Last Night at the Forum. Some quick impressions
Attendance from the UW was PITIFUL. Few if any students showed up and, if there were any UW faculty, I did not recognize them.
This made me ask myself why was this event happening? Bruce Shepard (WWU), described the “biggest shock” for him was walking the halls of Olympia and finding that “higher education was seen as the problem, not the solution.” Last night must not have reassured Dr. Sheppard because perhaps only two state politiucal figures even showed up.
The audience was almost entirely Town Hall regulars … silver hair predominated. Seattle’s business community, if present, was hard to distinguish from the rest of the audience. Polticians??? Reuven Carlyle showed up … working the Presidents, neither McKenna or Insley showed up.
My guess is that this was a prestaged and rehearsed PR event … maybe intended more for tape then live consumption. The Seattle Times editorial page writer who moderated, seemed to be pulling her questions from a script tailored to answers each of the Presidents were prepared to give.
Those answers were good and seemed heart felt. The strongest case I heard was from Bruce Sheppar, WWU and Michael Young of the UW.
“Washington is now known as a place to go headhunting” for out-of-state universities hiring new faculty, said Bruce Shepard, president of Western Washington University (WWU). “This is a real threat, long term, to sustaining the excellence of our universities.”
Young fielded a soft ball about his criticism of President Obama’s to withhold funds to colleges increasing tuition. Young dismissed that idea, “They’ve got the guns aimed at the wrong problem.” He talked about the 50% cut in state support that has already been accommodated over the last three to five years.
Young’s retort about Obam was echoed by a discussion of the pressure for students to finish in four years. Worse if students do not finish quickly, they now face the effects of hyperinflationary increases in tuition every year!
Central Washington University President James Gaudino said. “They’re working 40 hours a week and going to school full time, and we’re seeing a lot more stress and mental-health problems.” As a result, many students are questioning whether a four-year degree is worth it, he said.
Perhaps most importantly to me, Michael Young expounded proudly on the UW as a premier world university. He was echoed by the business panelists from Boeing and Microsoft. They explained that UW’s ranking (currently #16 in the world) is critical to their ability to attract talent and for the UW’s ability to foster research, attract top students, and plant entrepreneurial seeds.
A number of the speakers, including one very effective economics student from the audience, told tales of head hunters coming to our state because the word is out that Washington is no longer a premier place for higher ed.
I heard those words painfully because colleagues around the world have said the same thing to me.
These concerns about excellence were echoed by representatives of Washington’s business elite. The panel included Sally Jewell, president and CEO of REI and a member of the UW Board of Regents; Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president of Microsoft; and Laura Peterson, vice president for Northwest state and local government operations at Boeing. Sadly, none of these three seemed t0 offer any concrete suggestions ab9out changes in ther tax system needed to solve the problem.
read a full account by Katherine Long at the Seattle Times.