UWT Cuts Staff Today
The University of Washington Tacoma today joined the long list of organizations cutting staff in the current economic environment. The cuts occurred using a combination of layoffs, involuntary hour reductions, voluntary reductions, and the freezing of currently vacant positions. While eight individuals were laid off, the total reduction appears to equal fourteen FTE (full time equivalent) across the campus.
The folks at Exit133 have a lot of connections to UWT. To all our friends (and we do have friends on the list), our thoughts are with you.
UPDATE:
… and here’s the press release
Filed under: General
10 comments
N Nicole April 29, 2009
PLU cut 10 staff/administrators and 10 faculty at the beginning of the month as well.
T Thorax O'Tool April 29, 2009
It’s not surprising. College costs are extremely overinflated.
When a school’s legal budget becomes a significant portion of their net expenditures, there is a problem.
When it costs more to go to a state school than the state’s own median income, there is a problem.
When a school has more administrative/staff positions than faculty ones, there is a problem.
When a school thinks it’s a good idea to cut faculty positions rather than administrative ones, there is a problem.
When a graduate comes out with $60,000 or more in debt for a mere bachelor’s degree, there is a problem.
When many (most?) 4 year degrees mean little more than a high school diploma, there is a problem.
When the People actually balk at investing in our kids’ future, there is a problem.
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You know, I’ve noticed something amazingly fascinating about the recession. It’s bringing to light serious problems, flaws and sometimes even corruption in nearly all of our institutions from public to private. Even sacred cows like colleges are starting to show their colors.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. We should use the current economic panic to clean out our institutions. Never let a good crisis go to waste.
M michael buchanan April 29, 2009
To Thorax, I say,amen. In addition, I have concluded that incompetence is rampant. I think we need a new Hall of Shame for monumental stupidity. In the last few weeks we have atleast three people who should be elgible for immediate induction-the former Gov. of Illinois, the police officer in Dallas who held the former football player for running a stop sign while his Mother-in-law died and finally last, but not least, the idiots who planned the flyover of NYC in the Airforce 747 followed by a fighter jet. What were these people thinking! Of course, they weren’t. We should also have a special section of the “Hall” for bankers and the financial services industry and those who were supposedly over seeing it.
S Squid April 29, 2009
TO’T, in general terms I agree. Specifically though, somebody who takes on $60K in debt for a bachelor’s degree has some of their own (incompetence) issues.
T Thorax O'Tool April 29, 2009
A very good friend of mine graduated from Seattle U with a marketing bachelor’s degree. He waltzed out of there with about $65K in loans. My GF still owes about $40K for her business degree from Gonzaga. Another high school friend went to Northwestern, came back to T-Town, then moved back east and is now in the Masters’ of Nursing at Yale. I don’t know what she spent for Northwestern, but her 30 months at Yale will set her back $105,000.
I was seriously considering the industrial design program at the Art Institute of Seattle. That program, other than it’s heavy emphasis on car design, is right up my alley.
Only thing that stopped me was the cost: $56,000 for an associates degree.
So while I think $60,000 is absurd, it isn’t hard to do at all. Everything about college is overpriced… from tuition to the actual cost of running the school.
D DJ Orthdox April 29, 2009
I swear, this kinda stuff is exactly what the politicians want to push a more socialized socitey. Free education! Free healthcare! Free this or that! Just hand over 80% of your paycheck, please.
A college Education is a privelidge, not a right. If Student loans were harder to get or could be erased in banruptcy, tuition would HAVE to come down or only a very few could afford to go. Far to few to keep the Dean’s salary up where it is now.
S Squid April 29, 2009
Thorax – this thread is about cuts at UWT, a public institution. All the schools you mentioned are private, and some of them the best schools in the nation. Of course they cost more. Plus they are not supported by tax dollars. They can charge what they want.
I maintain, if you want a bachelors degree, there is NO WAY you HAVE to go $40K in debt. If you want to go to NWern and Yale, you better be good friends with the financial aid officer.
You can get a perfectly good MSN degree at UWT and PLU at a fraction of the cost.
W West Ender April 30, 2009
Well it’s a shame that folks are getting laid off, however Thorax O’Tool is correct that we have a systemic problem.
The government subsidized student loans lead to tuition increases greater than the rate of inflation year after year. If they had simply said, if your school raises tuition, etc, more than the rate of inflation, no loans for your students, then costs would have been contained. Instead we feed the monster and it gets bigger.
Secondly, we have all been brainwashed into believing that you must have a college degree or you are going to be a loser. This has encouraged way too many marginal students to attend college, many of whom drop out, further driving up demand, costs and debt.
It’s time to reexamine the sacred corrupt institution of higher learning.
M Mofo from the Hood April 30, 2009
The press release doesn’t reveal much about specifics.
The lay-off of maintenance workers seems a little odd considering the money spent to build that campus. Routine maintenance or lack thereof is something wholly evident in the cityscape of downtown Tacoma–Think 11th Street Bridge or The Luzon Building. At UWT the Joy Building project is still moving forward to make it ready for classroom use. So, who’s going to maintain that? Is this an indication of the overall philosophy that UTW offers it’s students? Live Now, Pay Later?
I’m curious about which faculty/subject departments were cut.
T Thorax O'Tool April 30, 2009
Squid… It is best to discuss what you know. The only person I have known (and by “known” I mean more than just an acquaintance) to go to the UW is my flakey ex. And her well-to-do parents paid for her to go, so I can’t make very good examples and such using the UW. I just went with what I know.
But as W Ender pointed out, I was not so much picking on the UW specifically, I was using it as a catalyst in my argument about systemic problems in the system.
Just a little note to add to what West Ender pointed out about the “brainwashing” about not having a degree = loser.
I am just shy of an associates in Art from TCC, so no degree. And even if I went back and finished that last quarter, it’d be a decidedly not “impressive” degree. Yet as a member of the USW, I currently make significantly more than all the friends & GFs mentioned above. Am I a loser?