2008 Woodie Awards
School cuts costs, ends hires
Amanda Cormier
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: News
President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz issued a campus-wide memo Oct. 8 outlining how the College will ensure its financial health during the global economic downturn through an immediate hiring freeze and a careful reduction in spending.
The memo served as a follow-up to a previous memo sent Sept. 8, which initiated the 18-month process of "looking at ways to reduce operating costs across the institution" to offset an expected reduction in charitable giving and declining support from the endowment.
Liebowitz listed several immediate changes in the Oct. 8 memo, including an institutional hiring freeze on all but "essential" positions, cuts in new construction and renovation projects, and a reduction in College traveling. Liebowitz anticipated more changes to arise from student, faculty and staff suggestions at meetings of the newly formed Budget Oversight Committee (BOC) and from an online suggestion box posted Oct. 13.
Addressing the option of generating revenue from the student comprehensive fee, Liebowitz wrote that "there are limits to how much we can and want to raise" the fee. He said that these limits will be known after significant work by the Administration and the Student Comprehensive Fee Committee, before the fee is recommended to the Trustees in February.
"This work is just starting," he said. "There is a balance that needs to be respected between what families can afford and the resources needed to provide the highest quality academic program, and we have that in mind as we consider all that goes into setting the fee."
The BOC, which Student Government Association (SGA) President Bobby Joe Smith III '09 said was set to meet Oct. 22, will be convened by Chief Financial Officer Patrick Norton. Norton said that the Committee will engage students in small groups to address specific issues related to the budget.
"The BOC includes faculty, staff and students and will identify ways to reduce costs and spending following engagement with members of the community and appoint, as necessary, small groups to work on specific issues related to cost control and spending reductions," he said. "Recommendations on how to control costs will be made to the president."
The memo served as a follow-up to a previous memo sent Sept. 8, which initiated the 18-month process of "looking at ways to reduce operating costs across the institution" to offset an expected reduction in charitable giving and declining support from the endowment.
Liebowitz listed several immediate changes in the Oct. 8 memo, including an institutional hiring freeze on all but "essential" positions, cuts in new construction and renovation projects, and a reduction in College traveling. Liebowitz anticipated more changes to arise from student, faculty and staff suggestions at meetings of the newly formed Budget Oversight Committee (BOC) and from an online suggestion box posted Oct. 13.
Addressing the option of generating revenue from the student comprehensive fee, Liebowitz wrote that "there are limits to how much we can and want to raise" the fee. He said that these limits will be known after significant work by the Administration and the Student Comprehensive Fee Committee, before the fee is recommended to the Trustees in February.
"This work is just starting," he said. "There is a balance that needs to be respected between what families can afford and the resources needed to provide the highest quality academic program, and we have that in mind as we consider all that goes into setting the fee."
The BOC, which Student Government Association (SGA) President Bobby Joe Smith III '09 said was set to meet Oct. 22, will be convened by Chief Financial Officer Patrick Norton. Norton said that the Committee will engage students in small groups to address specific issues related to the budget.
"The BOC includes faculty, staff and students and will identify ways to reduce costs and spending following engagement with members of the community and appoint, as necessary, small groups to work on specific issues related to cost control and spending reductions," he said. "Recommendations on how to control costs will be made to the president."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Don Vaughn
posted 10/23/08 @ 8:44 PM EST
I think this is the most amazing and compelling budget cut story I have ever read----by my niece.
Parent
posted 10/30/08 @ 10:56 AM EST
It seems strange to me that students are represented on the fee setting committee, but there is not a parent in sight. Middlebury, already hovering near the top of the list of expensive schools, needs stronger voices for cost constraint, not louder ones for more amenities. (Continued…)
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