43rd District Townhall meeting
As promised, this Saturday I attended the 43 rd District Townhall along with Senator Ed Murry, House Speaker Frank Chopp, and Rep. Jamie Pedersen. AND .. a lot of people! AND … a big show by UW students and faculty, led by Prof. of Astronomy Bruce Balick and students from BARK.
The presentation, largely led by Senator Murry, was very depressing. Some key highlights…
- it appears that the cuts are inevitable. Senator Murry told us that even if WA had an income tax, given the depth of the recession, the hole in state finances would still be n the billions.
Senator Murry
AIDS patient, holding letter telling him he now needs to pay ofr drugs he was getting from the state. The man's total income? $20,000! He clearly did not know whether to eat of treat.
- only a small part of the budget is “discretionary.” After federal and constitutional mandates, there is not much left. Cutting the ENTIRE UW, as one example, would only address 1/5 of the deficit.
- out of all of Washington, ONLY the five Seattle legislative districts voted for the tax on high incomes. New taxes are unlikely.
- fixing loopholes is possible but the delegation was not optimistic here either. It was unclear why a Democratic majority can not do better .. I assume that suburban dems are just not willing to do anything that increases revenue.
- One man, pictured to the right, brought the room to tears. He has AIDS, no money and can no longer afford his drugs. Others were also in obvious pain.BARK tudents tried hard to explain how cuts to the UW would hurt the economy, prolonging that pain.
Re. Pedersen
Speaker Chopp
- It was great to hear Frank Chopp spoke clearly about his support for Washington State Higher Education. That said, Speaker Chopp seems not to offer any clear idea of how this might be done. The best, it seems, we can hope for my be control over tuition.
- Speaker Chopp also, however, also spoke glowingly of support of what he had heard from representatives of Western Governor’s University about online education. GWU, for what it is worth, is a faculty free, online effort disturbingly similar to AshfordUniversity. Ashford, once a bankrupt small liberal arts school now makes ~$130,000,00 profit! .. , Ashford, however, is also an institution that has been described as Potemkin University and is now the subject of a a federal investigation.
- On the positive side, the representatives were also very excitied to see the huge turn out from UW. While there were a dozen or so students (and Professor Balick) wearing purple BARK shirts, when Senator Murry asked everyone from the UW to stand up .. about 1/2 of the audience stood.
Student from Evans' School of Public Affairs
While I was very happy tp hear the students and our political representatives express support, on thing seemed to me to be missing: an understanding that the UW is not a typical state university … it is one of the elite of world universities, a unique resources in a state so dependent on high tech. The one voice for this was that of students wearing tea shirts labeled “Evans School of Public Affairs.” The vetry life of this center of UW excellence is threatened by the budget cuts. The back of the teas shirts read “STAKEHOLDER.”
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BRUCE BALICK UW Professor of Astronomy
BARK students talking with Senator Murry
ED. These BARK students and Professor Balick made me very proud. to be a Husky myself. I only wish two more groups were there .. more UW faculty and the media.
from AAUP listserv:
One of the proposals that has been mentioned for addressing budget shortfalls has been the reduction in the number of in-state students admitted, and replacing them with out-of-state students (who pay higher tuition). Doing so would be a direct violation of existing UW policy.
Chapter 101 of the UW Scholastic Policies (http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/SGP/ScholRegCH101.html) clearly states that:
“In order that the University meet its primary obligation to residents of the state, the admissions requirements for out-of-state and international applicants are more restrictive than those of resident applicants.” (Section 2, paragraph G). This policy was re-affirmed by the President as recently as April 2010.
The difference in admission requirements between in-state and out-of-state students (evaluations of the applications by the Office of Admissions staff) was essentially zero for students who were admitted for Autumn 2010. For the proposed reduction of in-state admissions by as much as 10% (and replacing those students with students from out-of-state), the qualifications of this year’s in-state applicants would need to be much lower while the qualifications of out-of-state applicants would need to be higher. Very unlikely.
The other option would be an Executive Order that overturns this long-standing policy, a gesture that would undoubtedly further weaken the UW’s standing with both the legislature and the taxpayers. The funding that the UW receives from the State may not be adequate, but it is still too much to risk losing completely.
Don Janssen
Associate Professor of Civil Engineering
The sad thing, as I see it, is that largely liberal faculty who want PUBLIC universities are being given a Hobsen’s choice. Survive as diploma mills or became private!