Amherst College confronts a financial crisis that is unprecedented in our lifetimes. As everyone knows, the College’s once-robust endowment has lost around 500 million dollars, and although getting a precise gauge of our losses is difficult, the significance of that number is lost on no one. Everyone in our community has already felt the consequences of these cuts. Students have already seen significant changes, from the relatively minor, such as changes in Valentine’s menus and in the temperature of our dorms, to the rather more significant reality that Amherst’s hiring freeze means in all likelihood that class sizes will increase and course offerings decrease. Staff members face the far grimmer reality that layoffs are on the horizon, and they have already had their wages frozen. Professors, too, face the prospect of salary freezes, and every department has had to slash their non-salary budgets by around 15 percent.
Yet the cuts that have been made are the tip of the iceberg. Much has been done, but the extent of the crisis demands that even more drastic actions be taken to ensure the long-term solvency of the College. With this task in mind, the Trustees and Administration created the Advisory Budgetary Committee (ABC) composed of professors, staff members, administrators, students and trustees representing all the constituencies that make up the Amherst community. Its role is to deliberate carefully over data that is to be presented to the committee by other advisory bodies on campus, such as the Committee for Priorities and Resources, the Committee on Educational Policy and the Committee on Admission and Financial Aid, and ultimately come up with a set of recommendations for the Board of Trustees, which has the final say on all financial matters.
This is a time when student involvement is crucial. The three members of the student body serving on this committee can only represent the students effectively if everyone else cooperates. It is absolutely essential that students’ voices be heard at the open meetings being held during these next few weeks, given how close we are to leaving campus for the year. Already there are suggestions of student apathy. President Marx’s open meetings with the student body a few weeks ago were poorly attended, and general participation levels in the meetings of other important committees have been embarrassingly low in contrast to the interest that the faculty and staff are showing. The more these trends continue, the fewer incentives the administration will have to continue giving students a meaningful role. The most worrying scenario would be a situation where the students’ voice is marginalized to the point that it becomes tokenistic, a situation that we would do well to avoid. We’ve shown already that we care about the College’s future through our $100,000 gift to the College — literally, putting money where our mouths are — and now we must make ourselves heard again.
If student concerns are not voiced, there is a real chance that student interests will be significantly underrepresented. We know that the student body cares deeply about issues such as financial aid. In these difficult times, even a core value as important as accessibility is under threat, with wide-ranging cuts being considered to the financial aid budget (which makes up almost 21 percent of the operating budget of the College), in the form of bringing back loans and ending the need-blind policy towards international students. These issues we are aware of, and we will strive to avoid significant cuts as much as possible. There are many other issues that we might not be aware of, and it is our hope that you will bring them to our attention.
The ABC process is wide-ranging, and everything is on the table. If there are things you believe are key to the Amherst experience, please, attend the open meetings, tell your representatives, and come forward to help the students play a meaningful and significant role in guiding the difficult process and difficult decisions which the College now faces. If you have a good idea, please let us know. If you have relevant anecdotes on College policies and experiences, please share them. If you think that the process being undertaken is problematic, please tell us how we can make it better. If you have questions of any nature, please ask them. The time to do so is now, because when September rolls around, there won’t be much discussion left. Come to the Senate’s meeting this coming Monday at 8:30 PM in the Red Room, and make your voice heard.