There is a possibility that the Trustees will ask the administration to come up with a budget that involves deeper cuts, said College Business Manager Karen Dearborn Grimmer. She said they “could very well say, this is great, this will meet the need for now, or they could say it’s not enough.” 

The college budget consists of two roughly equal halves: operational expenses and salary expenses. This past winter, the administration requested that each department reevaluate their operating budget and aim to reduce their expenses by 10%. In order to approach the 10% goal in salary expenses, Grimmer explained, the administration “made the decision to close that gap towards the 10% overall request by putting a pause on hiring unfilled slots, faculty and staff. Some slots, we are moving forward with hiring. But we had to put a pause – at least for the next year – on some, in order to even approach our 10%.” 

One area of Principia that has made successful cuts is the Guest House, which was able to reach the 10% budget reduction goal through a combination of shortened hours for staff and small variations in established protocols. An example, said Guest House Manager Diane Speer, is a creative solution to reducing both energy and operational costs. Instead of sending the guest towels out with the other linens to be cleaned by an outside company, the towels are being washed in-house by Guest House staff.

An important aspect of the budget process, said Palmer and Grimmer, is the “greening” of Principia. Though up-front costs may be prohibitive, “we’d love to get there.” Palmer mentioned that by 2010, “our energy will be carbon-neutral.” Grimmer also noted the growing importance of environmentally sustainable practices across the campus.

“Being green is important, and changing the culture both on the part of the school and on the part of the community members,” Grimmer said. “Both of those things need to happen in order for us to be successful at moving to a more green campus and saving money.”

Energy- and money-saving solutions have been implemented across departments and campuses. Telecom, for example, opted to send an electronic version of the spring directory rather than printing an entirely new version for only a few updates. In Mail and Copy Services, the inter-campus mail is now being delivered between the Elsah and St. Louis campuses via the daily school bus. Previously, this service required the costs of an individual’s salary and gas for the transport vehicle.

Though progress has been made, All-Campus Eco-Head Amber Dahlin urged the administration to “take more initiative about things like updating appliances and light bulbs to energy efficient ones,” as a budget-reducing measure. She mentioned that by looking at the heating systems in Ferguson and Joe McNabb houses, the “system can be improved to save a lot of money.”

Concerning student involvement in the process, Palmer said he has been encouraged by the level of student input and the quality of suggestions as they filter through Student Activities Board and Presidential Board. Any direct effect the proposed budgetary changes will have on students, however, will be primarily “at the margins,” such as reductions in services like grounds maintenance.

“I think the decisions have been made wisely here,” said Palmer. “I don’t anticipate that students are going to see huge differences.”

This response comes despite popular belief that the changes are already felt in many areas of daily life. “I was amused – I had heard a couple of students say, ‘Wow, I already can tell about the reduction in Dining Services.’ Well, there is no reduction in Dining Services for this year,” said Palmer.

The largest single savings, according to Palmer, has come from delaying capital projects, which represents one thread of Palmer’s three-pronged “people, programs, and place” strategy. “We continue to recruit and hire faculty, we continue to schedule classes going forward, [and] we continue to have a variety of [academic] offerings,” said Palmer. 

Palmer added that a new set of fees may be implemented to aid in the “re-calibration” of college spending.

“We’ve begun a conversation more recently with student government about which fees make the most sense to really cover some of our ongoing costs in areas that are important to students,” said Palmer, “and also some fees in areas which are optional to students so that if they decide to do something there may be a fee involved.”

These fees would be placed on non-essential items such as parking passes on campus. Grimmer said that the plan is not to require vehicles of everyone, but that “those that do bring a car might have to contribute more to parking lots, roads, and walkways [than those without a personal vehicle].”

If the Board of Trustees denies the 8.3% proposal this week, Principia will have to make more substantial changes to reduce the budget gap. Grimmer mentioned that more reductions to the budget could require some radical programmatic changes.

