Board of Trustees continues to consider Dartmouth's budget

Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
Posted 04/06/09 • Media Contact: Roland Adams (603) 646-3661

Board acts to authorize the sale of tax-exempt bonds for facilities, and votes on the re-election of members whose terms are expiring

The Trustees of Dartmouth College met in Hanover April 4-5, following a very active start to 2009.  In March, the Board announced the appointment of Dartmouth’s 17^th President, who succeeds President James Wright on July 1.  In February, the Board endorsed the Administration’s Budget Reconciliation Plan to decrease the institution-wide operating budget of $700 million by $72 million between now and fiscal year 2011, and voted to increase undergraduate tuition, room and board by 4.8 percent (to $49,974) and financial aid by 13 percent (to nearly $72 million).

At the April meeting, the Board continued to consider Dartmouth’s budget, with a focus on the Dartmouth Medical School, which is developing its own strategic plan.  The Board endorsed a preliminary financial plan for DMS, which calls for an 11 percent decrease in the medical school’s $230 million budget by $25 million between now and 2011 (as part of the institution-wide target).

The Board acted to authorize the sale of tax-exempt bonds for facilities, to vote on re-election of members whose terms were expiring, to authorize construction of a new loading dock for Spaulding Auditorium, and to approve the College’s Affirmative Action Plan.

The Board also received presentations on the status of the $1.3 billion Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience and on the arts at Dartmouth and how the proposed Visual Arts Center (VAC) would enhance academic and student life.

Vice President for Development Carolyn Pelzel reported that the Campaign has achieved $1.17 billion or 90 percent of its $1.3 billion goal to date.  Giving to the Dartmouth College Fund totaled $24.5 million as of March 30, which is $3.6 million behind the amount raised at this time last year.  “Participation is remaining fairly steady, but some donors are giving at lower levels,” Pelzel said.  She also reported that a  number of alumni and parents are stepping forward with exceptional gifts in recognition of  the College's dependence on the Fund, which has a $40 million goal for this fiscal year.  

Dean of Faculty Carol Folt, Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities Kate Conley and Associate Provost Mary Gorman gave the Visual Arts Center presentation. The VAC represents one of the major goals of the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience.  The 99,000-square-foot building remains under review to determine its financial feasibility.  Designed by architects Machado and Silvetti Associates, the Center would be the new home of the academic departments of Studio Art and Film & Media Studies and would contain teaching and production studios, a digital laboratory, classrooms, exhibition space, a screening room, an auditorium for film projection and faculty and administrative offices.  The Board has requested a detailed financial plan.

The Board met informally on Saturday over lunch with student members of Palaeopitus, a senior honorary and leadership society, and later with a number of faculty members over dinner at the home of President Wright and Susan DeBevoise Wright.

The Board also took action to:

• Authorize the sale of $165 million in tax-exempt bonds to support facilities projects, including the construction of the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center, which began in September 2008, and the renovation of the New Hampshire residence hall, which re-opened last month for Spring term.  The LSC, also supported by gifts,  represents a $93 million investment to provide 174,500 square feet of space devoted to undergraduate and graduate-level teaching and research, including classrooms, teaching and faculty labs, an auditorium and offices for the Department of Biology (presently housed in Gilman Hall).  Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2011.
• Approve the re-election of trustees who have completed their first terms.  Informed by its standards for trustee service and the customary evaluation process, the Board elected six trustees to serve second terms: John J. Donahoe ’82, R. Bradford Evans ’64, Board Chair Charles E. Haldeman ’70, Albert G. Mulley ’70, Peter M. Robinson ’79 and Thurman J. Rodgers ’70. A seventh trustee, Todd J. Zywicki '88, was not reelected.
• Authorize construction, for this summer, of a new loading dock for the Hopkins Center, which has moved all performances out of Spaulding Auditorium for July and August.  The loading dock will be reconfigured this summer for parallel entry, and is scheduled to re-open in September. This enabling project, approved by the Hanover Planning Board in February, is necessary if the Lebanon Street site is to be developed for other uses, including the proposed Visual Arts Center, which remains under review.
• Institute a new student service fee for fiscal year 2010 at the Dartmouth Medical School (students may qualify for additional financial aid).   In February, the Board approved a 6 percent increase in DMS tuition to $42,525. With the new student service fee, DMS tuition and fees combined will have increased up to 8.9 percent for FY 2010. 
• Approve the institution’s 2009 Affirmative Action Plan (AAP), which was presented to the Board by Provost Barry Scherr, Evelynn Ellis, director of Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action, and Susan Rosales Nelson, associate director for EO/AA.  Every year, the Office of Institutional Diversity & Equity produces the AAP, which is submitted to the President and Board for approval.  The AAP is a management tool which includes an analysis of the racial and gender composition of the institution’s workforce compared with the composition of the labor pool from which Dartmouth draws its applicants. The AAP also documents the College's efforts to remain in compliance with applicable laws and government regulations. As of Nov.1, 2008, Dartmouth's tenured, tenure-track, and voting faculty across its four schools totaled 1,229, of which 34 percent were women and 10.7 percent were minorities.  In the most recent survey of six Ivy League schools on faculty demographic composition, Dartmouth's (non-medical) faculty ranked highest in percentage of women.