Western Front - 2009 April 3

              IRA GRAHAM
SIGNS WITH
THE SLAM
PAGE 13
FIRST OF THREE
PROVOST FINALISTS
VISITS CAMPUS
PAGE 4
DAN SAVAGE
TALKS PROP 8
AT WESTERN
RAGE 8
Friday, April 3, 2009
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING-WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SINCE 1970T W E S T E R N F R 0 N T 0 N L I N E . N ET
Anticipated budget proposals released
Nicholas Johnson
Kevin Minnick
THE WESTERN FRONT
After the release of their 2009-11
budget proposals on March 10, all 16 of
Western's planning unit leaders, which
consist of deans, provosts and vice presi­dents,
gathered March 18 and 19 to share
their plans regarding multiple budget-cut
scenarios. .
All Western colleges and departments
conducted a Strengths, Challenges, Op­portunities
and Threats (SCOT) analysis
during winter quarter, as well as numerous-subsequent
inter-department meetings and
discussions, to help prepare for the budget
presentations.
The various academic deans and pro­vosts
presented budget-cut strategies for a
3.8 percent and a 5 percent scenario. Ad­ministrative
planning unit leaders present­ed
budget-cut strategies for a 5 percent
and a 7 percent scenario.
"[All planning units] wanted to mini­mize
impact to the units who provide
direct academic instruction," said John
Lawson, vice provost for information and
telecommunications. "Doing that means
that some other areas need to take larger
cuts. So, if you look at the areas outside
the provost departments, they are hitting
the 7 percent scenario."
Lawson has prepared for a deeper cut
than what the academic departments face,
presenting a 10 percent scenario in addi­tion
to the 5 percent scenario.
Western's budget-cut proposal sce­narios
of 3.8, 5 and 7 percent were based
, • '• \ ' photo by Nicholas Johnson THE WESTERN FRONT
College students from all around Washington state gathered in Olympia with signs protesting the current decisions in legislation regarding
budget cuts and tuition increases in the state's universities. ~
Students travel to Olympia to rally tuition increase
Nicholas Johnson
THE WESTERN FRONT .
Despite Wednesday's wet and windy
weather, the Washington Student Lobby
(WSL) held a rally on the steps of the state
capitol, building to oppose the state's pro­posed
higher education budget cuts and
the possibility of increased tuition fates
for resident undergraduates.
As a result of the state legislature's
newly-released budget proposals, which
could amount to a 25 percent cut to West­ern's
budget between 2009-11, the WSL
invited students from across the state to
rally in Olympia.
"We wanted to send the message that
these cuts to our state's higher education
system will" allow fewer students to be
able to afford rising tuition," WSL Execu­tive
Director Mike Bogatay said.
Urging legislators to continue their
traditional support for Washington's high­er
education system, Western senior Thom
Anderson spoke to a sparse crowd of me­dia
and Evergreen State students explain­ing
his dependence on state financial aid.
"I come from a low-income family
that, could not contribute toward my edu­cation,"
Anderson said. "While I've had
access to [financial aid] opportunities,
the availability of such aid will be greatly
reduced under the proposed enrollment
number and budget for 2009-11."
The state Senate's budget proposal
allocates roughly $10 million of finan­cial
aid to Western, whereas the House of
Representative's budget allocates approx­imately
$6 million.
According to Western's Office of
Planning and Budgeting, resident under­graduates
can expect to see tuition in-on
Gov.. Chris Gregoire's $342 million
budget cut proposal to the state's higher
education system made in December. Her
proposal meant Western would need to re­duce
its operating budget by $13- million,
or roughly 5 percent for the 2009-11 bien­nial
budget.
Brent Carbajal, dean of the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences, said all
eight of Western's colleges were told to
prepare for a 50 percent reduction in
see BUDGET page 6
Technology fee
increase up for
renewal in
spring elections
Jeremy Schwartz
THE WESTERN FRONT
Associated Students (AS) Board of
Directors decided Wednesday., how the
proposed Student Technology Fee renew­al,
.which would raise the per student.fee
from $17 per quarter to an amount not ex­ceeding
$25 per quarter, will be presented
to Western's student body for the 2009 AS
spring elections, said Western senior An­drea
Goddard, AS vice president for aca­demic
affairs.
The proposed renewal includes the
possibility of the fee being less than $25
per quarter in order for the AS board to
have more flexibility in deciding exactly,
how much of the Student Technology Fee
will go toward the projects the board is set
to fund, Goddard said.
The Student Technology Fee was
implemented in 1995 and comes up.for
renewal by student vote approximately
every four years, Goddard said. The cur­rent
fee is divided between the Student
Technology Center and the proposal fund,
which supports the myriad of technology-related
project proposals that Western's
staff and departments submit every year
to the Student Technology Fee Commit­tee,
she said.
The tech center receives $2 of the $17
every quarter—approximately $75,000
for the 2008-09 academic year—and the
proposal fund receives the remaining $15
see TUITION RALLY page 5 see FEE page 7