Jacob Schutz | Checking the University's balances

I never much considered the way the health of my University was tied to the well-being of the financial markets.

It is perhaps a naive state of mind, considering the presence of dear Wharton on our campus, but I always imagined that universities held a special position above the fray of economic cycles. I thought funding was consistently delivered by Amy Gutmann and a cabal of wealthy, cigar-smoking alumni whose simple laughter conjured piles of money for our University's most ambitious projects.

That, apparently, is not the case.

Several weeks ago, Gutmann wrote an e-mail to faculty and staff about how the turmoil in the markets was affecting the University. She wrote that Penn will "smooth" its budget to avoid spending decreases but also warned of the need to do "more with less." It was a contradictory message fit for any president, vaguely reassuring yet also asking for some amount of sacrifice.

Two weeks ago Harvard President Drew Faust made national news for sending a similarly worded e-mail (an e-mail, Harvard? How pedestrian) to students and staff at her hallowed University. In it, she warned that Harvard must prepare for a period of "financial restraint." Which, for the university, probably means holding off on gold-plated toilet seats, just until things stabilize a bit.

While Penn's endowment only funds a comparatively small portion of its operating budget, our belts will undoubtedly be tighter in the upcoming years because of the financial markets.

The Daily Pennsylvanian's account that University officials are holding off on putting course syllabi online because of budget "belt-tightening," if true, would represent a worrisome situation. Such a project would have a very real impact on student life, by making course planning a more exact science, and its cost would be in the low hundreds of thousands at a time when Penn is raising billions for its capital campaign.

It is the type of situation, at least, that student leaders should look for when dealing with University finances. Administration officials are not fools and will not come out forthright to announce budget cuts in big, loud headlines.

For instance, in an article last year describing a budget cut to the College's faculty-recruitment program, Dean Dennis DeTurck spun the cuts as the result of how successful the program had been in the previous year ("SAS recruiting budget scaled back" DP 4/16/07). Similarly, the University used the special expense of bringing stoner-actor-hack Kalpen Modi to campus for a semester to try to lower the Asian Studies department budget. After Modi left, administration officials tried to use the lower budget (which excluded the special cost of bringing Modi) as the baseline for the department's budget ("Lower ASAM budget criticized" DP 4/1/08 and "ASAM and admins fix budgeting dispute" DP 4/3/08).

Such back-room ways of dealing with budget constraints does harm to the University - not necessarily because of the cuts themselves but because it means students don't know what is happening with funding. It requires student leaders to be extra vigilant in watching where money is going or not going.

I am not denying the need to tighten budgets during this time. Nor do I think students need to be isolated from such cuts. But University officials and current students have very different interests, and it is important to understand these differences to avoid naively accepting all University decisions as wisdom from on high.

University officials have a long-term, institutional vision for Penn. Students have a four-year vision. There obviously must be balance between these two views of the University - I'd understand if administrators didn't want to spend $6 billion on Spring Fling. Indeed, although the University may try to "smooth" spending, nothing can compensate for economy this far down the tubes. Yet with all the talk of long-term eastward expansion and new buildings, students must ensure that adequate money is being spent on students who are here now.

If you are a student leader and know of a department or group losing money, dig harder. Send a tip to The Daily Pennsylvanian. Send listserv e-mails. Ask questions. It is our responsibility to help shape the University budget. In a time of economic downturn that responsibility is all the more important.

Jacob Schutz is a College junior from Monument, Colo. His email is schutz@dailypennsylvanian.com. The MacGuffin appears every Monday.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.