Washington State U. Defies AAUP Chapter With Budget Cuts
December 17, 2010, 2:45 pm
Washington State University officials have moved ahead with $13.5-million in budget cuts over the objections of that institution’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which protested that administrators had decided on cuts in a rushed manner that showed disregard for shared governance. In a letter sent this week to Washington State’s president, Elson S. Floyd, the president of the university’s AAUP chapter, Judy L. Meuth, accused the administration of allowing far too little time for input from faculty leaders and other university constituencies and timing its actions to coincide with the end of the semester and holiday break, when faculty members would find it hard to try to influence the budget-cutting process. More cuts are likely under a new plan to trim the state deficit announced on Wednesday by Gov. Christine Gregoire. see other posts on budgets and governance.