• Petition Language: At a time of declining enrollment and increasingly restrictive budgets, President Wohlpart has deprioritized and decentered the academic mission by diverting resources away from faculty and student-facing positions within Academic Affairs. These roles which are essential to student recruitment, retention, and academic success have been left unfilled. FSEC Clarification: The FSEC recognizes that the institution has been operating within a broader context of declining state support and overall budgetary constraints affecting public higher education. These external funding pressures shape many budget decisions across the institution. At the same time, the FSEC does not have access to detailed budget information that would allow for an assessment of changes in the proportion of funding allocated to academic versus non-academic units over recent years. Faculty have, on multiple occasions, raised concerns in Faculty Senate regarding reductions in faculty positions 21 and reductions or elimination of departmental administrative support. 22 In addition, The Observer has reported on the impacts of staff and faculty attrition on students. 23 Together, these concerns raise questions about the sufficiency of resources available to support the academic mission under current conditions. Limited budget transparency and communication make it difficult to assess how funding constraints have been distributed across areas of the institution. The FSEC notes ongoing faculty concerns related to academic staffing and administrative support and emphasizes the importance of clear communication and transparency regarding how budget decisions align with institutional priorities and shared governance principles
FSEC Clarification on justification point IV (page 6 of document)
• Petition Language: If President Wohlpart meaningfully engaged in shared governance the result would be more efficient, nimble, adaptable, and effective solutions and better stewardship of University resources. FSEC Clarification: One example related to shared governance processes involves the implementation of the CWU website redesign. The FSEC notes that the new website was implemented in Fall 2023 prior to the resolution of several functionality concerns raised by faculty, including the absence of a functioning directory, hindering faculty and staff from locating essential personnel information and raising concerns that students—both prospective and current—were unable to obtain the
21 See October 1, 2025 Faculty Senate meeting minutes (faculty issues) 22 See February 7, 2024 Faculty Senate meeting minutes (faculty issues) 23 See Observer article
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