Presidential Blog

University of Washington President Michael K. Young issued a statement today about President Barack Obama’s budget, saying:

“The president’s commitment to expanding research funding in his 2013 budget to spur our nation’s innovation is a critical investment in our nation’s future and one we at the University of Washington fully support. The partnership between the federal government and our nation’s research universities in funding and conducting basic and applied research has fueled innovation for 60 years and propelled the U.S. to the forefront of the world’s economies. It is crucial, especially at this point in time, that this partnership remain vital and productive. We warmly applaud the president’s initiatives in this regard.

“We are also very pleased that the president is maintaining support for federal student financial aid through Pell grants and federal work-study programs. This aid is crucial to helping students afford a college education, particularly when states have been struggling to support higher education, forcing tuition to rise. It is important for states to reinvest in their colleges and universities, as well as for universities to continue to operate as efficiently as possible. College affordability remains one of the hallmarks of American higher education and one of the chief paths to opportunity and success. We are grateful for the president’s recognition of this reality and his support of students, especially in these difficult times.”

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

The weather last week made a normally challenging quarter even harder. Losing three days from a total of 47 instructional days in the quarter has a real impact. Unlike K–12 schools, we do not have the luxury of adding make-up days at the end of the quarter. We know there is an effect upon all of our programs, especially our instructional ones, and we understand those lost days will be difficult to recover. We know that some faculty have been placing lecture PowerPoint presentations or classnotes on websites and/or engaging in online discussions with students (at least during times that power was available). More than a few mentoring sessions have happened over the phone or on Skype. We appreciate your dedication, especially under tough conditions, and are confident you will all continue to find creative ways to minimize the impact on student learning. We will be talking with students and instructors in the days ahead to assess which efforts worked best so that we can disseminate and facilitate best practices along these lines in the future.

Deciding to suspend operations is, of course, a decision not taken lightly. We weigh the effect upon the academic program against the risk to public safety of traveling in dangerous weather conditions, and as you might expect, we come down on the side of safety. Many of you live in close proximity and walk to and from your classes and places of work. Many commute from long distances. We gather as much information as we can about road conditions, public transportation capabilities, weather forecasts, as well as the condition of our campuses before arriving at a decision to suspend activities. As each day went by, we wanted not to have to suspend, but the weather just did not cooperate. Our local topography makes the challenge even harder. People who grew up in winter climes in the Midwest, for instance, gain a fuller appreciation of our hills and valleys, and how even relatively small amounts of snow and ice can turn a winter wonderland into a winter nightmare.

Many in jobs that are considered “essential” made their way into work to keep the University functional. These include all the staff in our medical centers, which do not have the ability to pause for the weather, to staff in our residence halls who regardless of the weather must provide meals for our 6,000 students living there, to those in our facilities divisions who kept the power on and who worked to near-exhaustion to get the campuses ready for our return. To all of them and many others who braved the weather, thank you for your service.

Let’s hope our adventure with nature this winter is over, and we’ve seen the last of disruptive storms. A little meteorological calm in our lives would be wonderful.

Sincerely,

Michael K. Young	Ana Mari Cauce
President	Provost & Executive Vice President

Dear Members of the University Community:

At the half-way point of my first year at the UW, there are still daily revelations of how great this University is and what that greatness is built upon. The more I look inside the campus, the more I see extraordinary, energized students and faculty applying their talents to expand and share human knowledge. The more I venture outside, the more I find alumni, donors, legislators, and private citizens who treasure the contributions the UW makes to their lives and to the good of the world.

As part of my discovery, I am increasingly impressed to see that the remarkable drive, inquisitiveness, and ambition of our faculty, staff, and students are tempered by a deep, pervasive respect for the rules and societal standards that define the right way to conduct our work. Such steadfast adherence to ethical principles is far from universal, nor can we take it for granted. Indeed, the news of the past year left us with far too many examples of the lasting harm done by malicious and careless individuals, whose acts were sometimes extended by the inaction of those who might have spoken up or intervened. For that matter, our protracted economic slump is rooted in a widespread, unchecked disregard for responsible financial practices. We have seen prominent public officials caught behaving unethically and recklessly. Persons entrusted with academic, administrative, and athletic responsibilities at institutions of higher education have been found to have actively betrayed that trust — or to have stood by passively allowing the destructive behavior to continue.

In contrast, it is clear to me that the University of Washington’s century and a half of success has been built on a strong foundation of integrity. When problems have been discovered, they have been dealt with promptly and appropriately, as one would hope. Overall, the UW has nurtured a culture of responsible conduct, which has sustained our perennial success in attracting scholars and administrators who share a visceral inclination to act honorably. This institutional legacy is certainly one of the reasons I am proud to be among you.

Having inherited such values, one of our duties is to periodically renew our commitment to maintain these high expectations of ourselves and of one another. To that end, I hope you will join me in resolving to make 2012 another year of hard work in the service of education, research, and public service, carried out with the highest standards of integrity. This is the one certain path to continued pride in our individual and collective accomplishments.

Best wishes for a New Year filled with discovery and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Michael K. Young