Members of the Brown Corporation will convene on campus this weekend to set the University's budget and tuition, consider divestment from Sudan, formally accept major donations and plan for the University's future.
Brown's bicameral governing body gathers on campus three times each year - in October, February and May. The tightly scheduled weekends include a strategic discussion session, a general body business meeting and committee meetings.
The February meeting is especially notable because the Corporation sets the University's operating budget for the next fiscal year. Each year, the University Resources Committee makes a budget recommendation in a report to President Ruth Simmons. The president then makes her own budget recommendation, which is presented to the Corporation along with the URC report.
The Corporation's budget topics include increases to tuition and room and board fees for the next academic year.
The budgetary considerations will include whether to move club sports from the student activities budget to the athletics budget in order to free up money for student groups, Undergraduate Coun-cil of Students President Sarah Saxton-Frump '07 said at the UCS meeting Wednesday night.
Most deliberations occur in the Corporation's 11 stand-ing committees, which meet on Thursday and Friday. Com-mittees include budget and finance, academic affairs, fa-cilities and design, campus life and investment.
The entire Corporation meets twice - for a strategic planning session on Friday and a general business meeting Saturday.
At the strategic planning session, the Corporation will consider the future of the undergraduate College, hear about developments in the division of engineering from Dean of Engineering Clyde Briant and discuss the progress of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, said Vice President and Secretary of the University Russell Carey '91, the administration's liaison to the Corporation.
Simmons announced at a Feb. 7 faculty meeting that she appointed Provost Robert Zimmer to lead a committee to examine the future of the College, emphasizing Brown's international profile, its advisory programs, undergraduate housing, financial aid and developments in engineering and the sciences.
Briant was invited to make an "informational presentation" at the strategic session to give Corporation members more exposure to the engineering division, which is an area of the University that is growing in terms of faculty hires and research initiatives, Carey said.
The Corporation will hear committee reports and make formal actions during Saturday's business meeting.
Divestment from Sudan is on the Corporation's agenda this weekend. Earlier this month, the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing and the Brown Uni-versity Community Council re-commended that the University divest from companies with holdings in Sudan. Simmons will make her own recommenda-tion to the Corporation, which will ultimately decide whether to divest.
Yale University President Rich-ard Levin announced Feb. 16 that Yale is divesting from seven companies operating in Sudan.
While on campus, trustees and fellows will also have oppor-tunities to meet informally with faculty and students.
"We've been trying to increase the opportunity for faculty, students and staff to interact with Corporation members. As part of that ongoing program, a dinner (Friday night) includes members of ... various campus constituencies," Carey said.
Representatives from UCS, the Graduate Student Council, the Medical School Student Senate, the Faculty Executive Committee and the Staff Advisory Committee are among those invited to the dinner, Carey said.
"The informal social occasion is very much designed to get a lot of individuals from different governing bodies in a setting where they can talk to Corporation members," Carey said.
In addition, the Corporation's campus life committee met with a group of international students Thursday night for an "opportunity to get input directly from students," Carey said.
Student government leaders are invited to the campus life committee meeting.
The Corporation will also hear from Professor of Biology Ken Miller '70, whose role in the evolution debate has landed him in the national spotlight.
