Letter: Wide array of options available to balance budget

The Chronicle's Oct. 12 headline stating that the Arts and Sciences budget Task Force had endorsed a cut of 50 faculty members to deal with projected Arts and Sciences deficits is misleading. It also does an injustice to the balanced and far-reaching assessment of the task force chaired by Professor Phil Cook. In its careful study, the Cook task force enumerated various "levers" available to cut the projected shortfalls: tuition increases higher than in previous years; reductions in the raise pool for faculty salaries; trimming faculty searches by five per year for the next four years; and possible increases in federal grant returns, new master's programs and expanded continuing education programs.

The discussion of a reduction of 50 faculty members represented a worst-case scenario to be considered only if none of these other changes occurred and if faculty cutbacks were the sole option. As dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, I have no intention of recommending such cutbacks. Rather, I intend to use the array of possibilities clearly outlined by the Cook report to get our budget in balance, and I am grateful to the task force for its excellent work.