“We cannot continue to just skim 10% off the top of everything and still do things well,” Grimmer said. “I think you can do a little bit of that, and people can still achieve what their purpose is. But anything more than that, I think we have to start looking at not doing some things.” 

Palmer took a similar stance: “It gets tougher and tougher as we think about potential next rounds, because we’ve already cut things that are important. So if we go another level, all you have in front of you are things that are important.” 

In the end, said Grimmer, “it’s got to be something that comes from the people who are doing the work, because they’re going to be the people who can say, gee, there’s a better way.”

Following an announcement that the position of vocal instructor will be suspended next year, students have led a campus-wide media blitz, as the continuity of the choral program appears to be in jeopardy. College President Jonathan Palmer announced the suspension of the music faculty position, along with other posts to be left vacant, last Thursday in an email to the Principia community.

Following Palmer’s announcement, students organized a “Save the Choir” campaign including fliers, Facebook groups, and a petition that has gathered more than 300 signatures from students and an additional 50 from faculty, staff, and alumni.

Several members of the Creative Arts and Communication Unit have reacted to the news with surprise and frustration, saying the administration failed to seek their input before finalizing the decision.

“This was not an easy decision to make,” Palmer wrote in a follow-up email Monday. “It is solely due to campus-wide budget cutbacks and does not reflect any lack of support for the Music Department.”

“The most recent decisions on faculty slots included discussions among faculty unit heads and faculty departments,” Palmer wrote. “The faculty helped provide underlying principles for reductions, including the impact and ability of departments to continue to function and the number of majors in departments.”

Palmer’s email also listed other positions that will be suspended for budget reasons, including a two-quarter Studio Art professor, Language Lab Manager, Project Centered Learning professor, and Technical Services librarian.

Campus confusion about decision, process

Since the announcement, many faculty and students have stepped forward, saying they were not included in the decision process, and that the administration’s communication has been unclear throughout this most recent phase of the budget diet.

“[Palmer] didn’t have all the information that he should have,” said Jureit. “He didn’t go around to the faculty, like to the music department [to solicit input].”

According to Dave McFarland, head of the Creative Arts and Communication Unit, Dean of Academics Scott Schneberger went to the unit heads’ meeting Tuesday afternoon of Week 6 to ask them to identify positions that could be cut. The circumstances surrounding these original conversations that led to faculty recommendations about personnel decisions were reported on in an earlier issue of the Pilot.

“We said, ‘when do you want the answer?’ ” said McFarland. “And he said, ‘now.’”

Schneberger explained that the speed of the decision was due to the trustees’ visit during Weeks 6 and 7. He said the administration “wanted to tell them [the Trustees], ‘Okay, we can take these cuts but they’re going to hurt.’”

He explained that the 24-hour window of discussion time given to the unit heads was “very unfortunate, but it had to do with timing, with the Trustees.”

The unit heads were given until Wednesday of Week 6 to review with their units a list of 15 faculty positions to be suspended, and to justify whether these could be cut without putting the programs or the students at risk.

“When it came to Music,” said McFarland, “I said, ‘you can’t cut Music because you cut vocal music, you cut half the music program.’” The unit heads’ response to this assertion was “no objections, no questions,” he added.

Current vocal instructor Sara Rockabrand said in a phone interview that when the Creative Arts and Communication Unit met to discuss the choir position, “we didn’t even spend much time on it because everyone said, ‘Of course we can’t cut that.’”

But Schneberger said budget constraints forced the administration’s hand on the vocal position suspension. “We needed to delay the hiring on one more [position], and that ended up being the music spot,” he said. “It came down to, well, since there isn’t a candidate for this position, and they have four faculty members … we just didn’t see another other viable choice but to cut that one.”

In addition, Schneberger said, the Music department currently employs five faculty for only eight to ten majors. A faculty slot in the Chemistry department had also been considered for suspension, he said, but “if we don’t hire that, we would probably have to shut down the Chemistry department.”

