The University’s deficit and progress in meeting its sustainability goals took center stage Tuesday at the Brown University Community Council’s second meeting of the semester.
The Student Labor Alliance also delivered a presentation reflecting on the University’s decision to outsource mail operations, and urged administrators to solicit and consider community opinions before making similar decisions in the future.
At the meeting, Ravi Pendse P’17, chief information officer and vice president for computing and information services, spoke about the working group the University formed to examine ways to reduce the University’s budget deficit by at least $7 million. The University’s structural operating budget deficit is nearing $10 million, The Herald previously reported.
The group will be looking for innovative new ways to allocate University resources more efficiently, Pendse said.
“Our assets have never been higher, which is a good thing, but our operating deficit is higher than we would like it to be,” President Christina Paxson said at the meeting. “If we don’t do something within three years, our reserves will be gone.”
“I am here to assure you … working together, we will be able to step up to the challenge of reducing the structural deficit,” he said.
Chris Powell, assistant vice president for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Initiatives then reported on the University’s sustainability progress over the last several years.
Powell reported that since 2007 the University has brought green house gas emissions from existing buildings down by 26.6 percent, meaning the University is ahead of schedule in reaching its goal of reducing green house gases by 42 percent below 2007 levels by 2020.
The University has invested about $23 million to make the necessary environmental changes, Powell said. As a result, the University has seen rewarding outcomes, with the Building for Environmental Research and Teaching and the Miller and Metcalf residence halls achieving gold LEED level certification.
Powell also discussed the progress the Sustainability Strategic Planning and Advisory Committee has made since its establishment in 2012. In moving forward, “We really want to make it a collaborative effort for the university,” Powell said. SSPAC has been working with student groups and faculty to formulate objectives beyond its original greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Toward the end of the meeting, the Student Labor Alliance gave a presentation on the outsourcing of jobs at Brown, focusing on the University’s decision to outsource mail services operations to Ricoh USA.
Liliana Sampedro ’18 and Cameron Johnson ’17 spoke on behalf of the organization, proposing that future decisions that may involve outsourcing University jobs “be brought before the BUCC” so that the community can offer feedback and the University can more fully consider additional staffing options and how to best deal with worker displacement.
Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, responded to the presentation by explaining that all displaced mailroom workers were given the opportunity to apply for other University jobs. Though some workers retired or took severance, several workers applied successfully to other University positions. and others were hired by Ricoh USA.
Meeting attendees examined the BUCC’s role as an advisory group and largely agreed that important community issues, like the Mail Services decision, should be brought before them in the future.
Paxson suggested that increased BUCC involvement in such issues would make the meetings more meaningful and relevant to the Brown community, a sentiment that several other BUCC members echoed.
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