Temporary Relief

University administrators have authority, power, plushly carpeted offices and sometimes a listing in Who's Who. But they can also have enough headaches to warrant ordering aspirin by the gross.

Faculty administrators had a slight respite from that nagging pain between the eyes this month, however, when Dean Rosovsky announced that he had balanced the Faculty of Arts and Sciences budget, giving the Faculty its first--albeit tiny--budgetary surplus in seven years.

Two years ago, Rosovsky targeted the 1976-77 fiscal year for a balanced budget. And, after prodigious budget slashing--including a slight decrease in the number of teaching appointments and the postponement of plans to renovate some of the River House dining halls--he succeeded.

In fact, although the budget grows larger each year, the Faculty is actually spending fewer real dollars than it did a few years ago.

The optimist might think that Rosovsky's black ink hints of an end to rising tuition, room and board fees, but it's probably wiser to take a more cynical view. Although officials predict the rate of increases will slow down, no one sees an end to the yearly price hikes.

Meanwhile, administrators are not pausing long to gloat over last year's achievements. While they long for the free flowing funds of the '60s, they are already anxiously scanning next year's budget, looking for more programs on which to hone their administrative axe.