January 27, 2025
Dear WSU community,
We are currently navigating significant changes at the federal level,
particularly with the release of several presidential Executive Orders
impacting various facets of our institution — especially in the area of
diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please know that supporting and ensuring
a safe environment for our faculty, staff, and students remains our top
priority.
System leadership met this afternoon and formed the following team to
continuously monitor, evaluate, and review the changes associated with the
federal administration transition. The team’s charge will be to assess all
the changes (including federal Executive Orders) and determine how they
impact WSU while ensuring alignment with applicable state laws.
The team will be led by Chris Riley-Tillman (provost and executive
vice president) and consist of the following members:
Glynda Becker Fenter
Vice president for government and external
relations
Kim Christen
Vice president for research
Daryll DeWald
Executive vice president for health sciences and
chancellor, WSU Spokane
Sandra Haynes
Chancellor, WSU Tri‑Cities
Jennifer Klein
Interim vice president for human resource services
Mel Netzhammer
Chancellor, WSU Vancouver
The leadership team will be advised by a member of WSU’s Office of the
Attorney General and staffed by Jake Dowd (director of federal relations),
Ginger Druffel (chief of staff, Office of the President), and Kristina
Peterson-Wilson (vice provost for academic administration & chief of staff).
We understand that these changes impact our students, faculty, staff,
and their families. To address these impacts, specialized teams have been
developed for each area. The leadership team will engage with them to
manage topic-specific matters as appropriate. These teams will receive
support from system offices, including Enrollment Management, Finance and
Administration, Government Relations and External Affairs, Human Resource
Services, International Programs, Marketing and Communications, Research,
Risk Management, and Student Affairs.
As the leadership team makes decisions and/or processes are modified,
we will notify faculty, staff, and students. You can expect us to follow
the model of “say what we know, when we know it.”
As of today, here is what we know:
We are still governed by state law. This means that until otherwise
notified, under RCW 10.93.160, local law enforcement may not assist in or
arrest for civil immigration offenses. Additionally, under the
Keep Washington Working Act (KWW), universities are prohibited from using
their resources to support immigration surveillance or enforcement and
must leave all immigration enforcement efforts to the federal government.
Several federal funding agencies have paused communications while
they transition leadership and review implementation of the president’s
Executive Orders. It is not uncommon for incoming administrations to issue
these requirements at the beginning of a new president’s term while
leadership transitions across the federal government. These pauses can
affect reports, new award announcements, new grant announcements, public
meeting regulations, guidelines, and other public-facing communications.
At this time, these are temporary restrictions with dates of one week to
90 days.
We are grateful for all you do to make our campuses a home for each
of us.
If you have questions or concerns, you are always welcome to contact
us at president@wsu.edu and provost@wsu.edu.
Best regards,
Kirk and Chris
Kirk H. Schulz
System President
T. Chris Riley-Tillman
Provost and Executive Vice President
