In Bothell, UW President has hard words for Olympia

“We’re running out of adjectives and adverbs,” University of Washington President Mark Emmert told about 100 people in the audience of a town-hall style meeting on the UW-Bothell campus April 14.

Emmert was referring to ways of describing the current economy, especially the Washington economy which he said could have a profound impact on the future of higher education in the state.

Like local school districts and myriad other institutions that receive state funding, Emmert said the UW will have to wait for a final biennial budget to come out of Olympia before anyone can say just how bad the impact of expected cuts will be.

But Emmert added the state House budget includes a 31 percent reduction in higher education spending, while the Senate plan lops off 23 percent of previous expenditures.

Emmert said to put the figures in perspective, the state of Michigan suffers the highest unemployment rate in the country. Legislators there plan to cut spending for higher education by 3 percent. Emmert said, in his opinion, California may have the biggest budget problems of all 50 states. But he added that state’s leaders are proposing a 10 percent cut to higher education.

“The numbers are staggering in their magnitude,” Emmert said of the cuts proposed in Washington, adding that if the House provisions go into effect, the state would be producing 14,000 fewer college-educated persons than the local economy dictates.

“These numbers are waving the white flag and saying, ‘We surrender,’” Emmert said.

He added that in the future, companies like Boeing or Microsoft might be looking to the children of neighboring states for educated employees.

“Our kids are going to wash their cars,” he said.

Emmert said much has been made in the media of Gov. Christine Gregoire’s call for up to a 14 percent increase in tuition for state schools. He said even with such a dramatic increase, if the legislature enacts the cuts under consideration, the budgetary hit to Washington’s universities still would be among the highest in the nation.

“I don’t know why other states can figure out how to save higher eduction and Washington can’t,” Emmert stated.

Naturally, many in the audience wanted to know how any budget cuts might affect UW-Bothell. Emmert said the campus provides great access to higher education for some students, has “robust” registration rates and a unique setting.

“Every community wants you. Who wouldn’t want one of these in their community?” he asked, indicating the campus around him.

But despite his praise for the school, Emmert said the campus almost certainly will feel a financial pinch along with the rest of the UW. That pinch may or may not include layoffs, but Emmert seemed to think a more likely scenario has positions left unfilled. He added his administration wants to leave as many decisions as possible to local campus leaders, but said some budget cutting will need to encompass the entire UW system.