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Q&A regarding Impacts of Changing Policies and Funding

Questions submitted via Faculty Senate regarding impacts of changing policies and funding

Budget: planning, faculty input

Budget: employment, termination

Budget: administrative spending

Budget: state

Budget: federal grants

Budget: salary

Budget: 5% cuts

Hiring, P&T

Immigration, visas

Other

Budget: general planning, faculty input on cuts/priorities

  • Has there been any external audit of the overall university budget with a report on suggestions for cost savings? Are there plans to have an external audit?

The University of Washington is audited on an annual basis by KPMG.  These reports are publicly available.  The university also leverages the resources of UW Internal Audit, peer institutions and external consulting agencies to ensure appropriate financial controls are in place and to identify efficiency and cost opportunities in various areas of the university.  Notable efforts include UW Medicine Mission Forward and the recently-launched Together We Thrive initiative.

  • Is there a clear plan to reduce cost, consolidate effort to reduce overhead, streamline efforts? How can faculty voices be involved in the plan?

Together We Thrive is our university-wide effort to bring our expenses and revenues into balance and strengthen university-wide financial resilience.  Each unit will utilize different strategies under the effort depending on their role and their current financial health.  However, the President and Provost have directed unit leads to focus on strategies and tactics commonplace amongst our peers.  An overview of the initiative and the strategies units are pursuing are included in a presentation and white paper shared with the Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting. Part of Together We Thrive required that schools, colleges, campuses and administrative support units plan for break even or better financial performance in FY26.

The Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting is the committee of the faculty senate charged with advising the administration on the budget and related faculty concerns.  At the local level, campus, school and college elected faculty councils can and should be working in partnership with their Chancellors, (Executive) Vice Chancellors and Deans to understand their unit’s financial circumstances and bring forward ideas for improvement.

  • Given the unavoidable financial hit that faculty and other teaching staff will be taking in the next few years, is there anything that the university can do to decrease the various non-fiduciary burdens that we experience in the classroom, such as the ever-increasing time burdens associated with DRS accommodations or the numerous compliance webinars that we are required to take? Will there be any attempt to minimize the impact of the new “digital accommodations” that are coming a year from now?

We sympathize with the growth and burden of state and federal regulatory requirements.  While most are well intended, it’s true that they place additional administrative requirements and costs on the university at both the staff and faculty level.

While complying with state and federal regulations is required and we cannot totally mitigate the burden, we’ve initiated efforts to try to minimize the burden and impact on the university community.  Examples include:

In addition, multiple faculty working groups are developing workflows for addressing digital accessibility for common course materials. These recommendations will inform technology-based solutions as well as training and resources for faculty to streamline actions needed for compliance.

  • In the past year, there have been a number of new task forces and initiatives considered. One of the task forces was to examine the relationship between private industry and university curriculum. Given the looming financial cliff, is this task force going to be delayed or cancelled? It doesn’t seem like a good idea to alienate potential financial donors and partners at this time. And what about the AI task force that suggested hiring one hundred new faculty related to AI-research. Where does that stand? There was also talk about expanding the required diversity credits for undergraduates to 10. This will likely require additional teaching staff to provide adequate course coverage. Is this plan moving forward or is it on the backburner?

Regarding a taskforce on examining the relationship between private industry and the university curriculum, the faculty senate asked the administration to look at existing university policies and procedures and best practices to set a foundation of information on where the UW stands proximate to its peers and best practices.  This work is almost done and will be sent to the faculty senate for review and discussion of any needed next steps.

The AI Task Force held a series of university town halls and a speaker series to gather university feedback on its recommendations and work.  A final report has been provided to the President and Provost, who are identifying a path forward within the context of annual budget conversations and in convening faculty committees to address policies and coordination of educational programs that schools/colleges and campuses are already developing.

  • Is someone soliciting the faculty for ideas of what programs they see as redundant or could be cut? One example that comes to mind is the Resilience Lab, which seems to be eating up a lot of resources without providing any benefits in terms of students becoming more “resilient.” It would be useful to solicit information from faculty at the grassroots as to what they see as unnecessary or inefficient, and to make such a “bulletin board” public.

Thanks for the suggestion.  We’re always open to ideas.  The best place to start is working at the local level with your Dean and Elected Faculty Council.  If your suggestion is not specific to your unit, you’re always welcome to email provost@uw.edu with suggestions or come to the Provost’s Office Hours.

  • Is the administration already considering closing or consolidating any programs due to budget cuts?

All units were asked to model 5 and 10 percent expenditure reductions in early March as state budget shortfalls and escalating federal grant and contract terminations and flagging awards prompted an escalation of Together We Thrive.  As a part of that effort, units are evaluating opportunities for efficiencies.  A current point of emphasis is the adoption of shared services.  We don’t currently have any plans for consolidation or elimination of academic programs.  Any proposals must go through the university RCEP process and would be subject to faculty review.

  • Given the seriousness of the impacts of federal policy decisions, would UW in cooperation with the Big 10 consider a “sports strike” as is proposed in this recent Slate article? What is realistically in the table to address the “five alarm fire” of budget concerns?

This idea isn’t under active consideration.  Our strategy currently is:

  • Advocating and protecting the university’s rights and interest through litigation in partnership with the state’s attorney general’s office
  • Leveraging partnerships within AAU, APLU, ACE, BIG10 to share information and develop joint legal and advocacy strategies,
  • Strengthening congressional advocacy, including activation of our alumni network
  • Building research resilience and identifying new opportunities to advance the university’s research given the changing federal landscape
  • What is the UW willing to do in earmarking funds to save the research mission? For example, is the UW willing to eliminate athletic programs to save the research mission?
  • Can it be justified to continue spending on university athletics when spending on core educational and research activities is being cut?

