Western's Priorities

I hope Western finds ways to institutionally support interdisciplinary initiatives.  I'm surprised, for example, we haven't yet formalized an interdisciplinary program.  I hear students pursuing rather convoluted, back-door methods of creating connected learning opportunities, and I regret we have few structures to support them in that effort. 

Since you are a new arrival to Western, I'm interested in hearing your perspective.  What surprises you about this institution?  What didn't you expect that you were pleased to find?  What did you expect that you haven't yet found (or at least not to the extent you were expecting)? 

You hit a responsive chord with me when it comes to interdisciplinary programs.  My first job out of grad school, the senior academic hiring me said, “If you accept this job, it will change your career.”  Why? Because the offer was to become part of a broadly interdisciplinary research team.  I took the job and that senior academic was right: my career was changed.

In more recent years, I think about how we prepare our students (and ourselves?) for careers not yet thought of and societal challenges not yet apparent.  I am sure it is something we all think a lot about.  Simply imparting current knowledge and techniques clearly is inadequate. 

There are various components of a complete answer: abilities to think critically, lifelong learning, experience with hands on research/problem solving, engagement in real issues, ….Another important part of the answer, for me,  is to develop the habits of looking at matters from multiple perspectives.  One reason is obvious: the world, as it sends us challenges, does not respect the disciplinary boundaries by which we organize ourselves (and our students’ learning).  Just think of the fiscal mess we are all in right now.  It’s financial, yes, but also international, political, psychological, historical, … and revolves around understanding real estate, energy policy, federal fiscal policy and agencies, agricultural issues, oil,  ….

There’s another reason to encourage interdisciplinary habits.  I sometimes ask folks to reflect internally on personal matters they have handled well.  And, those they have not.  I bet they will conclude, as I do, that we do much better when we look at issues from multiple perspectives; we more often encounter further problems if we think neat, single-factor explanations apply.  Interdisciplinary education develops, I hope, more productive styles of critical thinking.

I could go on and on, but there’s a first reaction.  As to other questions, let me reflect and get back to you.

And, Roberta, would love to hear further elaboration of what you have in mind by those “convoluted back-door methods” and what we can do to better accommodate folks.

Bruce

Digital video has democratized media production. At Western, we have so many students, staff and faculty who are using/want to use the video and audio production equipment and editing facilities on campus, but we are sorely lacking in instruction and ethics regarding the use of this powerful medium.

With more and more applications for video emerging in just the past five years, and an increasingly easier equipment (for both production and editing), more and more people are using video, including faculty who create assignments integrating video projects. Sadly, so much of the material prodcued is painfully amauteur, it's too often a waste of viewers' time. We also have a serious problem with copyright infringement: the understanding of copyright, and how it applies to both users and producers of media (including use of music in videos, and if a student helps a prof shoot a video, who owns the copyright?). It's a classic case of growing too fast--innovation in digital technology is racing ahead, yet training and education is lagging way behind at Western. We can't say to students any more, "Go study broadcasting at WSU." Applications for video have grown far beyond broadcasting, and Pullman is a remote location, far from the urban centers which are far richer with story material and subject matter.

I strongly believe Western must get up to speed with video technology: hire additional professional staff to produce video programming for and about Western; hire faculty who have professional experience beyond teaching film studies but can actually teach producion, editing, aesthetics, and ethics; create a staff position to support faculty who want to produce video, edit footage, or become adequately familiar with the technology so they can confidently incorporate it into their pedagogy. We can't wing it any longer! Western is woefully unprepared for the demands of students, let alone handling all the staff and faculty demands regarding video. Ironically, we have a lot of video equipment, we just need PEOPLE and PROGRAMS to help the campus community to learn how to use the technology in a good way.

Lisa Spicer

Well, bother, I just composed an elaborate post that disappeared into the ether.  You may end up being grateful, because this one will be shorter!

 Amen, Bruce, to your thoughts about the importance of cultivating interdisciplinary habits of mind and considering issues from multiple perspectives.  Given the value I place on both, I was troubled to overhear two student conversations this week on my Smart Trips commutes (shameless plug for WTA).  Both students were describing coursework for which they learned the content thoroughly, performed well on tests, parroted the concepts/thinking—but entirely rejected the worldview as irrelevant in their “real” lives.  Here are students who obviously have cultivated multiple perspectives, if temporarily.  But I felt sad that we seemingly hadn’t equipped them to integrate perspectives or negotiate the dissonances multiple perspectives often cause.  What is our classroom and curricular obligation to help students process dissonance and integrate multiple perspectives?  Should we simply complicate their worldviews and then leave them to deal with the cognitive and emotional fallout on their own?

 About those back-door methods.  Here’s what I’ve heard.  Some students choose General Studies majors because they resist specializing.  It’s their effort to pursue an interdisciplinary course of study; but rather than championing their efforts, the system discourages them—first by stigmatizing the major (GS was designed for “losers” whose GPAs weren’t high enough to get into a real major) and then by throwing up roadblocks to access (many courses require a declared major for registration).  Access issues also plague the interdisciplinary minor offered in Communication (one of the few of its kind).  Students can also pursue a Student-Faculty designed major if they have interdisciplinary intentions—but I’ve heard from a couple of people who abandon this option because there were too many time-consuming hoops.  Faculty, too, encounter roadblocks when they want to offer an interdisciplinary course cluster.  Because courses can only generate FTE for one department, faculty run the risk that the course won’t count for their teaching load. 

 But these are second hand reports.  Come play in our sandbox, folks!  What are your thoughts on interdisciplinarity?

In the past week or so we have become increasingly aware of some fiscal considerations facing the State of Washington, and how they may affect Western.

And I know that many of us who work for Western have ideas for ways to save money.  They may not be the whole answer, but they could help.  So I would like to see a discussion thread for suggestions relating to cutting costs.

Some examples I am aware of:

We do a number of conference calls in connection with our classes.  Last summer we started using a service called www.freeconferencecall.com.  It has proved to be comparable to other services.  We have our own line, so we can use it at any time, without needing to reserve it.  The only cost is for the long distance call.

Several state agencies are implementing a 4 - 10-hour-day work week, closing on Fridays and offering extended hours Monday through Thursday.  They believe this will not only result in savings to their program, due to a reduced need for heat, electricity, maintenance staff, etc., on Fridays, but it will also provide better services for their clients.  In addition, it will save money for staff because many of them will not have to drive one day a week.

I would love to see what suggestions other creative, constructive staff at Western have to offer.

Thank you Bruce for giving us an opportunity to openly communicate on potential priorities for the University.

I liked the previous posts to this forum, especially the one from Lisa regarding the need for training on video production.  There is no debating the need for more engaging content for our current and future students, and even for our faculty and staff.

That being said, we have groups of staff who have forged ahead on the cutting edge of video production here at Western.  The problem, as I see it, is that these folks work in a vacuum because there isn't a way for them to easily communicate or collaborate on projects.  I think this forum and similar tools could be a step in the right direction.

However, this issue isn't limited to video production.  We experience similar hurdles while trying to utilize new technology on our Web sites, interfacing with Banner databases, etc.

I can say from experience that the ATUS folks have been an amazing resource to me and to my Division, especially those in Web Services, Video Services and Classroom Services.  I may be wrong, but these groups appear to be overtaxed and are being pulled in too many directions at one time. I know this going to sound bad considering the current financial state we find ourselves in (through no fault of our own), but I would recommend that someone look into the lack of adequate staffing in certain technical departments and the limitations that is placing on the institution as a whole.

