The proposed budget cuts outlined in President Ruth Simmons' e-mail to the Brown community last week came as no surprise to some members of the faculty, who had already anticipated slowed hiring rates.
But the cuts could make it difficult for the University to meet faculty and student needs, especially in popular departments, said Professor of Philosophy James Dreier, who chairs the Faculty Executive Committee.
In her e-mail, Simmons announced a "reduction in the planned increase in the size of the faculty." Faculty growth was a major component of the Plan for Academic Enrichment and the University now boasts a faculty of 689 members, compared with 589 in the 2002-2003 academic year, Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
Dreier said this rapid faculty growth worried the committee last January.
During its review of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the committee found that faculty growth had not been matched by increased research funding, graduate school growth or infrastructure support, Dreier said.
Some faculty members said that the postponement in Graduate School growth could hurt departments, especially those that already have few teaching assistants. Those without graduate programs, such as the International Relations program and the Center for Language Studies, could also feel the pinch as they depend on other departments for graduate TAs.
"We'll have to work closely with the grad school to make sure that departments that provide the most TAs for IR-related courses, such as political science, don't experience more of a TA shortage than is already the case," Peter Andreas, associate professor of political science and international studies and director of the International Relations program, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
Though the University has extended the staff and administrative hiring freeze in place since November, Simmons has refrained from freezing faculty hires. But in her e-mail she noted that some departments may not be able to fill vacant spaces "in order to pursue targets of opportunity or meet extraordinary teaching needs in other areas."
According to Andreas, any vacancies in the IR program would have to be filled immediately.
"The current faculty 'supply' simply does not adequately meet the high student 'demand'" for the IR program, one of the University's largest concentrations, Andreas wrote. Simmons' e-mail implied that it might be more difficult for the department to fill some "gaping holes" in its curriculum, he wrote, adding that the program might not have funding to hire short-term visitors to teach "key IR courses not offered by regular faculty."
The IR program, which is housed in the Watson Institute for International Studies, could be more vulnerable to the University's endowment loss than other departments, since the institute, unlike the rest of the University, "relies largely on its endowment to cover operating expenses," Andreas wrote.
In its report on the Plan for Academic Enrichment last January, the Faculty Executive Committee also noted that language classes at Brown are "significantly larger than those of our peers" and that there "seems to be no normal or explicit mechanism for adding lecturers as enrollments grow."
The Center for Language Studies is offering classes in Persian this year due to outside funding, but the donation will only cover three years of instruction, said Merle Krueger, associate director of the center.
The faculty seemed divided on the importance of the Target of Opportunity hiring program, which gives the University the flexibility to hire academics who are leaders in their fields.
Dreier said "some people are skeptical" of the program because it would allow the University to hire a famous professor instead of filling several vacancies with junior faculty.
"Sometimes when you try and recruit a superstar, those superstars are not inspired to teach undergraduate classes," Dreier said.
But Professor of Applied Mathematics Jan Hesthaven said that not hiring the best professors if the opportunity arises would be a "mistake" for Brown, placing it in an "environment of stagnation."
So far, the program has not prevented the school from hiring most of its faculty at the junior level, Vohra wrote in his e-mail, adding that the program is now "more important than ever."
Simmons' proposed budget cuts should not affect students in the short term, since most of the planned faculty growth is complete, said Hesthaven, who is also a member of the University Resources Committee.
But "all the things that go along with a better faculty student ratio," like smaller class sizes, more research opportunities and better advising, will "not be improving the way we had hoped," Dreier said.
In her e-mail, Simmons also recommended a salary freeze for "essentially all faculty and staff." She noted exceptions for pre-existing contracts with built-in pay raises and base salary increases associated with promotions. She also made an exemption for "specific market pressures," retaining the University's ability to compete if a faculty member is offered a position elsewhere.
While the proposals outlined in Simmons' e-mail may not be met with enthusiasm from the faculty and staff, Hesthaven said, the most important part of Simmons' plan was her effort to avoid placing the financial burden on the students as much as possible.
