I started saving for college when I was three years old. Granted, I had no clue what college was for, nor did I know where I wanted to matriculate, but I wanted to go to college. I was a toddler on a mission, and dollar by dollar, I knew I was drawing closer to my goal.
Sixteen years later, my goal-oriented thinking is helping me afford my education at Brown. I have found that only focus and dedication allow for the realization of dreams.
Brown turned out to be the realization of my dream, but of what does Brown dream? Moreover, have these dreams been realized? For guidance, I turn to the Charter of Brown University. The Charter clearly states that institutions of liberal education, such as Brown, are to benefit society by "preserving in the community a succession of men duly qualified for discharging the offices of life with usefulness and reputation."
Given our many prestigious alums, I must conclude that the University has erstwhile achieved its goal. But as the poorest and lowest ranked Ivy, I doubt it has been successful to the best of its ability.
Brown, like the rest of the country, has fallen on hard times. The recession caused the University's endowment to lose $740 million in twelve months, which resulted in a $95 million dollar budget deficit. Predictably, the need to close the deficit has resulted in wide ranging cuts. University programs have suffered, a faculty and staff salary freeze had to be implemented, cuts to varsity sports have been considered and the University was forced to terminate 90 employees in the last 18 months.
Talk of cuts to athletics programs threatens to drive down prospective student interest in the University; cuts to programs and salary freezes make Brown less competitive with its peers and staff cuts leave students with access to fewer and less effective services. This, coupled with a five percent hike to our already high tuition, means that Brunonians are left paying the price for the down economy.
Amid complaints about aged, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate trash clean up, a lack of living space and a "critically under-resourced" international relations program, the University has chosen to deviate from the tenants of commonsense money management by donating to and soliciting donations to causes that have nothing to do with its students' educations.
Following the unfortunate Rhode Island flooding this past spring, the University hastily cobbled together a "multifaceted relief effort." Included in this were the issuance of extra money to affected employees upon their request and the donation of $50,000 in University funds to the Rhode Island Flood Recovery Fund.
In the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti this past January, a committee was created "to coordinate the University's ongoing response."
Why is this bad? Because despite the good our dollars can do to relieve these dire situations, it comes at an even greater cost to the University. The tens of thousands of dollars spent on the Rhode Island flood cleanup could have been better spent on financial aid, paying a fired employee's salary for a year, funding a fellowship or supplementing other initiatives germane to students' education. In the case of our Haiti response, the money and time spent establishing a committee and fundraising for the effort would have been better spent finding ways to redress student complaints about campus life.
Our donors are not bottomless piggy banks and asking them to give money to Haiti in the name of Old Brown will not only divert their money from important educational initiatives but will sap their inclination to donate to Brown in the future. In short, the opportunity cost of these humanitarian initiatives greatly outweighs any benefit.
Though you may believe the University's actions were just and even helped to teach students the importance of giving, you must admit that these actions came at no measurable benefit to the University. Our efforts to be beneficent "global citizens" over the years have not been enough to stop the generation of anti-Brown measures, such as last year's proposed student tax, nor will students not yet bitten by the charity bug be taught a lesson by the University's magnanimity.
Mind you, my heart is not made of stone. I feel deeply for the victims of natural disasters and I hope that private individuals who can afford to donate do so. However, we must realize that the role of global humanitarian is not the role a university should fill, especially at the expense of its students' educations.
As we prepare our response to the Pakistani floods, it is time the University looks back at the Charter and refocuses on its goals. As I knew as a three-year old, pursuit of one's goals is golden; perhaps Brown has forgotten with old age.
Terrence George '13 knows a penny saved is a penny earned.