Another thing would be to address the fair pay issue for technical workers here at Western.  In the past couple of years, the administration has touted the fact that they brought those who were earning more than 25% BELOW the prevailing wage for their positions up to 25% below the prevailing wage.  That was a tremendous step in the right direction, but what would be wrong with paying people closer to what they are worth?  I feel that there is such a potential for cost savings from implemting technical solutions, that you could compensate for the increased salaries.

Finally, I lead quarterly Web Developer meetings in our Division to try to keep everyone up-to-date on what others are doing right, sharing tips on implementing new technology, standardization, etc.  It would be great to see this done on a campus-wide basis so we can help people to go down the right paths, rather than having everyone feel like they are breaking new ground.  There are many gifted people doing amazing things behind the scenes here at Western.  We need to share more about what they are doing and how we can leverage their innovation and creativity in order to apply it in a broader sense.

The issues I have raised may directly affect only a small minority of the staff and faculty.  But indirectly, they affect every student who is enrolled at Western, and every faculty and staff member.  I know that there are no easy solutions to these issues, but I feel that there is a strong desire and commitment from the staff to do their part to address them and turn an already excellent institution into a stellar one.

This board was recently brought to my attention by a fellow student in WWU’s English Graduate Department, and I must admit that I’m impressed by the quality of discussion, as well as Dean Shepard’s willingness to open this dialogue.

Lisa has touched on what I believe is a crucial point, specifically the direction of media as it pertains to the “professional world” that students can expect to face down after graduation. As a student who has spent the entirety of his academic career at Western—as an employee, a teaching assistant, an undergraduate and now a Master’s candidate—I’ve enjoyed a remarkable amount of exposure to differing pedagogies and instructional ideologies from a variety of departments at the college. There is an understandable lack of integration between classes, even within related disciplines such as Fairhaven’s scripwriting courses, the Theater department’s playwriting instruction, and anything relating to new media or technical writing in their respective programs; however, there is also only a marginal effort to raise students’ WITHIN these classes as to the broader application and possibilities of an interdisciplinary curriculum.

For example: a student interested in writing plays, documentary scripts, screenplays or for television won’t find these classes in the English Department (But we do boast an absolutely INCREDIBLE cinematic theory and critical structure faculty!), but, with a bit of intuitive discussion, they will find that they CAN take these classes at Fairhaven and get credit towards their English degree. However, while the Fairhaven scriptwriting classes will foster the understanding of what it takes to write a screenplay or a theatrical script, there will likely be no mention of the Video Production program offered at the college, or the numerous AS film production clubs, or the Western Film Festival, or the availability of editing bays and equipment through ATUS, or any of the academic-slash-professional opportunities that can be found with a KVIK internship. Likewise, Fairhaven scriptwriting students are not introduced to the fact that the English Department has classes on critical theory, which is a CRUCIAL aspect in terms of not only understanding filmmaking aesthetics and content, but also gives students the opportunity to view and discuss movies that they’d otherwise never be exposed to.

Any combination of two or three of the above opportunities—ALL easily accessible and already fostered through Western’s academic offerings—will have a profound influence on a student’s conception of media, whether it’s making their own movies, understanding what constitutes a script and film of quality, or preparing to make a career out of it. I would offer several links as proof to the effectiveness of Western’s scholastic environment in encouraging student filmmakers with a dedication to quality over just aiming a camera at their friends:

Caleb and Joshua Young
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozBaxbcLzH8

(Caleb is a Woodring post-bacc student looking to establish a film program at Sehome High School, while Joshua is a student in the Western English Graduate Program.)

Jimmy Marble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5QWIrW0kxs

(Currently teaching film at a University in France.)

Chris Koser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp3y8Kw2N-4

(Who, with skills garnered at Fairhaven and the relationships he fostered there, has produced several tremendous promotional videos FOR Western, including the Sustainability and Formula SAE videos)

Jonathan Thompson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9JNag6qj4w

(Currently studying for his MFA in film at Chapman University in California.)

These are all the work of Western students who have used the means available through the University to refine their media skills. But more importantly, this indicates what I see as the crux of Lisa’s post: ALL aspects of the instruction and technical portions of these films and the students behind them are ALREADY available through Western, albeit in a somewhat scattered state. It would be ideal to create a curriculae vitae or department which could act as a networking hub between these valuable assets, to raise student awareness of what digital media has made possible FOR them, and what creative and professional opportunities can be had if they’re willing to put in the work.

As a closing note of purely patriotic sentiment, I will also say that Pullman is no Bellingham. This town is a filmmaker’s paradise; supported on a local level, given free reign to shoot pretty much wherever one pleases without the harassment of authorities, and SATURATED in talented musicians, artists and actors. Without the encouragement of the local community and the instruction offered at Western, I never would have even CONSIDERED a possible career or minor in film production.
 

Hi Lisa:

Thanks much for the observations.  It certainly helps with my own learning;  more importantly, by using the blog, it helps bring the matter to the attention of us all.

As I go about the listening sessions across campus, I have been hearing about our needs to be at the forefront with video, including web streaming.  Challenge, of course, with any change requiring additional resources, is to figure out, among the many important opportunities and needs, what the priorities should be for allocating resources and where the resources should come from.  We need that process first, and that's my current top priority:  to help the campus develop such a strategic budgeting process.

Thanks again

Bruce, I would like to reiterate what everyone else has been posting by saying thank you for providing this dialogue opportunity with you. I am a junior this year at Western and will be majoring in Environmental Studies Policy & Planning.

As we all know, we are currently facing severe problems from several fronts. The world is in turmoil. Wars have and are threatening to continue to break out in several countries. We could possibly be heading towards the greatest recession/depression since the 1930's. And we are also being confronted with drastic climate issues around the globe.

Bruce, I strongly believe that the current degradation of our planet is the single greatest threat to our species existence that we have ever confronted. It is not just global warming. It is not just clear cutting and desertification. It is not just the rapid extinction of species. It is not just our changing Ocean's...

We live in a world where we cannot imagine what it was like before we existed. We have been driving species to extinction since over 125,000 years ago in the Red Sea. Humans have adopted a syndrome which Daniel Pauly calls "Shifting Baseline." Is what he means by this is that each of our own perspectives on the world around us begins when we are born, or more probably when we are in our late teens. From that point until we die the world around us will and has changed. However, when we make our reference point the time when we begin to perceive the world, than the effects we have on the world around us seem drastically diminished. Our Ocean's have become so polluted that when dead Orca's are washed up on shore, they can be buried in no less than a level 4 toxic waste facility because of the chemicals and pollutants they have absorbed in their life time.

President Sheppard, is what I am trying to say is that our planet is dying. Western may have a great reputation for being environmentally friendly, but I don't know if that’s saying much since we live in a country where the "progressive" party is proposing "clean coal" as our environmental solution. We are not doing enough to reduce our energy use and waste. We do not do enough to motivate students to care about their actions, and we do not instill upon each other the severity of our civic duties as citizens of this Nation. We don't even have recycle bins at every trash can, or composting in every dorm or cafeteria. We could and need to do so much more if we want to set any sort of an example for the people around us. It is imperative to instill upon this generation a grave sense of responsibility for our planet, or there will not be one left for the next.

Bruce,

I am very glad that you are on this forum and are asking the community what WWU's priorities should be. As a Law, Justice and Diversity concentration hopeful, I am very excited to hear that you are very adament about civic engagement and empowering students.

