Schulz: WSU slows 'alarming rate' of deficit spending
President praises new medical school, acknowledges it’s been a ‘significant financial stressor’
By Justyna Tomtas of the Lewiston Tribune Nov 15, 2018
Washington State University President Kirk Schultz discusses his school's budget during a stop Wednesday in Lewiston.
Washington State University President Kirk Schulz predicts the school will no longer be operating on a deficit by the end of fiscal year 2020, after cuts to spending and greater-than-expected revenue growth.
Schulz discussed the deficit, the financial impact of the university’s new medical school and the specific cost in donations of a doctored tweet sent by head football coach Mike Leach (see accompanying story) during a sit-down at the Tribune’s office Wednesday.
The university’s three-year plan to end a $30 million annual operating deficit has made headway as WSU’s deficit was reduced by $22 million, surpassing its fiscal year 2018 goal by $12 million.
“We were just burning through our savings at an alarming rate,” Schulz said. “... We’ve put ourselves in a better fiscal position and just want to make sure we don’t put ourselves back in this situation.”
For five fiscal years, the university overspent by between $20 million to $30 million annually.
Investments, including the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, resulted in a reduction to WSU’s central reserves by more than $100 million in the past four years.
If a catastrophic financial event occurred at the university, Schulz said the about $100 million in reserves would sustain WSU’s $1.1 billion annual operation for about six weeks. He’d like to grow the reserves to 15 percent to 20 percent of the university’s base budget eventually.
“First, we had to stop the hemorrhaging, and once you get that back in the black, we start rebuilding those reserve funds across the institution,” Schulz said.
All areas of the university were required to reduce expenditures by 2.5 percent this fiscal year, a trend that will likely continue for the next two years.
That doesn’t mean the university can’t be “bold and aggressive,” with new programs and initiatives, Schulz said, but a cultural shift has taken place. If someone wants to build something, they need to have a fiscal plan and the money to do so — a practice that wasn’t in place before he took office in 2016.
Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Schulz considers the launch of WSU’s new medical school a tremendous success, but said it’s been “a significant financial stressor for the university.”
“It’s absolutely a great investment and a great decision, though if we were going to do it again, you’d set aside money to burn through and start an initiative,” Schulz said. “We didn’t do any of that.”
The school aims to put doctors into rural and underserved areas.
Currently, there’s a $10 million-a-year goal in private donations to help pay for the school. In the future, Schulz said the fundraising number will likely increase to between $20 million to $25 million a year.
WSU raises about $145 million a year in donations, about $15 million of which go toward athletics.
Drive to 25
As the university attempts to stabilize its spending, it continues on a path to become one of the nation’s top 25 public research universities by 2030.
WSU currently ranks in the top 50. Without the initiative, the university would likely rank within the top 40 by 2030. But that’s not good enough for Schulz, who began devising the initiative while he was being interviewed for his job.
“I wanted something that makes people a little uncomfortable,” he said, adding it’s a lofty goal.
The initiative includes 11 metrics, at least eight of which are easily quantifiable. Those include increased research and development expenditures, more faculty awards and National Academy memberships, and an increase in the number of doctorate degrees awarded.
Other metrics, like increasing the six-year graduation rate, are harder to accomplish because it includes recruiting capable students and having a high freshman and sophomore retention rate.
Increasing the placement rates of graduates is also included in the initiative.
Schulz said several programs already have great placement rates. For example, the college of education and the construction management program have a 100 percent placement rate within six months of graduation.
The key to the success of the initiative relies on making progress, without decreasing the quality of education.
“You don’t want to lose that at the quest to be more nationally recognized,” Schulz said.
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WSU estimates Leach tweet cost WSU $1.6 million in estate gifts
By Justyna Tomtas of the Lewiston Tribune Nov 15, 2018
A controversial tweet sent by head football coach Mike Leach in June depicting a fake video of a speech by former President Barack Obama cost Washington State University $1.6 million in pledged donations.
