Western's faculty union meeting on March 15 will discuss the status of the state budget and its effects on Western's budget.
The union's main concern for the budget is the possible loss of adjunct faculty, said Steven Garfinkle, president of United Faculty of Western Washington.
If that happens, there would potentially be fewer classes offered, which could lead to larger classes, Garfinkle said.
“People come to Western because they don't want to sit in large lecture halls,” Garfinkle said.
Western's budget has yet to be finalized, because the state budget has yet to be finalized, said Steve Swan, vice president of Western's University Relations.
“It's too early to tell because we don't have a state budget yet,” Swan said. “We just simply don't know what the financial [and] economic guidelines are going to be as we go into forming our own budget.”
The United Faculty, Western's administration and Western students have been lobbying together in Olympia this year in regards to the budget, said Bill Lyne, president of the United faculty of Washington State.
“We try to present as unified a message as we can, for the good of Western,” Swan said.
Lyne said there is a chance Washington's Legislature will go into extended session to get a budget passed.
The United Faculty did agree to delay merit-based pay increases for the 2008-2009 school year, Garfinkle said.
With fewer classes available, it will take students longer to get classes they need, Garfinkle said.
“It's a terrible cycle of bad things that can happen,” he said.
Swan said Western's administration tries to ensure the concerns of the faculty are communicated to the State Legislature.
“It's safe to say that compensation for our [employees] is an issue we feel strongly about,” Swan said.
Maintaining the current level of quality in education that Western provides is a concern of the union, Garfinkle said.
Budget issues make it difficult to recruit and retain high-quality faculty that Western needs, which is currently happening in Illinois, Garfinkle said.
“If a university is perceived to be in that kind of trouble, it makes it very difficult for that university to continue to recruit and retain the best faculty,” Garfinkle said.
Washington state has a mandated hiring freeze starting on March 17 and it will last until June 30, 2011, according to the Washington State Department of Personnel Web site.
“It's safe to say that there are going to be challenges on that front,” Swan said.
The United Faculty was formed in 2006, with the first contract approved in June 2008, Garfinkle said.
Garfinkle brought up concerns of faculty negotiating working conditions outside of the contract at the Jan. 27 Faculty Senate meeting.
Garfinkle said professors want the university to succeed and may agree to do things that would break contract, and by agreeing to do that it starts to “compromise the integrity of education” at Western.
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