Asset Management
"As administrators, if we do our job well, fluctuations in the budget will be invisible to students," Provost Barry Scherr said after April's meeting of the Board of Trustees, when the prospect of budget cuts was first made public. If the current budget-minded proposal to restructure Dartmouth's libraries comes to pass, it will hardly constitute a job well done.
Under the library plan, students are the victims of highly visible changes, starting with the elimination of 2,400 student employment hours annually. It is hard to tell at this early stage how consolidation of Sherman and Paddock personnel under the Baker-Berry umbrella would affect service to students, but it is equally hard to imagine a situation in which service would be improved. The physical plants would remain, but decreased specialization would diminish the libraries' distinctiveness, a common selling point -- and rightfully so -- of the uniqueness of the Dartmouth experience.
The wounds to the College's character would be more egregious in the case of Sanborn, which may face elimination as a library altogether -- demoted to a "study space." We would be forced to reconcile such excesses as an abortive nightclub project and a lounge crowded with big-screen TVs on the west side of the Green with the degradation of a treasured institution on the north.
We recognize that the College faces an unpleasant economic reality, but when considering changes, administrators should devote careful attention to costs that don't show up on a balance sheet.
Working for the Weekend
Student Assembly members are investigating a plan to funnel student activity funds to Greek organizations for improvements to run-down physical plants. The idea is a good one, provided the money is not distributed indiscriminately. These efforts are evidence that the Assembly is thinking pragmatically, working with pre-existing social preferences.
The Assembly should implement an application procedure, distributing funds to Greek and other popular social organizations on the basis of their ability to enhance social life on campus.
In exchange for funds to improve their physical plants, these organizations will be expected to provide activities that provide the best combination of openness and fun. The Assembly can then ensure that social organizations, while being acknowledged for their contributions to student life, are held responsible for the environments they create.