Given this economic crisis, you especially know the importance of legislative action and invovlement in our state and federal government. Our students need to graduate from Western not only with an interdisciplinary education but with the tools, knowledge and skills to actively participate in our political system. Decisions made by legislators and congressmen affect our environment, our education, our health care, everything...what will you help to do to ensure that the students of Western are equipped to actively participate and stand up for our values in an age where voters have become jaded and tired?

It's more than politics, its about creating leaders within our community, its about creating spaces for those who have been oppressed to have a voice. Connor is right, our world is dying, partly because of decisions that are made by those we elect into office. How can we partner together to let students know that WE need to get our voices heard?

Everything I am studying, everything I am working for is towards one end. I believe education is a right. I believe that students, faculty and administration need to work together to make that known in the legislature. I also believe that that comes from empowering students to work with the higher education community-encouraging them to get civically involved on a local, state and national level. What are your thoughts and how will you help to do this? 

One of the goals for our faculty development initiatives this year is to promote this interdisciplinarity among our faculty. For that reason, we are spotlighting both the faculty GUR group, who are promoting a series of mini-courses for other faculty who are interested in pursuing their own general education, as well as showcasing folks on campus who have made interdisciplinarity work, for example, the infamous Monsters course that will be taught again this winter (featuring Geology and English). We need to bring faculty out of their siloes in order to serve those students pursuing interdisciplinary degrees.

• Monsters course website
• Faculty GUR Group website

Hello -

My name is Linda and I'm a senior at Western pursuing a degree in journalism. I would like to join with others in thanking Bruce Shepard for being so accessible to Western students.

This Community Forum is a welcome way to feel that a discourse with other Western students, staff, and faculty is possible. In fact, I'm so jazzed about it I'm using the site as part of an assignment for a presentation in my Public Relations class on Tuesday.

And thank you to Connor, who so eloquently stated the case of emergency for our beautiful blue planet!

Would like to see us be able to move our www.wwu.edu to a more modern interface that includes video. ATUS produced a new interface mockup / prototype last year.

Of course, resources to build maintain something like that might be tight...

Bruce, what would you like to see happen with our school's web site?

There's all this talk of "institutionally supporting interdisciplinary initiatives," and nobody has mentioned there's an entire college dedicated to that.

I think it's important that people are able to take the classes they need to take, so that if they want they can graduate in 4 years. It seems like every day I talk to someone who's in their 5 year or will have to take longer than 4 years because they couldn't get into an essential class for their major because of large demand. This seems especially true of language majors.

     I have no suggestions but I am honored as a student that our President would take the time out of his busy schedule to have this open conversation with all of us. Its also great to see the work of so many as this on-line discussion board is finally up and running. A big thanks to Carmen Werder and the TLA (Teaching Learning Acadamy) for starting the conversation. As a plug, I would like to invite Bruce to swing by the TLA, its always a great conversation. Thanks again.

-Kess

I'm impressed that Bruce would take the time to write the letter he sent all of us students yesterday.  The politics inherent w/his remarks resonated w/me personally, but that aside, I loved the way his reaching out and connecting w/each of us on such a personal level helped break down our large campus to a more human scale.

Hello to all of you. My name is Daniel Huff and I am currently in my second year of school at WWU. Although this is the first quarter in my sophmore year, I already have 104 credits and am currently taking 18. Unless I am misunderstanding the purpose of institutionalized interdisciplinary studies, I would have to say that Western needs nothing of the sort. Opportunities for students to study multiple topics in order to gain varying perspectives on the same, key world isses are more than prevalent already at WWU.

Honestly, I would argue that it comes to down to laziness on the students' ends at two seperate levels. You do not need to create one major or one program to offer students a chance to follow all of their passions; first, students need to educate themselves on University policies and second, they need to be willing to go beyond minimum requirements.

I would now like to address both issues. Currently I am a triple major of Spanish, Political Science, and Economics. I have gained a deep understanding of the specific University policies which relate to interdisciplinary studies. The following policies are the key policies that students need to understand in order to be able to create a guided, interdisciplinary study:

1. There is no maximum credit limit for a student at WWU.

2. Once a student hits 210 credits, all he or she must do is go to the Registrar's Office and submit a plan laying out the specific quarter he or she will graduate by outlining their remaining courses.

3. Financial aid can only be received for up to 210 (or 225 I can't remember the specific number) credits.

I feel that the second issue in relation to students' lack of ability to successfully create their own interdisciplinary study is a tendency to shoot for simply meeting the minimum graduation requirements. Students at WWU are more than welcome to participate in more than one major. They can even do two majors that award them two different degrees (e.g. B.A. in English and B.S. in Biology). The reason I feel this doesn't occur often is that people are afraid of pushing themselves. Instead of taking heavier quarters with courses in more than one major, I feel that many students who have more than one passion just choose one over another because subscribing to and majoring in one--along with credits from GURs and electives--allows them to meet the minimum 180 credits required to graduate.

I have shared my opinion. Please feel free to respond. I would like to hear replies from those who desire more interdisciplinary institutions to be formally established.

Thanks for asking for input of the students and faculty Mr. Shepard! I am glad to see you already diving into WWU's diverse body of people.

Daniel Huff

Daniel,
You make some great points, however I disagree with you about not creating a interdisciplinary program at Western. What about those students who don't get into the major they desired? What do you say to them? For example, the communications department only accepts a minority of the students who apply (for good reason of course, smaller classes). Those who do not get in after they apply their Junior and Senior years do what? Apply again? And if they do and can't get in, then what? If there was a interdisciplinary program on our campus it would allow them to combine degrees to fit their best interest. To graduate with a degree that describes them perfectly. They can combine that communication major with say political science or business and walk out of Western with a well rounded degree. That's great that you are a triple major. It takes a lot of hard work and determination. You obviously know what you want to do and what you are going to do to get there. Many students are not like. They may come in thinking of studying education, but as soon as they take that first geology course they fall in love and change their mind. I love where I am at and I have changed my course of study three times throughout my first two years. Because of this I will have to remain in school for another year, but I love school and Western so this does not bother me. Another reason this does not bother me is that I get financial aide. Which brings me to funding. What about those students who do not receive financial aide? Most of my friends have two to three part time jobs, volunteer in the community, are active in AS clubs, hold internships, and are full time students. Why should they be expected to get more majors if they want an interdisciplinary degree and spend more time in college when they could get one in four years if they desired to. California State University of Long Beach just started a small interdisciplinary program at their university where students build their degree and draw from multiple courses to do so. This would be ideal for the student who wanted a specific job, it would put them one step ahead of their competition. For example will bring back the communications and political science example. Let's say that you wanted to be a communication consultant for a senator. Your competition may have degrees in political science or communications, but you graduated with a interdisciplinary degree with an emphasis in communications, political sciences, and for kicks maybe linguistics. You have some great ideas, but I just think a degree like this is more practical for the student today and the modern interdisciplinary world in which we all plan on getting jobs in. Peace
 