The university is already utilizing central and local reserves to provide emergency support when research grants are terminated by the federal government. We are also exploring ways to engage our philanthropic community in supporting our research efforts and graduate education.  We are always in the process of evaluating or athletics programs and there will likely be some programs that become smaller, but entirely eliminating programs doesn’t actually save money in the near or medium-term, and it also doesn’t recognize the value UW athletics generates for the university in the way of exposure, supporters, and economic impact. For example, the number of applications from out of state applicants to both our undergraduate and graduate programs has risen dramatically since we joined the Big Ten.

  • The UW often appears to be a business with activities in real estate ownership and development, for example. If and when spending is cut, is the UW going to prioritize people, or buildings?

Net revenue from the University Metropolitan Tract goes into a state-appropriated account that is required to be spent on capital and facilities maintenance.  Capital spending is always evaluated alongside operating spending, as our ability to borrow is impacted by the university’s financial circumstances.  Decisions are project-specific and require consideration of short- and long-term tradeoffs.  For instance, in the case of the Chemical Sciences Building, the state has proposed providing a record amount of state funding for an academic and research building to support that project.  We wouldn’t want to make a decision that would put that level of state investment at risk. Moreover, pitting people against buildings creates a false dichotomy, we build buildings FOR people.

Budget: employment, termination

  • What is the hierarchy of cuts and when do we notify staff/faculty of the process?

Units leaders were told in March to develop plans for 5-10% budget reduction scenarios.  Priorities vary at each individual unit depending on their circumstances.  Ideally, this planning occurs in consultation with unit leadership and elected faculty councils.  Unit leaders will receive updated budget directions after the May Board of Regents meeting.  Broader communications will follow.

  • What is the plan to cover tenure track FTE as access to “buyout” and other options diminish?

Decisions about faculty buyouts and how to handle them are always made at the unit level. During annual budget meetings, the Provost raised the need to plan for salary offset within the budget for each school, college, and campus.

  • What is the minimal layoff notice we can give an individual (faculty or staff, by rank)?  

It depends on the type of employee and the circumstances.  An overview of information can be found on UWHR’s federal impacts website.

  • Who covers the cost from the time the funds are pulled to when an individual is laid off?

It depends on the circumstances.  Typically, the unit.  However, in the case of federal grant terminations, some central support is available to bridge the time between the federal action and the effective date of the furlough or termination.

  • What happens to UW staff members when a federal grant is frozen or canceled? Are they put on furlough until it becomes clear that the money is really gone? Or are they terminated? If terminated, what happens if the grant money comes back

It depends on the circumstances, but we are urging/supporting temporary actions in any circumstance where the status of the funding is unclear or if there are actions (e.g. legal, agency appeal) where we believe funding may be restored.

  • What support is available at the UW to support the transition of staff who are affected? 

An overview can be found on UWHR’s federal impacts website.

Budget: administrative spending

  • Over the past two years, the UW has increased spending on senior administration by 22% ($24 million) and on financial staff by 18% ($35 million). Over the same period spending on faculty salaries has decreased by 4% ($10 million). These are inflation adjusted. Will the university commit to cutting senior administration costs back to (inflation-adjusted) 2022 levels before implementing any reduction in faculty or staff salaries?
  • According to an analysis of NCES data by takebacktheacademy.org, over the last 2 years at UW there has been a 22% increase in the dollars spent on upper administration (over $24M) and an 18% increase in the dollars spent on financial staff ($35.5M). And we shouldn’t forget the $500M cost of Workday which costs the university $38M a year. (All numbers adjusted for inflation.) Meanwhile in this same 2-year period there was a 4% decrease ($10M) in the amount spent on faculty salaries, saving the university $10M year. Given these numbers will the university commit to reducing upper administration costs to inflation-adjusted 2022 levels before implementing any reduction in staff (including staff and non-tenure track faculty) salaries?

As is the case with data analysis generally, a shorter time period may reflect anomalous activity. Broadening the time period allows for a better understanding of the overall growth trends. Faculty salaries in colleges and schools have steadily increased from FY2018 to FY2024. The “Take Back the Academy” analysis focused on FY21, where we did experience a one-year dip as salaries were stagnant (no merit was awarded that year after SCPB and BODC consultation) and administrative expenses increased to respond to the pandemic.

Faculty comprise nearly 47% of UW’s workforce and continue to command the largest share of academic unit salary budgets. Instructional spending has held steady at over 50% of core budget expenditures, according to IPEDS data.

Furthermore, UW’s Administrative/Instructional cost ratio (AI ratio) has remained below 0.20 for 20 years—among the lowest in the AAU. Only ~12% of UW’s total expenditures are directed toward central administrative functions. The analysis from “Take Back the Academy” lumped departmental administrative expenses with central administrative expenses. The largest administrative growth the University has seen from FY13 to FY23 was in departmental administrative expenses, which include areas of student advising, departmental research support, HR, IT security, and regulatory compliance.

Zooming out, between 2002 and 2022, UW operating expenses rose 65%, while enrollment grew 60% and state appropriations declined 13%. Core academic expenses (instruction, research, academic support) make up over 75% of total functional expenses. Compared to public AAU peers, UW’s growth in academic expenditures (+68%) is well within the norm.

  • We are all in this together and it is important for our leaders to lead by example. Will upper admin staff see a salary freeze or cut?

We are all in this together. Senior administrative leaders, some of whom are also faculty, are subject to annual performance evaluations which inform individual merit decisions. However, many choose to give back and donate to the university as a symbol of their commitment to the institution during both good and difficult financial times.

  • While students and instructors are consistently evaluated through transparent, rigorous, and objective-aspiring metrics—such as assignments, exams, graduation benchmarks for students, and tenure evaluations or merit pay assessments for faculty—university administrators often operate behind a veil of opacity. Unlike students and faculty, administrators are seldom held accountable through similarly transparent measures. Their effectiveness, efficiency, and fidelity in advancing institutional goals frequently remain unclear. Critical details such as budget allocations, hiring decisions, and the specific activities undertaken by administrators and their assistants are rarely shared openly. This lack of transparency makes it difficult for the academic community to assess whether administrative actions genuinely reflect institutional priorities and responsibilities. This not only wastes resources but undermines institutional trust, fosters cynicism and hampers the collective pursuit of educational excellence. What are the plans to increase administrative transparency as we go through these difficult budget decisions?

