The administration is in the planning stages of conducting a review of University staffing levels in comparison to those of other educational institutions, according to Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Jeffrey Apfel. Apfel said that the review would entail a comprehensive look at whether there are departmental areas that are understaffed or overstaffed after last year's cuts, as well as whether there are ways for such areas to work more effectively. He said that the University would look at between eight and 12 other institutions and that he anticipated the review would take several months and be completed before the end of the academic year.

University President Jehuda Reinharz announced that Apfel would oversee the review at a Sept. 3 faculty meeting after receiving many requests for such a review from faculty. Noting the fiscal challenges Brandeis faced last year and will continue to face, Reinharz reflected on the pain experienced by all segments of the University and the 76 employees that were let go last year. Regarding the review, Reinharz said at the meeting, "Maybe we'll find that we've done everything, maybe there are new efficiencies we haven't thought about."

In an e-mail to the Justice, Apfel wrote that last year's staff cuts were based on extensive discussions and scenarios to analyze what measures would best meet the fiscal needs of the University and have the least effect on students.

The creation of an administrative review committee, initially suggested on the faculty listserv, was discussed at a May 5 Faculty Senate meeting. However, the minutes of the meeting state that "the Senate sees many potential pitfalls to this committee, such as the negative effect on staff morale, and feels further steps toward such a committee should be taken very carefully. The real challenge is the composition of such a committee."

Apfel said he has scheduled a meeting with his own staff to begin discussing the details of the plan. Eventually staff from other areas that the review would oversee, such as Academics or Student Life, would also become involved, Apfel said.

Apfel said that the review would likely involve some degrees of both internal and external work. "I've got to figure out how I'm going to deploy the staff to do it, because in a lot of areas people don't have a lot of time on their hands, ... but at the same time, I don't want to go out and spend a lot of money to bring in a consultant," he said.

"Since we're not out of the woods yet, as we are implementing the various Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee recommendations for enrollment and for faculty. ... We still ... need to try and take a hard look to see what our staffing patterns are," Apfel said.

He added that he would consider more extensive research beyond the focus on staffing if he thought it beneficial. "If there are other things we can do that can be useful that provide community insight into how we compare with other institutions, then I want to do that too, ... but I haven't quite defined what that means yet.

Apfel explained that the review would look at administrative units that different institutions have in common. "[There's] probably a way that we can go and compare how many people are in the controller's office here or physical facilities here compared to Brandeis," he said.

Apfel said the review would ask, "What does it take to get these jobs done at other places?"

The study would also look at appropriate institutions for comparison and therefore would not look at large schools such as the University of California, Berkeley or small colleges without large science departments or research, Apfel said.

Apfel emphasized that differences in staffing levels would not necessarily reflect negatively. "Maybe we have more because we do more things or because our physical plant is different," he said.

"I don't want this to just stop at the level of 'Williams has 10 people and Amherst has 11 people.' ... It shouldn't stop there." He explained that wanted to see "how can we learn why those variances exist and whether there is anything we can do about them to create greater efficiencies."

As a newcomer, he emphasized that he has heard anecdotal evidence that some departments feel overworked. He pointed out that that the Office of Research Administration has seen an increase in workload due to processing information related to the federal stimulus package. "Their level of work has gone up a huge amount, and they all have the same number of people to cover it," he said.

He recalled that while he was at the Rhode Island School of Design, faculty were concerned that the administration was spending too much money on its own staff. In that situation, RISD looked at public financial statements of comparable schools and found that the amount of money it spent was similar to that of other institutions; however, what it spent on financial aid was less while its academic expenditures were higher on academic programs was more.

For a study focused primarily on staffing, he said he did not expect all the information to be publicly available. For that reason, he said direct consultation with the other institutions could be necessary.

Apfel emphasized that the study would be very insightful to him as a new administrator "At one level it may be that this came from the faculty side, . [but] as the newcomer, I have every reason in the world to want to do it myself. I want to understand how the place works," he said.