When Palmer’s email reached the campus Thursday of Week 9, Rockabrand said, “It seemed to be not in accord with our priorities. It did seem not as well thought out.”

Music department chair Marie Jureit contended that Palmer and Schneberger had not made a credible effort to solicit input from the Music faculty. “When [the suspension] was officially announced,” she said, “[I was] in utter disbelief that there was absolutely no consultation with the faculty at all.”

“It shows a lack of respect … for the faculty, not to come to them and talk to them,” said Jureit. “If you’re going to cut any position in any department, you should go to that department and say, ‘We’re faced with this dilemma. Help us to understand what the impact will be on the program, on the school.’”

Student reaction

Students have formulated their own response to the position’s suspension. Freshman choir member Katlyn Straub created a group on social networking site Facebook.com called “Save the Voice Instructor Position!” Within several days, the group had over 160 members.

Palmer said he appreciated the effectiveness of the multimedia student-driven effort, though Palmer said the Facebook group was “a little disappointing to me, because I think it got … over the top.”

Straub, freshman Music major Marla Hansen, and sophomore Music major Blake Hansen also posted fliers in support of the vocal program and started a petition on campus showing support for retaining the vocal instructor position. Marla said that approximately 300 students have signed it, in addition to faculty and Principia community members.

“The fact that students took the initiative on this,” said Blake, “is a really powerful asset to Principia in trying to preserve what we believe to be very important positions.”

Straub emphasized that neither the petition, Facebook group, nor fliers were initiated by or at the request of the Music department. Rather, she said, the initiative came from a group of several musicians, both instrumental and vocal, who are passionate about saving the program.

In the “Save the Voice Instructor Position!” group’s description, Straub wrote that the group’s purpose is to “exhibit our steadfast support for the choral department” and “communicate the positive impacts” that a voice instructor “[contributes] to the cause of Christian Science.”

“I think it’s important for people to be able to express their questions and their opinions,” said Straub, “and I thought Facebook was the best way.”

Senior Music major Christa Seid-Graham, whose focus is vocal performance, said: “There’s so much more to the program that they [the administration] don’t realize is there … it’s not just one faculty position or one instrument or one class such as choir that they’re cutting. It’s a whole experience.”

Freshman Kyle Whitney, who declared his Music major last week, said that because the choir program has been suspended, he will transfer out of Principia next year to attend a college with a vocal program. “The music major is what I’m in college for,” he said, “and if there’s no vocal department, there’s no real need for me to be at this college.”

Behind the scenes of the suspension

The position of vocal instructor was filled this year by visiting professor Sara Rockabrand, who taught fifteen hours of lessons a week and conducted the college choir. Rockabrand, who officially retired from teaching music in 2006, said that she turned in a formal application for vocal instructor for the 2009-2010 school year after talking with Schneberger “to ask if he would support [her]” applying for the full-time position.

“Because of the financial times, I didn’t want to go through the process of applying if the dean was going to say, ‘We can’t pay you,’” she said. She said that after Schneberger told her, “we want to pay you what you’re worth,” she completed the application process.

Rockabrand’s application notwithstanding, Schneberger said, the Music department has struggled for the last several years to find a permanent candidate for the spot. Because the department has offered no candidate for the position, he continued, it was viewed as an empty spot, and was included in the pool of potential suspensions.

The future of the choir program

Because the vocal instructor position is as yet suspended, the future of the Principia choir remains ambiguous. Choral plans for the next two quarters are equally vague. Originally, Marla explained, the Music department had planned for a collaborative College choir and orchestra performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” but that a choirless “Messiah” cannot work.

Blake said, “It would not function as a piece without singers … it’s not possible to perform them without a choir that’s being trained by a professional.”

