Vol. 129 NO. 7
Feburary 27, 2025
By the students, for the students
Campus Consensus
Op-Ed : Trump
violated the first amendment
PAGE 4
Basketball :
Cats are regularseason champs
CWU Students take issue with dining, tuition and more
PAGE 6
Spotlight :
Dr. Jaeyoung Oh tells his story
PAGE 9 Barge Hall Exterior.
(Photo courtesy of Central Washington University)
Brandon Mattesich Co-Editor-In-Chief
I
n a survey of 85 students conducted this week on campus and online via a Google form, CWU students most often cited dining and tuition as areas needing change, and finances and mental health as the biggest barriers to their success. The Observer’s motto, by the students for the students, guides what stories are written and published. This survey was created to gather student voices from across campus, and to inform The Observer of the most pressing issues to student success. All student responses to the survey were collected anonymously, to promote the highest probability of gathering accurate information. Some 29.4% of respondents were freshmen, 28.2% were sophomores, 20% were juniors and 22.4% were seniors. The following are the results of the survey. Student Safety A vast majority of CWU students reported that they feel safe on CWU’s campus, with 96.5% answering yes and 3.5% answering no to the question, “Do you feel safe at CWU?” According to CWU’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, to the most recent data (2023), reports of aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, liquor violation referrals and drug violation referrals have increased minimally since 2021. Reports of rape, sex offense, stalking and drug law arrests, however, remain low. Most
notably on-campus reports of burglary have gone up around 333% from 2021 to 2023, from 3 to 13 total reports. Reports of stalking have gone down on campus 53.4%, dropping from 15 reports in 2021 to 7 in 2023. Dining and Tuition The survey asked, “In which area would you most like to see change from CWU?,” and listed the following options: housing, cost of tuition, dining, student emotional/physical health support, parking, safety, education and other. If a respondent chose other, they were prompted to fill in their own choice. Dining was the majority answer, with 31.8% of the responses. Following was the cost of tuition, with 22.4% of the responses and third was parking, with 16.5% of the responses. Dining underwent major changes at the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Holmes became a buffet-style location and operational hours for restaurants across campus have been reduced since the 2023-2024 school year. Dining prices were also increased at multiple locations. One student shared that they wanted to know why there aren’t very many vegetables available on campus, or healthy food options at the on-campus restaurants.
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Do you believe CWU is doing enough to support their students?
Yes No