News

By Henry Smalley On Nov. 15, 2022, the University of Puget Sound’s Multi-Identity Based Union (MIBU) held their ‘22-’23 introductory presentation in Upper Marshall Hall. The presentation was hosted by Kellen Hagans, MIBU facilitative chair and BSU president, and Chloe Pargmann, ASUPS Director of Inclusion and Justice, with the goals of updating the student body on progress made on the 2021 MIBU demands as well as sharing changes and plans for improvement moving forward. MIBU is a coalition of identity-based clubs on campus. It acts as a way for students...

By Ainsley Feeney Last Wednesday, Nov. 30 the Politics and Government Department, along with the Gender, Queer, and Sexuality Studies Department hosted an informational session titled “What’s Happening in Iran?” The session was used to address and inform students about the “protest movements and the severe government crackdown in Iran following the killing of Mahsa Amini,” as stated in the promotional information for the event. The lecture was proposed by Professor Greta Austin and was hosted by Professors Sam Kigar of the Religion Department and Patrick O’Neil of Politics and...

By Emma Loenicker After the campus-wide town hall held on Nov. 16, many students, faculty, and staff were left with more confusion and frustration than they had felt beforehand. There was a general expectation that this meeting would provide clarity about the Sound Future proposal, and open the door for more transparency from the administration, but instead, the meeting fueled more tension. Many are disheartened by the strategies being used to recover from a looming ten-million-dollar budget deficit. The buyouts being offered to beloved professors and the possibility of program...

By Emma Loenicker Since May 2022, a council of Tacoma Art Museum employees has been making efforts to unionize. They are organizing for livable wages and benefits, no further staff reduction, accessible grievance procedures to create accountability, transparency from leadership, standardized hiring and training procedures and influence in decision-making processes to improve their work conditions. This effort would make the TAM Washington’s first major art institution with unionized workers. On Oct. 17, TAM’s board of trustees received the workers’ letter requesting union representation. In the letter that TAM Workers United...

By Albert Chang-Yoo On Oct. 28, the Board of Trustees voted to affirm a plan created by President Isiaah Crawford aiming to avoid an estimated $10.5 million structural deficit by 2025. The vote was held at an open session following a week of deliberation. The recommendations include much of what the Academic, Administrative, and Auxiliary Program Review (AAAPR) report had advocated for; however, there were also important differences between the proposals. the proposals. President Crawford presented his plan in a less-thanprecise bullet-pointed slideshow entitled “A Sound Future: Recovery and Renewal.”...

By Albert Chang-Yoo   On Sept. 26, 2022 the Comprehensive Academic, Administrative and Auxiliary Program Review (AAAPR) submitted a lengthy list of recommendations to combat the University’s financial woes. The review found that in order to avoid an expected $10 million deficit by 2025, the University must make significant changes, including faculty downsizing and program consolidation. President Crawford will submit a preliminary report to the Board of Trustees today and final recommendations will be voted on in February.   The Comprehensive Academic, Administrative, & Auxiliary Program Review was created by...