Congratulations to new Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard. We wish him well as he takes over running our community’s most important and influential institution. He’s going to need it.
That isn’t a statement about Shepard’s abilities. He wowed the university’s board of trustees to win easy confirmation. His resume includes making a good impression on staff and faculty at his former job at the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay, where he led a time of big growth in student population. He was the unanimous choice of the board and won the praises of outgoing President Karen Morse, who said her conversation with Shepard was remarkable for the depth in which he probed about the job and the university.
But Shepard enters Western at a potentially volatile time. At his official introduction to the community, professors held placards that read “Fair Contract Now.” The newly formed faculty union at the university has yet to reach an agreement on a labor contract with administrators after more than a year of negotiations.
Meanwhile, the university is in serious negotiations about moving part of its campus to the Bellingham waterfront, leading redevelopment. Getting funding for such a big change will likely require skillful negotiation in Olympia.
And the state also faces a potential budget shortage in the next two-year budget cycle, which could mean cuts in the number of students that can attend at a time when the university faces historic high demand for enrollment.
Shepard will also have to work hard to continue Morse’s legacy of building bridges to the community outside of campus.
Morse has worked hard to mitigate town-gown friction in Bellingham. Shepard will have to put some of his time into that effort as well.
We also would encourage Shepard to look seriously at administrative costs on campus. Statistics produced by the faculty union show the number of people working in administration has risen much faster than the number of students or faculty, and now stands well above averages for similar universities. That kind of overhead is a killer. Money on campus should be focused students getting a quality education.
That kind of overhead is a killer when the money on campus should be focused on giving students a quality education.
So welcome, President Shepard, we wish you well in the face of so much work to do.