All senior leaders of the university receive annual merit reviews and evaluations by the President and Provost on their performance based on goals set annually.  Administrators with academic appointments, including Deans, are also subject to comprehensive five year reviews.  In addition, all senior leaders are held accountable to their unit’s budget and financial performance in annual budget meetings with the President and Provost.  Annual budgets and budget submission are posted publicly to the UW finance website.  The Provost requires each unit to provide their consultation process as part of their budget submission and strongly encourages faculty hiring plans to be shared with their school elected faculty council.  Elected faculty councils must be consulted on merit and unit adjustment plans.  Per university policy, units in financial deficit received enhanced levels of monitoring and make commitments to University leadership to turnaround their financial performance; all of these commitments and monitoring activities are shared with the Faculty Senate Committee on Planning & Budgeting.

Budget: State

  • The House/Senate Budget Proposal (linked here: https://www.washington.edu/opb/opb-briefs/house-senate-budget-proposals-2025-27-capital-budget-update/) plans tuition increases of 3% next year and 5% the year after. This is on top of the normal 3% inflation increase. But pg. 4 of the budget says that the legislature plans to recapture all of this money and not allocate it to UW — decreasing funding to UW by the same amount as the tuition increases. Two questions: 1) Who in Olympia is negotiating on our behalf? 2) What does UW plan to tell students, their parents, faculty and staff regarding why these tuition increases — which are entirely justified — will not see a penny go toward UW?

Under the direction of the President, the university’s Office of State Relations represents the university in Olympia.  They routinely partner with ASUW, GPSS and faculty senate legislative representatives.  Our position in Olympia has been firm – tuition increases should go to the benefits of our students and their education.

Budget: federal grants

  • What are the plans for when UW gets federal funding withheld like Columbia? I think we can all assume this is coming.

All of the circumstances under which the federal government has withheld funding from a higher education institution have been different.  The university would need to evaluate its options based on the specific action and rationale.  Needless to say, we would be evaluating all legal options available to protect the university’s rights and interests.

  • Are we guaranteed that the funds in our ICR and “labs” are available to us and will remain available to us?

To date, there have been no changes to university ICR allocation policies in response to federal actions.  ICR allocations are made in advance of federal agency’s reimbursement to the UW for eligible indirect costs borne by the University. The University is advancing ICR to units prior to receipt from the federal government as has been the practice for 8- years. Future allocations will depend upon the University’s financial condition and the receipt of federal reimbursement for indirect costs.

  • The University has obligated funds to some centers/institutes and many have payments deposits past due. Will the centers receive these obligated funds? When? What is the potential they will not be issued or cut in the future?

The answer to this question depends on the specific circumstances.  If you would like a response based on a specific center’s experience, email provost@uw.edu and we will respond with the most up to date information.

  • Can the federal gov claw back disbursed funds? Can they claw back already spent funds? If yes: How is UW currently handling this situation or planning to handle it if the funds have already been spent? If budgets are hit that support students or post docs with union contracts how will UW respond when this person no longer has funding to support them? Will UW just push the responsibility to fund the student per union contract back on the PI?

The federal government has some ability to stop or reverse funding decisions it has made previously.  When they have done so inappropriately or in violation of an active contract, we pursue legal action.  We are working in partnership with units to figure out how to support and bridge financial emergencies when we see these types of new and extraordinary circumstances.

  • The question has to do with the new rule limiting budget advances to 30 days. Last year, one of our faculty received a non-competitive renewal (continuation) NOA for a NIH grant about 2 months late from the NIH but then it took another 4 months for the UW to actually process the NOA. The question is, if the NOA is already received at the UW, does that still count as an “advance”? Also, what is being done to improve the processing time it takes for NOAs once they are received at the UW?

Detailed guidance can be found of the Office of Research’s federal impacts webpage.  We have a new initiative called AIDE to improve research administration post-Workday.  You can read more about it and other research resilience efforts in the latest newsletter from the Office of Research.

Budget: salary

  • Per inquiring faculty, there has been 22% inflation since the pandemic. Other professions have had significant increases in salary tracking or exceeding the cost of living increases to maintain their purchasing power, while nothing has been doing for UW faculty. Is there a plan to address this?

Inflationary pressures have eroded salaries and difficult budget environments have impacted the state and university’s ability to keep pace with inflation. We’ve attempted to address these issues through a combination of regular merit and unit-based adjustments where feasible.  This year, as we are unlikely to see any incremental state funds for salary or benefit increases, we’ll have to make difficult decisions about how to cut expenses to prioritize regular merit. The University has continued to spend on compensation at a higher rate than the revenues it generates. This imbalance must be addressed on the expense side, as well as on the revenue side.

  • How might our budget situation, particularly the state budget, impact faculty salaries, especially since “merit” increases already do not keep up with inflation. Might we still expect “merit” raises in the coming few years? Might compression might still addressed? Might we face literal cuts to salary?

We don’t expect to receive incremental state funds for compensation this year.  However, given inflationary pressures, we expect to need to move ahead with regular merit and we will work through our normal consultative process with SCPB and BODC before presenting a proposed salary plan to the Board of Regents. We will have to cut expenses to provide merit pools, a situation we may be in for some time unless revenues increase.

