Emmert's honeymoon over

Though UW President Mark Emmert's commitment to hold to the once annual State of the University address is laudable, the substance of his speech was hardly a breath of fresh air.

Speaking to an audience largely populated by faculty and administration members, Emmert's comments regarding the University's notorious underpaying of professors seemed almost patronizing. However, it is commendable that Emmert acknowledged the startling number of faculty leaving the University. One can only hope that Emmert will live up to his astronomical price tag in his fundraising capabilities and secure more competitive tenures.

Emmert also tackled the infamous discrepancy in research funding between the University's two competing sectors, the sciences and the humanities. While celebrating the various accomplishments of the University's scientific division, he made sure to mention the burgeoning excellence of the Simpson Center for the Humanities and cite that more needs to be done to support research endeavors of the same nature. Merely recognizing this issue, however, does little to combat the alienation felt by a large portion of the University in terms of research funding.

It was distinctly clear throughout the speech, however, that Emmert's UW "honeymoon period" is over. As Emmert himself referenced, "The University has serious image problems that need to be addressed." The University does need change, and these problems fall heavily on Emmert's shoulders. The University depends on him being up for the tasks at hand, which include potentially productive negotiations in Olympia during the upcoming legislative session, the capital campaign and the multiple searches underway for University leadership. In any case, we have no other choice but to trust that his numerous goals for University will be realized.