After the College's unexpected announcement in July that it would end fiscal year 2010 with a $5.6-million budget surplus rather than the anticipated $2.5 million deficit the administration has begun to ease some of the policies made during the budget crisis, particularly concerning College staff.
A salary freeze implemented last year for non-unionized was lifted in July, The Dartmouth previously reported. These employees will receive a 1 percent pay increase for the 2011 fiscal year if they meet or exceed expectations.
College employees belonging to the Service Employees International Union Local 560 voted August 10 to approve a two-year contract that protected existing unionized employees from layoffs and extended health insurance coverage for union members, The Dartmouth previously reported. Some union members were upset by the lack of a salary increase for unionized employees, but SEIU Local 560 president Earl Sweet told The Dartmouth at the time that he still thought the union's agreement was favorable compared to the situation of non-unionized staff.
These new agreements combined with the unexpected surplus are merely the latest developments in nearly two years of budget restructuring, during which the College has dealt with endowment losses, administrative changes, layoffs and labor disputes in the wake of national economic woes.
The threat of layoffs has led to friction with staff members in recent months, including those belonging to SEIU, which objected to the College's dismissal of a union request to delay implementation of layoffs in January.
Faculty and students have also expressed concerns with the budget cut process. Seventy-five faculty members wrote an open letter asking that the College "think creatively" about its budget situation. The letter stated that the signing faculty did not believe "wholesale layoffs" were necessary at the time, pushing instead for salary cuts for all employees and the sale of assets.
Students also organized the group Students Stand With Staff in January, which criticized the College's use of layoffs to combat its budget shortfalls. The organization plied a number of tactics against possible layoffs, including a meeting with College President Jim Yong Kim and a series of "teach-ins" in early April to discuss the potential effects of budget cuts.
Despite "slightly less tension" after the recent staff agreements, Students Stand With Staff co-founder Phoebe Gardener '11 told The Dartmouth, many of the issues the group emphasized have not been resolved.
"These issues still persist," Gardener said. "[Students Stand With Staff is] going to keep looking at how these values shape Dartmouth, students and society as a whole."
Gardener also said that she was "not 100 percent sure" what function the group would be serving in the future, as many of its members had graduated with the Class of 2010.
As university endowments fell victim to the 2008 financial crisis, Dartmouth's own endowment lost $220 million 6 percent of its 2008 value of $3.66 billion in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year alone.
As a result, the College, whose 2008 budget drew 32 percent of its revenue from the endowment, was faced with steep revenue losses and issued an initial round of budget cuts that were finalized in February 2009. The College laid off 60 employees, instituted the now-lifted salary freeze and put a hold on a number of facility improvement projects, resulting in a total reduction of about $72 million for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 combined.
By the end of the 2009 fiscal year, however, the endowment's losses totaled $835 million, a 23 percent drop from its 2008 value. Kim announced in an e-mail last October that the College's operating revenue would be reduced by $50 million, and the Board of Trustees announced in November 2009 it would seek to slash the College's budget by roughly $100 million over the following two years.
These cuts, announced by the Board in February and finalized in April, included consolidation and "streamlining" of the administration's structure, and pushed back several construction projects, The Dartmouth previously reported. The College also initially laid off 38 employees and continued a second round of layoffs later that spring.
