As the College's administration and Board of Trustees plan for a second round of budget cuts, they will have to contend with a faculty that is concerned about the size and fairness of potential cuts, as well as how priorities will be communicated to the Dartmouth community in the wake of perceived missteps during the first round of cuts last winter.
Dartmouth's leadership must grapple with the perception that some groups of Dartmouth employees were unfairly targeted for layoffs after the first round of cuts. The College laid off about 60 employees.
"For some, there are moral issues at stake," mathematics professor Dan Rockmore, chair of the Committee on Priorities, said in an interview with the Dartmouth, referring to some faculty members' impression that the most economically vulnerable Dartmouth employees were disproportionately affected by the cuts. The committee serves to communicate faculty opinions to the administration.
In the question and answer session following College President Jim Yong Kim's Oct. 26 address to the faculty, several professors echoed this sentiment, saying they were concerned layoffs and salary decreases were not fairly targeted.
"In this moment of social change, if the definition of a liberal arts education is to deliver services to people in need, can we not make this moment exemplary by doing what our peer institutions are not doing, by bringing people back to work instead of laying them off?" English professor Donald Pease asked at the meeting.
Other faculty members suggested that salary freezes for professors and administrators were inadequately publicized, creating the perception that cuts were less equal than they actually were.
Some faculty members are reluctant to undergo further reductions in support staff employees ranging from administrative and research assistants to facilities maintenance staff which they expect would reduce the quality of their teaching and research.
"I think, generically, [the faculty feels] like everybody here is working as hard as they can work, and they can't imagine how they would get their jobs done if we were reduced any more in support," Rockmore said.
In the wake of last year's cuts, little room is left for additional pruning, Rockmore said.
"Faculty believe that the level of support that we have now is pretty much the level of support you need to continue to deliver that first-rate education, to have first-rate research facilities so the faculty can continue to be the best in their field, and then transfer that superior knowledge to the students," Rockmore said.
Last year, departmental budgets were decreased by an average of 12 percent, Rockmore said.
"We're much leaner than our [Ivy League] peers," he said.
To appease the faculty, the Board will need to pay additional attention to its communications with the Dartmouth community, something that many professors believe it previously failed to do.
Some faculty members said they believe the first round of budget cuts was inadequately explained, creating confusion not only among the faculty, but also in the greater community. Faculty members said they were not given clear information about why the administration appeared to favor some programs or departments over others.
"There's a transparency issue of what was really weighed," Rockmore said. "I think that wasn't said so well last year."
Faculty would appreciate a greater role in the budget process than they were given last year, according to Native American studies professor N. Bruce Duthu.
"I share the views of many of my colleagues who've expressed a desire for greater transparency in the budget making process, access to more information about institutional costs across the campus so that we're in a better position to make informed recommendations on cuts, and greater faculty involvement in discussions on identifying institutional priorities," Duthu said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Although faculty members have several ways to communicate their opinions, it is unclear to what extent their input will ultimately inform the final budget.
The Committee on Priorities communicates faculty priorities on the budget to the college president. The committee solicits input through web sites, e-mail and forums in which faculty can present ideas, Rockmore said.
Channels of communication are open, Rockmore said, citing the accessibility of both Kim and the committee. But, he added, "We can only communicate as much sentiment and as many ideas as we are given."
Although no official changes regarding faculty involvement in the budget process have been made since last year, faculty members said they believe that the administration will be more receptive to input during this round of cuts, Rockmore said.
"Many of us are waiting for the results of the trustee meeting this weekend," Duthu said in the e-mail. "It's our sense that we'll have a clearer idea of the expected deficit following this meeting."
