The CPR, comprised of three professors, three students and various members of the administration, is charged with overseeing and recommending changes to the College budget. In the current economic climate, the CPR is looking to slow the projected growth in costs and presented the audience with four major areas to change.
One option is to adjust the financial aid and admissions policies, such as reinstituting loans, eliminating the need-blind policy for international students and increasing the comprehensive fee. This last issue was a point of contention between students present at the meeting, one of whom felt that students who can pay, should, while another felt that applicants would be put off by the large price tag of the College. According to Dean of Faculty Gregory Call, however, Amherst has the lowest comprehensive fee out of the 13 most selective colleges in the country.
Students also debated the proposed delays in planned reconstruction projects of Merrill Science Center, Frost Library, the Social Dormitories and the Lord Jeff Inn to save money.
“I think it’s important to differentiate between the academic projects and the housing projects, because when you talk about Merrill and Frost, you’re talking about actually outdated buildings that may deter students from coming here,” one student stated. “But with dorms, it’s just a comfort thing. I would definitely prioritize keeping [the reconstruction of] the academic buildings rather than the housing.”
However, Philip Johnson ’11, a student representative on the CPR, pointed out that the reconstruction projects are all tied together and the postponement of one may limit the others. For example, the Socials could be moved to a new location with the new Merrill taking its place, but this could not happen if the reconstruction of the Socials is foregone.
The issue debated most on the night, however, was the projected increase in class size. With the college enrollment projected to be 1,770 by 2012, many professors, particularly those in larger departments, expressed concern at the lack of faculty to cope with the increases.
“The concern that I represent in psychology is that we are really spread thin right now,” said Sarah Turgeon, Psychology Chair and member of the CPR. “We’re turning away people from honors theses or having them do combined theses, which is not what we think the Amherst experience is.”
Students also felt that an increase in class size will not only harm the educational quality of the College, but will also be detrimental to the College’s image to prospective applicants.
“[The small class size] is something that played a definitive factor of me coming to Amherst,” said Sally Chung ’12. “I have a few friends that are year younger than I who are considering these college choices and a large factor is the classroom environment. Being in a smaller classroom and having a more personal relationship with the professor is really important.”
The College can also either limit the salary increases of staff members or reduce the number of staff employed by the College. Though this topic was not discussed very much during the meeting, Bilal Muhammad, Evening Circulation Specialist at Robert Frost Library, articulated the general feeling of the staff.
“One thing we’re talking about among the staff is the sense of community here,” Muhammad said. “There’s a disconnect with the staff where they don’t feel very appreciated all the time. We’re all trying to share the load, but the staff feels like they’re taking a bigger share of the load. The students complain about this and that and it’s difficult for the staff. We’re losing jobs and [the faculty and administration] are talking about things that are basically nice problems, like increasing the student-faculty ratio by one. No tenured faculty are going to be fired over this because their jobs are protected. If we’re facing this as a community, everyone has to take a hit.”
One staffing change that was originally proposed that has now been put on hiatus is the consolidation of the Five College library tech services. According to Call, “the library committee, the president, the library and I have agreed to a set of principles that we have now transmitted to the Librarian’s Council, basically asking them to take a step back. [They will] make the cost-benefit analysis to be sure that this is truly a Five College project and that we maintain a high level of service.”
With their report to the ABC due May 15, the CPR is holding another open meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 30 in Cole Assembly Room, and the Advisory Budget Committee, the group that will ultimately recommend the budget cuts to the Board of Trustees, is hosting an open meeting in the same location at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, May 4. With all of these proposed changes, CPR Chair Ronald Rosbottom emphasized the College’s commitments and the CPR’s determination to make the hard decisions early in order to prevent more serious problems in the future.
“We believe we should make tough decisions now, because if we make them now it will shorten the uncertainty that is not good for an institution like ours,” Rosbottom said. “It will make it easier in the long term to address the problems of the budget. The more you put off making a decision, the bigger your problem becomes. We want to protect our reputation of having a first-class faculty, we want to maintain our reputation of drawing the best students in the country [and] we want to maintain morale.”