Despite the unhappy financial situation the University is in - outlined in a campus-wide e-mail from President Ruth Simmons sent yesterday around 5 p.m. - many students interviewed by The Herald late Tuesday were only vaguely aware of the e-mail's contents.
Though many students interviewed said they had merely skimmed the e-mail, those students who had read the message were concerned that the University did not intend to increase the number of doctoral students each year.
Simmons' message was "shocking and scary," said Raechel Shaw '12. She said she and her friends "were talking about how we were living in a utopia, and we don't really have a sense of the economic crisis right now."
"I thought it was scary how they're not expanding the number of Ph.D.s that they are taking," said Olivia Linden '12, a student in the Program in Liberal Medical Education. She added that it was "kind of scary being a freshman and still having seven and a half more years here."
But many students were relieved that Simmons vowed to meet the financial needs of families and students despite the intended reduction in expenditures.
Simmons stressed Brown's ongoing commitment to preserving academic life, and outlined a multi-faceted plan to decrease spending and mitigate the anticipated decrease in endowment and available funds while maintaining financial aid and academic programs.
The message "seemed pretty reasonable," said Kevin Kay '11. "It was good that she decided to increase financial aid rather than cut back on it like everything else."
