The e-mail found by clicking below is President Liebowitz’s report to staff, faculty, and students regarding the Board weekend meeting which took place 15 to 17 October. Happy reading, and please take note of the link that he provides to offer suggestions.
Subject: Report on October Board of Trustee Meeting
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students.
I write to provide a brief report on the October board of trustees meeting, which took place October 15-17.
The meetings began earlier than usual, as about 90 trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, and students gathered at the Bread Loaf campus to participate in a retreat on the impact of the economic downturn on Middlebury and higher education in general. More on that later in this memo.
The board meeting itself was routine. There were three motions of note that came out of committees to the full board: (1) to accept the financial statements generated by our recently completed audit for fiscal year 2009; (2) to refinance a portion of our debt in order to get a better rate and thereby reduce our annual debt payments; and (3) to adopt protocols for selling and buying strategic real estate holdings that cost less than $1 million. In addition to passing these motions, the conference committee of the trustees agreed to meet with representatives of staff council and faculty council twice each year, rather than once, as has been the practice for fifteen years.
The Bread Loaf retreat included four presentations that were designed to offer provocative new ideas to stimulate thinking about how the College and residential liberal arts colleges in general might best deal with the decline in institutional and world-wide wealth. The trustees then joined faculty, staff, and students in small break-out groups to talk about some of the suggestions made before reconvening again in full session to hear about each group’s conversations. These discussions were followed by a reception and dinner.
In addition to the Bread Loaf gathering, trustees had lunch with students in Ross and Proctor on Friday, and then later that evening most board members joined students and faculty for dinner at four of the Commons Heads’ residences. A number of trustees also attended classes on Thursday morning. The trustees greatly enjoyed these opportunities to talk casually with students, faculty, and staff, and to see first hand our students’ superb classroom experience.
The trustees’ discussions on Friday and Saturday centered on the larger policy issues that most affect our financial position: financial aid policy; salary goals; student-faculty ratio; endowment management; new degree programs; and maintaining the College’s physical infrastructure. At the conclusion of our meeting on Saturday, the trustees and I agreed to devote our December board meeting to an in-depth discussion of these major policies, so as to better understand the ramifications of any changes we might consider making. No action is expected on these issues at the December trustee meeting, but I will present the board with options that we will consider for further deliberation and implementation.
As we prepare for that discussion, it will be very useful to know how students, faculty, staff, and alumni would prioritize a number of the programs and policies we will discuss and review in December. To that end, I will meet with the budget oversight committee (BOC) to hear its views on these issues, and then ask faculty, staff, students, and alumni leadership groups to engage their respective constituents to gather the same information, which I will then share with the board in December. I don’t expect all groups, or even all individuals within groups, to agree on every issue or articulate the same priorities, but gaining a sense of which programs and policies are most important across different constituencies will help the administration and board consider the possible impact of any major policy changes we adopt.
As always, I invite any ideas you might have for reducing expenditures or increasing revenues at the College. I encourage you to send your thoughts to the budget oversight committee, or through the suggestion box on the College’s web site (http://sites.middlebury.edu/budget/). I look forward to continuing our discussion of the current financial situation and our priorities as an institution.
Best,
Ron