Remarks by President Kimmich on Budget and Enrollment
September 21, 2006
At the Stated Meeting of the Faculty earlier this week, I spoke about four major objectives to which we will devote time and energy this year: planned facilities for the natural sciences and the performing arts; support for faculty research; enrollment growth, particularly in the graduate division; and a more focused, reorganized system of academic advising.
I touched briefly on the state of the college budget, on enrollment numbers, and on current construction projects.
Here, in more detail, is where we stand on these matters:
I. Budget
The University’s operating budget grew this year to $1,438 billion, including an additional $83.5 million for the senior colleges. Brooklyn College was allocated an operating budget of $81.9 million, with an additional $4.4 million reserved for specific purposes -- adjuncts, freshman-year and graduate initiatives, the SEEK program, and collaborative programs with high schools. While this budget does not remedy the College’s persistent structural deficit, that is, the shortfall with which we have come to start the year, it will, with some belt-tightening, come fairly close to covering salaries, purchases, and campus maintenance. Most painful is the fact that three-quarters of our operating budget now comes from student tuition.
The budget this year also includes the CUNY Compact, an investment program that earmarks funds for specific purposes. Among these will be new faculty, improvements in graduate and undergraduate education, the library, the writing across the curriculum program, advising, counseling, career services and facilities upgrades. Of the total of $2.8 million in the Compact, the College will be required to raise $1.8 million through a combination of operating efficiencies, more contributions from alumni, and more tuition revenue through higher enrollment.
The State also increased the University’s capital budget. Needed funds were designated for the College’s West Quad project but also for our next projects -- the first phase of the science complex (renovation of Roosevelt Hall) and the performing arts center.
II. Enrollment
We can be pleased with the quality of incoming students, measured by high school averages and SAT scores, and pleased particularly that, in quality, our Honors College students top the list at the University. Total enrollment, as of today, stands at 15,878, up 538, or 3.51%, from last year at this time (though still short of the number we need in order to close the gap created by the budget deficit I mention above). We enrolled over 3,000 freshmen and transfers -- which is the same as the number of undergraduate and graduate students combined who graduated in June. Persistent cause for concern is the unabated decline in the number of graduate students, both entering and continuing degree students. It is the reason why we need to focus on finding remedies this year.
III. Construction
A. West Quad. Over the summer, construction at the west end of campus moved into high gear. The foundation walls for the West Quad building are being poured and will be finished next month. The building’s steel frame will then go up and we anticipate that the basic structure will be in place by next summer. At the same time, work will proceed on landscaping and on the two buildings flanking the quadrangle -- restoring the Roosevelt façade, attaching a new façade to James -- that will allow us to enter those buildings from the quad come fall. The target date for the entire project is August 2008. We will therefore begin work this fall on a relocation plan to determine how best to make use of the space left vacant once various offices from Boylan, James, and Roosevelt have moved into the new building.
B. Student Center. The planned renovation of the top two floors of the Student Center -- new interiors and state-of-the-art audio-visual systems -- is expected to begin around the new year and take about nine or ten months.
C. Science Complex (Roosevelt Hall) and Performing Arts Center. An architectural firm (the same as designed the new library) has been selected for the renovation of Roosevelt. A working committee, made up of faculty and administrators, will start meeting with the architects this fall to ensure that the buildings actually reflect what we want. An architectural firm for the performing arts center will be selected within a month, and here too a working committee of faculty and administrators will be appointed to work with the architect on the design, beginning early next year.
Sincerely,
Christoph M. Kimmich
