Faculty Senate Elects Ross Heath

Subject: Faculty Senate Elects Ross Heath (2/5/03)

Thursday's Faculty Senate meeting had the same dynamics that one finds in
Olympia this month: business is transacted but everybody knows that the
big fight is coming and will be all about the budget.

The major order of business was the election of next year's Senate
Vice-Chair who then becomes Chair the following year. Two strong
candidates had been nominated: Robert Holzworth (Geophysics) and Ross
Heath (Oceanography).  After a spirited interrogation by senators and good
natured but also honest answers by the two candidates, Ross Heath was
elected. Several senators remarked afterwardsd that this kind of forum and
this kind of candor is exactly what is needed in the upcoming Presidential
search.

Reports dominated the rest of the meeting. Interim President Lee Huntsman
and Faculty Legislative Rep Jan Sjavik both discussed at some length the
efforts to persuade the legislature to preserve UW funding. Huntsman
struck an optimistic tone, saying he thought our message was getting
through but also noting that legislators are quick to show sympathy but
may have more trouble delivering the dollars.

Senate Vice-Chair Doug Wadden reported on the deliberations of the Senate
Planning and Budgeting Committee which has been working with the
administration on tuition issues and also discussing a long-range salary
policy. Wadden noted that faculty salaries are already well below peer
institutions and in danger of falling much further behind. To catch up, he
said, we would need an average 5% salary increase over each of the next
six years. SCPB is trying to get the administration to focus on the
problem and come up with a recovery plan.

The meeting closed with a few more fireworks around the UW Physicians and
the Richard Winn scandal. A class-C resolution last quarter had called for
an investigation of oversight and management at UWP. Wadden reported that
Faculty Council on Faculty Affairs is looking into the matter but the
preliminary assessment is that UWP administrators had the authority to cut
the multi-million dollar deal with Winn. In the flurry that followed, it
was clear that a number of physicians feel that the concept of shared
governance is a fantasy in their part of the campus.

Jim Gregory