The Corporation will forgo its usual meeting structure this weekend to spend extra time discussing a strategic vision for the Alpert Medical School. The University's top governing body will also approve a larger annual budget and tuition, elect new officers and hear President Ruth Simmons' official response to last year's report on Brown's connections to the slave trade.
Rather than hold normal committee meetings, the Corporation will meet retreat-style today at the Westin hotel downtown, said Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations. That gathering will focus mainly on the future of the Med School as well as budget and capital issues, he said.
The Med School is at a pivotal point in its development after a $100 million gift by entrepreneur Warren Alpert last month and the purchase last year of property in the Jewelry District, likely allowing the construction of a separate campus for the school. Today's strategic discussion will likely focus on how to best implement and budget the growth, as well as how to allocate Alpert's gift, which was relatively unrestricted.
The special retreat format gives members the opportunity to "talk about a number of strategic issues that don't regularly get discussed in committee meetings," Chapman said. "It's an opportunity for the whole Corporation to gain a clearer sense of where the Med School is headed in the future and to talk about the big-picture budget and capital projects."
In order to facilitate the strategic planning retreat, various committees that normally meet on Friday, such as the committee on advancement and the academic affairs committee, will not convene until the body's May meeting.
Last night, the committee on campus life hosted its annual town meeting with students, faculty and administrators active in student life organizations. The theme this year was "Community and Brown." Previous years have addresses facilities, international student needs and diversity issues.
Three hundred people were invited to attend the dinner in Andrews Dining Hall, and about 150 are expected to attend - one-third of them students, wrote Russell Carey '91 MA'06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, before the event in an e-mail to The Herald.
The Corporation will hold its regular hour with the president and general business meeting Saturday, when members will discuss Simmons' response to the October 2006 final report of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. Simmons said at a faculty meeting earlier this month that she would offer several proposals - some from the report and others that the committee did not recommend.
How - and if - the Corporation will take any public action regarding the University's historical ties to slavery is unclear. "The Corporation can take whatever action it wants in response to the slavery and justice report," Chapman said.
Official businessAlso in tomorrow's meeting, the Corporation will elect a new chancellor, vice chancellor, secretary and treasurer. Brown's 19th chancellor, Stephen Robert '62 P'91, has served as the Corporation's top official - and the president's boss - since 1998. He reaches the limit of his term this year.
The Corporation will also approve the University budget for next year and formally accept several large donations. All donations to the University of more than $1 million must be approved by the Corporation.
The University Resources Committee, which prepares a budget for Simmons and the Corporation to approve, is proposing a $704.8 million budget for next year - a 6.3 percent increase from this year. It is also proposing a 5 percent increase in tuition and a 10 percent higher payout from the University's $2.4 billion endowment, according to the committee's February report.
In a Feb. 6 report at a faculty meeting, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 said the URC's proposal for a higher endowment payout reflects strong investment growth and fundraising that have bolstered the University's coffers by nearly $1 billion in the last six years.
But despite fundraising and investment success, the University may be strapped for cash. The last two years' URC budget reports and a Feb. 25, 2006 campus-wide e-mail from Simmons indicated that the University might be constrained in its spending abilities for some time. Since then, the University has continued spending heavily to finance initiatives in the Plan for Academic Enrichment, such as raising graduate student stipends and increasing the size of the faculty. But funding cutbacks will cause the Graduate School to admit fewer students next year.
"It is clear that the University's aspirations will continue to require the investment of reserves and balances for the next five to seven years," the URC report reads.
