On November 28, 2023, Eastern Washington University’s faculty organization called for more budget transparency at an Associated Students of EWU meeting.

Recently EWU has dropped some academic programs as an attempt to save money, and EWU’s Faculty organization’s President Pui-Yan Lam said during the meeting that they want to know where money is going. 

“Faculty Organization advocates for greater budget transparency at EWU which we believe will benefit students, staff and faculty. This will promote accountability and allow us to give more meaningful input to our administrators on budget priorities,” Lam said.

One notable program that was dropped recently is German. Budget transparency will allow faculty and students to see which programs are making money and which ones are in a deficit. Easy access to the budget will allow the population of EWU to have a greater impact in the financial planning process. Faculty wants budget information to be easily accessible to anyone who wants to view it. Lam said that faculty and students need to understand the budget and where the money is going, which is why budget transparency is important.

The organization is calling for an open budget where students, faculty, and community members can easily access the budget, and provide input to further budget decision making.

Future budget meetings will be held in the near future. The next meeting discussing budget transparency will occur on February 24.