Dr. Arevalo went very well today; the discourse was polite, it involved all members of the university community (faculty, staff and students,) and a range of opinion regarding athletics funding was articulated. The room was packed and I estimated the crowd at about 80+ in the room with substantial spillover into the hallway.
I opened the meeting with a brief PowerPoint presentation reviewing the mission statement of the university (highlighting the strong emphasis on academics) and ultimately concluded with an alternative budget scenario that takes further reductions from athletics and places that savings in academic affairs for strategic use - I refer to it as Buchanan's Start Something Big budget. President Arevalo gave a brief response and the remaining time was spent engaging in Q&A with the audience.
My expectations? Nothing, really. It was clear that Dr. Arevalo did not have detailed knowledge of some of the budget calculations, and he professed that he was unaware about the opposition to athletics funding on campus. Sheesh.
I would still encourage opinionated readers to contact the EWU Board of Trustees either at their Friday meeting on campus, by phone or e-mail.
UPDATE: An observation I made during the dialogue: not a single person in the administrative entourage that accompanied Dr. Arevalo was taking notes.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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Thanks, Dr. Buchanan, for arranging this meeting. I like your budget!
ReplyDeleteI second the above comment, and I'd like to say thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak.
ReplyDeleteGood effort, but nobody with the president was really listening.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dr. Buchanan, It's good to know that there are some staff members that still care about the students! I like the Buchanan's budget!
ReplyDelete-BB