Cutting Our Core

Gmail - [Aaup] on selectivity - stephenm.schwartz@gmail.com: "I have taught in the Summer Transition Program since it started. (And, for those wondering, my pay for this goes directly into a student scholarship for low income, preferrably minority,students). So, I know first-hand how good these students are. I keep in touch with quite a few (just completed an independent study with one) and most do extremely well here. I recall very vividly one of the students I taught in the first transition program, She was insulted when I told her she 'thought like a scientist' and responded angrily 'No!! like a lawyer.' And, she is now just completing her first year in law school.

It personally pains me to see this program decrease in size (one less TA for a psych student), and I am not at all happy about the fact that there are outstanding students who are not getting into UW that could do very well here.

Those of us interested in accessibility (and I hope we all are.. someone has to pay for our social security!) -- need to think about how to create a more steady state of funding for higher education, not just at UW, but at our other 4 years. The real key large issues isn't whether the UW-Seattle is at 60% or 67% although big swings ARE hard for students planning ahead, The UW-Seattle is unlikely to ever have room for 100% of the students wanting to come, or even 100% of the students wanting to come and fully capable of doing well here. But, we MUST make sure 100% of the students in our state motivated and ready to pursue a 4 year degree can do so. And, we must maintain economic diversity at the UW-Seattle too. Others on this list have suggested looking at the tax structure in our state, and that certainly is one important step.

and YES, the UW has the highest graduation rate in the State and is one of the best in the country for a public university. The Summer Transition program is but one example of the programming we provide that demonstrates our commitment to not just admitting students, but to graduating them. I know this sounds corny, but I am REALLY proud to be a faculty member here. There is must to criticize, but we do outstanding work for and with our student colleagues. and we will do our best to continue that despite the budget shortfalls. These cuts will be horrible, although perhaps not as ghastly as the worse case scenario. and it will make it very, very hard - perhaps impossible -- for us to do work as good as our students and community have come to expect from us."

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.