May 21 - Planning for the Fall of 2020

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Released: May 21, 2020 at 2:10 p.m. PDT

Dear Members of the Whitman Community,

As we wrap up the academic year, I wanted to share some information about how we are moving forward as we plan for the fall semester. I shared some of this in a virtual meeting with faculty and staff, and I’m pleased so many were able to join me there. For students and parents especially, this information will be new.

As you know, we have made the decision to be back on campus in person in the fall unless we are prohibited from doing so by the county, state, or federal government. Our planning efforts are now focused on ensuring a safe return to campus for staff, faculty and students. We expect this fall to look quite different than past semesters—with additional social distancing and other measures designed to keep our community healthy—but the fundamentals of the Whitman experience will be intact.

One way we can improve safety is by limiting travel back-and-forth to campus. To this end, the faculty has recommended that we launch the fall semester one week early, starting on August 24 and finishing before Thanksgiving, and we are moving forward with that recommendation. The change will impact move-in, orientation and other logistical pieces and we will communicate with campus about those things as the summer progresses.

Because of the coronavirus risks that come with travel and with gathering in large groups, we have canceled all summer conferences and events, have canceled our summer fly-in program for first-generation students, and we will not hold our scrambles, scores, or explorations pre-orientation programs.

If we are able to reconvene in the fall as planned, we will follow the guidance provided by health officials when it comes to physical distancing, wearing masks, testing, and contact tracing. We are working closely with the county Department of Community Health on all of these efforts, and the ten presidents of the Independent Colleges of Washington are collaborating on developing guidelines specific to higher education to share with the governor’s staff working on reopening the state.

We also plan to support those members of our community who may not be able to join us in person when we return. Some have underlying health conditions that will prevent them from being on campus. Others may face travel restrictions that do not allow them to return. For these students, faculty and staff, please know that we are planning ways to accommodate you in your studies and work at Whitman if at all possible. This includes supporting those of you who must teach and take classes remotely if necessary, and staff who must continue to work from home for health reasons.

We are developing contingency plans for the scenario where we are forced to offer all classes remotely again in the fall. We hope not to be in this situation, but if we are, we believe we can offer an even stronger learning experience for students than we did in the spring, given the time we have to plan.

In addition to planning for safe return to in-person learning, we are closely managing and monitoring impacts on the college budget due to coronavirus, including enrollment and financial aid challenges. We have built multiple budget scenarios and have preemptively identified ways to meet even very deep budget challenges. Of course, none of these scenarios come with easy answers, but we are fortunate to have options that won’t put the nature or quality of a Whitman education at risk.

We won’t know the extent of the financial challenge until we can determine whether we will be able to start the semester in-person or not. Still, we will continue our long-standing practice of working within a balanced budget and not deferring expenses in ways that are not sustainable for the long term. To that end, some budgetary decisions have already been made.  There will be no salary increases for faculty and staff for the coming year, except for a few promotions. In recent years, the college has allowed departments to keep 50% of their non-personnel discretionary budget surpluses to help fund new one-time initiatives. We will suspend that practice for this fiscal year end.

All of these are tough decisions. Still, they are made easier because of the incredible support that is second nature in the Whitman community. The entire Whitman family has come together to give our students the best learning experience possible in the face of this pandemic.  What we have accomplished is truly remarkable.  And we will do it again in the fall.  It is my sincere hope that we will be together in person in Walla Walla.  But no matter what happens, we will continue to maintain our focus on the two principles we identified at the beginning of this crisis: keeping our community safe and healthy and advancing our mission of student learning.

I hope you find the time to rest and recharge this summer and that we continue to find ways to come together as a community to support each other as we move forward.

Kathy Murray
President