President Stephen C. Ainlay and his six senior staff members hosted two campus-wide panel discussions Tuesday to update faculty and staff on the impact of the economic downturn on the College and the plans to address it.
In a tone best described as realistic but confident, the president and senior administration assured the campus community that while Union is certainly not exempt from the effects of the recession, the College is in a much stronger position to respond to those effects than many of its peer institutions.
“Let me assure you that we are not here today to make any drastic announcements, but rather to provide information,” the president emphasized at the start of the session. “We want to share with you not only how Union is addressing economic challenges, but how we will continue to fulfill our critical mission as an institution.”
The president and leaders from the areas of Finance, College Relations, Student Affairs, Admissions, Academic Affairs and Diversity explained that while all three of the College’s major revenue streams—endowment income, tuition and fundraising—are under stress, Union is in a relatively strong position to react to this stress. The relative liquidity of the endowment, the strong applicant pool for next year’s class and a budget surplus in the current fiscal year were all cited as critical strengths.
“We are currently experiencing a very positive fiscal year,” said Diane Blake, vice president of Finance. “This means we are able to be proactive and deliberative in planning for future years when the decline in our endowment value will have a greater impact on our operations. Fortunately, we are not in a position where we need to take immediate action or sell assets in a down market.”
As part of the proactive planning process, the president invited each member of the campus community to submit cost savings ideas that could be implemented if necessary by the 2011-12 fiscal year. All ideas will be evaluated within the current budget planning and College governance structure to identify those with the potential to save money without jeopardizing the College’s mission and the goals laid out in the Strategic Plan.
“We are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to avoid layoffs as an option,” the president informed faculty and staff. “As sure as I’m sitting here, we will come out of this crisis. We will weather this storm and we will continue to move forward on our important objectives.”