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College President Catharine Bond Hill attended the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council meeting on March 28, answering questions on the College's financial situation. Hill fielded questions on situations ranging from the endowment to the English Department's faculty. Council members also questioned the extent to which the administration disseminates information about the College's financial situation to students.
On March 27, Hill had sent an e-mail to the community in which she provided an update on the school's finances. The e-mail explained the budget for next year and outlined the costs that will have to be cut. Hill wrote that one method of saving money was a 10 to 15 percent reduction in the College's workforce over the next three years.
At the start of the VSA Council meeting Terrace Apartments President Riane Harper '09 asked Hill about the comments made on a Facebook group entitled "Don't Let Vassar Silence Writers." The group is run by Vassar alumna M.B. Caschetta '88, who has been active in protesting the College's move to reduce adjunct teachers in the Department.
On the day of the Council meeting, Caschetta had posted a message on the Facebook group's wall stating, "The President has been hired by the Trustees to make Vassar ‘more competitive' and ‘fiscally viable,' and that's what she plans to do. Unfortunately, it appears her plans will involve huge layoffs of faculty and some shifts in priority."
Hill responded that she did not know where the group was getting its information from.
"They seem to be living in some alternate universe that I frankly don't really understand," she said.
Hill explained that Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette sent the English Department a number of total teaching hours that the College could fund, called Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) hours, along with the suggestion that the Department cut some of its faculty members in order to lower its FTE.
"[The letter] said, ‘Here's a way that you can meet this; if that's not acceptable to you, come back with an alternative proposal,'" said Hill. "Unfortunately, the English Department didn't do that. [Alumnae/i] just immediately went to the Facebook offensive...It hurts the English Department in both the external world and the internal world. Any student who is interested in creative writing and thinking about going to Vassar next year might see that Web page and decide to go somewhere else," she said. In the end, the English Department found a way to meet their allotted FTE without firing the adjunct professors—at least for this year.
Class of 2009 President Luis Hoyos then asked how students should communicate their support or reservations to the administration. This led to some discussion of the ways in which the administration communicates with students. Hill expressed regret that the administration did not talk to students about the College's financial situation earlier in the fall semester. "We started [communicating] fairly aggressively early on with faculty and staff and creative staff, and unfortunately we didn't do as much with students," she said. Hill pledged to hold forums at all of the college dormitories that she has not yet visited this year, and to do the same in senior housing.
Class of 2011 President Joseph Redwood-Martinez explained that many students believe that academics are experiencing more cuts than other areas of the College are, probably because they remain uninformed about plans to make cutbacks in administrative services.
"Sometimes [students] feel that the school is very quick to let a hit happen to the curriculum, but not when it comes to the big committee structures and everything that stays in place," Martinez said. Several Council members suggested that one or more administrators create a blog to inform students about financial decisions.
Hill replied that the administrators do not have the time to constantly provide students with detailed updates, and explained that some information cannot be released until it has been approved and confirmed by several groups.
"Some things you can't come out and talk about," said Hill. "Because they [concern] people sitting in positions and it just makes it a little harder to have open discussions about things."
She suggested that committee chairs and other members of VSA groups disseminate information about the issues they discuss.
"It's hard for [the administration] to do all of the communicating," said Hill. "It would be nice if the committee structure could do some of that. A certain number of committees have emerged as the important ones [for these discussions on the recession]. If we could figure out a way for those to communicate better, that would be a great start." Hill cited the Faculty Communications Committee and the Committee on Curricular Policy, among others, as examples of particularly important committees from the stance of her office.
Hill also explained that particular administrators have been working on increasing contact with students. "[Dean of the College] Chris Roellke is definitely thinking about things he can do in his area. I think we need to be more open, and I think we will be more open during the next two or three years," explained Hill.
In terms of the cuts made to the College, Hill noted that the administration is equally concerned with reducing faculty and staff. "If you compare faculty to non-faculty, the faculty actually has grown more during the last few years," she said. "We're thinking, at least as we go into it, that there are going to be equal percentage cuts on both sides."
Council members also asked Hill about the future of financial aid and need-blind admissions. She explained that the budget for financial aid next year is about $45 million.
When the size and financial aid needs of the Class of 2013 is finalized in May, administrators will know how much of that budget will need to be used. Hill expressed confidence that the College will be able to continue with need-blind admissions.
Overall, Hill stressed that the next few years will be rough for Vassar—like all of its peer colleges—but she remains optimistic about the school's future.
"We're one of the top liberal arts colleges, which compete with the top universities. All of those schools have suffered from the fact that their endowments are now worth about 30 percent less, so all of us are trying to reduce our costs. Everybody is thinking about how to respond to this," Hill said.
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