Update on the College's Financial Position, January 2009
26 January 2009
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:
Welcome to the second semester. I am glad that we could begin our semester with the service contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and with the community celebration of an historic inauguration. As I looked around Thomas Great Hall on Tuesday, it felt wonderful to see us witnessing this event as a community and listening together to President Obama’s powerful articulation of the difficulties and opportunities presented by this moment in our national and, indeed, global history. Collectively, we recognize both the hope and the challenge of this moment.
Among the greatest of these challenges, of course, is forging our response to the ongoing economic crisis. Recent news of problems at more major banks, of growing unemployment, and of deepening weakness in the financial markets confirms the ongoing deterioration of the economy. This unabated deterioration creates a continued negative impact on the College’s finances that we cannot ignore. We are not alone in facing this reality: virtually all colleges and universities must respond to reduced revenues and increased pressure on financial aid. To borrow a phrase from the inaugural address, the “the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
At minimum, the College will have to cut its operating budget by at least five percent over the next three years. Given continued economic deterioration, we are also modeling deeper cuts that may soon prove inevitable. Without minimizing the difficulty of this task, I believe that we can use this moment to build on the work begun in recent years to focus our mission and direct our resources to our highest priorities. We have opportunities to reduce expenditures in a way that both balances the budget and positions us for future success. These opportunities will emerge, however, only if we are willing to make hard decisions.
We will be guided by several principles as we seek to balance expenditures and revenues.
- Everything is open for discussion and nothing is off-limits.
- Decisions must be linked to our strategic priorities: academic quality, competitive faculty and staff salaries and campus facilities maintenance.
- We are committed to doing all that we can to support our current students, and we will increase the financial aid budget for next year.
- We need to prioritize. We can survive in the short term by maintaining the status quo, but only by reallocating resources will we flourish.
- Academic quality is dependent on resources – we need to do less but fund it better.
- Our goal will be to preserve our community, even as we recognize that some spending cuts will result in job losses. These will be taken primarily and preferably through attrition. We will work to facilitate internal hiring of those dislocated by program reductions wherever possible.
- Process and transparency are important.
- Every employee has something to contribute to this process.
Every effort will be made to consult widely as the budget process continues but if we are to make timely decisions—as we must—it will be impossible to conduct community-wide conversations for each element. John Griffith will continue to meet with the faculty, staff and students to provide updated information and to solicit suggestions. Community members may also submit ideas for cost efficiencies and spending reductions to budgetideas@brynmawr.edu. The Campus Budget Committee, with representatives from all constituencies, will work with the Board of Trustees Finance Committee and the President’s Cabinet as budget plans are developed.
I will provide additional updates to the community as we proceed in this work. Please do not hesitate to contact me or John Griffith if you have questions or suggestions. I welcome your participation in our common effort.
Sincerely yours,
Jane McAuliffe