Around the country, the economic downturn caught many schools by surprise, and both public and private universities have been searching for ways to cut back.
At least initially, private colleges were more aggressive in crafting strategic cuts. With endowments down by 20-30 percent or more, and with little help expected from the federal government, these schools must cope with a drop in donations and possible resistance to raising tuition.
Perhaps the most comprehensive effort was announced in January by Robert A. Brown, president of Boston University, which faces an annual budget deficit of $10 million beginning in July. Brown said the university will review the centers and institutes that have proliferated over the years.
Like many universities, BU has on-campus organizations ranging from the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders to the Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. Those that are not self-sufficient and that do not directly correlate with the university’s mission could be cut.
Boston University’s approach looks like a scalpel when compared with Brandeis University’s. The Waltham, Mass., school put its art museum on the chopping block — or tried to. The board of trustees will sell off a portion of the $300 million collection, though initially it seemed that the entire Rose Art Museum was for sale.
The decision to sell the art in the Rose Museum aroused ire. Nearly 300 protested on Feb. 11. Some feel that selling art is contrary to the philosophy of Louis Brandeis, others don’t want the university to sell donated art, and still others believe that the decision violates the ethical codes of art museums. Even so, Brandeis appears to be moving forward as it seeks to cover a projected $10 million budget deficit.
Some of the richest of universities anticipate cuts. Stanford University’s athletic department is reducing its budget by 13 percent, reducing travel expenses, freezing hiring, and cutting 21 staff positions. There even has been talk about eliminating entire sports programs.
Even Harvard is short of money. It will offer early retirement to 1,600 employees and delay building a $1 billion science complex in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. Slowing construction frees up money without actually affecting students or faculty, although it perpetuates a decayed industrial wasteland that Allston residents want Harvard to clean up.
Smaller liberal arts colleges are experiencing difficult times. Blackburn College, an Illinois school with 600 students, is facing a $750,000 deficit. It will drop its NCAA Division III football team, saving $150,000.
Some schools don’t have time to make strategic cuts. The College of Santa Fe was already struggling, and the economic decline made things worse. The New Mexico college announced in December that it would be absorbed by New Mexico Highlands University, a public university. On Feb. 18, the board of trustees declared a state of emergency, announced plans to reduce nonfaculty staff hours by 25 percent, and invited faculty representatives to discussions regarding salary reductions.
In the midst of all this gloom, however, there is a bright spot. Catholic University of America, a 7,000-student university in Washington, D.C., is addressing its low retention rate, which costs the school $6 million a year.
How is it going to keep students? In part, it will create a mandatory humanities freshman course focusing on classic works — “great books.” The trustees, more than half of whom are Catholic bishops, have supported the program with $1.5 million for faculty and for support of graduate students.
Although the move is not a direct result of the economic crisis, it illustrates that cost-saving strategies have the potential to enhance education as well. The new “Freshman Year Experience” will replace large lecture classes with three seminars, limited to 18 students, and will introduce students to books such as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Bible.
“This is an important step for us,” says Michael Mack, who taught a similar seminar as a graduate student at Columbia University and helped design the program.
Desperate times lead to pragmatic measures. And not all of those are bad.
Donald Bryson is a contributor to Carolina Journal.