Minutes
University Assembly Meeting
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
4: 30 � 6:00 p.m.
316 Day Hall

I. Call to Order

R. Orme called the meeting to order at 4:38 p.m.

II. Roll Call

Roll was taken via sign-in sheet. Present: A. Craig, M. Fontana, A. Frieden, K. Laden, N. Brideau, E. Strong, L. Lawrence, R. Orme, K. Speiser, J. Blair, M. Hatch, E. Sanders, A. Stroock, M. Walsh

Not Present: R. Stein, C. Robertson, S. Pardo, B. Liddick, E. Loew, R. Wayne, B. McKinney, K. Duch

Also In Attendance: D. Skorton, K. Fuchs, T. Bruce, B. Fry, A. Epstein, P. Beach, A. O’Donnell, Y. Zhang

III. Reports from Constituent Assemblies — SA, GPSA, EA, FS

SA� A. Craig reported the SA is reviewing the student group funding process.

GPSA� There was no report.

EA� L. Laurence reported the EA has completed their charter review. This will go out to the staff as a referendum this spring as part of the elections process.

FS� E. Sanders reported the FS passed the resolution on the approval of construction funding. B. Fry added the FS is considering changing the academic calendar to start the fall semester 1 day earlier (on Wednesday) and possibly observe Labor Day or begin the Thanksgiving break 1 day earlier instead.

IV. Call for Late Additions to the Agenda

There was no late addition.

V. Approval of Minutes

R. Orme asked the assembly to vote on the minutes from the February 25, 2009 meeting. The minutes were voted on and approved unanimously.

VI. Business of the Day

Discussion of Cornell’s financial status with President David Skorton and Provost Kent Fuchs followed.

D. Skorton stated the current financial status can be reflected in the financial activities of the higher education community across the country. He said our university falls between the really large universities with no dependence on endowments and small colleges with small student bodies that depend greatly on their endowments. He explained over 75% of our revenue comes from sources that are not affected by the national economy. He said unfortunately, philanthropy is down significantly. Part of the current budget cut is due to decisions that were made based on the assumption that revenues would keep growing, and that assumption is no longer accurate. He wants people to understand some decisions require both transparency and decisiveness.

K. Fuchs began by saying said there are two phases to help with the current financial situation. The first phase is relatively quick, involving downsizing and 5% budget cuts. These will bring more efficiency and focus short term. The president’s and the provost’s offices will be absorbing a 10% cut. D. Skorton said the Board of Trustees had approved of the sale of bonds against the university’s credit to increase the flexibility of the university’s finances.

K. Speiser asked if the downsizing / consolidation would take the direction the Alumni Affairs and Development took. D. Skorton replied that Provost Fuchs has set up a template for systematic downsizing. The staff/employee retirement plan is also in place to avoid some layoffs. K. Fuchs said we need to be smaller, but at some point we will need to grow again for the continued wellbeing of the university.

M. Fontana asked if other universities had sold bonds. D. Skorton replied that many schools, including Harvard and Princeton, have sold bonds. He said Cornell, despite the fact it is a much bigger school, will be much more conservative when selling bonds. M. Fontana asked if there were measures to let alumni know about this. D. Skorton said he is reinforcing his connections with alumni, and does not foresee any problems with the bond sale.

A. Frieden asked how much coordination Cornell has with other universities concerning what to do regarding the financial situation. D. Skorton said within the small community of higher education, there are a lot of variations in financial actions universities have taken. Some schools like Harvard have to stop all big projects and stop hiring. Other schools have to take on fewer measures to cut budgets because they have less endowment money and higher tuition income.

M. Hatch commented he felt that a mentality of excess had taken over the higher education community and some current values needed to be reconsidered. D. Skorton agreed, but asked how much can we re-calibrate the values that founded this university? The university has shifted 35 million dollars from its annual endowment to student financial aid to make sure the ability to pay wouldn’t be a filter for the incoming student body. He said the big projects are certainly slowing down, but on a campus this size, it would never be a complete stoppage. He agreed the campus needed to be more focused and live within its means but does not want it to lose its nuances. D. Skorton encouraged people to look back at the five overarching aspirations that were worked out with the deans about a year ago.

A. Craig asked K. Fuchs about the second part of the downsizing plan. K. Fuchs elaborated that the first part includes living within our means and the second part includes the long-term goals, which would be started in the fall. A. Craig then asked about student representation on the three oversight committees. K. Fuchs said the committees could not be large because they will need to make decisions quickly. But the three are just oversight groups, which would have many task forces under their umbrellas. He explained there would be a task force for each college, and students will be involved in some of the task forces.

E. Sanders said she thought some of the university’s financial difficulties traced back to bad decisions by past administrations. She emphasized how important it is to know how those past mistakes were made in order to prevent repeating them.

D. Skorton emphasized how challenging it is to plan the projects and extrapolate about future finances. He thinks that all those decisions were made with the belief that there is sufficient funding for the project’s completion without disrupting the campus equilibrium. He doesn’t believe there were major expense decisions made by only one or two people. He does want to develop a process that is more transparent, inclusive and communicative.

K. Speiser commented that currently the students have much higher expectations of the university in terms of facilities and the university also costs more to run now. D. Skorton said that is why strategic downsizing is needed to reduce costs rationally while affecting student life as minimally as possible.

L. Leon asked if the downsizing would affect the 7-college structure. K. Fuchs replied he had asked the faculty to be creative and not start with any preconceived notions about what ways to downsize.

VII. Additional Items from the Floor

M. Fontana said there will be a meeting with faculty and Cornell Store staff to discuss how to make the textbook buy-back cycle smoother and maximize the number of used textbooks purchased.

K. Laden said there would be a meeting next Wednesday with Sharon Dittman and other UA members to discuss the new structure of BUHS. He also mentioned representatives from CJC will be available at the next UA meeting to discuss the gorge safety issue and there would be a resolution on this.

A. Epstein mentioned the UA should do a review of its entire charter. A resolution will be put together.

J. Blair motion to extend the next meeting to 6:30 p.m. due to the amount of material that will be covered.

VIII. Adjournment

L. Laurence made a motion to adjourn the meeting. J. Blair seconded. R. Orme adjourned the meeting at 6:09 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Yang Zhang
Student Clerk, Office of the Assemblies