Approval of Faculty Code Amendments Motion 23-27: Ms. Jenkins moved that the Board of Trustees of Central Washington University endorses the recommendation of the Faculty Senate and approves the changes to Faculty Code. Ms. Gillis seconded the motion. The motion was approved. Approval of 2023-2027 Collective Bargaining Agreement Motion 23-28: Ms. Gillis moved that the Board of Trustees of Central Washington University hereby approves the 2023-2027 collective bargaining agreement with the United Faculty of Central. Mr. Nellams seconded the motion. The motion was approved. BOOKSTORE DISCUSSION Joseph Pearson, Execu�ve Director of Auxiliary Enterprises, and Sydney Thompson, Interim Dean of Libraries, joined the table for this discussion. The Wildcat Shop, the on-campus bookstore store has served the university community since 1931, with three main purposes; providing course materials selected by faculty to students, distribute and promote the university brand/mark, and to provide students with other supplies in support of their educa�onal journey. CWU has historically been a leader in the independently owned bookstore space, but the landscape has shi�ed over the past five y ears for most independent college stores because of large marketplace disruptors like Amazon. As a result, stores across the country are changing their model which typically includes an outsource op�on. Despite significant cuts to opera�ng expenses, the Wildcat shop is now unable to cover all opera�ng costs and is now facing the same pressure to change. The Wildcat Shop has been an industry leader in the effort to reduce costs to students and has been successful at saving students millions of dollars, migra�ng away from higher margin op�ons like physical books (new and used) to rentals to lower margin op�ons such as inclusive access (IA and/or other digital course materials), and alterna�ve course delivery methods including OER (Open Educa�onal Res ources). To address these financial difficul�es, the Wildcat Shop has implemented labor cost reduc�on measures reducing staff from 13 full - �me staff to 9, resul�ng in a 31% reduc�on. Addi�onally, student labor costs have decreased by almost 40%. Th e store has done a great job keeping labor rates down even with sustained significant increases to minimum wage, as well as cost -of- living adjustments for staff. However, these measures alone have not resolved the financial situa�on. Some of the op�ons for moving forward with the Wildcat Shop include: • Keeping the status quo, which is convenient, but not sustaining. • Becoming an outsourced store, where a third party assumes risk/liability, but has many disadvantages. • Rethinking the store and outsource course materials to a third party and re-allocate/re-think square footage of the Wildcat shop. This op�on has advantages and disadvantages. • Equitable Access/cost sharing, which can be self- operated or contracted. This op�on also has advantages and disadvanta ges, but a recent survey of this shared cost model was posi�ve.
9 Board of Trustees Minutes July 20-21, 2023
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