<p>most people don't understand how university's are run.</p>
<p>i'm currently a student at harvard. even though harvard's endowment is still larger than every other institution in the world (including the Vatican), harvard is currently in financial shambles. they rely on their endowment for half of their operating budget, and are now taking drastic measures to cut costs.</p>
<p>by contrast, brown only relies on endowment for 20% of the operating budget. they are in a much better place than many of the other ivies to weather the economic downturn.</p>
<p>Even if Brown has the weakest endowment of all the Ivies, it still has a pretty good endowment compared to the majority of schools in the US. And it's good practice that they're not entirely dependent on their endowment compared to some other richer schools. It's also a tribute to the fact that Brown is run differently from other schools. </p>
<p>Though, my gripe is that if they have the resources to build a new swimming pool (is this really necessary?) and a new art center (ok I see the benefits of this), they should have enough resources to gather up to keep hiring faculty and improving what is already an excellent undergrad education.</p>
<p>That's now how resources work at a university, ab2013. That money going to specific infrastructure programs donated specifically for that purpose by alumni-- we can't just spend it on anything. Additionally, we've hired 100 new faculty members in the last several years-- break neck pace, essentially, to the point where additional graduate students, support, and even classroom space has lagged way behind the rate of increasing the size of our faculty. The result is that we're not fully utilizing the faculty we currently have, forget about continued expansion.</p>
<p>Of course, mostly, this has to do with the first point-- alumni donate X thousand dollars (or million, in some cases) specifically for the Creative Arts Center and Brown cannot turn around and spend that on hiring new faculty. If more alumni begin donating money to create endowed positions in departments, that's one way that we would be able to increase faculty again through a different revenue stream but that's a slow and rare process.</p>
<p>Woops sorry my bad. But seriously ... if I were an alumni I would donate specifically to help Brown expand on its wonderful resources ... not to build a new swimming pool. </p>
<p>Not sure if you are aware since you don't go here but our swimming pool sort of became an unsafe structure and we only have a temp pool in a little bubble behind hidden behind the OMAC. And said money, I'm pretty sure, was donated a while back before our present situation.</p>
<p>the plan for academic enrichment encompasses improving all "resources", from faculty to modernization of the facilities. from what i understand, classroom space is quickly becoming a commodity.</p>
<p>ab2013: Building a new pool is critical, and should be a top priority. I'm an alum who likes all her donations to go to financial aid, but I would be the first to say that Brown needs to build a new pool ASAP -- or sooner. The current situation is unacceptable for the short term. I'd rather see a new pool than the creative arts building, and I'm fine with Faunce the way it is.</p>
<p>And there really only seems to be one CC person who thinks Brown's financial situation is worse than other schools.</p>
<p>Actually, just 18% for Brown. Harvard uses 48% and Princeton over 50%.
Brown is definitely in much better place than most of the ivies in that regard.</p>
<p>This press release was made today by President Ruth to inform the community about the meeting of the Corporation. It seems to me that all of this is, typically, prudent and I am very impressed with the conclusions of the Corporation. I am pleased to see that several important buildings will be able to go forward (Swim Center AND Creative Arts Center! ) and that renovations will take place as needed. I am sad that growth of the Graduate Center will not happen. But all in all, I think it’s a very good plan.</p>
