Editors Note: This article has been updated since publication to include accurate information regarding cut programs.
Western Washington University announced a comprehensive cost-reduction strategy in response to several financial deficits last month. The administrative structure of several departments and divisions of the larger campus will be reorganized, and, approximately 8% of Western’s annual operating budget will be cut in increments through the 2026-2027 academic year.
The October announcement highlighted key changes to the university’s infrastructure. Amid a retooling of its operational functions, at least 60 jobs will be cut or reduced, including 25 vacant positions that are no longer available around the time of the announcement.
“This work will not be easy, nor will it be completed overnight,” said university President Sabah Randhawa in the October announcement. “We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of our reorganization and cost-cutting measures on personnel and plan to have finished most of the changes and reductions in the organization by the end of spring 2025.”
The university is committing to sustaining its academic strengths while advancing strategic priorities and overall mission.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university suffered decreased revenue with almost 800 fewer students in the fall 2020 quarter, said Randhawa in an interview with The Front.
“What really exacerbated the [budget] was the pandemic and the incoming classes in the fall of '20 and '21,” he said. “While the enrollments have recovered, we still have two classes with low enrollments that are working through the pipeline.”
Low funding at the state level, where half of the university budget comes from, is another area of contention post-pandemic. Among other universities and colleges, Western has the lowest state funding on a per-student basis, at $8,949 a head in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee’s “Higher Education Historical Data Report,” updated in May 2024.
The difference in funding between Western and the next-lowest on the list, Central Washington University (CWU), lies at $10.725 million – in other words, CWU works with $898 more state funding per-student than Western.
According to Randhawa, Western has the third-highest total enrollment, beating out every state institution except for the University of Washington and Washington State University. Despite this, the university falls behind every other institution in state funding. To address this, Randhawa is spearheading Western’s state funding request for 2025-27: “Parity with CWU on a per-student basis, with an investment of $21.4 million in new state funding for the biennium.”
Among issues of pandemic fallout, the university cited cost-of-living increases and higher costs of goods and services as factors for the deficit in its October announcement.
As a part of their recovery plan, Western is looking at minimizing non-personnel costs and reliance on external services, while shifting the roles of its day-to-day operation wings.
Provost Brad Johnson is working with Academic Affairs to remove certain degree concentrations and program pathways with typically low enrollment in departments and academic colleges. The university’s goal is not to eliminate entire majors or to harm students with this move, Johnson said in the announcement.
“Right now we are not looking at academic programs or majors. As a university, we have a responsibility to fully teach out the programs, which means that [if] the student is enrolled in a major, we have to get them through,” said Faye Gallant, assistant vice president of the Strategy, Management & Budget department.
Beginning in January 2025, university dispatch services will be outsourced to What-Comm 911, effectively laying off five full-time communication officers at the WWU Police Department.
The Language and Culture programs, often utilized by international students, is in the preliminary process of being eliminated, according to Gallant, as unions and the program have been notified. Similarly, faculty at risk of losing jobs will have a longer notification period, as Gallant estimates the 2024-25 school year will see five occupied positions eliminated.
According to Gallant, Western is working with departments’ leadership to find positions that are vacant or are not integral to their operations to help determine which positions the university will eliminate.
“Consultation between [union members of] United Faculty of Western Washington, Washington Federation of State Employees, Public School Employees, Police Guild and WWU Human Resources labor relations representatives on the folding of these positions is now in progress,” the university said in the October announcement.
The budget cuts’ effects can already be observed in the Health and Human Development department at Western.
In summer 2024, Linda Keeler, Health and Human Development chair, was notified that Western would implement a six-month freeze on any position that went unfilled. That included the position of cadaver laboratory technician.
Human cadavers are used in kinesiology and anatomy courses at Western to teach students about the human body. The cadaver lab tech is typically responsible for the preparation and maintenance of the cadavers, as well as the maintenance of 10 student and faculty labs in the Carver Academic Facility, Keeler explained.
The lab tech at the time was set to resign on Aug. 1, 2024. The six-month freeze meant the position would be vacant until at least February 2025. Keeler and her department were able to bypass the position freeze due to the necessity of the lab tech position but with a caveat: the lab tech could only be hired part-time.
The lab tech was offered the opportunity to teach classes as a part-time professor, according to Keeler. This made the position more attractive for the lab tech and helped the department fill the position, but only having a half-time lab tech created a new problem.
“Although the cadaver program is covered, a half-time tech means that we do not have a lab tech for the remaining 10 student/faculty labs in the Carver Academic Facility, which puts the burden on faculty to make up the work,” Keeler said via email.
The department depends on the lab tech to keep the cadavers in usable condition, according to Jun San Juan, a kinesiology professor at Western. The cadavers must be checked daily for mold, sprayed two to three times a week with a wetting solution and vented for at least 30 minutes before they’re used in classes to prevent students’ exposure to high-concentration formaldehyde. These responsibilities take up most of the lab tech’s limited time.
In the past, as a full-time position, the lab tech would report technological issues to Western’s Academic Technology and User Services, and then organize and set up equipment to make sure all labs were in working order before use.
“If there are any problems with the equipment we need, then I — or any other faculty that needs the equipment — have to be the one in charge of making sure that the equipment is working right, which takes up time,” San Juan said.
Sometimes it can take two or three hours on the phone with tech support to fix something simple, he said.
Western administration told Keeler that the Health and Human Development department can start searching for a full-time lab tech at the end of winter quarter.
The department will go without a full-time lab tech until at least April 1, 2025.
“Unfortunately the budget cuts are already making an impact,” Keeler said via email. “I think everyone wishes the outlook was less alarming.”
Austin Wright (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a third-year journalism/news ed major. When he’s not reporting, you can find him playing ultimate frisbee, watching soccer or hiking. You can reach him at austinwright.thefront@gmail.com.
Milo Whitman (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a news/ed journalism major and a film studies minor. You can reach him at milowhitman.thefront@gmail.com.
