By Midori Davis, D Turk

ICE response plan

As it stands, WSU Vancouver will not intervene in the moment of an immediate arrest on public grounds by ICE agents. The current plan asks that students and faculty direct any ICE agents to the Chancellor’s Office so WSU Vancouver can contact the Washington State Attorney General’s office to verify any judicial warrants or subpoenas for student information. WSU Vancouver also confirmed that it will not send any campus-wide, immediate notifications — like the texts sent out during campus lockdown drills — to students that ICE agents are on campus. Simply put, amidst what has been billed as the “largest domestic deportation operation” in American history, WSU Vancouver’s plan does not inspire confidence that the university will do enough to protect students.

Scrubbing DEI language for compliance

WSU Vancouver’s quiet changes in language have been made in compliance with the Trump administration’s attack on everything diversity, equity and inclusion, with little effort to preserve the institution’s true freedom of speech. After the federal Department of Education sent out the “Dear Colleague” letter threatening universities promoting DEI initiatives with a potential loss of federal funding, WSU Vancouver eventually renamed the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to the Office of Belonging and Unity, and then most recently to the Office of Community and Collaboration. Recently, WSU Vancouver professors expressed feeling more pressure to self-censor their speech, with some noting that while no directives from the university on language have been put into writing, there have been talks about what they can or can’t say in class lectures. The actions of WSU Vancouver in renaming units and changing the language used on its websites have shown more interest in complying with a reinterpretation of federal law rather than any attempts to preserve free speech on campus. Perhaps the university’s hands are tied — to preserve tenuous federal funding, maybe there is nothing that WSU Vancouver can do except to adjust words and comply enough to fly under the radar.

Better dining on campus

Lunch options on campus remain limited to prepackaged offerings at the self-serve mini-mart Cafe. A variety of fresh, nutritious and affordable food for lunch at a commuter campus that would meet the needs of busy students, including those with allergies and dietary restrictions, simply cannot be found here. The one food truck (Bribe My Belly) that appeared to be promising was sold last winter and is entirely out of the picture. ASWSUV President Jacob Winstead and Interim Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Damian Sinnott are considering a setup similar to WSU Tri-Cities’ coffee shop, which offers paninis. A step in the right direction? We shall see.

Where/when is our next chancellor?

WSU Vancouver is under the oversight of Tri-Cities Chancellor Sandra Haynes and will remain so for the foreseeable future as last year’s search for the next Chancellor fell through. The future of WSU Vancouver’s leadership after Interim Chancellor Haynes remains one of many great unknowns as President Cantwell’s WSU system redesign takes priority at least until June, according to Haynes. Interim Vice Chancellor positions will also likely remain as they are. It is unclear if, and when, Vancouver will get a chancellor exclusively our own who is on campus full-time.

Graduation ceremony on a Tuesday . . .

For whom, exactly, is a graduation ceremony for? WSU Vancouver’s Spring 2026 commencement ceremony will be on a Tuesday instead of a weekend, ensuring that WSU System President Elizabeth Cantwell can travel from Pullman to attend the ceremonies for all WSU campuses. Many students and families have work obligations during workdays, and could miss a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of their hard-earned degree as a result. The decision leaves them snubbed, all to accommodate the president’s traveling schedule. We ask again: for whom, exactly, is a graduation ceremony for? We’ll answer: A graduation ceremony’s first accommodation ought to be students and families it celebrates, not the president. A Tuesday? Wack.

On-campus housing? Or not?

The possibility of having dormitories on campus have been in conversation for a long time, and it is still unclear if and when that might happen. Talks have been ongoing about student housing on campus for several years at this point, including a master plan for the campus in 2018 that outlined the inclusion of dormitories. Former budget chief Jenny Chambers Taube was the point person on this, and also acknowledged well before her departure that better food options on campus would need to come before student housing. On October 25, WSU Vancouver sent an email to students with a survey asking about floor plans, rates and amenities, and this survey was deemed an “essential” part of the process. For now, whether or not we see dorms on campus remains a big question mark until WSU Vancouver provides more substantial communication.

Signed,

– The Editors