February 10, 2005
Morris leaves legacy of innovation, opportunity, service
If a generation of college students is four years, more or less, then Ernest R. Morris, vice president for student affairs at the UW, has worked with more than five generations of students.
When he steps down later this year, he will leave a legacy of innovative programs, opportunities and enhanced service in units that include the departments of admissions and records, financial aid, and housing and food services.
Under his leadership, the UW initiated a Valuing Diversity campaign. The campaign’s most visible symbol has been a series of posters and a brochure that outlines the University’s policies regarding discriminatory practices, and what students’ rights are when confronted with discrimination.
As Morris points out, however, the most significant part of the campaign has been “a firmly ingrained and regularly reinforced commitment to and respect for diversity in the broad range of programs” offered by Student Affairs. Valuing diversity has been incorporated into the division’s Overarching Operating Principles, which emphasize that services provided to students will be characterized by integrity and respect — with a view to helping them take maximum advantage of the formal and informal educational and social development opportunities at the University.
Student Affairs established the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Information Service in 1994, which offers confidential advice, counsel and support to those who have experienced sexual assaults or relationship violence. The division also launched an educational effort to make students aware of “date rape drugs” and the steps they can take to protect themselves — and others — from those who would seek to take advantage of them.
Child care was made more available to students with the creation of the student-fee-funded Childcare Voucher Program, which provides financial assistance to needy students for use at any licensed facility in King County. In a typical year, the program serves some 330 student-parents with 457 children, involving 76 facilities.
Morris also was responsible for establishing Recognition Agreements with fraternities and sororities, beginning in 1993. The agreements defined the ways in which the University and the Greek community could work together in achieving common goals. “While the evolution of the relationships has not been without challenges,” Morris says, “it has borne significant fruit over time, making the University and the fraternity and sorority community serious partners in the continuing effort to promote the health and vitality of those organizations.”
The awarding of undergraduate scholarships has grown in Morris’ years. The University annually provides Undergraduate Scholar Awards to about 520 freshmen and continuing undergraduates in a program that is now over 20 years old. The number of National Merit Scholarships sponsored by the university has grown from eight to 26, placing the UW among the top 50 universities in the country in Merit Scholars.
Morris was responsible for creating what is now a campus tradition, the Freshman Convocation, which marks the beginning of the school year, acting as a showcase and welcoming ceremony for freshmen, their families and others, with all appropriate pomp and circumstance.
“When we began this in 1984, it was argued that such an endeavor would never succeed in this urban environment,” Morris says. “Today, it is an important and highly visible part of the institutional landscape, both internally and externally.”
Morris says he is especially proud of the first-rate team of professionals who staff key positions in Student Affairs.
“They have produced such exceptional achievements as the recent state-of-the-art expansion of the Intramural Activities Building and the revamped facilities and cuisine in the Husky Den and two residence halls,” he says.
“They also have brought the latest technology and innovations to bear on the management of complex enterprises and services, such as career development, enrollment services, financial aid and counseling.
“Most important, they have demonstrated day in and day out a genuine and deeply held concern for the best interests of the university and its students.”
Morris has volunteered extensively in the community — as an advisory board member to the YMCA in northeast Seattle, in numerous positions with the United Way of King County (including chairing its board of directors in 1991), and the Central Puget Sound Council of Camp Fire USA, and in service with Leadership Tomorrow, a program to promote informed civic involvement.
