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Presidential Blog

Category: Presidential messages

Update about Nov. 18 football game

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Dear Members of the UW Community:

As preparations for the November 18 football game against UCLA continue, some have questioned whether the disruption attendant to playing a game mid-week makes a statement about the University’s values (i.e., sports versus academics and research). While I certainly understand such a question, I want to restate that the core academic mission of the University is paramount and that we have approached this game by doing all we can to minimize the disruption to our academic and research programs, while recognizing that it cannot be eliminated entirely. The decision to play a mid-week game was made last April on the basis of the visibility a nationally televised game would bring to our University. Holding the game on a weekday actually costs the athletic department money since it must mitigate the impacts on our community. But it was thought the investment was worth the exposure for our programs.

Our University has not hosted a mid-week football game at Husky Stadium since 1939, so this has been a learning experience for us. We are finding out a great deal about what it takes to hold such a game. Any decisions about future football games that might be held on a weekday will be made only after wide consultation and with the benefit of all that we learn from this experience.

In the meantime, I want to tell you about some of the steps being taken to deal with parking on campus. The athletic department is chartering buses for 20,000 people who otherwise would drive to the game, and we have also negotiated to pay Metro to allow anyone with a UW ID to travel fare-free on Metro buses on November 18th.

With regard to those of you who have parking permits, most will be able to park in their regular spots on campus on November 18th. Some will be affected by the increased parking demand associated with the game, in particular those with permits for east campus. To help alleviate those impacts, 100 spaces have been allocated in the Central Parking Garage for faculty who are scheduled to teach afternoon classes and do not have the flexibility in their schedules to ride buses or use alternate means of transportation. The deans’ offices will be working to identify faculty in need of these spaces. In addition, there is some flexibility in the parking system to handle needs on a case by case basis, which may entail being assigned to a different parking lot for the day. Commuter Services has created a website as a central source for information about commuter options on November 18th, including a list of FAQs.

I apologize for the inconvenience this causes for many of you and hope that we can all work with those across campus who have been striving very hard to minimize the disruption to our University community. I greatly appreciate your cooperation and patience.

Sincerely,

Image of Phyllis Wise's signature

Phyllis M. Wise
Interim President

President Obama on campus Oct. 21

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Dear Members of the University Community:

As some may have heard by now, President Barack Obama will visit the University of Washington campus on Thursday, Oct. 21, at noon for a rally in support of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. This is, of course, a political event and not a University-sponsored visit. The event will take place in Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Rental of the facility and other associated costs are being paid by the Senator’s campaign. Details about the event and how to register to attend are available at http://www.pattymurray.com/home.

Having the president of the United States on our campus, even briefly, is a distinct honor. His visit will bring with it a certain amount of disruption of normal activities. Traffic around the city and campus will be impacted, especially in the area of Montlake Boulevard and the Pavilion. Security will also be tight. As you plan your activities for that day, please take into account the impact of this event on our surrounding community. Detailed information regarding street or building closures, changes to transit routes or other changes will be provided as those decisions are made in the coming days.

All UW offices will remain open as regularly scheduled on the day of the event. Classes, exams and other instructional activities will be held as usual. Staff wishing to attend the event must do so on their own time. If doing so involves taking leave from work for a portion of the day, approved leave will need to be arranged with your supervisor.

Political events may be held on campus under rules governing the use of University facilities. Such events give our community a chance to experience the political process firsthand and to hear from candidates running for office. The policy may be found at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=478-136-030.

Sincerely,

Phyllis M. Wise
Interim President

Impacts of the home football game on Thursday, Nov. 18

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Dear Members of the UW Community:

On Thursday, Nov. 18, starting at 5 p.m., the University will play its final home football game of the season against UCLA in Husky Stadium. A mid-week game is highly unusual and results from the University accepting an invitation last April from ESPN to televise the contest to a national audience. We accepted the invitation, but only after careful consideration of the impacts on the University and our community. It will be very challenging to have 70,000 spectators in the afternoon fill Husky Stadium, in addition to the 70,000 people who populate our University every day. It will also be an opportunity for a national audience to view our University and our team.

A great deal of planning has gone into developing a transportation plan to minimize the impact of the game on the academic and clinical programs going on that day. Our goal is to bring as many spectators as possible to the stadium using buses and alternative means of transportation and to have them arrive several hours prior to game time, thus minimizing interference with normal rush-hour traffic. Post-game traffic will occur after rush-hour congestion has subsided. The greatest impacts will be on campus parking, particularly in east campus, and our transportation office has been working hard to absorb the additional parking demand.

As part of the planning for this event, we would like to ask students, faculty and staff to consider alternative means of transportation on November 18 and to consider alternative work schedules when possible to help reduce the campus’ use of parking spaces and possibly reduce the number of people coming to campus. You will be receiving more information from transportation services and human resources with suggested alternatives and options for helping to manage traffic and parking on Nov. 18.

No amount of planning will totally eliminate the congestion we expect and the inconvenience it may cause for many of you. We apologize for this and ask for your cooperation and patience. We can all help to minimize the disruption and contribute to making the day a successful one for our University community.

Sincerely,

Phyllis M. Wise
Interim President

Scott Woodward
Director of Athletics

Welcome to the new academic year

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Dear Members of the UW Community:

Welcome to a new academic year at the University of Washington. The start of a new year inevitably brings with it a sense of excitement and expectation, as well as a number of changes. One significant change for our community is in the president’s office, where I am serving as president this year. I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to lead our University at this critical juncture.

Since the Board of Regents announced last July that they were appointing me to this position, I have taken every opportunity I can to talk with people both in and outside the University about what we must do to continue to be able to contribute to the well-being of our state. In the coming days, weeks, and months, I hope to have a chance to talk with many more of you.

The year ahead holds a number of challenges, not the least of which is our constrained state budget, including the 6.3% cut that the governor announced for all state agencies last month.

Information about what this latest cut means for specific units will be forthcoming in the next several weeks. The budget clearly is our most urgent issue, and Interim Provost Mary Lidstrom and I intend to do all we can to see that you have everything you need to continue the important work you do. We will be working tirelessly to convey the importance of protecting higher education funding in the next legislative session, focusing on the broad range of contributions the UW makes to Washington’s citizens and how we can be part of finding solutions to our state’s problems.

In all that we do, we need to be mindful that the decisions we make today about how we manage our resources will affect the kind of university we will be 20 years from now. We must move forward with key initiatives and opportunities that will help guide our University toward a sustainable future. One of these initiatives is Two Years to Two Decades, or 2y2d, which is designed to position the University 20 years from now to continue to attract the best faculty, students and staff and to solve the most critical challenges to society.

The UW presidential search is also moving forward with a series of stakeholder events scheduled for the fall. You can see the schedule of events and read about other details related to the search on the UW presidential search website.

I look forward to working with all of you to make the UW an even better place.

Sincerely,

Image of Phyllis Wise's signature
Phyllis Wise
Interim President