Divinity School To Skim Faculty

Facing a steep drop in the University’s endowment, the Harvard Divinity School is planning to reduce the number of visiting professorships and adjunct positions offered next year, according to an announcement by HDS Dean William A. Graham.

Harvard’s endowment lost an estimated 22 percent in the 4-month period ending Oct. 31, 2008, and University officials are anticipating a 30 percent drop by the end of this fiscal year.

HDS relied on the endowment for 71 percent of its operating budget, according to Harvard’s annual report for the last fiscal year.

Graham said that the school aims to reduce its budget for the next fiscal year by 4 to 8 percent, and will appoint only those visiting and adjunct positions “absolutely necessary to cover gaps in the curriculum.”

None of the current visiting faculty will be affected by the decision, he said.

“We won’t have as many one- or two-term visitors as in the past,” Graham said. “In good times, we would probably be bringing in interesting people, even people that we don’t need curricularly.”

According to Graham, the cuts will not affect the regular faculty or “regular adjunct” faculty—those faculty members who regularly teach classes in a specific field.

He said that the cuts will be of “area people that may have taught a course for us on occasion, or subbed during a faculty sabbatical.”

Graham said that he does not believe the cuts will have any significant impact on the curriculum.

“We wouldn’t do it if that were the case,” he said.

Judith Frediani, a denominational counselor and instructor at HDS, said that while adjunct positions are important, cuts are necessary and the school has few options.

“Every adjunct offering has a specific purpose. [Adjuncts] enrich the curriculum and diversify it, at a bargain for the school,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be the dean right now, having to make these decisions,”

Apart from the visiting and adjunct position restrictions, HDS is also postponing some faculty searches, according to Graham’s announcement.

He wrote that salaries for faculty and non-union staff will remain flat for the next fiscal year, facilities renewal projects may be slowed, and travel and events budgets will be reduced.

Graham said, however, that financial aid at HDS remains a “top priority.” At the Divinity School, 90 percent of students receive financial aid, 72 percent of which have their tuition fully covered.

Graham wrote that HDS will maintain the level of financial aid currently offered to students, though it will be unable to meet its previous goal of providing total financial coverage for all students with demonstrated need by the 2010 fiscal year.

“The Divinity School is very good about giving money to students,” said Matthew A. Lewis, a first-year student in the Masters of Theological Studies program at HDS. “From a student’s perspective, if keeping the kind of package they gave me meant cutting a few professors, I would prefer to keep my package and lose some professors.”

—Staff writer Melody Y. Hu can be reached at melodyhu@fas.harvard.edu.