I am in a motivated department here at Western Washington University, Communication Sciences and Disorders, surrounded by dedicated and passionate students, faculty, and staff.  We are very fortunate to be able to to move into the new Academic Instruction Center (AIC) for the upcoming winter quarter.  As the population grows, the need for professionals with advanced training in communication sciences and disorders increases.  Unfortunately I, and other students, may have to consider applying elsewhere to continue our education as the entry level degree for Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and Audiologists (AUDs) is a masters and clinical doctorate degree, respectively.  Not long ago WWU, provided graduate school for both of these programs, now Western provides graduate training only for SLPs.  There are 29 schools in the western mainland United States which offer the terminal degree in SLP, in comparison, there are only 11 schools offering entry level degrees in audiology.  This lack of AUD certified schools creates enormous competition for entrance in any west coast program.  This personally affects my decision not only in where to attend graduate school, but what career path I should choose.  Many prospective students are steered to other schools or even to pursue graduate degrees in SLP, because of the lack of schools which can accomodate their needs.  To compound this problem is the effect this has on our faculty.  We have highly educated and skilled faculty members who are AUDs.  The disintegration of the audiology program, in the past, is reason to consider opportunites at competing institutions (I would).  WWU should be dedicated to the retention of qualified staff as well as promising students.  Our audiology professors may have hindered research capability, due to the lack of an AUD graduate program.  WWU's next direction must be to increase the number of graduate level degrees offered to better serve their students.  With a new facility we are enabled to resurrect the AUD program for future generations of WWU students.  Creating an AUD progam is a sensible manuever to meet the needs of the greater united States community, which is expedited by the new AIC facility.  This would be a logical, and affordable, small step towards improving the quality of eduation, and opportunity, WWU can offer to potential students and faculty.  We have the space, we have almost enough faculty, we have the need, we have the ability; let's put the puzzle pieces together.

Troy Turner

I have to agree with Michael about the need for interdisciplinary degree is needed within Western. If there were more degrees that are offered there might be a greately likelyhood of happiness for students with their majors and degrees after they graduate.  There is no way all students can attempt to get three majors and degrees.  Not all students, cough, cough, me, get finincial aid sothe idea of getting 3 degrees will not happen anytime soon.  And even if I did get finicial aid, the likelyhood of me wanting to stay at Western for years on end to get more majors does not appeal to me.  Everyone is different and I'm becoming excited to go out to that "real world" fight for my life and get more useful, and profitable education from a job while using what I have learned here.  If Western was to have more interdisciplinary degrees, I might be more happy with my degree afterwards in my career path.  People need to have variety and what makes them feel best.  And just because a student does not take 18 or more credits a quarter does not make them lazy.  But if students are able to go out into the real world and have a interdisciplinary degree that fits into their dream job, I think that would be amazing!!!!

Thanks for the comment about modernizing our website. I could not agree more. We are about two generations behind in my opinion.

Those responsible also agree and want to proceed. I've asked them to hold off a bit because the Web is a major "marketing tool" these days. "Marketing" in various senses is emerging as a common opportunity throughout my listening sessions across campus and throughout the state. We already do much marketing but it is not integrated, and there is a group making progress on developing an integrated marketing plan. Seems to me we have to get that worked out a bit before investing lots of effort in updating our web. Nevertheless, look to see more use of video in the immediate future.

Thanks so much for caring!

Are you interested in the little ideas as well as the big ones? My big one would be the web web web - a little self-serving in my position but I do think it's a huge weakness here. But enough about that for now.

My little idea is still important, I think. I'd love to see a Faculty Commons. At U of Oregon they had a lovely little place with a cafe upstairs and a cafe / bar downstairs where faculty and staff could have meals, invite guests (including students), and socialize together in a nice environment not entirely dominate by students. With so many students its hard to find other staff members in say the VU dining hall. But I'd like to have a place I could socialize with other faculty and staff during lunch or after work. We're too segregated in departmental zones...

We have a lot of opportunities speed-up our students' graduation.  We don't take full advantage of them for a number of reasons, despite the fact that we know we've got a problem.

One very popular response to this is find other institutions greater than or equal to our own who have the same problem, and then wait for them to come up with a solution.

Another one I see a lot of is simply to deny we have a problem.  Take major credit-requirements, for example: I think the lowest is somewhere around 55, and the highest is somewhere around 110; naturally, the 110 will take longer to complete.

As much as those reponses can make sense in certain cases, there are things we can do in the mean time that will go a long way to increase our efficiency.

1) Summer Session -- most Summer students are Juniors/Seniors.  A youngster who is still "miles" from graduating wants to go home over the summer to mom and dad.  A couple of years later, as their desired graduation deadline starts to look more difficult, they'll begin looking for other means, and that's usually when they learn about Summer Session.

2) Independent Learning --  this is a terrific year-round opportunity for students.  Can solve some classroom space issues, helps students take classes that may not otherwise be offered during times that fit into their academic or employment schedules, and even put a little extra green into our poor faculty's pockets (I say that with love in my heart and a grin on my face :-).

These 2 items are solutions we have available right now -- but they are vastly underused.  What would happen if faculty and advisers were educated a little more about them, and really made a push with students?  Right now, only about a quarter of the academic year students attend summer session.  I don't have a figure for independent learning, but you can call Extended Ed. if you want more info.

3) CLEP.  I know, some of our more traditionally-minded folks won't like this, but I'll pose the question anyway: why can't a student get credit for MATH 102, if they already know how to explain and solve the quadratic equation, unless they sit in a classroom for 3 months?  I hope that's not a bad example, but if it is, resort to the more abstract idea which is simply getting credit for knowledge you already have.

In addition to helping with timely graduation, CLEP would make money for WWU (a credit costs the same no matter what!), reduce demand on parking, class space, help open up student schedules, etc.

4) Evening Classes.  Argg...  Again, not a traditional approach, but think about the problems it has the potential to address: classroom space, difficult academic or employment schedules for students, and who knows what else -- maybe even fill our empty seats (yes, we still have them).  I would mention parking as well, knowing that some have put forth the argument that it would worsen rather than improve parking, as the concern is that a student would take an 8am class on the same day as a 7pm class, and park on campus the entire time.  I'm not ready to embrace that argument yet, as it seems speculative, and even if it turned out to present a real problem, could be resolved through day passes and evening passes being seperate or some other creative approach.

5) Classroom scheduling.  This one turns out to be surprisingly complicated -- no less so because only one-third of the university's classrooms are for general use, while the rest are under the management of individual departments, and a surprising percentage of those get very little use.  Demand of the general use rooms is increased by scheduling style - i.e., some faculty like 8-9am for their early morning class, and others like 8:30-9:30.  This limits the number of students who can take the 9-10am class significantly.  A university-wide comprimise on a scheduling standard (such as everyone scheduling on the hour, instead of the half-hour, or something approproate at any rate) could alleviate a lot of pressure on the schedules, and open up opportunities for students.

Well, there's some ideas for solving the timely graduation problem anyway.  I think 1 & 2 can be pursued right now with no extra overhead -- the programs are already there - they just need to get more attention from students/faculty/advisors.

I want to say one last thing -- the principle of charity being a big part of it: I know it will not be difficult to think of specific classes for which certain, or even none of these potential solutions above would work.  It's really of little value to point those out, because these solutions are not suggested in a universal context.  The realy question to ask is, which classes WOULD these solutions work for.  I'm curious - I think we might come up with a lot of them.

- dave

...don't forget about the ever-thriving and still liberal-arts driven Theatre Arts Department - which offers courses in film studies, critical theory, dramatic writing (3 levels), directing, acting, costume, set, lighting, sound and props design and countless opportunities to work as performers, technicians, designers, voice-over artists and any combination thereof the students and faculty can dream up. Most of the film students mentioned above as shining examples (which they are) have been or are currently being fostered, mentored and given numerous opportunities to practice their craft by Theatre Department faculty - most of which is above and beyond the contracted FTE.

