Last Thursday, Feb. 19, Whitman College President George Bridges released a letter to the campus community detailing the economic recession’s impact on the college. Since then, he has hosted a number of open discussions detailing the college’s decisions.

The letter outlined the measures the college is taking to curb spending. According to the letter, next year’s budget calls for a reduction in spending of $2 million. This reduction will be achieved in part through suspending salary increases for faculty and staff, reducing current personnel by five full time employees, postponing hiring searches, and reducing administrative and operating costs in all departments and programs.

The economic downturn has most impacted the college’s endowment, which has suffered a 30 percent decrease in value since the financial markets’ decline. As Whitman derives 30 percent of its operating budget from endowment revenues, this decrease will have a marked effect on the income for future years.

To put this in perspective, it is estimated that endowment revenues will drop from approximately $16.5 million this year to $12.5 million by the 2013-2014 academic year.

“We are fortunate that we didn’t lose more than 30 percent, however there is still another sixth months to go in this fiscal year,” said Bridges at last Sunday’s ASWC Senate meeting, one of the many campus forums he conducted last week to further discuss the college’s response to the recession.

According to Bridges, Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland will meet with the ASWC Executive Council on Monday, March 2 to discuss the budget cuts’ possible effect on student programs.

Next year’s tuition will also be increased to $36,620 from $35,192 this year.

Although this increase is lower than any increase in recent years, Bridges understands that next year’s tuition may pose a hardship for certain students, a reason why next year’s budget includes increased funds available for financial aid.

“One of the reasons we’re making such deep cuts is so we can redirect monies to financial aid for students. We’re actually increasing the amount of resources devoted to the financial aid need based programs the college already offers,” Bridges stressed to students at the Senate meeting.

“The financial aid office door is open and we welcome anyone to come in, even if they haven’t had financial aid in the past. If students have concerns, they should come in,” he said.

Bridges also assured admissions officers in attendance at Tuesday’s forum that students would continue to be offered admissions on a need-blind basis.

Upcoming changes due to budget reductions
(from George Bridges’ letter)
– 2009-2010 tuition increasing by 4 percent
– Reducing staff levels by five full time employees
– Deferring 8 of 13 tenure-track faculty searches
– Suspending salary increases for faculty and staff
– Reducing administrative and operating costs
– Reorganizing student programs

Much of Tuesday’s forum, attended entirely by Whitman faculty and staff, was spent discussing the college’s enrollment.

Along with endowment revenues, Whitman derives much of its budget from tuition fees. Increases in tuition revenues lead to increases in the budget, a reason why the administration is planning to expand next year’s first-year class by 10 extra students, with the hope that these additional revenues will help subsidize the tightening operating budget.

The Board of Trustees is currently considering whether Whitman’s enrollment should change to accommodate either more or less students.

“We know that we could mitigate some of the budget challenges we face if we increase the size of the college. But one cannot do that without there being some adverse effects… There are a variety of concerns we have about changing the enrollment of the college that are real and significant,” Bridges said.

He has appointed a faculty committee co-chaired by Provost and Dean of Faculty Lori Bettison-Varga and Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Peter Harvey to look into how changes in enrollment would affect the college. The committee is expected to present their findings at the May Board of Trustees meeting.

Bridges is currently working with departments on campus to discuss the implementation of the budget reductions and he will continue to meet with staff members who are affected by them.

“We’ll continue to see in the coming weeks some plans for reorganizations and consolidations so we can meet the budget goals set by June 30,” Bridges said.

He welcomes any questions, comments, and ideas from any member of the Whitman community. Ideas can be sent to Bridges at [email protected].

“I’m very appreciative of George’s efforts to communicate with the Whitman community about changes and the economy. I have spoken with friends and family members whose companies and organizations are much less open and they are clueless about what is happening financially at their workplaces, so I feel lucky,” said Assistant Director of Admission and Visit Scholarship Program Coordinator Victoria Lidzbarski, who attended Tuesday’s forum.