By STEPHANIE BIRCH
Faced with 13 percent budget cuts for the University of Washington, Mark A. Emmert, the president of the UW, addressed the economic crisis in a town hall meeting on March 3 in Kane Hall. In response, a group of UW students, graduate students, faculty and staff met on March 5 in Parrington Hall to discuss the economic crisis and propose possible budget cut alternatives.
“We came together because we felt like the UW is a community– is our community, and no body is providing the kind of leadership that we need,” James D. Ritter, a faculty maintenance mechanic, said. “We can’t sacrifice higher education, because it is the most important right now. If we trash it, it will take years to get it back.”
The group, which has no official name, for the time being calls itself the Anti Budget Cut Coalition or the ABC’s. The coalition is composed of activists from various campus organizations such as the International Socialist Organization (ISO) and the Student Liberation Action Project (SLAP). The meeting was a community discussion where the 14 attendees analyzed Emmert’s statements as well as the actions of the Washington State Legislature.
Faced with an influx of questions and concerns, Emmert recently e-mailed students, faculty and staff of the UW and said: “The Governor’s budget proposes a 13 percent cut for the University, which translates to a $116 million reduction for the 2009-2011 biennium. This cut comes on top of a 4.25 percent cut — $17 million — we have already taken this year. But the hard reality is that cuts of this magnitude would mean the loss of hundreds of positions at the University.” For the next two years, the UW is looking at a total decrease of $133 million in public funds.
Many people at the coalition meeting heatedly voiced their frustrations and concerns over the pending job cuts. Bernadette Logue, staff at the UW Medical Center, said: “I think people are very scared and disoriented right now. Emmert is proposing to cut [600-] 800 jobs. People are panicking; staff and faculty may lose their jobs and students can’t pay their tuition.”
The coalition discussed various alternative ways to circumvent the budget crisis. The alternatives they proposed are to reduce the executive administrative salaries, tap the university’s endowment, pressure the state legislature to implement a more progressive tax system in the state and require more transparency about the budget process.
The most intense discussion in the meeting was over the astonishing salaries that UW’s executive administrators receive. The coalition issued a statement noting that at least three of the UW’s provosts earn over $300,000 per year, not including fringe benefits. Emmert, who is the second-highest paid public university president in the country, earns more than $900,000 including fringe benefits—despite having turned down a pay increase in November 2008. “The president gets paid too much,” Ritter said.
The coalition voted unanimously to establish a research committee and a panel committee, and is writing a mission/purpose statement. In addition, they are going to start a grass roots lobbying project. They are planning to make fliers and distribute them at town hall meetings, acquire signatures for a letter of petition and get help from other campus organizations. They also decided that meetings will be held one or two days after Emmert’s speeches in town hall in order to discuss and react to the most current decisions about the budget crisis.
In early April, the coalition is planning to hold a panel discussion between legislators, students, faculty and staff. “Instead of them [the legislature and Emmert] telling us what we need to sacrifice, or the other way around, we need to have an open dialogue between us and them,” Matt Reed, student activist in SLAP, said.
The next meeting of the Anti Budget Cut Coalition will be held on March 12 in Parrington Hall room 206 at 6 p.m. For more information about the coalition, e-mail them at abccoalition@gmail.com.
