College President Jim Yong Kim outlined budget decisions to an anxious audience of faculty packed into Alumni Hall at a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Monday afternoon. At the meeting, faculty members raised concerns about the effect of the staff layoffs and proposed additional suggestions for reducing the College's expenses.
Kim presented a detailed overview of the budget cuts before opening the floor to the questions and concerns of faculty members. Acting Provost and Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt joined Kim in responding to the audience's comments.
Many faculty members brought up the recently announced layoffs, which will begin by eliminating 38 non-teaching positions this week. Some senior positions will be affected, and 60 percent of those who will be laid off are salaried workers, Kim said.
One faculty member inquired about the breakdown of the layoffs, asking Kim if he could explain which departments would face cuts and how many positions would be eliminated in each affected area.
Kim declined to provide more specific information about the layoffs, saying that the employees who are going to be laid off have yet to be informed by their supervisors.
"We have to be extremely respectful of people's privacy," Kim said. "These are person-by-person decisions about how you make this public."
Kim stressed the importance of "creating a nurturing environment" for those laid off over the next week.
Another faculty member expressed concern over the possibility that the layoffs would increase the amount of work required of remaining employees.
Folt said the responsibilities of workers in departments affected by cuts would be adjusted accordingly and added that "some things are going to be done differently."
A senior faculty member in the social sciences division said students inaccurately saw the layoffs purely as a "class issue," asking if the administration would take steps to correct the misconception.
Kim said professors should explain to students that the layoffs were not class-based.
"The most important thing you can do is to explain [to students] that this was not a class-based cutting of lower-paid people," Kim said to the faculty.
Although Kim lauded the "passion" of student activists referring to the campaign by Students Stand with Staff against the layoff proposal he stressed that effective advocacy depends on gathering "real data and a real understanding" of the issue at hand.
Some faculty members criticized the administration's decision to continue construction of the Visual Arts Center and the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center despite making cuts elsewhere. One member of the faculty questioned why "buildings were being preferred over people."
Kim said the two decisions were not comparable, adding that the budget committee had carefully considered the costs and benefits of all planned action.
Another faculty member questioned the timing of the decision to reduce endowment distribution, arguing that the layoffs could have been avoided if spending from the endowment were left at previous levels.
The College would still have to deal with budget issues in the future if the endowment distribution rate were not changed, according to Kim.
One faculty member objected to the fact that some alumni donations to his department had been rebuffed by the College.
Kim said that gifts sometimes come with requirements that the College does not want to accept.
"Institutions don't always accept money," Folt said. "You want the institution driving strategic planning."
A faculty member asked whether definite plans have been formed to increase enrollment or to change the Dartmouth Plan.
Because student opinions about changing the calendar have varied significantly and because the process would be complicated, Kim said there are no firm plans to revise the D-Plan.
Administrators have considered increasing the size of each incoming class by 15 students because such an increase would be small enough to avoid building any new residence halls, Kim said. However, College administrators have not decided to increase class sizes and would only do so after discussions with faculty about adding class sections and additional faculty so that there would not be an increase in course sizes, Kim said.
In December, Dartmouth increased the number of students admitted early decision by 60 individuals as a potential first step toward increasing class sizes.
In response to a question about the possibility of increasing the minimum enrollment necessary for a class to be offered, Kim said the administration is considering no changes to the current policy.
Faculty voiced anxiety over a potential decrease in their salaries, but Kim said one of the College's highest priorities is to remain competitive with its peer institutions in faculty recruitment.
The meeting concluded when a student member of Students Stand with Staff attempted to ask a question about the layoffs. Kim and Folt declined to answer the student because the meeting was for faculty, they said.
Mathematics professor Dan Rockmore, chair of the faculty Committee on Priorities, said the committee was generally "in the loop" and that he felt faculty members were given all information that they requested.
"Kim gave a terrific presentation today," Rockmore said. "It was measured, honest and fair."
Several other faculty members declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
