Board of Regents meetings sees Tacoma Housing and Dining project readthrough
November 13 sees UW’s Board of Regents on campus — meeting students, hearing community members, and discussing the ongoing Tacoma Housing and Dining development plan.
By Rae Watkins
University of Washington’s Board of Regents came to campus on Thursday, Nov. 13. Each month, this representative board meets to discuss all things UW, from finances to student rights. This meeting marked a significant milestone in UW Tacoma’s history.
This month, they dug into the campus housing, dining and revitalization plans. A long-term big-ticket item for the Tacoma campus community. Approval of these plans means that campus development and strategy teams can begin the next steps in securing investors and designers for UW Tacoma’s future campus buildings, including a dining hall.
The plans presented during the meeting were approved across the board by unanimous vote.
A college’s Board of Regents is selected by the Governor or the State. These positions are meant to represent community shareholders, on and off campus partners and financial sponsors of the college. UW Board comes from across the state, with decisions ranging from financial management to corporate management and indigenous advocacy.
The Board of Regents is one of the most powerful decision-making bodies in higher education. Particularly for a college as high-profile as UW, the Board is often under intense scrutiny to uphold the responsibilities of balancing both the expectations of community shareholders and the needs of students, faculty and administrators on individual campuses.
This responsibility includes approving and implementing resolutions, approving or denying construction rights and delegating funding for programs, faculty salaries and even student-led projects on all three campuses.
The University of Washington participates in a shared governance system. This means that decisions and power are split between a council of students, a council of faculty members and the higher administration of each college. This ensures that the decision-making power is divided between these interested parties and ultimately increases the balance in policy making and funding of campus life.
However, UW Tacoma hasn’t always had a seat at the table. Only recently have UW’s satellite campuses had a voice during these meetings at all.
After many years of fighting for advocacy, 2016 saw the first non-Seattle student delegates to the Board highlighting the unique culture and needs of the UWT campus.
As Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell campuses each have unique strengths and unique challenges to the student experience, this representation has been beneficial in ensuring that accurate information about the satellite campus experience reaches the Board.
As a satellite school, Tacoma’s advocacy on its own behalf directly benefits its students. The students who speak out about transportation and food equity challenges along with other specific campus needs bring context to the Board that they might not have otherwise.
These meetings are open to the public, and any student can register to comment. While the locations of these meetings change each time, attendees can find the schedule posted here.
The next meeting (UW Medical Committee) is on Dec. 11 at 12p.m. and can be viewed here. To attend these meetings in person, this meeting can be found on the Seattle campus in 138 Gerberding Hall.
