At a March 23 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a $356 million University operating budget for fiscal 2011 as well as the Brandeis 2020 committee's recommendations that were accepted by Provost Marty Krauss. The budget for fiscal 2011 includes revenues from an increase of 100 in undergraduate enrollment, the second stage of the University's plan to grow the student body that began with an additional 100 students in the class of 2013. According to last year's academic restructuring plan, the University is raising enrollment by 400 students over four years.

To close a projected deficit, the trustees voted to take $11.1 million out of the University's reserves or quasi-endowment, which corresponds to a spending rate of 6.8 percent from the endowment, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Fran Drolette wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. In addition to restoring the University's retirement contributions starting in July, the budget also includes a 2-percent merit raise increase pool for faculty and staff earning an annual base salary lower than $150,000.

According to a March 26 University press release, the University projects that the deficit will drop to $6.3 million in 2012 and $1.8 million in 2013, with a $600,000 surplus in 2014. According to the press release, the budget projects $320,000 in savings from faculty reductions.

"The projections in the University's long-range plan include a reduction in the endowment draw rate each year, until FY 2013-2014, when it is expected to be down to 5%," Drolette wrote in an e-mail.

The budget also projects savings of $200,000 from renegotiated pricing for gas used for energy as well as savings of $90,000 from Library and Technology Services, which includes an initiative to implement hosted applications for e-mail and calendaring services.

Also, part of the budget is a 3.9 percent increase in tuition and fees, with tuition set at $38,994, that together with average room and board fee puts the cost of attendance over $50,000 for the first time. The increase in tuition and fees will cover increased costs to the University, including financial aid, Drolette wrote.

She explained that due to the Massachusetts adoption of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, the University could avoid going deeper into its reserves and instead continue to fund activities such as financial aid or salaries with endowments that have decreased under their original value, which the prior laws prohibited.

Trustees approved the termination of the Master of Arts in Cultural Production, the Master of Fine Arts in Theater and external admission to the master's program in Anthropology. They also approved the termination of the Ph.D. program in Biochemistry and the Ph.D. program in Biophysics and Structural Biology, while authorizing the creation of a new Ph.D. program in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry as a replacement.

At the undergraduate level, the trustees approved the termination of the Internet Studies minor and the Italian Studies major as well as the Yiddish and European Studies minor and the Hebrew Language and Literature major, both of which the Near East and Judaic Studies Department will incorporate as tracks. The trustees also voted to end the B.A./M.A. Programs in Anthroplogy, History, Physics and Politics.

Other 2020 proposals only needed Krauss' approval, such as the reorganization of American Studies as an interdepartmental program and the reorganization of the science departments within a Division of Science.

The proposals are expected to save the University $3.8 million annually and result in the in a short-term cut of 12 to 14 full- and part-time staff and contract faculty starting in the summer of 2011.

"The Board was very, very complementary about the work that had been done really over the last year. . They're very very appreciative to the faculty that took this seriously and did a very difficult job," Krauss said in an interview following the meeting.

Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe said that there would be further discussions with affected departments to implement the changes.

Jaffe said that one measure that the University will also re-evaluate over the coming year is the Justice Brandeis Semester program, which was approved during last year's academic restructuring process as a way to accommodate increased enrollment by offering experiential courses with the option of a semester off later on and off-campus during the academic year. Five of the eight approved JBS courses did not receive the required number of eight applications and will not take place, according to Jaffe.

"What we have realized is that we can't count on the JBS as a major part of the strategy to accommodate the increasing number of students," Jaffe said at an open forum yesterday.

Faculty Senate Chair Sabine von Mering (GRALL) wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the Senate welcomed the raise pool and the return of retirement contributions but that the broader implications of Brandeis 2020 will still need to be discussed including "the balance of graduate vs undergraduate education, the role of the professional schools, and such potential new initiatives as distance learning," she wrote.

For Rebecca Wilkof '10, the financial challenges became personal when she found out that that the contract of her Spanish professor, Olmanda Hernandez-Guerrero (ROMS), had not been renewed. She started a Facebook group calling for Hernandez-Guerrero to remain at Brandeis.

Hernandez-Guerrero, who started at Brandeis in 1999, said that since learning about the end of her contract, she had applied to many other positions, finding herself competing with 200 to 300 applicants. "During times like this we people who have contracts . have no security in our jobs." But she added that she was very thankful that the University had honored its obligation to grant her sabbatical pay for the coming year even though she would not be able to return afterward.

Department Chair Prof. Edward Kaplan (ROMS) explained that Hernandez-Guerrero was the only contract faculty member whose contract was up for renewal this year and that the department "did not have enough sections authorized in Spanish and she was not renewed for that simple financial reason. . There's nothing extraordinary about the situation, except that it's sad that it happens to a wonderful human being." Jaffe said the non-renewal of her contract was not part of Brandeis 2020 or the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee's reductions but part of the University's regular budgetary process.

At yesterday's open forum, students raised concerns about housing, academics, fundraising and the swim team in addition to concerns about the financial future of the University.

Reinharz noted at the forum that it had been difficult to raise money for capital projects such as residence halls and added that he felt that it would be "more and more difficult to raise unrestricted funds." Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy called it "the heartbreak of this year that we have not been able to come up with a solution that works" for the Lindsey pool.



-Fiona Lockyer contributed reporting.