While Dartmouth can temporarily stanch budget shortages by taking advantage of increased giving and an improved endowment, Kim stressed the development of creative solutions to effectively slash the College's $100-million deficit.
"We must restructure now the sooner we do it, the quicker we can get to growth," Kim said.
One such initiative will be the renovation of Thayer Dining Hall, Kim said, which will allow the College to strategically cut costs.
While the College had originally intended to build a new dining and social facility near the McLaughlin cluster the Class of 1953 Commons using a $12 million donation from the Class of 1953, Kim said the money will be allocated to renovate Thayer Dining Hall, which will be renamed in honor of the donors.
According to Kim, savings from the investments made in sustainability for the dining hall will cover the difference between donations and the costs of the renovations.
Renovation will start during the upcoming Summer term and finish by fall 2011, according to Kim. Thayer will continue to operate during construction.
Kim also suggested the creation of a national institute for health care delivery science as a new source of revenue. The institute would make ongoing research about health care delivery currently being conducted at Dartmouth available to doctors, hospitals, governments and other organizations.
"We think that we, as an academic institution, can do a lot of the hard work to get [health care delivery] under control," Kim said.
Kim addressed the question of a lump-sum donation as one possible solution, although he acknowledged it would only serve as a temporary patch. Since the budget deficit recurs annually, funds would have to be much larger than the shortfall to generate sufficient interest to keep the College in the black.
"It wouldn't be a gift of $100 million, but of $2 billion, that would generate $100 million per year," Kim said.
Kim also mentioned that many of the donations were given for specific initiatives, meaning the College lacks free reign to put the funds toward the deficit.
"People don't like to give you money to fill in gaps in the budget they like to give money to do very specific things," Kim said, citing gifts given specifically for the development of the Visual Arts Center or an indoor golf practice area.
Kim has charged the administration with growing annual giving "as aggressively as we possibly can," Carolyn Pelzel, Dartmouth's vice president for development and one of the members of the panel, said.
In recent years, College donors have reached a plateau of $40 million per year, but Kim is looking for more, she said. According to Pelzel, Kim is aiming to increase annual giving by at least a 10-percent rate.
The College expects its endowment to grow by about 5 percent this year, Kim said, although he warned against relying on potential endowment growth to meet budget shortfalls.
"There are some encouraging signs about the endowment, but also signs that suggest that we be careful," Kim said.
The restructuring process still includes potential layoffs and a continuing search for inefficiencies in the system, Kim said.
"The more efficient we are, the fewer layoffs will be necessary," Kim said.
While Kim discussed possible budget measures, members from the SEIU Local 560 held a demonstration outside the Hopkins Center to protest planned layoffs.
"We have not been invited to the table for discussions, but we're willing to offer solutions," Peter Marsh, a longtime employee for the College, said at the protest. "My family has worked for Dartmouth for five generations and we are a part of the Dartmouth experience."
Kim addressed the protests during the budget meeting.
"The protest outside I think is an indication of how invested people are," Kim said.
Panelists at the forum including Senior Vice President Steve Kadish, acting Provost and Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt and acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears reiterated that the College may increase class sizes among other financial remedies.
Folt cited the number of people available to advise and support students and the need to hire additional faculty as considerations in making the final decision.
"It would only probably add 50 students to the class size," Folt said.
There have been no decisions made about financial aid, according to Kim.
"We will definitely maintain need-blind admissions," Kim said. "That's something we will never break away from."
