PULLMAN — The University of Washington’s president and faculty members will ask the UW Board of Regents to rescind its declaration of financial emergency Friday, and the action could have an effect on Washington State University’s plans, WSU officials said Wednesday.
“Obviously, that has to pertain to what we’re doing here,” said William Iulo, chairman of the WSU University Senate.
WSU’s regents declared a state of financial emergency, on the recommendation of President Glenn Terrell, shortly after Gov. John Spellman proposed a statewide 10.1 percent budget cut this fall. The UW had done so almost immediately after Spellman’s proposal.
The state of financial emergency allows the universities to fire tenured faculty members to meet budget constraints.
But Iulo and other faculty members have been contesting the need for a continuing state of financial emergency since the legislature decided on a 4.8 percent cut in WSU’s budget.
The UW was cut by a similar amount. Iulo said he had been told by a UW faculty member in a key position that the UW faculty and UW President William Gerberding would seek a repeal of the emergency status by the school’s regents.
Terrell confirmed it, saying he had talked to Gerberding about the matter. Terrell said the action would be a “tenuous” suspension of the state of emergency that could be reimposed at any time.
Iulo hoped WSU’s regents would do the same thing at the urging of Terrell. “I just really hope we do it and not just for the threat it removes from faculty who might be in danger, but for the good of the university,” Iulo said.
“We can start recruiting faculty again. It’s really tough to come into that situation when you’re in a state of emergency,” he said.
Iulo also said that if the UW removes its state of financial emergency and WSU does not, a fired faculty member’s legal position would be enhanced in court. The university would have it that much tougher to demonstrate the propriety of maintaining the emergency status, he said.
Terrell conceded that UW’s actions will have a bearing on WSU. “Obviously, what the University of Washington does puts pressure on us to do every effort possible to remove ours,” he said.
“The two universities try to stay together on most things but there are different circumstances at the schools on almost any issue,” Terrell said. “I don’t know how much of a hedge they have from federal grants to make their cuts,” he said.
Terrell said he had talked with Provost Albert C. Yates on the topic, but they had not decided whether they would ask the WSU regents to suspend the state of emergency.
The WSU president said he was not sure if Iulo was correct that a faculty member’s legal status would improve by the UW removing its emergency status. “That’s a legal matter,” Terrell said.
This story was published in the Dec. 10, 1981, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.