Last month, film students and invested faculty had the opportunity to meet with a visiting professional Hollywood art director and set designer and discuss a vsion of an interdisciplinary film studies program that is taking shape right here on campus.  The conversation was passionate and engaging, and a connection with the professional world of film making took root that weekend and continues to grow as the visiting art director saw the energy and desire to create such a program in the students and faculty and agreed to mentor and advise as we develop the program.  These opportunities and connections are being made - it seems to be the communication issue that is the weakest link.

I agree that we have the talent, skill and excellent instruction available right here at Western - we just need to climb out of our silos and be open to collaboration.

Open forums such as this one are a huge step in that direction and I am so thankful for the opportunity to receive and respond!

Dr. Shepard,

I'm not sure this is the right place to voice my concern, but I would like to publicly request that you do not continue Dr. Morse's practice of sending out glossy holiday cards.  The funds used for these (and other slick invitations, etc.) would be better spent elsewhere, and only the most credulous members of the community believed that these reflected a true and personal sentiment from the Presdent to the recipient.

When I receive such a card from anyone I do not know personally, it has an effect opposite of that intended: instead of warm feelings toward the sender, I feel anger at the waste of money.  Given the current financial climate, such a waste would be particularly maddening.

(I will submit a separate post about priorities in the near future)

I'd like to recommend secuirty cameras in the commuter parking lot in South Campus and flashing cross walk lights at the crosswalk by the outdoor center. I suggest security cameras becuase on the morning of Wednesday, October 29th I parked my car and returned in the afternoon to find that my drivers rear door was hit. I wasn't angry, but I wasn't happy either because the individual didn't have the decency to leave a note. Secuirty cameras can help University Police catch commuter students who fail to take responsibility for their actions, and potentially help police with other issues that concern student safety. With darker hours, it's diffiuclt to know when and where people are crossing. Although I'd like to see some overpasses, I'll settle with enahnced crosswalks, if it's cheaper. Welcome to Western.

Brandon

President Shepard,

The amount of interesting, thought provoking events campus is outstanding and overwhelming.  Unfortunally, despite the two different calenders (AS and general university, amoung others per department), there is no comprehensive calender.  In order to achieve maximum attendence in the excellent range of interesting events on campus (club meetings, lectures, concerts, etc) I propose a simple solution.  To obtain a room in any building for an extracurricular event related to a department, club, etc, simply require that they post the time and place on a comprehensive calender to secure their room reservation.  This "registration of events" calender would then be displayed on either the www.wwu.edu homepage or blackboard homepage for the upcoming week (plus), making sure that students are able to view and participate in the wide range of events available to them on campus.

thank you for your request and the establishment of this message board.

Matthew Moroney

W00780951

I've very much appreciated reading many of the postings in response to Bruce's request for feedback regarding our priorities on campus. I would second much of what has been said and look forward to discussing these ideas in more depth at a later date. My posting now is rather small in scale, but I'd like to share it nonetheless as I believe this policy has important implications for WWU and its community connections:

I have recently begun attending many of the presentations by speakers and campus events that happen after-hours. I'm a professor here and typically ride my bike (I don't have a parking permit), but have found myself needing to drive to these events periodically. In so doing, I have started wondering about the parking policy on campus. Although I recognize that parking is available in the gravel lots after 5 p.m., it seems very off-putting that all other lots require permits "all hours," even on weekends and holidays. To me, this policy seems very detrimental in light of our desire to connect with our community and be accessible to the public. Perhaps there are ways to park on campus in order to attend such events or to use campus resources available to the public that I am not aware of (if so, I would love additional information on this from someone who knows more than I do), but if not, this policy seems to send a "closed door" message to those who might want to be on campus more often. I understand strict parking regulations during the typical work day and in dormitory parking where students should not have to compete with others for parking, but it seems odd that many other lots sit empty after-hours unless visitors have a parking permit or want to pay the visitor's fee. Is the revenue from visitor parking really worth the message this policy seems to send to the community? Are there other concerns/issues related to making after-hours parking available on campus that I'm not aware of and should be considering? Thanks so much for making this forum available and for including the ground rules to the left!!

 I too am surprised by the low ratio of "interdisciplinary talk" to mention of Fairhaven College.  The entire academic structure there is grounded in interdisciplinary theory.  

I am in my 4th year in Fairhaven's program, and I'm still impressed by the mystique surrounding the College.  Bruce Shepard made no mention of it (that I saw).  

Those interested in interdisciplinary learning are encouraged to get to know Fairhaven College, located right on Western's campus!

My boyfriend and I came in as transfer students from a community college. BIG change. Community college was like high school. Easy. My boyfriend did not perform well his first quarter here...no surprise due to the "culture schock" I guess you could call it. He was put on Acadmic Probation.

Now, I can understand the whole academic probation thing, however...getting put on it after your first quarter here? Freshman get a quarter to adjust...why not treat transfer students the same way? But I hear this change is already in the works. Glad to hear it. I hope it goes through.

However, the story doesn't stop there. The question was...WHY was he having low performance, even after the first quarter? In short: He lived in stack 4, floor 2 of a certain Ridgeway dorm. Get it? 420. And it seems everyone in that suite but my boyfriend took the "420" to heart. Constant noise, the smell of weed and alcohol, random girls running in and puking on the floor in your room because the roommate always forgets to lock the door...the works. (Oddly enough, my boyfriend was the only one in the suite who was of legal age to drink, but he still chooses not to.) Several times the situation was reported to the Resident Advisors, Resident Director, and Campus Police. But nothing really ever happened. Well, okay. The RD did come by and give one of the guys a slap on the wrist and said "don't do it again". It kept it quiet for a couple days...that guy ended up leaving the university anyway.

But the partying continued. Lack of sleep and headaches form the smell doesn't help studying habits. Finally, half way through spring quarter, the RD told him he could move to another room. 1) It's half way through the last quarter of the year. Why did it wait until then? 2) Why should he have to move when everyone else is causing the disturbances AND breaking the law?

Spring quarter, he missed the GPA he needed by something like .03%. He was kicked out of the university. Luckily he was still allowed to do summer session. We moved in to an apartment, away from that environment, and his GPA for summer sky rocketed. After some fighting, he was reinstated for this year and he is still doing pretty well.

But my main point: The university treats students like they are "failing" because they aren't trying. There are many situations that cause low performance, some beyond your control. Why are people who are breaking school policies AND the law being let off so easy while the ones being effected by those people are the ones getting thrown out of school?

This is really only one example, however, of things that need improving to keep the students happy and healthy. But we can leave that for another time.

To those concerned about interdisciplinary colleges,

Western has an interdisciplinary program called Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies.  Fairhaven offers most of the traits described in previous posts. 

http://www.wwu.edu/depts/fairhaven/

Here's a few things: 

As a post-bac student (who graduated from the Lit program in August) I can say that I've noticed a few things that concerned me.  While I was applying to grad schools, my roommate (a Biochem major) and a friend (Business major) who graduated nearly at the same time were also applying to grad schools--the assistance their departments gave them as a matter of course was astounding compared to the English dept which gives no assistance.  Don't get me wrong--we are adults and I got plenty of help here, but I had to go to the right people (which meant finding out who those people were) and ask the right questions (which meant making quite a few missteps in figuring out what the most pertinent questions were).  My friends were emailed all sorts of helpful information regularly by their depts. on seminars, tips, how to write letters, how to, well, do what they needed to do to succeed.  I just believe that all of the depts could be doing a better job in preparing students.

