Faculty Meeting To Focus on Funds

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will convene today to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on the University, a meeting that department heads hope clarify leaders’ urgent but vague warnings to date.

The meeting comes more than a week after University President Drew G. Faust alerted the community in an e-mailed statement of the need to consider greater financial constraints in the face of an “unprecedented” economic downturn. But in interviews yesterday, many department chairs said they have not yet been informed what the new caution will entail and hope that today’s meeting will begin to answer their questions.

“Many of us are in information-seeking mode in this rapidly changing landscape,” said Andrew G. Myers, chair of the chemistry department, in an e-mailed statement.

“I have gotten no indication about how the financial crisis will affect the department,” said Lizabeth Cohen, chair of the history department in an e-mailed statement. “We will all learn more [today].”

The discussion of the financial situation will be the main docket item on today’s agenda.

“I think we’re all worried,” FAS Dean Michael D. Smith said of the financial crisis in an interview last week. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in all of this.”

Smith did not discuss specific belt-tightening measures that might be necessary, and did not discount the possibility of a hiring freeze in his response..

“Nothing is off the table right now, except that we’re maintaining our commitment to our financial aid program,” Smith said.

Given this uncertainty, there is a sense of anticipation among the faculty.

“I think its kind of people holding their breaths, waiting to see whether there will actually be budget cuts, freezes,” said Theodore C. Bestor, chair of the anthropology department.

But in the meantime key priorities are going forward. “It’s not as if the sky has fallen. I don’t know of any department that has actually had to cancel a [faculty] search that was already under way,” he said.

In preliminary discussions, departments including physics have been examining budgets and devising contingency plans to capably confront “what comes our way,” said Christopher W. Stubbs, department chair. “We see our role as being prepared for whatever eventuality may arise.”

That “eventuality” would be monumental if it was in line with national projections.

Moody’s, the financial research and ratings service, projected a 30 percent decline in the value of college and university endowments for the current fiscal year.

“The endowment reductions that could come out of this year are much beyond what we’ve ever experienced,” said Smith. “The largest decrease in any one year was 12 percent. Thirty percent is a long way from that.”

“FAS is not unfamiliar with proverbial belt-tightening, but given the current crisis we will need to go significantly further,” Smith wrote in a statement e-mailed to FAS faculty and staff last week.

Despite the potential budget cuts or freezes, the University will continue to uphold its academic standards, according to Allan M. Brandt, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

“Some of our immediate goals for growth may have to pause, slow down, and be reconsidered in the shorter run,” Brandt said. “I’m going to be doing everything to make sure that students experiences remain characteristic of what I consider the overall excellence of Harvard.”

For now, departments wait with bated breath for an uncertain future.

“The critical moment is going to be in the future,” said Richard Tuck, chair of social studies. “I think it’s quite important that we begin to hear what is possible.”

—Staff Writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Christian B. Flow contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Maxwell L. Child contributed to the reporting of this story.