Welcome to the Fall 2016 Semester
Dear faculty and staff:
Welcome to the fall 2016 semester.
I am so pleased to join you as the new president of Brooklyn College. I have enjoyed my first few weeks on the job, and I am looking forward to working closely with you in the years ahead.
As part of my introduction to the campus, I have initiated a Listening Tour. This tour is my opportunity to hear from the many different stakeholders at Brooklyn College. Over the next few months, I will meet with faculty, students, staff, alumni, donors, and community leaders in individual and group meetings. In late September, I will also host three open forums for students, faculty, and staff to give people an opportunity to raise issues they want me to consider.
I want to hear from you. I want to understand how you see the college, how you conceive of its history, and what you hope for its future. This Listening Tour is designed to lay some of the foundation we will need to develop a new Strategic Plan.
In the early parts of my tour, I am heartened by what I hear. Students are excited to learn here, faculty want to work together to build upon our outstanding academic programs, staff members take great pride in their work, and generous alumni want to continue to invest in our success. Everyone cares deeply about Brooklyn College.
That tremendous goodwill will help us overcome the challenges we face. In the last fiscal year Brooklyn College suffered a 3 percent cut to our base budget. This year, we face an additional 2 percent. Two years of cuts, coupled with unfunded mandates, add up to an $8 million gap.
Several measures we used last year to make ends meet are no longer available; others are no longer advisable. Last year's deferral of certain non-instructional positions strained our ability to serve the college community—to advise our students, maintain our facilities, and provide library and IT services. We may need to continue to defer positions, but we must appreciate the academic and administrative consequences of the budget shortfall.
Several variables remain in flux. For example, while we are very happy to see a new PSC contract approved, CUNY Central and the state have not clarified what resources will cover its costs, and what portion of it the college must bear.
I am committed to enhancing the transparency of our budgeting process. Working with the structures of governance in the Faculty Council and then holding a series of "Budget 101" sessions this fall for a broader group of interested faculty and staff, I hope to shed light on the different funding streams available to the College, the restrictions on spending money from those streams, the fixed and flexible expenses in our budget, the key factors that affect our fiscal projections this year and over the next three years, and the process for developing plans inclusive of the faculty, staff, and student voices that should influence our decisions. Throughout, we will seek suggestions and feedback on the tradeoffs that we will inevitably have to make.
As I talk to people around the campus, I find a spirit of generosity and openness in our community. Though we face significant challenges, we have a positive outlook about our potential to excel. I am hopeful about what we can accomplish together.
This will be a great year for Brooklyn College, and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.