Also, the interdisciplinary programs are an interesting idea and I think that's great.  I notice that Juliana has posted that Fairhaven is the College of Interdisciplinary Studies.  That's fine and commendable, but as any major, it is really very difficult to navigate through the glut of classes to find the ones that would apply to a specific degree or that would be particularly pertinent and helpful in addition to a chosen major.  These are things that, Interdisciplinary Program or not, should be somehow better laid out.  Not sure how I'd go about doing that, but I had no idea that some of the classes that people have talked about here were available to me or what they consisted of - I just knew English and what I needed to do to graduate.

Prices for college (and for pretty much everything really) are always going up. And given the economic crisis, things are probably just going to get a good deal worse. I think it time that we started looking at ideas for saving some money here at Western. As a freshman, I know that I don't want to be paying a higher and higher tuition every year, especially if the economy problems reduce opportunity for financial aid. And I think that we could make small changes that would mean a big difference. I'm participating in TLA, and in one of our recent discussions, someone mentioned that staff members were banned from using space heaters last year, and that alone saved the university $150,000 in the long run (okay, I can't say that information is exact, but it was the gist of what I gathered). That makes me think that there could be some easy ways to save a lot of money, and help out the environment at the same time. We need to start getting some ideas circulating on that front.

Thanks for listening,

--Tyler B.

We need to do a study on room resource scheduling.  Here are some claims to prove/disprove that should provide some opportunity for discovery:

WWU has about 200 "General Purpose" classrooms.  These are rooms that the Registrar's Office manages the schedules for.  These are rooms with a high occupancy rate year-round.

WWU has about 400 "Private" classrooms.  These are rooms owned and managed by individual departments.  These are rooms that are used primarily by the owning department; they have a medium to low occupancy rate during the academic year, and many or most of them sit empty during the summer.

Questions that can follow from this might include...

Financial Impact

• How many empty classrooms are we heating / lighting / maintaining / equipping?
• If we were to share & schedule classrooms more efficiently, how many more empties would we have?
• ...other?
• How would (whatever) figures in this section stack up against a percent tuition increase?
• ...how about the 2% budget reduction we're facing?

Service Impact

• Is anyone having difficulty finding classroom space?
• Does it seem ironic that during the summer when 3/4 of WWU students go home, it's even harder to find a room than during the academic year?
• How many capital funds projects for otherwise really important stuff are prioritized lower than those to build more classrooms?
• How many rooms are we using right now that are not up to a reasonable level of fitness & safety?

What would a reasonable threshold be for the occupancy rate of different classrooms?  For example, if we set the boundaries at 8am to 3pm, Monday through Friday, would we say classrooms should be occupied for 80% (i.e., x%) of that time?  Now compare that figure to the actual occupancy rates - how are we doing?

Keeping in mind, some of the private classrooms are simply not suitable for general use (one example might be biology labs, where even if a low occupancy rate existed, they could not be shared due to the special equipment, setup/takedown time, etc.); That's just a small group, though, and I wonder how many are suitable to be shared right now across the campus, and how many more could be shared with only minor expense involved to install lockers for securing art supplies or reference books, etc.

Bottom line is, there are a lot of things that a lot of people would like to spend money on, but simply can't because it's not available.  To the extent that *not sharing* classrooms plays a role in this, it's fair to say that there is a tangible financial burden associated with making classrooms private.  That should be enough at least for the beginnings a cost/benefit analysis for keeping these room resources private.

Our room resources are valuable...and expensive; worth our vigilance in whatever effort we can put into budgeting their use more efficiently each year.  We've got faculty who, despite the fact they got a decent first contract (congratulations, by the way), have further to go with respect to averages in their national peer group; Professional classified staff (security, computer techs, analysts...) who are paid much less than the market rate in many cases, and whose cost of living adjustments have consistently fallen behind the actual cost of living increase, as well as adjustments received by the other employee classes at WWU for the past 20+ years; and even more importantly than all of that, tuition that has increased by the maximum allowable amount for at least the past several years I'm aware of, making it ever more difficult for students to pay for college. 

There's always a lot of pressure on WWU to spend money -- cost of living/materials increases, attractign and retaining high quality faculty and staff, etc. - and it always comes down to what service and education we want to be able to provide to our students in the end.  There are several roads to meeting this demand -- we're represented in Olympia and budget considerations there by lobbyists and individuals alike, and I take my hat off to them for the work that they do.  There is also the generosity of private donors, and the work WWU folks put into those efforts, again - way to go. But there is also the ideal / best practice of keeping our own house in order...spending our money wisely.  I know a lot of effort goes into this already, and we've had a lot of successes.  I think room resource scheduling/use is just one area we can focus on -- but one that can potentially have a tremendous impact on our collective effort to add to our other successes.

- dave

Throughout my 4 years at WWU, university politics have been frustrating, but none more than the ineffeciency of the Financial Aid Office. Every year I complete my FAFSA earlier and earlier, yet somehow my Award Letter arrives later and later. This year I had my FAFSA in by February 1st and met every request of the office by the end of Spring quarter. I called the financial aid office in the beginning of August and went in person several times in September, only to be told by a student worker a one sentence answer, if "a counselor is reviewing it" even counts as an answer. I had no ability to plan my financial situation without the letter because a large majority of my budget is comprised by it and my family's financial situation had changed drastically from the year before. Not only does this discourage smart financial planning, but it represents the school poorly. As a student that is not only of low SES, but a first generation college student, this is very stressful and honestly unacceptable.

I went in on the day before classes to check my status and recieved the same answer as always, but this time a student employee tried to comfort me by remarking that I would for sure have it before the late fee deadline. THAT IS RIDICULOUS. To me that says that the office's priority is to have the letters completed by that deadline, which is unacceptable, because what if a large portion of the package was a parent loan and I know my mom won't take one out. There are many other situations that need to be figured out before late fees begin to accrue. It doesn't help that I never got to speak with anyone who knew my specific case at all either.

This isn't my first bad experience with the Financial Aid Office, including my freshmen year where I nearly went home when funds didn't come through on time. I have heard several similar stories just among my friends, from a variety of financial situations, yet all of which rely on the Financial Aid Office and have been let down. My sister is a freshman at WSU and not only recieved her Award Letter a month in advance, but was sent a preliminarly offer even earlier. There is no excuse for this difference especially considering its is also a public university within our state. Not only is this something that effects almost every student, it is quite unfortunante that the ones most affected are those without the privilege of a back-up plan.

I personally believe our priorities should remain in the following areas:

-Keeping tuition costs down despite our ever-fluctuating economy (this includes keeping FEES down)
-Providing on-campus job opportunitites for work-study and non-work-study
-Growing WWU's ability to provide educational opportunities despite a student's financial situation (a student should never have to leave college due to financial concerns)
-Providing quality GUR experiences, especially where it may be lack (in Math 112/114 and English 101, for example).  If I'm gonna waste my time sitting around in Biology lecture, I learn something from it that'll be important/memorable for the next decade of my life (hint: find amazing lecturers, who make 101 classes applicable, if I'm gonna have a grad student for a lab teacher or math teacher). 
-Encouraging student-led organizations and groups, especially the Associated Students, Res-Life, and maybe starting new student-centered, student-operated, massive outreach organization (like the Associated Students, only less... bureaucratic?)
-More non-Sodexho venders on campus!  Less Sodexho monopolized-food places to eat from on-campus.  And I definitely appreciate the on-campus locally-made stuff we sell, like Rocket-Donuts and the local Whatcom county milk.  Actually, if we end up deciding to get rid of Chik-Fil-A, could we replace it with On-Rice? :-D

Despite our current budget situation and the hiring freeze, we really need to fill the position of Registrar.  The Registrar is the keeper of the institution's grades and is responsible for the integrity of our academic records.  Not only should this position be filled as soon as possible, but consideration should be given to placing this office back under the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs where it was for years.  Grades and student records are a result of the academic activities of the institution, not the result of actions by student government, clubs or something that goes on in the Rec Center.  This is an important position, and should be treated as such.  Can we please have another search for a Registrar?