Budget: 5% cuts

  • The June 30 deadline to enact 5% cuts is an extremely short timeline, especially if those cuts require administrative reorganization and staff consolidation.  Are there circumstances under which the June 30 deadline can be extended? Must every administrative unit meet the same deadline? If not, how were deadlines established for each unit?
  • Why does this cut need to happen now and so fast (by July 1)? Are other units across the UW having this same cut asked of them (e.g. other Colleges, or student services etc.)? How might this timeline be adjusted for currently unknown retirements?
  • Is there a plan for instituting the 5% across the board cut to the CAS budget that was announced this week? Are we facing salary cuts, personnel cuts, or both? What is the decision making process for this going to look like? Will decisions be made at the college level, the dean level, or at the department level?

The College has been operating in budget deficit for several years and has needed to make budget adjustments for some time. In the fall of 2024, all units were notified that they were required to submit a balanced budget this year. The College of Arts and Sciences did not do so, and the Provost asked them to come back with a plan for a balanced budget including expenditure reductions that the rest of the University is planning for. The Provost is committed to working with the College on a sustainable plan and path forward, but actions do need to be taken to address the most urgent financial issues.

  •  Are any units (departments, schools, other academic programs) exempted from making cuts or being given lower percentages?

Final budget decisions have not been made.  We expect to have final decisions after the Board of Regents budget discussion at their May meeting.  All units have been asked to plan for a 5-10% budget reduction.

  • Would the University share what other departments have done to reduce cost and overlaps.  For example, some are not taking PhD students or are taking fewer. Others have restricted extra curriculum programming, reducing options for summer salaries, etc.

In the planning process, schools, colleges and campuses were encouraged to take an analytical approach to identify and prioritize adjustments in areas of expense growth in their modeling. The pressures are different for each unit, and the Deans and Chancellors are in active communication with one another and with the Provost on various scenarios during this planning period.

Hiring, Promotion, Tenure

  • What adjustments are being made to tenure and promotion expectations to offset the current moratorium on using departmental funds earmarked for research?

There have been no modifications to the promotion and tenure expectations at the university level.  There are processes by which faculty can apply for tenure clock waivers in where they have experience extraordinary impacts.  We are encouraging faculty and units who have been impacted by changes in federal policy and funding to explore this existing path.

Immigration, visas

  • What is UW doing to support students with removed visas? Are they actively supporting ICE operations or trying to resist or somewhere in the middle?

The university is providing direct, individualized support for students who have had their VISAs revoked by the federal government.  Support is coordinated through International Student Services and includes connecting students to legal support, academic support and accommodation, emergency financial resources, and wellness support.  If you are made aware of a student who has been impacted or is worried they may be, please encourage them to reach out to ISS.

Other

  • How can the use of AI can streamline efforts?

Yes!  We’ve received lots of good suggestions and recommendations through the AI taskforce.

Faculty Senate Chair Louisa Mackenzie’s Welcome Message

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the new academic year. I’m writing to introduce the Faculty Senate, and myself, as I have the honor of serving as your Senate Chair this year.

The Senate represents you. It is the legislative and deliberative body of the UW faculty as we work with executive administrators in shared governance. My highest goal is to be worthy of the trust placed in me, and I look to you all to keep me accountable to the business of the faculty.

We are always looking for colleagues to work with us in the various sites of governance. Whatever you care most about, chances are good there is a way to advocate for it, particularly in our Faculty Councils. Many service opportunities are not time-intensive, and they offer unique institution-wide perspectives and connections across our three campuses. I’m truly grateful to all who overload their busy schedules for our collective benefit: Senators, Faculty Council chairs and members, Elected Faculty Councils, and my Chair’s Cabinet this year.

That said, I acknowledge that service often feels unrecognized at an R1 university, and this year, the Senate will work with you all to find ways to better identify and reward the many forms of hidden work upon which this institution depends. This is related to my framing priorities:

  • workload equity;
  • expanding our understanding of excellence;
  • ongoing differential pandemic impacts.

Some of the other issues we’ll be working on this year include:

  • The election of a new Faculty Regent.
  • Support for excellence in teaching, including rethinking evaluations.
  • Including service and equity work in tenure and promotion metrics.
  • The role of teaching faculty at an R1.
  • Tri-campus administrative alignment.
  • Merit reviews: process, function, and relation to compensation.
  • General Education requirements, including the current Diversity credit.
  • Academic freedom.

You will also have heard that the UW is looking for a new President this year. The Faculty Senate is and will be engaging with the Presidential Search Advisory Committee to ensure that faculty input helps shape the candidate profile. Please look for related e-mails and web updates from the Board of Regents.

Campus climate will be multiply challenging this year. Back in 2017, also a time of amplified conflict, the Senate passed this resolution in support of a faculty letter of shared values, which I encourage you to read. Today, faced with escalated attacks on higher education itself, it can be useful to revisit, reaffirm, and where necessary revise, such statements of value, while not neglecting the hard work of bridging the gap between aspiration and policy. The 2017 letter also highlights the importance of understanding the university as a community of experts, and the Senate will draw your attention to events organized for our benefit by colleagues who can help us understand our most pressing problems. This includes the question of academic freedom itself, which will be addressed by some of our colleagues in AAUP this November.

We have an outstanding and hard-working team in Senate leadership this year: Aarti Bhat (Vice Chair); Cynthia Dougherty (Chair of the Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting); Jake Vigdor and Amanda Kost (Legislative Representative and Deputy respectively);  Gautham Reddy (Secretary of the Faculty); Jordan Smith and Joey Burgess (Assistants to the Chair and SecFac respectively); Alexandra Toyoda and Naomi Liftman (Policy and Council analysts respectively); and our Council Chairs. The Senate represents the faculty of our three campuses, but Tacoma and Bothell also have their own governance structures. Anne Taufen is the incoming Chair of UW Tacoma’s Faculty Assembly, and Linda Watts will chair UW Bothell’s General Faculty Organization. Thanks to last year’s Senate Chair, Cynthia “Cindy” Dougherty, and to our retiring Secretary of the Faculty, Mike Townsend, for their tireless work on behalf of us all.

