say. I personally do not like focussing on word-choice as politically correct instead of the sentiments behind the word, but the fact is that just as language is evolving through culture, the culture is evoloving through language and the perpetuation of phrases that are commonly used in hateful or dehumanizing ways also, quite often, perpetuates the hate. So, while it is true that you can fall back on the dictionary to define your use of "retarded," the actual way you used your sentence is more reflective of the schoolyard "that's so retarded" than, say an analysis of the way resources are smoothly handled in our institution.

What I'm trying to say is just that your dictionary is not the final say on the way language is used, and I personally think that the usage you're tapping into is the one that is based on hate, ridicule and misunderstanding of differences.