He also shared stories with his fellow trustees about former Athletic Director Lynda Goodrich, and her athletic achievements despite the limitations and indignities she experienced as an athlete and coach before Title IX. “She blew down the doors on virtually everything she did,” Phil Sharpe says.
Both Phil and Sue Sharpe look to the past for clues on how to expand access to higher education in the future – something they’re both passionate about.
“My parents’ generation went to schools where, for the most part, there was no tuition,” he says, “because it was thought that their education was creating value for society.”
It wasn’t that long ago that students could fund their college education simply with a summer job, says Sue Sharpe, whose grandmother attended Western during its early years as Bellingham Normal School. During the recession of 2008, the state vastly reduced support for higher education and tuition went from funding about 30 percent of the operating budget to about 70 percent.
Phil Sharpe worries particularly about student loan debt.
“We can’t have a society where we say to people, if you want to realize your potential you do it with a yoke around your neck for the next 20 years, and we’re going to get the benefit of your enhanced skills, your knowledge and your training.”
The financial barrier to higher education is huge, Sue Sharpe says. “To me, we don’t want to make higher education exclusive, particularly at a public university. I think that is our greatest challenge.”
Sue Sharpe’s first experience with the Board of Trustees was as a member of the Associated Students executive board, making the case for official student representation on the university’s highest governing body.