To the Editor:
Your article on how the impending staff cuts will impact the institutional knowledge and skills at Brown's libraries ("University libraries face staff cuts," April 8) is just the tip of the iceberg. The University's cutting of 60 staff positions, on top of 31 positions cut last year, is just another example of the poor priorities of the Simmons administration and the Corporation.
The construction of Brown's new Life Sciences building cost a total of $67 million — nearly five times the savings of eliminating these positions. In the meantime, tuition is being increased by 4.5 percent at a time when general inflation is barely above zero. Students — and their parents, for that matter — should be marching in the streets and demanding a reorientation of the University's priorities.
Some cuts, like the layoffs at the Swearer Center that will severely limit Brown's positive role in the Rhode Island community, are particularly damaging for a university still reeling from the public relations disaster that was President Simmons' ten-year tenure on the Goldman Sachs board. How ironic that another article from last week ("Brown group opposes proposed changes at Hope," April 6) was about a Swearer Center-initiated student group helping to fight against rollback of positive reforms at Hope High School, and the accompanying reductions in staff. I support and laud these students' efforts, but they should also be fighting closer to home!
As an alum and resident of the city of Providence who pays more than $2,400 per year on property taxes for a condo in the West End while Brown pays almost nothing in property taxes on its sprawling campus, I am embarrassed to see the University undervalue some of its longtime employees, particularly those who have worked with students to have a positive impact on the community.
Hopefully, the University will reverse its decision to lay off these employees and slow down its real estate acquisition and building binge. It does not serve students, faculty and staff or the broader community of Brown's neighbors.
Peter Ian Asen '04
April 13
