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Message from WICHE Director David Longanecker

Stay the course? That doesn’t sound like a very exciting or appropriate theme for these quick-changing times. So why has WICHE adopted such a stance for this coming year? We’ve done so because it’s precisely the right theme.

We’re not suggesting that higher education in the West should “stay the course” – but rather that WICHE, as an organization, must do so. Last year, and the previous year as well, WICHE pursued an aggressive program of change that remains wholly appropriate for the times ahead. In 2003 and ’04, we focused on five areas of inquiry and action: protecting and expanding access; finding smart ways to finance the enterprise; working to enhance quality through innovation; helping to build the right workforce for the future of the West; and assuring that Western higher education and WICHE are truly accountable in each of these areas.

We’ve done this through the Changing Direction project, funded by Lumina Foundation for Education, in which we’re working with our partners ACE, SHEEO, and NCSL to help states better integrate their various finance policies and practices, with the goal of enhancing access to success in a high-quality educational environment. Through our Advanced Placement work and the Pathways to College Network, we’ve helped increase understanding about the need to better prepare young people for college and the best ways to do it. Our NEON project addresses the need to train more and better-prepared nurses for the future and is helping institutions to collaborate in other disciplines as well. WCET’s work continues to foster innovation in the delivery and quality assurance of technology-mediated learning. And in myriad other ways, we have worked with institutions and states to move this agenda forward.

That’s why we need to stay the course: because it’s the right course for WICHE if we’re to foster the changes needed in Western higher education and advance these goals.

But isn’t that obvious?

Not necessarily. Part of our success in putting forward a change agenda over the past few years has been borne of the difficult times facing Western higher education. The West has faced financial constraints that are more severe and increases in higher ed demand that are more substantial than those experienced by any other region of the country. And these challenges have forced us to consider changing direction.

As the financial pressures subside (which they appear to be doing), we need to maintain our focus on the public agenda. During the tough times, despite much effort – even heroic effort – the biggest losers were our poorest partners: poor students and our least well-healed institutions. As we regain financial capacity, we need to remember that these individuals and institutions have to be our first concern.

And that will be difficult because every student and institution suffered over the last few years, and each can legitimately make the case that they now deserve to be made whole. Because all students suffered, there will be a temptation to spread limited new resources to everyone through broad subsidies – but that wouldn’t leave enough to protect those who most need protection and who often lack the public voice to make their case known. Because almost all institutions suffered, compared to previous times, we’ll be tempted to increase support across the board – but that will jeopardize our capacity to restore the less well-sustained institutions with adequate funding. While state coffers will be replenished somewhat, there simply won’t be enough resources to meet all perceived needs: not just in higher education but in K-12 education, highways, security, and health care, all of which will be increasing their demands on limited state dollars.

This is why WICHE must stay the course: so that we can help all of our partners – the states, the institutions, and the citizens – appreciate the need to prioritize and to place the greatest emphasis on supporting those concerns that most closely reflect the public agenda. After all, it’s what this organization is all about, captured so well in our mission statement, “to work collaboratively to expand educational access and excellence for all citizens of the West” – and to do so not for the sake of higher education but for the sake of the Western region, because we know that such actions really do “strengthen higher education’s contribution to the region’s social, economic, and civic life.” Let’s agree, then, to stay the course.

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