University President Ed Seidel and ASUW President Kameron Murfitt hosted a town hall event in Pokes’ Pub on Feb. 24. Our presidential duo began the event with the announcement that the University received in the Carnegie R1 classification, securing UW as one of the top 5% universities in America. The R1 research classification was a goal that President Seidel shared that he was hopeful of reaching at the last town hall event last semester. Pres. Seidel believes that achieving this goal will further motivate research-focused faculty to seek and maintain employment, along with attracting students with the same focus to attend UW. President Seidel shared his confidence that the University would reach this classification.
“We didn’t just make it, we really crushed it,” said Pres. Seidel. “We have really exceeded the expectations for how much additional funding we bring in from the outside to help support our faculty, some of you, and post-doc[toral] and research staff.”
The second topic discussed was student success. President Seidel noted that 93% of the freshman class returned to campus in Jan. and continued their enrollment. This is more than a 2% increase in retention over the past few years, according to President Seidel. Of the students who returned, over 93.5% attended Saddle Up in the fall.
Beyond Saddle Up, a new orientation program was created specifically for those moving to campus in the winter. The Winter Welcome event was designed with similar goals of familiarizing students with campus and connecting them to resources to increase retention. In Jan., 306 students transferred to UW and attended Winter Welcome.
The presidents then addressed concerns received from students about advising and registration. A commitment made by the University going into effect on Mar. 1 is that all advisors will be required to respond to students within 24 hours. This is the result of several student complaints being made that advising staff was not responding to emails promptly, in some situations up to a week in response time. Seidel also urged students and advisors to opt for in-person meetings rather than through Zoom video calls. All new incoming students will additionally receive a course schedule of 15 credits with flair rate tuition, rather than a 12-credit minimum course load with varying tuition costs about enrolled credit hours. This transition to a flat rate is also hoped to incentivize students to increase their course load and graduate earlier.
President Seidel then discussed the current legislation that may affect the university by first addressing the increased unpredictability as the result of nearly ⅓ of the legislature having turned over recently. Seidel claimed that the university is actively getting to know legislators and forming relationships with them. As the result of current DEI restricting legislation in discussion, certain courses may potentially be removed from the curriculum. One example Seidel made was an education course facing elimination as it focuses on teaching in multicultural environments. However, Seidel claimed to not be worried too much about the legislation due to the recent progress made by the university, and that the goal is always to ensure every student feels welcome, at home, and able to learn material important to them.
“A lot of the work we did last year has put us in a place to respond pretty effectively to what will become state law,” said President Seidel.
In response to the federal funding freeze, Seidel said the University was active in supporting those impacted and is building a trip to Washington D.C. to speak to legislators.
“My message to you all is that we are on this every single day to advocate for what the university needs,” said Seidel.
The Sigma Nu Fraternity President Zach Sullivan asked the President to speak on the anticipated enrollment cliff. Seidel did acknowledge the downward trend, but to combat the decline has put in place a strategic enrollment plan. This plan includes interventions to keep students at UW, such as Cowboy Coaches. There additionally are plans to ensure each student has the opportunity to have at least one paid internship in their prospective career field before graduation.
Marketing efforts have also increased. One example of this is the controversial Josh Allen Super Bowl ad. According to Seidel, a projected 10 million people viewed the advertisement in addition to Josh Allen retweeting it himself. While this commercial cost over $2 million, Seidel justified the cost by comparing it to the revenue received from 23 students being enrolled over four years.
Student Artemis Langford asked President Seidel several questions about DEI efforts and the high number of upper administration personnel changes. In response to staffing changes, Seidel said he was unable to speak on specifics but ensured that each resignation was deeply thought out and discussed. Student Reese Davies followed up by asking about the current national search to fill the Provost position. Seidel responded by saying that he is not in a hurry to begin the search following Interim Provost Scott Turpin stepping in, but is doubling down on retention efforts.
President Seidel concluded the evening with a statement directed to students: “You are what makes us proud of being here.”