Schneberger had originally suggested that the Music department “could find some way of doing choir with the four faculty they have,” and Palmer’s second community email expressed similar sentiments: “Whether or not we have choir, orchestra, or any other music program is up to the Music Department.  Like many of you, I hope they don’t cut our choir program.”

None of the remaining Music faculty have formal training in voice. Jureit specializes in performance and musicianship, Dr. John Near in organ and musicology, Jim Hegarty in jazz and electronic music, and Laura Garritson in piano performance and violin.

“We have very specific training,” said Jureit. “There is no one else in this department [who could direct the choir] — I’m surprised if anybody’s even had a voice lesson!” 

Marla agreed: “You can’t have an organist teach voice, and you can’t have a theory teacher conduct a choir. It doesn’t work that way.”

Staff Writer Jeff Bailey contributed material to this report.

Palmer gave this explanation of the events leading up to the decision. In September of 2008, Principia’s plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009, included growing the budget by $1.1 million. As the economy faltered, however, it became clear that this plan was no longer feasible. Currently, Principia’s upper level administrators are looking to decrease the institution’s budget by 8.1% for next year in order to draw no more than 7% from the endowment.

Ideally, Principia would prefer not to draw from the endowment itself, but rather operate from returns on that endowment. However, the current economic crisis has made this impossible. Financial experts have identified 7% as the maximum an institution should draw from its endowment in order to remain fiscally responsible.

Significant reductions to the budget have already been made by suspending capital projects, such as the renovations on Sylvester House, and by reducing other operational—non-personnel—costs. The four unit heads, for example, were asked several weeks ago to submit plans to reduce their respective budgets by 10%.

Palmer stated that he “could have started the conversation [about reducing the amount spent on faculty salaries] with faculty in November,” but that he “was convinced [he] could get there [develop a sufficiently reduced budget] another way.” After being told last week by Principia’s finance team that “my math was wrong,” Palmer met with the deans to discuss where additional cuts to the budget could be made.

Palmer said that administrators considered the question, “If you have to reduce salary, where do you do it?” He explained that deferring new faculty hires for a year in order to come up with cuts worth $400,000 made more sense to the administration than reducing the salaries of current faculty or letting any faculty members go.

Currently, there are fifteen faculty openings at Principia. As the result of the decision to defer some new faculty hires, six or seven of these openings will not be filled in the coming year. Academic Dean Dr. Scott Schneberger explained that final decisions about which new hires to defer will be made by considering how to “have the lowest amount of impact” possible.

Faculty members became aware of the decision to defer new hires after Schneberger presented it to the four unit heads at their weekly Tuesday meeting last week. Schneberger said that he asked the unit heads to prioritize the open faculty positions and make their recommendations about which new hires to defer by the following morning at 9 a.m. “I wish in retrospect,” Schneberger said, “that there had been more time.”

Business professor Roz Hibbs, who is also the Social Sciences unit head, shared that the unit heads did ask for some additional time to talk with faculty about the decision. They were subsequently given until noon on Wednesday, and they spent Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning calling faculty in their units to organize meetings to discuss the decision and prioritize the open faculty positions.

Michael Booth, a Biology and Natural Resources professor and the Math and Natural Sciences unit head, said that the unit heads “were surprised not to have had more time to help the administration come up with this money,” adding that the decision was presented with no room for negotiation, and as though all other possible options had been thoroughly explored by the administration.

Schneberger said that “the unit heads did an extraordinary job of contacting departments, meeting with their people and coming up with recommendations.” He said that he has already made the final decision about which new hires to defer, but he could not share this decision with the Pilot until the Trustee meetings this weekend. He did say that “almost all of [the positions that will be deferred] were the ones that were offered up” by departments.

Booth said that “the cuts certainly will impact the ability of departments to deliver their programs.” History professor and Humanities unit head Greg Sandford agreed, and he gave the example that the Global Perspectives program, because it is currently supported by the History department, will not continue if the opening for a History faculty hire is not filled next year. He also explained that deferring even a limited number of hires still creates “ripple effects” across academic departments because of the number of interdisciplinary programs offered at Principia.