President Kirk Schulz estimated the cost was more than $1 million during a meeting Wednesday at the Lewiston Tribune. A follow-up email Wednesday evening from Marketing and Communications Vice President Phil Weiler clarified the amount: “As the president mentioned, no one who had made a cash gift has asked for their money back. We did have five donors let us know that they had altered plans for their future giving, however. These were primarily estate gifts that would have been paid out upon the donor’s death. These planned estate gifts totaled $1.6 million.”
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported around 60 emails were sent to the Cougar Athletic Fund, WSU’s fundraising arm for intercollegiate athletics, following the tweet.
“We put all of our head coaches and cabinet through social media training just to make sure people are aware that what they are doing often reflects on their job, not their private political views,” Schulz said. “At the end of the day, Coach Leach is like anyone else. He can elect to do some of those things as a private citizen.”
Schulz doesn’t expect a repeat situation from Leach.
He also said some of the donations being withheld may come back at a later date.
“What happens sometimes is people watch for six months, see how things are and then say ‘maybe on second thought, we’ll do this,’ ” Schulz said. “So, I think it’s a little bit early to tell.”
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Leach tweet could have million-dollar price tag
Some donors threatened to withhold contributions over coach's post
By Anthony Kuipers, Moscow Pullman Daily News staff writer Oct 26, 2018
A rash of donors threatened to withhold millions in donations after Mike Leach, Washington State University head football coach, tweeted a fake video of a speech from former President Barack Obama in June, according to documents obtained through a Daily News public records request.
In the documents, several donors made it clear if Leach makes more "disgraceful" or "racist" comments, they will consider pulling back pledged donations and stop supporting the university.
Leach's June 17 tweet stirred backlash on social media and was reported by multiple national media outlets. It also occurred the same week Leach sent an annual appeal to WSU fans to join the Cougar Athletic Fund and donate money to support WSU Athletics.
In the doctored video, Obama is made out to say "ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, but order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign."
With the video post, Leach tweeted, "There is a lot of disagreement on government, so I think that an open discussion is always in order. Tweet your thoughts. Maybe we can all learn something."
When told the video was "a hoax," Leach replied in a tweet, "prove it." For several hours, Leach defended his posting.
He later deleted the tweet and tweeted: "I agree that the video was incomplete. However, I believe discussion on how much or how little power that our Gov should have is important."
The backlash from the tweet
The university athletic department, president's office and WSU Foundation released to the Daily News 196 pages of documents containing emails from WSU employees, many forwarding messages from angry donors. The university is still gathering the second installment of the request.
The morning after Leach's post, one donor threatened to withdraw a $1 million donation out of his or her will to the WSU Foundation if the university did not condemn the tweet. Several others followed suit. The foundation redacted the names of the donors.
"We are not happy with Leache's (sic) racist twitter activity and are withdrawing our $1,000,000.00 plus estate proceeds we gifted to WSU in our Will (sic), unless there is a much stronger response coming from the University condemning his actions. Cougs are better than this and I am extremely upset by his actions and WSU's tepid response," one donor wrote in an email to the president's office June 18.
According to an email from Trevor Durham, associate vice president for the office of strategic communications and donor engagement, to WSU President Kirk Schulz, the foundation identified at least 18 donors who required an email response in late July.
Public records indicate another 60 emails complaining about Leach were sent to the Cougar Athletic Fund - WSU's fundraising arm for intercollegiate athletics.
In an Aug. 1 email from Raegan Harvey, Cougar Athletic Fund director, to Michael Connell, senior associate vice president of University Development with the WSU Foundation, Raegan wrote it was unfortunate Leach's email went out after his tweet.
A donor emailed Jeff Pilcher, director of philanthropic engagement, saying he would rescind his $25,000 pledge to WSU and instead donate that money to his wife's scholarship fund at Oregon State University.
"At this point, my estate plan calls for WSU to receive about 1.6 million dollars and I hope to keep my estate plan as is. However, this type of stunt is offensive enough to me that were something like it to happen again, I would be more than willing to rededicate that portion of my estate to Oregon State University," the donor wrote.
"I will not give anything to WSU until Mike Leach is no longer associated in anyway with the university. He recently disgraced himself and the university by posting a patently false video that went beyond being merely despicable," a June 25 email to the foundation read.
The WSU Admissions Office also received emails.
