Ellington

Outside Kane Hall hangs a 60-ft-long banner marked with more than 5,000 signatures from new students that aims to define what it means to be a Husky.

Displayed on the banner is the Husky Principles, a set of value guidelines for the UW community based on practice, respect, support, perseverance, engagement and improvement.

“I saw it as an opportunity to build community, and the original intention was to provide a uniform answer to help people understand what a Husky was,” said Tunny Vann, who became involved in the development of the Husky Principles in June 2009 when he was ASUW’s director of community relations. “We are here now with a document three years worth of work coming to life.”

The process of drafting the Husky Principles began in 2006. Vann said the principles were finalized at the beginning of the last school year, and this year has been dedicated to passing it. Before the Husky Principles could be officially unveiled, several UW organizations had to approve the document, such as ASUW, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate and the Faculty Senate.

In the process of the principles’ passage, however, concerns arose once students began asking questions about the purpose of the document and how much the new campaign would cost the university.

Jed Bradley, former ASUW Senate chair and current ASUW director of faculty, administration and academic affairs, said that when the principles were presented to the ASUW Senate last fall, it was “more contentious than other resolutions and not much of a priority” for the ASUW senators.

One complaint from ASUW senators about the Husky Principles was that it is too similar to the UW Vision Values statements, a set of priorities set by the university to “reflect the core values and culture” of the UW. These are also based on six general guidelines: respect, innovation, collaboration, excellence, diversity and integrity.

Vann said the main difference between the two is that the Vision and Values statements are focused more on broader goals for the university.

“There will be some similarities, but the principles specifically address the questions of what it means to be a Husky,” Vann said. “UW has a separate marketing campaign for the Vision and Values statements, and we’re hoping to utilize the Husky Principles in a different way to attract new students.”

Another concern that ASUW senators raised was the cost of implementing the Husky Principles around campus.

“I supported the idea, but not if it would spend too much money,” Bradley said. “In this budget crisis, a lot of senators wondered what the purpose was and what it would do for the campus.”

Vann said that though he doesn’t know the final budget numbers, the campaign to promote the principles has so far “cost students nothing.”

Programs such as First Year and Student Life have all contributed to raising awareness of the principles and have kept final costs as low as possible, Vann said.

“Ever since the program began in 2006, programs have put aside money for when the project will be unveiled,” he said.

Grant Kollet, director of First Year Programs, said that a lot of what the department did donate to the campaign wasn’t necessarily money. By printing the principles on the back of the student planner and in the parent publication, they were able to increase the visibility of the principles without handing out more money, he said.

Vann originally hoped to “spread the principles virally around campus,” but with the combination of having the project take longer than expected and trying to keep costs low, the principles were debuted more quietly than initially planned.

“We wanted to push it out really hard from the get-go, especially since we had those months where nothing was happening,” Vann said.

Vann said they ultimately hope to partner with alumni to develop scholarships based on the principles and have an interactive website for students to tell their stories. Right now, however, Vann said they’re gauging the general reaction of the campaign to see how receptive people are before moving forward.

Bradley, the former ASUW Senate chair, said he was much happier with the “soft-launch” of the Husky Principles and that it was a good medium between the original plan and its criticism.

“It was supposed to be a much bigger deal, but I’m definitely happier with where it is now,” Bradley said.

Reach reporter Katie Burke at news@dailyuw.com.

*Correction: Yesterday’s print version of this article (page 1) incorrectly stated that the Athletics Department has contributed to the Husky Principles campaign. The Athletic Department has not been a part of the project; those involved in the Husky Principles project see the department as potential collaborators.