May 23, 2002
Campus Conversation is wide ranging
President Richard L. McCormick’s Campus Conversation with staff might have revolved around money. After all, the University’s budget has just been approved by the Board of Regents and McCormick spent a good deal of his introductory remarks talking about funding. But once the question and answer period began, the conversation was wide-ranging and even included an offer of assistance from a staff member.
Telling his audience that he wanted to give them “a flavor of what I’ve been grappling with recently,” McCormick opened the session by talking about the budget. “There will be few investments in anything new,” he said. “We would like to put money into new programs, care of our facilities and compensation, but we can’t do that.”
There will be “modest” investments, he said, in financial aid to defray the costs of the tuition increase, as well as in research infrastructure, but the latter will be supported through indirect costs from outside research dollars.
McCormick called the decision by the Legislature to grant the Regents tuition setting authority for one year a “significant” one. “I think the Regents have used that discretion thoughtfully, and I’m hopeful that it will be continued beyond that one year,” he said.
He went on to describe how the tuition increase will work, and characterized it as part of a long term trend nationally — shifting the greater burden for higher education from the taxpayers to individual families.
McCormick also said the University was currently “laying the groundwork” for a major campaign, recognizing that more dollars will have to be raised from private sources.
Finally, the President commented briefly on a recent incident of alleged racial profiling by the UW Police Department, saying an investigation had been conducted and the results would be released in about a week.
The rest of the session was composed of questions from the audience, which McCormick sometimes referred to other administrators who were in attendance. One staffer, for example, wanted to know whether the University had any intention of conducting research on anthrax or other such agents of bioterrorism, and was referred to Executive Director of Health Sciences Administration John Coulter. Coulter said there were certain infectious agents for which the UW had no suitable research facilities and that there were therefore no plans to do such research.
A question about employee benefits was referred to Vice President for Human Resources Karen Kavanagh, who said the state was currently seeking bids for health coverage. She said she expected employees to have to pay 10 to 20 percent more for health care beginning in January, 2003. Acknowledging that without a salary increase this amounted to a pay cut, Kavanagh said the University chose not to raise salaries this year to reduce the impact of programmatic cuts that would result in layoffs and to treat all employees the same. The University could not legally give pay increases to classified staff.
McCormick added that compensation had been the University’s highest priority in Olympia this year, “but we were dead from the beginning. There was a hole in the state budget, and legislators were not going to listen to talk of pay increases.”
One attendee wanted to know what the University was doing to increase awareness of the benefits it creates outside the immediate region. McCormick talked about his own visits around the state and about the annual Faculty Field Tour. He said a new project by University Relations was gathering information about the University’s presence in all the counties of the state.
“But it’s a tough sell,” McCormick admitted. “Saying that the University is an engine for economic development isn’t too impressive in a town where there’s 12 percent unemployment and the local factory just closed.”
Attendees were also concerned about the declining state of “The Ave” and wanted to know what the University was doing about it. McCormick said that the School of Social Work had long been involved in programs to help the homeless teens who hang out in the area, and that the University is working to have the “lease lid” that prevents it from renting any more space in the area lifted. He also said he had a meeting scheduled with the CEO of Safeco, the other major employer in the District, to see what the two institutions might do collectively to improve the Ave.
Assistant Vice President for Regional Affairs Theresa Doherty added that the city had just allocated $8.9 million for renovation of the Ave, which would include new sidewalks, lighting and infrastructure. She said there was also a matching funds program that would allow property owners to spruce up their facades and that the city was now placing more police on the street in the area.
McCormick pointed out that Doherty sits on the U-District Chamber of Commerce. “If you have ideas about the Ave, I’m sure she’d be glad to hear them,” he said.
One attendee, a researcher, wanted to know what could be done about security in the health sciences complex. She said her own area had been invaded by protesters and by curious members of the public. Coulter said a key card system was being devised that would essentially divide the medical center from the Health Sciences Center and in the process keep outsiders away during evening and weekend hours. He said the process of creating such a system was complex and expensive and would take time to implement.
Asked about the increased, high-level hiring in development, McCormick said that for every 12 cents spent on development, $1 is earned, and that he was sure the campaign would pay off. Vice Provost for Planning and Budgeting Harlan Patterson added that a portion of the investment income from gifts is set aside to support fund-raising, so that none of the salaries is paid for through state or tuition dollars.
As the session wound down, one staffer said he was tired of the sometimes confrontational atmosphere between staff and the administration and asked what staff could do to help the University accomplish its goals.
“I love the spirit of that question,” McCormick said. “I’ve struggled with this, and I’m not sure how to answer you. I think I would say, just do your work well and find every opportunity you can to get the word out about what a fine institution this is.”
