Federal govt. cuts Lauder, ME Center grants

The federal government tweaked the University recently, denying two established programs decades-old subsidies, throwing one of the programs into limbo. The U.S. Education Department unexpectedly denied the Middle East Center a grant amounting to 50 percent of the Center's income, leaving the Center's future at the whim of a deficit-ridden School of Arts and Sciences. The Middle East Center -- which coordinates lectures, courses and study abroad for dozens of departments -- had received these "Title VI" subsidies since the the Center's inception in 1965. In a less-surprising move, the DOE denied money to the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies, causing a 15 percent drop in income. The Lauder Institute -- which provides a dual master's-MBA degree and emphasizes foreign languages and study abroad -- had received the three-year renewable grant since the Institute's founding in 1986. Although rejected Title VI applications include commentary from the three academic reviewers hired by the DOE, neither center would discuss DOE's comments, which are not public record. But representatives from the Lauder Institute would say that a $10 million gift last year from co-founder Leonard Lauder provides adequate compensation for the loss. "Given the generosity of Leonard Lauder, [the rejection] won't affect our programs," said Lauder Director Stephen Kobrin, a management professor. The Middle East Center is not so lucky. "We will basically be working on a reduced budget," said Center Director Everett Rowson, an associate professor of Arabic, Asian and Middle East Studies. "This is a major and unexpected setback, and we've got to look to the future." He added that "our essential strength is our Middle East faculty, and that will remain intact" because it is hired by the University, not the Center. Rowson said he is confident SAS can help fill the Center's funding gap, and that he has been negotiating with Interim SAS Dean Walter Wales "in the course of this week." But Wales said he is focusing on larger issues -- like balancing the SAS budget. "At this point in time we're focusing mostly on next year's school budget," he said. "I haven't focused attention on the Middle East Center." "If [Center] funding is restored, I assume it will come from Arts and Sciences resources, which are in relatively limited supply," Wales added. Any decision on the Center would "certainly not come in the next couple of weeks," he said. The average Title VI "National Resource Center" grant was $157,440 in fiscal year 1996, according to the DOE's International Education and Graduate Programs Service. Both the Lauder Institute and the Middle East Center had also received several Title VI "Foreign Language Fellowships," which average $8,000, plus tuition and fees. The African Studies Center, Center for East Asia Studies and South Asia Center all received Title VI grants, with the new East Asia Center receiving its first grant and the recently established African Studies Center seeing a one-third increase in funding, along with three new fellowships. Many administrators and faculty insisted there was "no correlation" between the loss of Middle East Center funding and the increase in money for other area studies. "There is an immensely rigorous and complex set of criteria," said African Studies Center Director Sandra Barnes, an Anthropology professor. Barnes said the DOE told her that the only decline in grants nationally was for Eastern Europe Studies. Professor of Asia and Middle East Studies Roger Allen, who is associated with both centers, agreed that the DOE doesn't favor certain area studies, but he blamed the University for letting the Middle East Center become mediocre according to national standards. "There's a big push in African Studies and a big push in East Asian Studies" at the University, he said, resulting in relative neglect of Middle East Studies. "Other universities have expanded their Middle East programs and now have a national profile we don't have," Allen added. "Penn now comes up a bit short." He said it is "quite possible" that the financial crisis could deteriorate the Center enough to prevent it from ever competing for a Title VI grant again. Politics does play a part in the Lauder Institute decision, he added. "There is an anti-elitist tilt through the whole thing," Allen said. "It is public knowledge that they got a $10 million grant from Leonard Lauder." Regardless, faculty, administrators and students took the Lauder Institute's loss with equanimity. "It's a blip on the screen," second-year Lauder student David Saef said. "The feeling among the business community is that Lauder is doing cutting-edge work." But second-year Lauder student Ed Wilson said "the quality of teaching in the rest of the [non-Lauder] graduate department is better." "That's one thing that has frustrated a lot of Lauder students," Wilson said. "The level of teaching is not up to par with the rest of the University."

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