In the wake of the recent economic crisis, the College's budgetary committee has begun to consider ways to increase financial efficiency at Dartmouth. Strategies for reducing spending will be spread throughout the College's staff, and will not focus on decreasing the size of the administration, according to Adam Keller, executive vice president for finance and administration.
The College has frequently faced student and alumni criticism regarding administrative bloat.
"I think we are anticipating how to make budget reductions," Keller said. "There is no area that won't be considered."
Rather than eliminate departments, offices or programs, the College will attempt to improve the efficiency of all its functions, while assessing its priorities, Keller said. The administration will then evaluate the importance of lower-priority functions and either end them or "dramatically reorganize" them, according to Keller.
Part of the "silver lining" of the anticipated budget cuts is that the College "will be more critical of what's important" and will be able to become "more efficient" overall, Keller said.
Dartmouth has weathered fluctuations in the economy many times in the past, so the administration is accustomed to making these kinds of cuts, Keller said. The magnitude of the current economic downturn, however, has increased the importance of the College's endowment.
"In history, you see these swings pretty frequently," he said. "This time it's a little different because of the suddenness, and the depth is deeper."
The proposal for next year's budget will be presented at the November meeting of the Board of Trustees, and will be worked on until April when the trustees will vote on the full budget.
In 2003, Dartmouth became more aware of inefficiencies within the administration, Keller said, and hired management consulting firm McKinsey and Co., to assess the administrative operations in fall 2005.
The McKinsey report, released in April 2006, resulted in an "ongoing" restructuring of the administration, according to Keller.
"One of the conclusions was that they didn't find overstaffing," Keller said. "They helped us think through how we're staffed."
Dartmouth staffs 2,900 employees, not including the faculty, Keller said. Currently, 5,700 students are enrolled in Dartmouth's undergraduate and graduate programs.
The report recommended that the College improve the transparency of its administration, consolidate administrative offices and simplify structure to increase accountability.
In response to these suggestions, the College combined its Human Resources and Payroll departments "to better provide service for employees" Keller said.
The College has also been working to streamline communication between Dartmouth's different administrative departments and the rest of the community, in order to be "clear and consistent on campus," Keller said.
The next College president, who will take office when James Wright steps down in June 2009, will be influential in deciding the direction of Dartmouth's finances in light of the financial crisis, Keller said. He added that the Office of Finance and Administration plans on providing Wright's successor with a financial plan.
"I assume that the economic downturn will persist into the new president's term," Keller said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "We intend to have a viable multi-year plan in place before she/he assumes the presidency."
According to the leadership statement released by Dartmouth's presidential search committee, the endowment "has been affected by the current economic downturn and the recessions of the past two decades."
The document states that one of the qualifications for the next president will be "the ability to build strong management teams and execute large and ambitious plans with fiscal responsibility."
