A Confounding Crossroads Moment for Wyoming’s University

By Ed Seidel

The University of Wyoming was created in 1886, four years before Wyoming became a state. We often make note of this piece of history to show the inextricable connection between the university and this place we call home, but there is more to it than that.

Wyoming became a state in 1890 because the people of the territory saw a need to organize a government to, in large measure, provide services to improve their quality of life. Over the years, the list of services delivered to the citizens of Wyoming by their state government -- things like highways, K-12 schools, law enforcement, certain health care services, and water and natural resources management -- has become what we consider basic infrastructure.

But, before all of that, Wyoming made a university. Wyoming's founders considered higher education such an important piece of infrastructure that they created the university even before statehood. Why? Because they knew it was fundamental to the state's future.

UW was formed under the federal Morrill Act of 1862, which called for the creation of public universities to, among other things, "promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life," specifically emphasizing "agriculture and the mechanic arts." The state constitution also directed that an education at Wyoming's university be "as nearly free as possible."

From that modest start, Wyoming elected officials have, over the past nearly century and a half, led the building of a world-class land-grant university, still dedicated to those founding principles of accessible, high-quality education, and research and service for the benefit of the people of the state. Wisely, in my opinion, they've also chosen to direct the state's resources to a single flagship university, which has allowed a breadth and depth of programs that are the envy of some institutions in multi-university states.

That breadth and depth are now in jeopardy. The Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee voted Jan. 13 to cut the state's funding of the university in the next biennium by $40 million -- or almost 11 percent of what UW receives from the state. The committee also exempted our College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources and College of Education from those cuts, meaning the impact to UW's other academic colleges could be closer to a 15.4 percent reduction.

UW has accepted its fair share of reductions as the state's economy has ebbed and flowed over the years, but the JAC's vote -- coming at a time when state finances are not in crisis -- goes against Wyoming's heritage of prioritizing access to high-quality education for its people. And it would force reductions in programs and services that are bound to be felt by the people of Wyoming, along with making it much harder to keep UW "as nearly free as possible."

We have not determined exactly what we would cut if the JAC recommendation becomes law. But, to put things in context, the entire budget -- including all sources of revenue, not just the state block-grant portion -- of UW's College of Business is just over $13 million per year and the College of Education almost $8 million, close to the combined total of the JAC's proposed $20 million annual reduction.

Any perception that the university's operations budget has grown over the past decade is not accurate. Amounts have gone up and down with the state's fortunes, and in times of plenty the state has invested a lot of money in facility construction, but the UW block grant was larger in 2013 ($371 million) than it is today ($366 million), not even considering the $40 million cut proposed. And this doesn't take into account the impact of over 30 percent inflation on the university's buying power, or the fact that UW employees as a whole have not received pay adjustments since July 2023.

Simply stated, a cut of this magnitude would mean a reduction in programs that students choose and services the state relies on. We simply won't be able to continue providing everything we currently provide.

We encourage the people of Wyoming and their lawmakers to consider just what their university does for the state. Over the past few months, a number of UW leaders have published op-eds pointing out what their units contribute to the people of Wyoming. Primarily, it's delivering a great education to our students and the future workforce of Wyoming -- but also research that boosts the state's key industries, programs that stimulate our economy, and NCAA Division I athletics programs that unite and bring pride to our people. UW is a unique place that offers opportunities for thousands of students and generates many hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact annually.

Regardless of what the Legislature decides, we will continue striving to do those things. But this proposed $40 million cut would mean we'd be unable to do as much as the people of Wyoming need, expect and deserve. It would cause damage that will last years. That's a confounding situation at a time when state government is not suffering financially. It's also contrary to what Wyoming's founders intended, to what generations of Wyomingites have built, and to what future generations will need.

Ed Seidel is the 28th president of the University of Wyoming.