February 21, 2025

Dear Whitman Students and Colleagues,

As I shared in my note on February 14, working groups — which include students, staff and faculty — have been considering options for budget savings for next year. These savings are needed because we expect our resources will decrease (from $97.3 million this year to $96.3 million next year) while at the same time there are cost increases due to inflation and raises needed because of the rising cost of living. The total savings needed to balance the fiscal year 2026 operating budget is about $1.8 million.

A summary of the proposals from the working groups is here. As a starting point, vice presidents were asked to create savings proposals that are approximately proportional to their division’s fraction of the total operating budget. 

Now that you have these proposals in hand, we invite your feedback. We will have several open meetings to take questions and gather feedback. We will also share a survey next week where you can share your feedback anonymously.

• Vice President Jeff Hamrick and I will hold three open meetings in Maxey Auditorium. You can also join the meetings via Zoom. We will present for less than 15 minutes, and most of the time in the meetings will be dedicated to taking feedback on the proposals and questions.
  • February 24th at 8 a.m. (webinar registration link here)
  • February 24th at 4 p.m. (webinar registration link here)
  • March 4 at 4 p.m. (webinar registration link here)
• In addition to these open meetings, Faculty will hold discussions in Division Meetings and the Staff Advisory Council will host a meeting for staff to gather additional feedback to provide to working groups. Student representatives may hold a student-only meeting, as well. Please keep your eyes out for these additional opportunities.

We want to hear from the broader community so that we are sure we have the full picture of how proposed cuts could affect all groups on campus and so we can lessen any negative impacts as much as possible. Your feedback will help Cabinet and the working groups decide how much to lean into, or pull back from, different proposals for budget reductions as they create a balanced budget.

We thank you in advance for reading these materials and providing your feedback!

After March 10th, the working groups and Cabinet will reconvene to review the feedback and bring final plans to the trustees in May. In addition to the two working groups, there are special groups working on the complex areas of Athletics (chaired by Vice President of Admission and Financial Aid Adam Miller) and Benefits (chaired by AVP for Human Resources Erika Cerda). These groups will continue their work into the summer, and we will share updates on their work early in the fall semester.

While making budget reductions is challenging, Whitman is strong, and I am confident that we will work together to make decisions that position us well for the future. My thanks to all who are contributing their time and thinking to this important effort.

Sincerely,

Sarah Bolton