It could always be worse

Dartmouth isn’t the only school facing budget cutbacks.

While Dartmouth students and faculty will certainly miss the eightly or so staff positions that President Wright has said may need to be cut, especially those from the libraries, at least they will be better off than those at or attending Duke, which may cut up to ten percent of its faculty over the next three years, accoring to the NY Times.

Still, much of the pain in Hanover has been and will be self-inflicted. College administrators, in the boom days of only a few years ago, considered projected ten percent annual gains on the endowment to be “a conservative number,” according to Provost Barry Scherr. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s obvious that “wildy over-optimistic” would have been nearer the truth.

Equally obvious is the lack of foresight in announced budget cuts. While academic departments and resources are feeling the squeeze, too many inessential College programs have maintained the funding that they gained in the late-Nineties. As Mr. Clark has asked, how much College funding continues to flow to programs that impact the College’s educational mission marginally at best? Would shuttering Collis, for example, or severely restricting its expenditures, free enough funds to keep the Sherman and Sanborn libraries open and their staffs employed. If so, it would be a more than fair trade, although, unfortunately, one the College is unlikely to undertake or even consider.

What about the several employees of the Women’s Resource Center (or whatever it’s being called this year)? I think the Dartmouth community could make do with a few fewer seminars on masturbation and a few more librarians. Again unfortunately, we will probably never know.

If the new Dean of Pluralism Tommy Woon has to mop floors to save money to keep Paddock open a few hours longer on weekends, then I’m all for it. A College’s library — not any dean’s office — is the heart of its campus. These priorities matter, and to save them so much else can be easily jettisoned:

If Wyclef Jean and the Jurrassic 5 don’t do College-sponsored shows this year, that’s fine.

Summer Carnival: who needs it?

And, while we’re at it, why not can the “Big A$$” party, too.

I don’t know how much cable television costs the College, but it’s hardly an essential service.

Tuck can probably put off construction for a bit longer of another building of luxury dorm rooms…

…and so can the College. Many students actually enjoy living off campus, probably for the same reasons that the College is making it more difficult to do so.

If Tommy Woon knows how to work a leaf blower, that could shave a few dollars off of the Facilities budget.

The next time you’re waiting for help at the reference desk, remember that every little bit counts.