WWU to cut more than 50 jobs amid ‘strategic reorganization’ and cost reductions

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University will cut more than 50 paid positions from its personnel as part of a “strategic organization” and cost reduction plan due to ongoing budget challenges, the university announced Monday.

“While WWU has seen good recovery in enrollment since the pandemic, the university continues to work to address a long-term structural budget deficit and on restructuring its administration to serve the needs of Washington state’s students into the future,” the announcement states.

The university’s expected expenditures will require the reduction of WWU’s annual operating budget by about $18.8 million, roughly 8% of WWU’s $235 million annual operating budget, phased in through the 2026-2027 academic year.

The financial deficit is a result of revenue shortfalls ongoing from the pandemic, smaller class sizes, insufficient state funding, cost-of-living increases, and higher costs of goods and services, according to the university.

“Our strategy is to create a simpler administrative structure that streamlines relationships, aligns shared priorities, and reduces costly redundancies,” WWU President Sabah Randhawa said in the announcement. “This work will not be easy, nor will it be completed overnight. We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of our reorganization and cost-cutting measures on personnel and plan to have finished most of the changes and reductions in the organization by the end of spring 2025. At the same time, we remain committed to sustaining our academic strengths and advancing our mission and strategic priorities.”

Some changes will take effect immediately. Twenty vacant positions and five filled positions will be reduced this month, according to the announcement.

An estimated 30 additional positions will be reduced as part of the 2025-26 academic year budget plan. The announcement did not include information about the specific positions that would be impacted. Provost Brad Johnson told The Bellingham Herald that details on the positions and how they’re distributed across the administration are being finalized as a part of the reorganization process.

“Moving forward, every effort to minimize the need for further personnel reductions will be made to identify positions as they become vacant,” the announcement stated.

The university also will work to minimize redundancies in degree concentrations and specific program pathways in colleges and departments that tend to have low-enrollment courses.

“The goal is not to eliminate entire academic units but rather to focus and ensure the strategic positioning of WWU’s academic programs without adversely impacting the student experience nor compromising degree offerings,” the announcement states.

As part of the university’s “strategic reorganization,” some changes will also be made to the WWU administrative structure over the fall and winter quarters during this academic year.

Other cost reductions will come through reduced reliance on external services and other recurring expenditure reductions. The university said it will continue to work with the state of Washington to support its budget and provide funding for annual cost-of-living increases for Western faculty and staff.

“As I have said before, short-term strategies, if extended for too long, impact the university’s capabilities in unstructured and unintentional ways,” Randhawa said in the announcement. “By aligning revenues and expenditures on a permanent basis, we can sunset several of the short-term measures, enabling us to focus more strategically on the future we want to build at Western. I am confident that we will come out of this process even more focused and committed to advancing the mission and impact of our university.”