Shared governance at the UW is slow, messy and sometimes frustrating, but that’s precisely because it is shared: across 18 schools and colleges and 3 campuses, more than 5,000 voting faculty, faculty and staff administrators, university and elected faculty councils, and the executive office. One role of the Senate Chair is procedural: to make sure that faculty voices are heard via processes that are as inclusive and representative as possible, whatever the issue. Governance works for and through you, and I hope you will communicate what matters to you by engaging with your senators and with university faculty councils this year. Thus, we can elevate our collective concerns and create the conditions for us all to do, and be rewarded for, our best work.

Thank you for the trust placed in me. It will be an honor to serve and work with you this year.

Sincerely,

Louisa Mackenzie
Chair, Faculty Senate
Associate Professor, Comparative History of Ideas (College of Arts and Sciences, UW Seattle)

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 5/30/24; Year in Review

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 5/30/24; Year in Review

Dear Colleagues,

The final meeting of the Faculty Senate for AY 2023-24 was held on 5/30/24. This report contains the usual meeting summary, and a brief year in review. Full text of remarks and reports from 5/30 can be found on the agenda.

Senate Chair’s Remarks:

Chair Cindy Dougherty summarized some of the considerable work accomplished this year in shared governance, including her priorities: dispute resolution (the inauguration of the faculty liaison program; administrative guidelines for conduct complaints), and faculty well-being (results of survey; safety concerns). She thanked all involved in the Senate, councils, and committees, for working hard and engaging in detail. And thank you, Cindy, for your caring and your tireless work on behalf of faculty.

Secretary of the Faculty:

Professor Mike Townsend (School of Law) will retire on 9/15 after eight years of service as the Secretary of the Faculty. Thank you, Mike, for your distinguished service, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement! Congratulations to Professor Gautham Reddy (School of Medicine, Radiology), who was elected as the incoming Secretary of the Faculty for a term of five years.

Dispute Resolution:

The Executive Committee on 5/20/24 endorsed the “Implementation Guidelines for Upholding Standard of Conduct Requirements in the Faculty Code (FC 25-71)” (p. 5-7 in the Senate agenda). Along with the faculty liaison program, this administrative recommendation is the result of work of the Dispute Resolution Working Group, and aims at reducing or providing off-ramps to the adversarial 25-71 process. Senate leadership will follow through with administration on implementation.

New Business and Discussion Items.

Class A Legislation – Expanding Candidates’ Rights in the Promotion Process.  The Senate approved the third and final version of this legislation which has recently been distributed to the faculty for vote, with a deadline of June 15. This version is the result of significant work in the Faculty Council on Faculty Affairs in response to administrative concerns about the initial version. If passed, the two major changes to the Faculty Code would 1) expand the rights of promotion candidates to review and respond to documents created in the process of review, and 2) explicitly recognize the role of the Provost in order to regulate that level of review. Details can be found in Exhibit G of the agenda.

Class C Resolution – Use of Student Course Evaluations. The Senate debated and passed this resolution, presented by the Faculty Council on Teaching and Learning, which suggests a series of guidelines for the Provost’s office in the use of student evaluations in promotion review, understanding evaluations as tools for improvement and growth rather than absolute rankings.

Class C Resolution – University of Washington Tri-campus Structure. The Senate debated and passed this resolution which presents multiple inconsistencies in administrative structure between the three campuses, and calls on tri-campus and Senate leadership to align Executive Orders with the Faculty Code.

Class C Resolution – Regarding Ethical Divestment from Companies Contributing to Human Rights Violations in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The Senate debated and passed this resolution calling on the UW Regents to divest from companies whose products or services contribute to human rights violations including but not limited to those involved in the current war in Gaza.

There were two discussion items which the senate was not able to fully discuss at the end of the meeting: updates from campus safety listening sessions (Exhibit K), and the results of the Chair’s faculty wellbeing survey (attached here, also linked). A shared theme across the safety sessions was a desire for more faculty involvement in solutions. The wellbeing survey revealed that merit, salary, and “realistic workload” were significant concerns across rank, title, and campus, along with salary issues like equity and compression.

Other Updates:

Faculty salary adjustment update from the Provost: All adjustments moving forward will take place on the same date, September 1st, each year.

FT impacts on research: the Faculty Council on Research is conducting a follow-up survey on Financial Transformation. Please share your experiences.

Year in Review

Here are just a few highlights of the Senate’s work in 2023-24 under Chair Dougherty’s leadership. More details and links can be found in entries on the Faculty Senate news page.

Legislation on Secretary of the Faculty qualifications, voting timelines, retention offers, promotion and tenure (Class A); incompletes, academic standing, majors (Class B).

Resolutions on decarbonization, support for research scientists, teaching evaluations, divestment, tri-campus structure (Class C).

Presentations on retention offers and demographics, the Faculty Regent, Financial Transformation’s impacts, Disability Access, unit adjustments, future of teaching and learning. PI status of teaching faculty.

Dispute Resolution outcomes: faculty liaisons and administrative guidelines.

Academic Freedom Webinars from Pen America: within and outside the classroom.

Council webinars on decarbonization, holistic mentoring and DEI statements.

Looking Forward

I hope that these Senate vice chair’s newsletters have provided insight into the work of the Senate and councils this year, although they do not of course replace minutes as official records of meetings. It has been an honor to work with the fantastic Senate staff this year, and every single one of my colleagues in shared governance: Chair Dougherty and Senate leadership, council chairs and members, senators, the Senate Executive Committee, and our administrative partners. Faculty service is not given the recognition it deserves – an issue I hope we can address next year as part of a broad conversation on workload equity – and it’s inspiring that so many of you choose to do it anyway. As I step into the role of Senate chair, I’m looking forward to continuing to work with and learn from you next year. Please do get in touch over the summer if you have thoughts about Senate priorities or operations next year. For those of you who are Senate-curious, please consider serving on Senate and/or one of our councils. We’d welcome having you.

