Messages to Campus

Dear Colleagues,

I write to provide you with a budget update, including the decisions we need to institute to ensure the University is on a sustainable budget pathway. First, some context, followed by actions we are instituting for the balance of the current academic year and the upcoming 2023-24 academic year.

The University’s annual operating…

Dear Western Faculty & Staff, 

As we reach the halfway point of the academic year, I’d like to pause and reflect on the year so far and the work ahead of us.   

Uzma and I recently traveled overseas to visit family for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic.  While it was refreshing to see people and cultures beyond our borders, I was also struck by issues of political instability and extremism. While we face many pressing issues closer to home, I am…

Dear Western Community,

As the nation anticipates the release of body cam footage this evening revealing the senseless murder of Tyre Nichols at the hands of law enforcement, many of us will be processing our grief and anger over the death of another young Black man. We are also in mourning for the loss of members of our Asian-American communities in California.  

The utter disregard for basic human life is at odds with our commitment to create a society where equity, justice…

Last week, ProPublica published a report and database which included data from Western, covering the holdings of Native American ancestral remains in museums and universities across the country and the progress that they have made in repatriating their collections to their rightful Indigenous communities, under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). In its essence, NAGPRA enables a…

Dear WWU Community,

As the end of fall quarter and the holiday season rapidly approaches, managing school commitments, upholding job responsibilities, and finding time to engage in self-care and community well-being can be difficult. This has been made especially difficult recently with the multiple acts of violence we have witnessed in the past few months in our local, national, and…

Dear Western Students,

Welcome to a new school year!…

Dear WWU Faculty & Staff,

June 23, 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, and throughout this academic year the Western community will be celebrating this important milestone and acting on our commitment to a safe, inclusive university community.  Since its enactment, Title IX has had an enduring impact on gender equity by revolutionizing women’s…

Dear Western Community,

Like many of you, I was deeply distressed to wake up this morning and see that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade.

Over the past 49 years since that landmark decision, a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion before viability has become embedded in the fabric…

Dear WWU Community,

I am very pleased to share the news that Dr. Jacqueline Hughes has accepted our offer to become Western’s first Chief Diversity Officer and Executive Director of the Office of Equity. 

Jacqueline will oversee the newly created Office of Equity, which brings together two complementary functions—compliance, and community education and development—and…

Dear WWU Community,

Yet again, we find ourselves mourning following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas yesterday.  My heart breaks for the families who have lost a loved one due to this senseless act of violence, and for all of us impacted by the many tragedies coming so close together.

Too many American lives have been lost…