Despite the ongoing economic crisis, the Class of 2009 turned out in record numbers to donate to the College's Senior Class Gift, achieving a 96 percent participation rate up from last year's record of 92.5-percent participation and the highest rate among Ivy League schools this year, according to Katie Kobylenski, assistant director of the Dartmouth College Fund.
The Class of 2009 is the fifth graduating class in a row to break the previous class' record for participation, according to a College press release.
This year's senior class gift totals $105,161, which includes donations from not only students, but also parents, friends and alumni, Kobylenski said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. Donations from only the members of the Class of 2009 make up $10,161, a sum that was collected in a drive from May 1 to June 1, according to the press release.
The class also earned $96,000 from a group of alumni challengers Bill Boyle, '59, Chris Cundey '59 and an anonymous donor who pledged to contribute $1000 for every percentage point of the class who participated, the press release said.
Of the 30 Greek organizations on campus, 20 had a 100-percent participation rate from their members.
The Senior Class Gift will contribute in part to the Dartmouth College Fund, which will be used to award ten scholarships to members of the Class of 2013 in the name of the Class of 2009, according to the press release. The Dartmouth College Fund covers approximately 10 percent of the yearly operating budget of the College, according Pelzel.
The record participation of the Class of 2009 comes in a year marked by financial downsizing at the College, as the global economic crisis pushed Dartmouth to aim to cut its budget by $72 million over a two-year period.
The endowment dropped by 18 percent in the first and second fiscal quarters of the year, which amounted to a $700-million loss overall, The Dartmouth reported in January. In February, College officials announced $47 million in budget reductions for the undergraduate college to be enacted by the 2011 fiscal year as part of a budget-reconciliation plan.
This plan emerged from restructuring efforts than began during Fall term 2008, when administrators asked each of the College's divisions and departments to outline how they would reorganize in the event of budget cuts, executive vice president for finance and administration Adam Keller said.
"It was out in the campus that we could get ideas that would be most constructive and least harmful to Dartmouth," he said.
The final budget plan was approved by the Board of Trustees at their meeting in February. Recent falls in the stock market have exceeded College financial planners' anticipations, leaving Dartmouth with a small budget deficit for next year, Keller said.
As the economic crisis progresses, College administrators will continue to reassess budgetary plans, Keller said.
"I'm optimistic that we've done the bulk of the work we need to do for the next two years," he said.
February's plan resulted in the layoff of approximately 60 members of the College's staff, and the institution of an immediate hiring freeze. The layoffs included Dean of First Year Students Gail Zimmerman, and the First-Year Dean's Office saw an overall staff reduction of 40 percent. Five other employees in both the First-Year and Upperclassmen Dean's Offices were laid off. The College also saw reductions in the size of the admissions and financial aid offices in April, as previously reported by The Dartmouth.
Dartmouth Dining Services was also restructured in response to the budget cuts, and members of its staff were laid off in February. The Courtyard Cafe in the Hopkins Center will be closed for the upcoming summer term, while Cafe North will close permanently on June 17, according to Beth Rosenberger, manager of Cafe North and Novack Cafe.
The budget-reconciliation plan also called for a salary freeze, which will save the College $17 million, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The College plans to maintain all tenure and tenure-track faculty positions. A major goal during the planning process for the budget cuts was to preserve the size of the faculty, according to Keller.
"There are some things we're not going to touch," he said, adding that financial administrators involved in the budget planning process sought to ensure that reductions would not affect any group of employees disproportionately.
Academics will remain largely unaffected by the cuts, Keller said, though the College will discontinue between 30 and 35 courses that are normally taught by visiting professors. Courses that are required for graduation or that have high enrollments will not be affected, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The College will increase tuition by 4.8 percent for the 2009-2010 academic year, down from the 4.9 percent tuition was increased in the previous year. The tuition increase was not intended to help reconcile budget cuts, College President Wright said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth. The amount of financial aid offered to students will also expand by 13 percent in the upcoming year, College officials announced in February.