Sincerely,

Louisa Mackenzie, Vice Chair, Faculty Senate, and Chair-Elect for 2024-25.

 

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 5/2/24; Promotion and Tenure Legislation

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 5/2/24; Promotion and Tenure Legislation

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing with a report on the Senate meeting held on 5/2/24. As always, full text of remarks and reports can be found on the agenda. Of particular and timely note is revised Class A legislation on promotion and tenure (see below), which will be discussed at a special meeting on 5/14. Senators have received a document explaining the legislation and recent changes: please engage them with any questions or concerns before the vote on 5/14.

Senate Chair’s Remarks:

Chair Dougherty gave updates on many initiatives, including: the faculty wellbeing survey has closed with over 800 responses, and results will be presented in the 5/30 Senate meeting. The dispute resolution taskforce is finalizing new suggested processes intended to problem-solve before “25-71” disciplinary procedures. Recent listening sessions with Sally Clark (Vice President, Campus Community Safety) on faculty safety across our three campuses are summarized in the slides in Exhibit L. There will be a webinar with Pen America providing tools for “robust conversations in the classroom”, held on 5/16 from 12:00-1:00.

UW President’s Remarks:

President Cauce shared thoughts on the Palestine liberated zone on campus, recognizing the protestors’ commitment and pain, and their free speech rights. She spoke to the complexity of financial divestment demands, and indicated that prohibiting members of the UW community from scholarly partnerships with Israel would violate academic freedom. She urged faculty who might be working with students in the movement to help them stay safe.

Election Results:

The following colleagues will serve in Senate leadership roles in 2024-25: Professor Aarti Bhat as Vice Chair of the Senate; Professor Jacob Vigdor as Faculty Legislative Representative; Professor Amanda Kost as Deputy Faculty Legislative Representative.

The Senate Executive Committee considered four nominees for Secretary of the Faculty, to serve from 2024-29. One name was forwarded to the Senate, who will confirm by vote.

Unfinished and New Business.

Class B Legislation– Registration Priority: Class B legislation on registration (first Senate consideration on 4/11) was disapproved by the President, whose letter is in the agenda.

Class B Legislation – Majors: The Senate passed legislation to migrate academic major criteria into Scholastic Regulations, with the understanding that this is just a first step to codification. The legislation will be distributed to faculty in a Class B Bulletin.

Class A legislation – Transparency in Retention Raises. Senators gave second consideration to this legislation, addressing presidential concerns around units’ rights to determine their own policy. A version was passed that reaffirmed these rights, and sought to balance transparency with privacy in retention offers. It will be distributed for a full faculty vote.

  • Class A Legislation – Expanding Candidates’ Rights in the Promotion Process. Senators gave second consideration to this legislation that would increase candidates’ rights to see, and in some cases respond to, documents gathered for their promotion files. There was Presidential concern on the initial legislation mostly related to impacts on timeline. The Senate Executive Committee presented the Senate with hypothetical amendments to address these concerns. Discussion in the Senate quickly revealed that both the SEC alternative proposal and the original Senate legislation would need to be fine-tuned in order to receive Presidential approval. Rather than attempt to fine-tune in real time at that meeting, the Senate voted to refer the legislation to FCFA (Faculty Council on Faculty Affairs) allowing time to think carefully and choose the right words. FCFA now have a revised proposal which has been sent to senators and will be discussed on 5/14.
  • Class A Legislation – Voting Timelines. The Senate passed this non-controversial change to the Code that helps steer legislation through the pipeline by June 15th each year, and exempts breaks from voting timelines.

Faculty Senate business is always most impacted at the end of the year, as councils move legislation they’ve been working on during the year, and we acknowledge that it feels like a lot all at once. I hope these updates help, although they do not replace full, formal minutes. Please reach out with any questions.

Sincerely,

Louisa Mackenzie, Vice Chair, Faculty Senate

 

Pen America Discussion on Robust Conversations in the Classroom – Academic Freedom and Inclusion, 5/16

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us on May 16 from 12-1pm via Zoom for a discussion with Pen America titled, “Robust Conversations in the Classroom – Academic Freedom and Inclusion” sponsored by the Executive Office and the Faculty Senate. A flyer with information about the event is attached.

This session is designed to explain the authority of professors in the classroom to set expectations, community standards for communication, and assessments based on information integrity, disciplinary standards, and learning objectives. Concrete tools for classroom activities that can elicit student engagement and open exchange across viewpoints, while also supporting active listening, nuanced dialogue, and community building will be shared.

If you would like to submit anonymous questions or comments before the discussion, please use Slido.

Cindy Dougherty

Professor, School of Nursing

Chair, Faculty Senate

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University of Washington Faculty Senate

Gerberding Hall Box 351271
1704 Grant Lane, Gerberding 36, Seattle, WA 98195-1271
206.685.2703 / senate@uw.edu
http://www.washington.edu/faculty/

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 4/4/24; Event and Recruitment Updates

Dear Colleagues,

Our April Senate meeting on the 4th went into a continuation meeting, held on the 11th. The continuation meeting adjourned with some business still unfinished. We’ve been busy!

This is a report on both April meetings. As always, full text of remarks and reports can be found on the agenda. Items 10g and 10h are unfinished at the time of writing.

New business and discussion in Senate:

Senate Chair’s and UW President’s Remarks: Chair Dougherty announced listening sessions for each campus concerning safety; a webinar on academic freedom in the classroom; and a survey on wellbeing. Please look for forthcoming e-mail announcements for all. President Cauce spoke on the horror of the escalating crisis in Gaza, and on a volatile climate on campus where some are being personally targeted. She commended the members of the recently-formed task forces on Islamophobia and antisemitism for working in dialogue on their extremely difficult charges.

Adjudication Panel – Request from the Secretary of the Faculty: Mike Townsend noted the urgent need for more faculty to serve on the Faculty Adjudication Panel. Open to voting faculty, and emeritus faculty who had voting status on retirement. Please e-mail Joey Burgess (jmbg@uw) if interested.

