Dartmouth's strategic budget reduction initiative, the College's preparations for reaccrediation and the visibility of the Board of Trustees were amongst topics discussed at the Board's weekend retreat, held Sept. 10-12, College President Jim Yong Kim and Board Chairman Stephen Mandel '78 said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
In June, the Board approved the budget, which was proposed by Kim's administration to overcome a $100-million, two-year shortfall. Although Kim's budget made up for all deficits in the 2011 fiscal year and 80 percent of the deficits in the 2012 fiscal year, Kim said the remaining 20 percent will be mostly accounted for by centralizing the College's purchasing operations. Changes to procurement will not be implemented until 2012, however, and Kim said it is not known exactly how much the College will save through procurement changes.
"We haven't done it yet, so we don't know exactly what's going to come out of it," Kim said. "That's why we say 80 percent. But we're pretty confident that if all of the projections remain true if in 2012 we get an 8 percent endowment return, which is the assumption we think we can get there."
Mandel said that in addition to closing the budget gap, the improvements that came from budget restructuring have allowed the College to offer services that are better and more efficient.
"Very importantly, we've continued to invest strategically in the enterprise, both in faculty, in financial aid [and] in facilities." Mandel said in an interview.
An additional goal of the Board in the coming year is to become more prominent on campus and engage more directly with members of the Dartmouth community, Mandel said. The Board will begin by sending regular e-mails regarding its activities and goals to groups at the College.
"I think the trustees have been, in some ways, less visible to the community," he said. "One of my objectives is to make us more visible to the community, both physically appearing at [events], but also communicating with all the constituencies alumni, students, faculty, staff [and] parents."
Because four new trustees have recently joined the Board John Replogle '88, Morton Kondracke '60, Peggy Epstein Tanner '79 and Trevor Rees-Jones '73 and because none of the current trustees sat on the Board during the College's last reaccreditation, Kim said administrators also familiarized trustees with how the ongoing reaccreditation process would proceed.
In the interview, Kim also responded to criticism from Williams College blogger David Kane about recently-appointed athletic director Harry Sheehy. In a post dated Aug. 7, Kane challenged claims that Sheehy had reduced the budget for Williams' Athletic Department by 25 percent, also claiming that his involvement in choosing coaches a significant factor in his appointment at Dartmouth was more limited than members of the search committee claimed.
Sheehy was vetted "very carefully" by officials involved in his appointment, Kim said, pointing to Sheehy's record as one of the winningest athletic directors in the country, despite budget reductions and cuts in the number of athletes admitted to Williams.
"There are always bloggers; we know that very well," Kim said. "The evidence is clear: [Sheehy] has been the most successful athletic director in the country."