The Religion department will be deeply affected if its open position is not filled in the coming year. Professor Mike Hamilton explained that the department can currently cover courses that meet Principia’s general education Bible requirement along with only a couple of courses in other areas. He said, “With only two faculty, we’re really a biblical studies department,” and he indicated that the department has been asked to broaden its course offerings to include courses on comparative religions.

Hamilton shared that the Religion department acquired permission this fall to begin a search to fill the position in the department that has been open for three years. The department has since conducted a search, interviewed candidates on campus, and “we have a recommendation to the academic dean recommending someone to be hired.” Hamilton said that the ability of the department to fill the open position will determine the breadth of course offerings for next year.

Sandford suggested that the decision to defer new hires will make it difficult for Palmer to talk about Principia as a “vigorous, rigorous institution.” He said that the institution is being operated according to an “ambitious vision that’s inspiring” but that “you can’t do more with less unless you weren’t doing a good job in the first place.”

In addition, Hibbs said that dealing with the impact on programs of the decision to defer new hires, along with working on the switch from quarters to semesters and on changes to the daily schedule, will be particularly difficult.

Booth suggested that many students have already felt the effects of having so many open and transitioning faculty positions, but he also said he is sure that “Principia will continue to deliver excellence in education” and make progress as an institution despite the cuts. English professor Heidi Snow, while calling the decision a “heartbreaking idea,” asked, “What’s a better idea at this point?” She added that understanding the issues facing Principia “helps us to be more specific in our prayers.”

A common perception among the unit heads interviewed by the Pilot was that the original recommendation to reduce the amount of money for faculty salaries came from Principia’s Trustees, even though it was to be carried out in practical terms by Palmer and other administrators. This is the perception that was shared by the unit heads with the rest of the faculty. Given that the faculty are still emerging from a period of distrust in their relationship with the Trustees, said Snow, this made reactions to the cuts especially negative. Sandford added, “We need more dialogue with the Trustees…if they could just know where we sit, they’d be better informed and we’d feel heard.”

Contrary to this common perception, however, Palmer emphasized that the decision to reduce the funds designated for faculty salaries did not come from the Trustees. Instead, Palmer explained that the trustees tasked Principia’s administrators with working to develop the budget together. He added that the administration will present specific decisions regarding the budget–including the decision to defer new hires–to the Trustees for approval during meetings yesterday and over this weekend.

Looking forward, Booth said that Principia needs to consider the question, “How do we move from an endowment situation to more of a revenue-based situation?” He added, “I think that process will involve asking ourselves the question, what do we have to offer the educational market that it wants and that will best serve the Cause of Christian Science?”

Following the Trustee meetings over this weekend, the final decision about which new hires have been deferred for a year should become public. Faculty members and departments will then move forward developing their course offerings accordingly.

The second problem is that Dr. Palmer did not give an ample amount of time for a solution to arise. I wouldn’t be complaining if I had not thought of one of my own after he closed debate. 

After asking around within the student body, I found two common arguments. The argument for semesters was that it allows for a more relaxed schedule — something Principia desperately needs. The justification for staying with the quarter system was that the students like the break schedule. Obviously, the differences in these systems go beyond this, but in the interest of staying under 500 words, here is the one question I walked away with: why not hybridize the two?

The students clearly want the breaks that the quarter system allots. However, they also want the spread-out daily schedule that the semester system offers. Therefore, we should move to a system with the current quarter breaks, but with a semester daily schedule. Students want Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday Friday block style classes, but they also want to be able to go home for Thanksgiving. Give them both. Classes will meet every other day, giving us a little more freedom at night, and we can still keep the system over 75% of students wanted. 

The students, not the Board of Trustees, attend this school, and if Principia wants to keep the student body it has, it had better start listening to them.

Ron Meyer