I love the idea posted my Marie Raney for Western to have a designated space for faculty and staff to socialize, or just have a meal or beverage among colleagues. We have the little lunch room on the 4th floor of the VU, and it's nice and quiet, because not that many people use it. It would be a good thing to have an inviting space for non-students. I agree with Marie that it's like working in sepereate silos for all of us who work here. The creation of a social commons space also goes along well with the interdisciplinarity theme being discussed.

OK - I'll say it. The Western Home page, www.wwu.edu needs to be reassessed and updated. For a (relatively) small residential college we certainly don't give a personal feel to our own home page. It's been frozen for too long. I'd like to see External Affairs fund a study in conjunction with ATUS to evaluate the Western home page and redesign it. I'd like to see it become more personal, more dynamic, more US.

As an intellectual community that creates and disseminates new ideas, Western should seriously consider providing infrastructure that enables such dissemination to enter the 21st century. Almost all online publishing firms and university journals now have electronic management systems that allow for direct submission of manuscripts and management of reviews. Western is still in the "paper and pencil" era here. Building infrastructure would make it possible for any department on campus to tap into it and create its own journal and other electronic media that crosses the entire globe. Years ago, the university invested in Blackboard that facilitated distance learning throughout the university. I would like to suggest that it is time for the university to invest in the infrastructure that would make online electronic publishing of intellectual journals possible. 

I am concerned that we are vastly underutilizing a powerful advising tool for our students. The tool is called CAPP-Web4U Degree Evaluation. Students can use this individualized advising tool to investigate (1) how the classes they have taken thus far meet University requirements such as GUR and WP, (2) what requirements are remaining, and (3) how close or far they are from doing any major or minor at this University. In addition, Faculty advisors can access this information on any student listed as their advisee and centralized advisors, like me, have even broader access.
I tell every student I work with how to utilize this tool. Most have never heard of it. If you were looking for information about this resource on Western's Web, you would probably be frustrated because the link to the tool on the Registrar's website is called "CAPP”
http://www.wwu.edu/depts/registrar/capp.shtml
The problem is that no concerted, systematic effort from the top was made to "Rollout" this information to the Western Community. I have some suggestions about how we might begin to remedy this problem.
• Fix the semantics. Give the tool a realistic name and stop using a meaningless acronym
• Put directions on the tool in the packets that are sent to students on acceptance into Western
• Highlight this tool on several key pages that students/faculty/staff access on the Web
• Send emails to all current students with information on this tool
• Conduct training sessions for students/faculty/staff advisors interested in learning how to use this tool (and/or a tutorial online)
I'm sure Western employees have put 1000s of hours ($) into the creation, implementation, and maintenance of this tool. The staff responsible for making this tool work have done (and continue to do) an incredible job. I think the importance of getting the word out about this advising tool must have gotten lost in the shuffle of planning for Early Registration and having our Registrar retire. Nevertheless, current/incoming Western students and their advisors need to start using this resource.  Thank you for your consideration. Mary Moores, Huxley College of the Environment.

Hi, Bruce!

I was reading the budget proposals, and I wanted clarify whether or not you intended to cut all "Non-essential" student jobs. I work in one of those jobs that could be classified as "non-essential", but in my position, I do enough work that it would not be justified to not pay me and consider me a student volunteer.

If cutting nonessential student jobs was the aim, I would respectfully suggest that you reconsider. Students depend on the plethora of student employment for much needed cash and a schedule that respects our busy class schedules. I rely on my two on campus jobs for food money and savings for my after-college life. In order to stay employed, I might be forced to go off campus to a fast food job (rewind to high school) that schedules me during class time and therefore forces me to choose between school and working which pays me so that I can buy food. Also, Western prides itself on real experience in an undergraduate level that most students would get in graduate school and beyond and much of that comes from a lot of "non-essential" jobs.

I also am concerned that unless there is guidance from the upper administration that departments will find it easiest to cut student jobs with exactly the drawbacks that "What?" raises. Yes, students need the jobs to pay for tuition, we need the students to be involved in the work here; they need the experience, we need the help. But what if we feel there are not alternatives?

I think the worst scenario in some ways would be what I've seen at other institutions: "cut x% across the board". If that happens, many departments will choose to cut the student labor rather than fire someone permanent. It's not like we had enough of a travel budget or any "extras" to cut. We're already pretty close to the bone. If a department thinks they're already overextended with no dead wood, no non-essential expenditures that are under their direct control - and they have to cut, they'd probably choose to cut the students. Sad but true. What would that do to the university?

I was going to school in Monterey, CA in 1989 when an earthquake knocked out the power for several days.  What did we do?  We opened the blinds in the classrooms, and went to class.

My point here is that times are always tough, insomuch that we never have every asset we desire.  Yet, if we remain focused on the task at hand, though we can't always get what we want, we get what we need.

So, though (lacking specific budgetary insight) I cannot offer specific recommendations, I encourage you to frequently recall WWU's mission.  If a thing contributes to that mission, let us engage in it.  If it does not, let us not.

We are primarily in the business of educating students.  Though we can discuss an infinite number of peripheral concerns, each with its own merit, let's be honest.  The matter of educating students is relatively simple - hire and keep good teachers and remove barriers to their work, remove obstructions to student enrollment and performance, and buy some chairs.

Sure, this is a bit oversimplified, but I simply mean that you can't shortcut the basics.  In fact, experience shows that in hard times, it is most prudent to strengthen the basics.  So, my advice is that we view our priorities in this way.  We ask ourselves, "Does this put more and better teachers in the classroom?  Does it help our teachers perform better?  Does it make it easier for students to attend or perform better?  Does it contribute to the equipment and facilities necessary for all of the above?"

*** I appreciate the many thoughtful comments others have given in response to Bruce's important question. and was particularly pleased to see that so many of them have come from participants in the TLA.  I chose a comment from Brent (who is not in TLA but I wished he was) to respond to specifically because it points us so clearly to our WWU mission of education - a liberal arts education at that - as the prize we need to keep in view.  He says we need to support our teachers (and I would add our staff).  He goes on to imply that we need to support them so we can provide the best learning possible for our students  I agree: For me, the basics mean that everything we do should come back to whether or not students will learn better as a result of doing it.  That's what our WWU mission statement promises we will do, and we should honor it.  This year in the TLA - faculty, staff, and STUDENT participants have made a bold call for us to address this BIG question: How might WE live out our WWU mission (of providing an excellent liberal arts education) by creating a sustainable future that saves money and builds on diversity?  If we actually keep true to our stated mission, then it will be easier to see that programs to expand interdisciplinary study (even beyond Fairhaven College), support instructional technology, increase professional development opportunites, and strengthen GURs clearly have the potential to make learning at WWU better, so we need to support them.  Let's do, as Brent suggests: Use our stated mission as the test of how to spend our money.

