Fallout from College President Jim Yong Kim's announcement on Friday of impending budget cuts has been noticeably muted, with members of the Dartmouth community saying they are concerned, but not shocked about the institution's 23-percent endowment loss. Professors and students said they hope administrators will make the budget decision-making process as transparent as possible.
Although the Committee on Priorities, which conveys faculty opinions on resource allocation to the administration, has met with Kim, it is too early to know how budget cuts will affect the faculty, according to mathematics department chair Dan Rockmore, a committee member.
"Everyone is still in information collecting mode, trying to understand if there are mechanisms for generating revenue and asking questions of whether or not there are places where there could be savings," Rockmore said. "It's really premature to be looking at particular places."
Computer science department chairman Thomas Cormen, another member of the committee, expressed a similar sentiment.
"The committee has not decided anything privately, much less publicly," Cormen said.
The committee is focused on preserving the core of the Dartmouth experience for both students and faculty, Rockmore said.
"Dartmouth is the number-one undergraduate teaching institute in the country, and we want to maintain all the things that means," Rockmore said. "At the end of the day, everyone still wants this to be the kind of institution that people want to work at, study at, teach at and do research at, and everyone will be working to preserve those things."
Student Assembly representatives plan to work with their adviser, Dean of Student Life Joe Cassidy, to facilitate communication with the Dean of the College, the Dean of the Faculty and Kim about the budget cuts, Student Body Vice President Cory Cunningham '10 said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Cunningham is a member of The Dartmouth senior business staff.
"We will discuss with the administration and find out what areas are possibly up for consideration and then solicit student feedback about those areas," Cunningham said. "We will then deliver that to the administration, so they understand how students are feeling about the various areas that are up for consideration."
Student leaders affirmed that it is important for the administration to consider student opinions before implementing budget cuts.
"We will work to help make sure it is understood what student priorities and demands are," Student Body President Frances Vernon '10 said. "We will try to make sure that any cuts that are made, and where they are made, are not going to have detrimental effects on the student body."
Vernon said she looks forward to working with Kim as he navigates this second round of budget cuts.
"Kim is a little more personally involved with students," Vernon said, referring to the decision-making process surrounding the first round of budget cuts under former College President James Wright. "[Kim] wants to make sure he understands the student voice."
Professors said the endowment losses and potential cuts did not surprise them.
Theater department chair Timothy Hackett said he expected further budget reductions when Wright announced the first round of cuts in the spring.
"They were looking at the immediate situation then, and there was a good chance there would be more cuts," Hackett said.
Faculty members said the administration has been transparent thus far in the decision-making process, adding that they hope this will continue.
"They're being very forthcoming about what is coming down the road," Spanish and Portuguese department chair Israel Reyes said. "They are addressing faculty concerns early on."
