Spring Break
Long-term academic changes proposed
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 1/20/09
Posted online at 6:43 AM EST on 1/20/09
The administration and the Faculty Senate Council have suggested a major overhaul of the undergraduate academic curriculum to account for a sustained $10 million gap in the University's budget beyond fiscal year 2010, according to a Jan. 14 faculty e-mail sent by Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe and Faculty Senate Chair Prof. William Flesch (ENG).
The proposal calls for replacing the current 43 majors and 47 minors offered to undergraduates with a much smaller number of interdisciplinary meta-majors, increasing the size of the undergraduate student body by 12 percent, requiring a summer semester to be completed before junior year and decreasing the number of Arts and Sciences faculty by 10 percent. The curriculum changes will begin with the students entering in the fall of 2010.
Jaffe explained that the necessity for more deep-seated change became evident at the start of planning for fiscal year 2011, which will likely feature a decrease in revenue and gifts to the University. "Under the most likely scenario we have a more or less permanent gap between costs and revenue of something like $10 million a year," Jaffe said.
The University needs to spend a portion of its endowment each year to balance the budget, Jaffe said. He added that due to a Massachusetts law, Brandeis could not access funds in its endowment that have decreased beneath their original value due to the fall of the stock market.
Flesch said he had suggested that the administration lobby the Massachusetts legislature to change that law. The University can only access its reserves to make payments, Jaffe went on to say. "If the market continues at its current level, sometime in academic year 2010-2011, those reserves would be gone," he added.
Both Jaffe and Flesch emphasized that no details of the proposals are set in stone. "None of the details have been worked out," Jaffe said.
The Faculty Senate Council consists of Flesch and three faculty elected by the Faculty Senate each year.
The proposal calls for replacing the current 43 majors and 47 minors offered to undergraduates with a much smaller number of interdisciplinary meta-majors, increasing the size of the undergraduate student body by 12 percent, requiring a summer semester to be completed before junior year and decreasing the number of Arts and Sciences faculty by 10 percent. The curriculum changes will begin with the students entering in the fall of 2010.
Jaffe explained that the necessity for more deep-seated change became evident at the start of planning for fiscal year 2011, which will likely feature a decrease in revenue and gifts to the University. "Under the most likely scenario we have a more or less permanent gap between costs and revenue of something like $10 million a year," Jaffe said.
The University needs to spend a portion of its endowment each year to balance the budget, Jaffe said. He added that due to a Massachusetts law, Brandeis could not access funds in its endowment that have decreased beneath their original value due to the fall of the stock market.
Flesch said he had suggested that the administration lobby the Massachusetts legislature to change that law. The University can only access its reserves to make payments, Jaffe went on to say. "If the market continues at its current level, sometime in academic year 2010-2011, those reserves would be gone," he added.
Both Jaffe and Flesch emphasized that no details of the proposals are set in stone. "None of the details have been worked out," Jaffe said.
The Faculty Senate Council consists of Flesch and three faculty elected by the Faculty Senate each year.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
John Bottonari
posted 1/20/09 @ 1:42 PM EST
I am a man of modest means, so I can make no significant contribution toward budgetary remedy: $100 -- $200/year has been my limit. I am, however, surprised that Brandeis, having expended so much donors' money on buildings (on a campus which, by my memory, was spectacular in 1973, long before the current rebuilding began), has been knocked "partially-unconscious. (Continued…)
John Bottonari
posted 1/20/09 @ 1:46 PM EST
I am a bit surprised that the University--evidently on its way to rejoining the genuinely-elite schools, is--sort of--reeling.
Am I misunderstanding?
Travis
posted 1/20/09 @ 4:43 PM EST
Meta-majors? I'm all for experimental fields like the "International and Global Studies" major that was instituted my senior year, but I have discovered in the "real world" as I pursue a career path that more often than not these kinds of new-age majors just don't cut it. (Continued…)
Daniel Ortner
posted 1/20/09 @ 9:10 PM EST
So much for our academic quality not being affected by the downturn of the economy!
DLiebs
posted 1/21/09 @ 10:58 PM EST
I understand that the university is facing difficult economic times, and that we need to take some serious measures to stay afloat. We as students must accept that reality. (Continued…)
JD
posted 1/22/09 @ 6:32 PM EST
I am relieved to be graduating. I pity the incoming class, and what they're going to have to deal with for the next 4 years. 1/2 the grad students, taking away study abroad (after toting it as a perk, I'm sure), a 10% cut in faculty, and faux majors?
Enjoy the new admissions building. (Continued…)
Nikki
posted 1/24/09 @ 8:48 PM EST
i love this article but it's just not artist?
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