Faculty Retention Data: Marjorie Olmstead, AVP for Academic Personnel, presented centrally-held data on (completed) retention offers, including some demographics. Slides are in the agenda. We are grateful for this move towards transparency, which we also hope to support with the Class A legislation described below.

Faculty Legislative and Deputy Legislative Representative (FLR and FDLR) Candidate Presentations / Vice Chair Election Second Round: Senators heard presentations from four excellent colleagues running for election to represent us in Olympia–and to represent Olympia to us. Their letters of interest are in the agenda. Thank you all for stepping up to create coalition around higher education in our state capital. Our Vice Chair elections are moving to a second round; with three very strong candidates, there was no initial majority. Senators, please remember to vote for all three by Friday April 12th (look for “election” in e-mail subject).

Class A legislation – Transparency in Retention Raises. Senators gave first consideration to proposed legislation that would require informing all faculty in a unit of a proposed retention offer, and remove the option for a unit to follow an alternate policy. There was robust debate about this latter change, and an amendment was passed that would keep in place the right to alternate policies. Proposed language requiring deans to submit all data on retention requests (not just successful ones) was maintained.

  • Class A Legislation – Expanding Candidates’ Rights in the Promotion Process. Senators gave first consideration to proposed legislation that would significantly increase candidates’ rights to see documents gathered for their promotion files, and that makes more transparent the existing role of the Provost as granted by the Regents. One amendment was passed; the legislation as a whole enjoyed great support.
  • Class A Legislation – Voting Timelines. This is a non-controversial change to the Code that helps steer legislation through the pipeline by June 15th each year, and exempts breaks from voting timelines.

Class B Legislation (4/11 continuation meeting) – Registration Priority: Senators discussed proposed Class B legislation to address course registration bottlenecks in Period 1. The legislation passed with a major amendment and will be reviewed by the President (UPDATE: the legislation was disapproved by the President).

Other updates:

Recruitment: As well as the need for Adjudication Panel volunteers, we always welcome hearing from colleagues interested in serving on our councils, which are the engine rooms of shared governance and a chance to help change policies. Diverse backgrounds, disciplines, and views are welcome and necessary. Please contact Joey Burgess if you are interested.

Event recordings: The Faculty Council on Research held a hybrid workshop on holistic mentoring, and the Faculty Council on Race, Equity and Justice hosted a webinar with Dr. Randall Kennedy who presented his arguments against required DEI statements. Huge thanks to our hardworking councils for their impact, responsiveness, and outreach.

The next regular Faculty Senate meeting is May 2, 2024. Please do engage your Senator and our Councils on issues that matter to you. I also hold Office Hours. In the meantime, I hope the quarter has started off as well as possible.

Sincerely,

Louisa Mackenzie, Vice Chair, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 3/7/24; Other Updates

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing with a summary of our most recent Faculty Senate meeting, and some general updates including upcoming panels and webinars.

The fifth full meeting of this year’s Faculty Senate was on 3/7/2024. Full text of remarks and reports can be found on the agenda. In particular, the reports from our Planning and Budgeting Chair, and our Legislative Representative, both contain information of broad interest to faculty: future alignment of the timing of unit adjustment and annual merit review processes; and state-level enrollment and budget issues, including athletics.

New business and discussion:

Senate Chair’s and UW President’s Remarks: Chair Dougherty and President Cauce both expressed gratitude for our faculty’s hard work and resilience during a difficult quarter. Chair Dougherty announced two upcoming discussion panels, detailed below. She also requested that senators be ready to discuss the faculty code section 25-71, “Standards of Conduct,” since the dispute resolution working group may be proposing legislative changes, with a view to providing alternatives to this process.

Vice Chair Candidate Presentations: Senators heard presentations from three inspiring colleagues running for election to serve as next year’s Vice Chair. Their letters of interest are in the agenda. We thank these colleagues for leaning into the challenges of governance in difficult times. I know how hard it is to put yourself out there, and it will be a privilege to serve with whomever is elected. Senators, please look for a separate e-mail with a reminder to vote by March 15.

UW Financial Transformation (FT) Update: the Faculty Council for Research (FCR) presented results from the council’s survey of FT’s impacts on faculty research. The slides in the agenda show the level of responsiveness of the Office of Research to faculty concerns expressed in the survey. Thank you to our colleagues in the Office of Research and in FCR for exemplifying how shared governance can work at its best to confront difficult issues.

Webinar, “Conceptual Foundations of Free Speech and Academic Freedom”. As part of Chair Dougherty’s focus on negotiating difference, and with Provost Serio’s support, Professor Lara Schwartz, J.D., from Pen America presented a workshop on the legal framework of the First Amendment, principles of free speech and academic freedom, and unprotected speech such as harassment or threats, including articulations with equity concerns. The recording can be viewed here (UW ID required), and some background on the invitation is here. Resources, including the Campus Guide to Free Speech, are here. There will be another webinar in the spring related to classroom conflict; details to follow.

Other updates:

Upcoming panels: please consider attending these panel discussions hosted by our hard-working colleagues in faculty councils:

  • Mentoring, hosted by Faculty Council on Research: March 27th, 12-1 pm. HUB 214 and online via Zoom (link forthcoming). Multiple panelists will speak on “Holistic Mentorship and Creating a Positive Research Climate”.
  • A critical view on DEI statements, hosted by Faculty Council on Race, Equity, and Justice: April 5th, 11-12:20 via Zoom only. Register here, and post questions here. Dr. Randall Kennedy (Harvard Law School) will provide a different viewpoint on DEI statements from that supported in last year’s webinar with Dr. Brian Soucek. 

