Thursday, August 13, 2009

Whiplash at EWU...

now that the marching band is back in business just days after it was axed. Pull quote:
“EWU has faced severe budget reductions in the past six months and eliminating the band seemed like one of many budget reduction possibilities,” Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Mason said in a press release. “But recent robust enrollment projections, not available at the time the University’s budget reduction plan was adopted, mean the University will have funds to support the marching band.”
It is interesting to note that the funding was found to reinstate the marching band (perhaps it was a necessary priority after all, especially to support the athletics program!) but the university can't seem to find the resources to hire faculty to, um, actually teach classes.

Got a comment? Then here's the contact info:

Dr. John Mason
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Phone: 509-359-2201
Fax: 509-359-2248
jmason@mail.ewu.edu

One wonders if there are any adults in charge of the university?

UPDATE: Here's the text of an e-mail I sent Dr. Mason:
Hello Dr. Mason:

I am delighted to see that the EWU marching band has been reinstated, within days of it being axed. According to an article in the Spokesman-Review this is due to:

"EWU has faced severe budget reductions in the past six months and eliminating the band seemed like one of many budget reduction possibilities,” Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Mason said in a press release. “But recent robust enrollment projections, not available at the time the University’s budget reduction plan was adopted, mean the University will have funds to support the marching band."

Can you please tell me when additional critical faculty will be hired in biology, chemistry, and geology to support the hundreds of majors in those areas?

I look forward to your reply.

John Buchanan, Ph.D.
Professor of Geology
Director, Environmental Science

2 comments:

  1. Be sure to post on your blog if you get a response!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I should add that one thing that concerns me, as a student, is the impact that these faculty cuts will have on the value of my degree. Potential employers, especially those that are local to this area, won't be able to take my degree nearly as seriously in the coming years. That means that all of these cuts in the service EWU provides will be directly impacting my livelihood, in spite of tuition hikes.

    ReplyDelete