Correction: A previous version of this story said the EWU Board of Trustees would consider a “move to a lower division.” While that language appears in a report, it was never under consideration by the board of trustees.
CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington University has some difficult choices to make to remain fiscally sustainable.
At least, that’s the view of a report by a pair of independent task forces at the school.
On Friday, Dec. 8, the Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees will hold a regularly scheduled meeting where an update on two Strategic Resource Allocation reports is on the agenda.
The SRA reports, released Dec. 6, were conducted by the University Services and Academic Programs task forces and recommend budget cuts in various departments, including changes to the football program.
“It is unsustainable for a university of our size with our budgetary challenges to allow a single unit to accumulate annual deficits as large as the ones listed in this template,” the SRA report said.
The report calls on the school’s leadership to make changes to benefit the university and said the “process can only succeed if there are no sacred cows.”
“EWU’s leadership needs to consider all options to decrease Football’s unstainable deficit spending, including moving Football to a lower division,” the SRA report reads.
The recommendations in the SRA report aren’t binding and the board has previously indicated it won’t consider moving the football team to a lower division.
“People’s lives are involved here and their jobs,” EWU spokesperson David Meany said. “That’s why we want to be thoughtful and remind people that all these reports did was provide some ideas and recommendations. They’re very thorough reports and we owe it to everyone in being thorough in making decisions so Eastern can be viable in the future.”
The report also includes suggests investing more in other programs, including the student government, parasports, custodial services and more.
“It’s just an honest look at everything we spend money on, and can we do it better, or can we spend money in this area, or do we spend less money in this area, or do we keep that area the same?” Meany said.
You can read the report on non-academic programs here, and the report on academic programs here.
A feedback submission form will be available at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 to review the report and comment on the recommendations. To fill out the form, visit EWU’s website.