Recruitment: Applications for the Secretary of the Faculty, Faculty Legislative Representative, and Deputy Legislative Representative are now closed. Excellent candidates were nominated for all three positions. The Senate Executive Committee will update on next steps after the March 25th meeting. On an ongoing basis, we always welcome hearing from colleagues interested in serving on our councils, which are the engine rooms of shared governance and a chance to help change policies. Diverse backgrounds, disciplines, and views are welcome and necessary. Please contact Joey Burgess if you are interested.

Parental Leave for Non-Birth Parents: in February, Provost Serio announced a significant policy development : faculty may now use sick leave to care for a birth parent, and more changes to parental leave policy are being developed. This was based on input from faculty, including the Faculty Council on Gender, Equity, and Justice. Thank you to everyone who advocated, and to Provost Serio for acting on feedback. This is great news, and an example of how participation in governance can change policy.

The next full Faculty Senate meeting is April 4, 2024. Please do engage your Senator and our Councils on issues that matter to you; they can’t represent you without hearing from you. In the spirit of increasing access to governance, I have been holding Office Hours this year. In the meantime, I hope you can find a few days, despite the pace of the quarter system, to step back from work during spring break.

Sincerely,

Louisa Mackenzie, Vice Chair, Faculty Senate

Pen America Update

In August, the Senate Leadership and the Provost jointly identified academic freedom and free speech as issues of importance at our University and began a conversation with Pen America about providing training opportunities for faculty on these topics. Provost Serio had previously participated in such trainings. After circulating an invitation to the faculty to attend a Zoom forum with Pen America on March 7, a faculty member alerted us to an incident at a Pen America-sponsored event in Los Angeles on 1/31/24, which you may read about here.  Approximately 600 writers and poets have also penned an open letter to Pen America.

We acknowledge that there will be a range of opinions among our faculty about the stated principles, practices and approaches used by Pen America, and we welcome those perspectives. At the same time, this situation is emblematic of the challenges that we all face every day: how to protect the rights of all to speak even when we are in disagreement. While one can question whether we would have asked this specific group to lead that conversation given recent events, the Campus for All program is a separate division of Pen America and, given their work with other campuses, is well suited to facilitate a discussion at the intersection of academic freedom and free speech.  We believe that this discussion is an important one for us to have at this time. Participation in the forum on March 7 is voluntary, but we hope that you will join us in this space to learn, to be in dialogue together, and to grapple with this tension, independent of any one issue. We also acknowledge that different perspectives will be valuable in guiding our own thinking on these topics. We will work together to identify other partners to support our continued conversation around free speech and academic freedom.

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 2/8/24; Recruitment Updates

Faculty Senate Meeting Summary 2/8/24; Recruitment Updates

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing with a summary of the first Faculty Senate meeting of Winter quarter, and some general updates on our recruitment efforts into shared governance.

The fourth full meeting of this year’s Faculty Senate was on 2/9/2024. Full text of remarks and reports can be found on the agenda, including updates from Planning and Budgeting, our Legislative Representative, and many of our Faculty Councils. I hope you can take the time to read them and appreciate how hard our colleagues are working behind the scenes on our behalf.

New business and discussion:

Chair’s Remarks: Among other updates, Chair Dougherty informed the Senate that, with Provost Serio’s support, PEN America will be conducting a webinar workshop during our next Senate meeting, March 7th, on academic freedom and free speech in our public institution. There will be space for 1,000 attendees. Please watch for this e-mail announcement, and join us if you can for this timely and useful event. Also, our three faculty liaisons are completing training to help faculty involved in dispute resolution, and the program will go live by the end of the month.

President’s Remarks: acknowledging the painful issues we face in our community and the world, President Cauce affirmed her personal and institutional commitment to academic freedom. She invited senators to offer their thoughts on collective /departmental statements on university websites. She does not want to ban such statements as other university leaders have done, but wants to strike a balance with the right to dissent and institutional neutrality. As such, she discussed potential guidelines – not a ruling – for collective academic statements on topics of public interest. Guidelines are likely forthcoming in a non-binding form.

Class C Resolution on the Timetable for Climate Crisis Finance and Decarbonization. After a second review by Senate Executive Committee, this Resolution from the Council for Campus Planning and Stewardship, was submitted to the Senate for vote. It passed with a substantial majority. Students were in attendance to show support. It calls for a goal of 95% reduction of Scope 1 emissions by 2035.

Disability Access Requirements on the Horizon: Coordinators for DRS (Disability Resources for Students) and  our ADA office presented an overview of existing and possibly-forthcoming requirements for accessibility in the context of a big increase in demand. They asked us to share out specific questions to constituents about how to shift our model to meet demand and legal requirements. These questions can be found at the end of their presentation; please discuss within your units. Course materials and modalities will be particularly implicated.

Recruitment announcements:

Applications for Secretary of the Faculty: our esteemed SecFac Mike Townsend is stepping down in September after 8 years of outstanding service. We are seeking nominations for his replacement, due by February 16th to jjsmith4@uw.edu. Candidates must be a voting faculty member at the rank of associate professor or professor and have deep knowledge of, and commitment to, shared governance.

Faculty Legislative Representative and Deputy Faculty Legislative Representative: representing faculty issues in Olympia for the academic year 2024-25. Please send nominations to secfac@uw.edu by March 1st.

Faculty Councils: please consider serving on one of our councils, which are the engine rooms of shared governance and a chance to help change policies. Diverse backgrounds, disciplines, and views are welcome and necessary. Please complete the interest survey to indicate your issues of interest.

Vice Chair of the Senate: nominations are closed and interviews are being conducted.

The next full Faculty Senate meeting is March 7, 2024.

I continue to be inspired by my colleagues in shared governance who step up to do critical labor that is not recognized enough in our metrics of excellence. Governance is not an easy space, but you lean in with such good faith, bringing your expertise and a spirit of service to benefit us all. Thank you.

And as always – in fact more than ever – we welcome the engagement of faculty at large. Your Senator can be found on the roster, and I hold Office Hours.

Sincerely,

Louisa Mackenzie, Vice Chair, Faculty Senate