"You are supporting racism and the attack on facts by employing Mike Leach. And you are a university!!!! What is education without facts???" a June 23 email to WSU admissions stated.
Durham wrote in an email to the Daily News on Thursday that private support for WSU "continues to be strong."
"Through the first three months of Fiscal Year 2019, philanthropic activity to benefit WSU students, faculty, research and programs is on pace to meet or exceed FY18's year-end total of $145.1 million," he wrote.
WSU's response
A July 30 correspondence from Durham to Schulz included a prepared email response the president's office could use to send to donors who responded to Leach's tweets.
The email to donors stated Schulz and Athletic Director Pat Chun planned to sit down and visit with Leach in person to "discuss the broader impacts his Twitter posting had on the university as a whole."
The email also stated the university would bring in "an outside person to work with senior university leadership and head coaches on what is the appropriate use of social media."
Phil Weiler, vice president of WSU marketing and communications, confirmed that meeting between Schulz, Chun and Leach took place.
Weiler expressed his own disappointment in Leach's tweet in a July 3 email to an upset donor, writing he "found it deeply disturbing that a member of the Washington State University athletics department would post a doctored video on social media."
After the tweet was picked up by media outlets, Weiler said in a statement, "As a private citizen, Mike Leach is entitled to his personal opinions. Coach Leach's political views do not necessarily reflect the views of Washington State University students, faculty and staff."
In a June 20 email from Weiler to Schulz, Weiler calls the situation an "imbroglio" and was tracking how many potential people saw the story.
"Since this report was run, Leach has continued to spar with a reporter from USA Today and this has generated additional coverage in the last 12 hours. (We will run another report at the end of day today to capture the latest coverage.) As of June 19, the Leach story generated 51 mentions with a total combined reach of up to 304,000,000 potential readers," Weiler wrote.
More about the request
The names of all donors were redacted from public records. Weiler said donor names are not public information.
According to the WSU Public Records Office, "the WSU Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization and, as such, is not obligated to respond to public records requests made to the university. The Foundation can provide documentation voluntarily and as a courtesy to WSU, but Foundation records may or may not be provided to WSU."
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Moscow Pullman Daily News editorial
Our View: We would rather bleed crimson than blush it
By Josh Babcock, for the Moscow Pullman Daily News editorial board Oct 31, 2018
Cougar pride can be a lot of things.
It can be sporting an alumni bumper sticker on the back of your car, never letting your children attend the University of Washington, conducting university research or giving back to the university that paved the way for you. Shoot, maybe you are one of the few to help wave 'Ol Glory at College GameDay sets nationwide.
Whatever the case, at WSU, there is a lot to be proud of and a lot of Cougar pride to go around.
Our editorial board is comprised of three Coug alumni, and no matter how many victories our football team notches in the win column this season, we know WSU is far more than a good football team.
Unfortunately, lately, it's also good for a laugh.
Last week the Daily News sifted through 196 pages of emails from university donors angry about Washington State University football coach Mike Leach's tweet in June of a heavily doctored video of former President Barack Obama.
The video is edited to have Obama say "ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, but order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign."
According to emails provided by WSU, the university felt it necessary to reply to at least 18 angry donors in July who wrote the university regarding Leach's tweet. Another 60 emails complaining about Leach were sent to the Cougar Athletic Fund in response to a solicitation email from Leach seeking donations.
Based on the emails, Leach's tweet resulted in at least several would-be Cougs attending other schools and jeopardized millions from university donors.
The three Cougs on this board are still embarrassed by Leach's post. And we usually bleed crimson, not blush it.
One angry email put it best: "You are supporting racism and the attack on facts by employing Mike Leach. And you are a university!!! What is education without facts?"
We are asking ourselves that same question.
Leach may have not known what he was posting. We have all regretted a post or two, but it's no excuse.
When people see Leach, they see WSU, and it is important the university's highest-paid and one of its most recognizable employees is representing the university and what it stands for - education.
With that, Leach has to make sure his posts are that - educated.
According to one of the many emails, WSU is putting in place a policy to have a representative screen social media posts for its head coaches.
To us, that's a good game plan; whatever keeps the university's reputation as one that values education is key. After all, WSU was a university before it was a football team.
