The Conglomerate

Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Campus/Local

Despite the email announcing the event never reaching student's inboxes, at least 100 students attended a meeting held by the administration on Monday evening in the Whited Room. The purpose of the meeting, said President Schwab and Dr. Mike Easton, Interim Executive Vice President of Operations, was to help inform students about Centenary's position in the economic crisis and hint at what the Trustees might have in store for Centenary in the future.

The 8 pm meeting for students was supposed to occur on the same day as those for faculty and staff, and was expected to present more concrete information based on what the executive council of the Board of Trustees had decided last Friday, according to Schwab. However, the Trustees apparently were unable to come to any decisions, so the faculty and staff meetings were cancelled, but it was decided to continue with the student's meeting. According to Schwab, he felt it was important to present what information they could to the students, as well as "quell some rumors that had been flying around campus-like that the school was closing next year. That's not true at all!"

Since the Trustees have not officially decided on any potential policy changes, there was little concrete information that Schwab and Easton could provide, except to try and explain Centenary's responses to the economic crisis thus far and some of what the Board might be considering at their May 8th meeting.

Easton noted that, due to the economic crisis, Centenary has been trying to find ways to both draw in extra funds and economize spending. In the fall, the Financial Strategies Committee, a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees, was charged with trying to find how to "best strengthen the school in times of crisis," says Easton. The committee has been meeting since October, often with outside consultants, to decide on recommendations on how best to help Centenary continue strongly in the face of a decreased endowment.

In an email Schwab sent to students, faculty and staff in mid-March, he noted that the endowment-assets donated to the college that are invested and used as income-has decreased approximately 20%. Schwab also said that the school was looking to reduce the budget by $1.5 million, though at Monday's meeting he commented that "this has been the second strongest fundraising year we've had, and Admissions has received more applications than ever before."

This still doesn't make up for the imbalance, so the Trustees will be trying to find ways to continue to economize the budget without sacrificing quality, according to Easton. "However, we have to make sure that we're concentrating our resources so that what we do, we do well. We can't be all things to all people, and it may be that some things have to be cut," Easton said. According to Dr. Hammond at the Student Satisfaction Survey presentation last week, all faculty members have taken a 10% pay cut.

Continued...

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