I'll admit I haven't seen all the specifics of why the football team was cut, but my initial impression is "Yes!"

Don't get me wrong, I like football and believe that it makes a positive contribution to the campus. But in this time of reduced budgets, we need to be thinking priorities, and the football team (in my opinion, and I believe many others) is low on the list.

Dr. Shepard: I appreciate your strong and decisive action.

Dave

This was brought up earlier, but nothing has been done about it yet.

The WWU website is a shameful representation of this school. The search engine is unweildy and inaccurate, the sites are horrifically out of date (many pages haven't been updated in two years or more), and is riddled with 404 errors. Even if Bruce isn't ready to do a complete rehaul yet, it's not too much to ask the heads of each department to skim through their respective sections of the site and check to make sure all the information and links are correct.  

Something that I don't believe has been brought up yet: the cost of books. Now, I realize that there's nothing Bruce can do about the publisher's prices, but he can make sure that teachers are requiring only necessary and applicable materials that can't be found elsewhere.

For example, for a low-level geology class I took last quarter, we had to get three books that were each at least $45, and used copies weren't available for two of them. One of the books was completely useless. None of the information was on the tests. We read a few paragraphs here and there, discussed them briefly, and then abandoned it. Waste of money. The second book we used even less, and the material that we did need to know was gone over extensively during class. The third book was by far the most used, and while I was able to get all the information from lectures and never actually read the book, I could see why some would want it.

So, one possibly necessary book out of three. That's $90 of wasted money, and the real kicker is the bookstore refused to buy any of them back. This isn't the only time, either. Another class this term asked for 5 books. We have not used any of them, and because of the ineptitude of the professor we show no signs of ever using them.

I wouldn't complain as much if the bookstore bought them back, but out of the two years I've been here only one book has ever been bought back for more than a handful of change. This is ridiculous. Teachers should make sure they absolutely need these materials, and the bookstore should be more useful.

Western was the longtime leader of all the state schools in terms of contribution to WSL -- WSU, UW, CWU, EWU, and Evergreen all looked to our student leaders for cues on the most current and essential student legislative issues.  In the last four months, WWU as whole has turned from a hard-and-fast refusal to go to tuition hikes as a primary attempt to increase revenues all the way across the spectrum to an ultimate concession that the 7% cap could and probably should be raised.  I watched $2500 roll out of my pocket and into the institution this quarter.  I have an obscene amount of debt from loans, all of which were/are subject to interest because my dad, who will not give me a dime for school, makes too much money.  I am not the exception to the rule; as tuition costs rise and more and more families cannot afford to pay for a higher education, loans are becoming an increasingly viable option.  The only problem is, with a severe credit crunch well underway, only students like myself who have a stellar credit score qualify for many loans at all.  Many students have no credit history of which to speak.  There is another egregious issue that plagues students in my position: our Office of Financial Aid doles out terrible misinformation and option-limiting "aid" as though it's their only capacity.  I filled out the financial aid forms for this last summer, noting very clearly that I had already applied for private alternative loans and did not wish to receive any federal money, and two days before classes came to find out that the Financial Aid Office had cancelled my request to my lender and "offered" me federal loans instead.  When I pressed them for a reason, they gave me two:

(1) If any student does a FAFSA, they give those students federal dollars first in every case because

(2) "Federal loans are always a better deal for the student."

So, students who fill out the FAFSA because they are made to don't reserve the right to choose their own lender?  This seems criminal.  I actually wanted the private loan for consolidation purposes [I had already used this particular lender at another institution]...silly me, I have always been of the mindset that I should have irrevocable custody over my own financial decisions.  Additionally, you might be interested to know that federal loans were not in fact the better deal at all.  Federal loans were at 6.4% and my private loans were guaranteed at 5%.  When I told them that, they got flustered and told me that my private loans had compounding interest whereas the federal loans only have accrued interest.  I am a finance nerd, and I had my paperwork with me: BOTH the federal and private loans had only accrued interest, meaning the capitalized interest on all of my private loans reflects a zero balance.  They were dead wrong, and now I have to pay [literally] for their mistake.

I realize that these are two issues, but you can see why my frustration grows.  I don't have the money to pay out of pocket every single quarter.  I do so when I can to avoid tacking on ANY interest and to avoid mishaps like the one I mentioned.  I will be able to pay for school out of pocket even less frequently, will have to borrow larger amounts, and will have to work harder to qualify for usury-based loans because of the tuition hike.

Am I still supposed to believe Western as an institution puts students first??

If we go to Higher Ed Day espousing a lift of the cap, I will have lost my last ounce of faith in every part of this place.  I will not be telling people how great Western is, anymore.  I don't want to leave here with malice and frustration toward my experience -- in fact, the administration should be working vehemently to ensure that the opposite is the case.

Don't shoot your customers in the foot and expect them to just choke down this same rhetoric about how we all have to make concessions -- I realize that concessions have to be made for both expenditures and revenues to move in good directions, but this is plainly the worst way of going about affecting that.

Sincerely yours,

-Seth Hersch

There’s been quite a few comments here related to the WWU website. I appreciate what Nate and Marie have contributed to this discussion. (Especially Marie’s “commons” idea!) Here’s my comments and suggestions on the subject:

First of all, I applaud the decision to move forward with a new integrated marketing initiative. That is an area of particular interest and concern to me as Web Developer/Designer for WWU Admissions. From an admissions standpoint, our web presence is of paramount marketing importance, as the web provides a “first impression” to so many of our prospective students.

Breaking our web developers and designers out of institutionalized silos seems a topic very related to integrated marketing. Currently, our university web developers and designers are scattered about campus in different departments and offices. Interaction is sporadic at best. A colleague of mine responsible for managing web resources recently remarked that it is often only when people have trouble that she hears from the students and staff responsible for our web presence.

How can we work toward a more universally helpful and engaging web presence? Work has already been done “from below” by folks such as Nate Marino, Deborah Frost and myself to gather students and staff occasionally for open discussion of our work as web developers, designers or managers. However, support from administration for more open and transparent collaboration and sharing of resources would further legitimize these efforts.

So, I present the question of “what might this look like?” Perhaps designate a centralized location for web developers and designers to gather and work? Or, implement a modified organizational structure to encourage cross-pollination, idea sharing, and problem solving among WWU’s web staff?

The web is a constantly changing organism, and implementing an institutionalized capacity to change is especially critical for our web staff. For now, bottom-up efforts will continue. I hope that the institutional support will not be long in coming.

Cheers,

Josh Parrish
Web Developer/Designer, WWU Admissions
http://admissions.wwu.edu

Hello Seth,

You sound very informed about many of the issues that relate to how Western interacts with the legislature, but I want to clear up one thing with you. Western students have been the largest per FTE support of the WSL, not the administration. The Associated Students and the WSL are not arguing for tuition to be raised above 7%. Though it is true that this year we are not actively campaigning for tuition to be raised only at the rate of inflation either, but that is because we would not be taken seriously by decision makers if we tried that tactic and would then lose any influence over keeping tuition increases at the 7% level.

The loan issue is one that is most affected by the federal government and is thus one that the WSL has little interest in.

If you are at Western next year you should be a part of the Legislative Affairs Council, students with an interest in tuition, loans, and financial aid are necessary to crafting the State and Federal Legislative Agenda. If you are interested and will be available there are committee application available in the AS Personnel office.

good luck with paying for next year

-morgan