��������

While �������� has seen good recovery in enrollment since the pandemic, the university continues to work to address a long-term structural budget deficit and on restructuring its administration to serve the needs of Washington state’s students into the future.  

University leadership today is announcing permanent structural changes that reduce recurring expenses and create more organizational efficiencies to accommodate current and future student demand.  

“Our strategy is to create a simpler administrative structure that streamlines relationships, aligns shared priorities, and reduces costly redundancies,” said �������� President Sabah Randhawa, “This work will not be easy, nor will it be completed overnight. We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of our reorganization and cost-cutting measures on personnel and plan to have finished most of the changes and reductions in the organization by the end of Spring 2025. At the same time, we remain committed to sustaining our academic strengths and advancing our mission and strategic priorities.” 

Strategic Reorganization

The following changes to the will be made through Fall Quarter 2024 and Winter Quarter 2025:  

• The departments of Enrollment Management (the Associate Vice President, Admissions, Financial Aid, the Registrar’s Office, Veteran’s Services, and New Student Services/Family Outreach) and the Academic Advising & Student Achievement Center will be moved from the division of Enrollment and Student Services to the division of Academic Affairs. The move will allow for more robust planning, processes, and deliveries on course offerings, curriculum, academic strategy, enrollment, and advising. This will also assist in identifying and advancing academic program priorities, enrollment strategies, and advising services. The transition is scheduled to take effect at the start of Winter Quarter 2025. 
• The division of Student Affairs (formerly Enrollment and Student Services) will maintain its oversight of University Residences, the Viking Union, The Child Development Center, the Bookstore, and Associated Students Government Advising, and will also continue to deliver student services and programming via the Office of Student Life (Student Life, Student Conduct, Basic Needs Hub, Student Engagement); The Centers for Student Access, Community and Intercultural Engagement (Disability Access Center, Multicultural Student Services, LGBTQ+ Western); Student Success Initiatives (Career Services, Western Success Scholars, Planning and Assessment); Counseling, Health, and Wellness Services (Student Health Clinic, Counseling and Wellness Services, Campus Recreation). This will go into effect at the start of Winter Quarter 2025.
• ��������’s IT function, Information Technology Services (ITS), which includes Academic Technology and User Services (ATUS), will be moved from Academic Affairs to the division of Business and Financial Affairs (BFA). This shift will enable IT services across the university to be more strategically aligned and ensure a more streamlined process as the university transitions its enterprise resource planning systems to a cloud-based structure. This will take effect Fall Quarter 2024. 
• The division of University Relations and Marketing was eliminated in September. Its functions, including University Communications, University Marketing, Web Communication Technologies, Visual Media Production, and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), have been relocated to University Advancement, which shares external audiences and stakeholders. The departments will retain their institutional roles, including media relations, campus- and emergency communication, brand strategy, creative services, and recruitment marketing and publications. Community Relations will join the Provost’s Office and support academic outreach and engagement efforts. University Communications co-reports to the Office of the President. The Office of the Tribal Liaison now fully reports to the Office of the President. This is now in effect.
• The department of Outreach and Continuing Education will be restructured with a focus on academic self-sustaining programs, Summer Session, and outreach and partnerships with K-12 and community colleges. Academic outreach initiatives such as Compass 2 Campus and College in the High School will be consolidated in the new OCE structure, creating more focused and efficient outreach and pathway programming. International education, recruitment, and other international programming will be consolidated under a new Office of Global Engagement, a restructuring of the Institute of Global Engagement. These changes will be implemented through Fall 2024. 
• University dispatch services will be outsourced to What-Comm 911 in January 2025. They will join the other law enforcement agencies in Whatcom County in using What-Comm 911 for dispatch services. This transition will enhance emergency response coordination while reducing the costs of this service.  

“Central to our efforts is preserving our academic strengths, the programs, and approaches that give �������� a competitive advantage in the region, and ensuring we can continue to make long-term investments in our high-quality academic programs and in our services to students,” said Provost Brad Johnson, “The goal is to build an organization that puts the right roles at the same table, in the same conversations, aligning our efforts to meet the needs of current and future students and the wider �������� community.” 

��������’s budget challenges are due to lingering pandemic revenue shortfalls, as smaller class sizes work through the system, in addition to insufficient state funding, cost-of-living increases, and higher costs of goods and services.   

Cost reductions

Permanent cost-cutting efforts will be needed to complement the efficiencies gained from the reorganization. The projections in expenditures will require the reduction of ��������’s annual operating budget by approximately eight percent ($18 million of ��������’s $235 million annual operating budget), phased in now through the 2026-2027 academic year.   

The first step is to identify and reduce non-personnel costs through contract management, reduced reliance on external services, and other recurring expenditure reductions.   

Secondly, as part of a broader strategic approach, the university will prioritize the elimination of certain vacant positions. These positions are being assessed based on the university's strategic goals. If there are opportunities to provide services more efficiently without them, those vacant positions will be removed. Twenty vacant positions and five currently filled positions will be reduced this month. Their budget lines will be eliminated as part of permanent cost savings. Consultation between UFWW, WFSE, PSE, Police Guild, and �������� Human Resources labor relations representatives on the folding of these positions is now in progress. 

Thirdly, approximately 30 additional positions will need to be reduced as part of the 2025-26 academic year budget plan. Moving forward, every effort to minimize the need for further personnel reductions will be made to identify positions as they become vacant.

In Academic Affairs, the Provost is working in collaboration with academic deans and faculty to minimize parallel structures—referring to degree concentrations and program pathways, typically accompanied with low enrollment courses—in academic colleges and departments. The goal is not to eliminate entire academic units but rather to focus and ensure the strategic positioning of ��������’s academic programs without adversely impacting the student experience nor compromising degree offerings.  

At the same time, the university continues working with the state of Washington to bolster base budget support and funding for annual cost-of-living increases for Western faculty and staff. 

Several cost-saving measures have been enacted in the recent past, including:  

• Three percent across-the-board budget decreases 
• Reduced the number of course sections for under-enrolled courses  
• University­ wide travel restrictions in place since 2020 
• University­ wide hiring restrictions in place since May 2024 
• Holding open vacant positions for 6 months 
• Tightening operations budgets 
• Reducing goods and services purchased by the university 

President Randhawa said, “As I have said before, short-term strategies, if extended for too long, impact the university’s capabilities in unstructured and unintentional ways. By aligning revenues and expenditures on a permanent basis, we can sunset several of the short-term measures, enabling us to focus more strategically on the future we want to build at Western. I am confident that we will come out of this process even more focused and committed to advancing the mission and impact of our university.”