Faculty members voted unanimously at yesterday's faculty meeting to support President Ruth Simmons' actions in dealing with the city's demands for additional payments.
The faculty also voted on the academic calendar and heard reports on the presidential search process, athletics and brain science research at the University.
Simmons discussed the city's requests for increased contributions from the University to help bridge the city's $22.5 million deficit and also outlined plans the University has made to help the city. Simmons explained the commitments that the University had made to the city, starting with a memorandum of understanding made in 2003 between the city and other in-state universities. In all, Simmons said, the University pays $4 million to the city in voluntary contributions and tax payments annually.
Simmons drew a comparison between the University's level of donations and the funds given to New Haven by Yale. Though Yale gives considerably more to its hometown, Brown proportionally pays more of its endowment to the city of Providence than Yale.
Simmons also explained the chronology of the negotiations between Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and the University, saying that last April the mayor asked her for an additional $5 million to aid the city. Simmons said she told him, based on faculty governance, that it was complicated to deliver additional donations in a timely manner, though Taveras was invited to make a pitch to the meeting of the Corporation, the University's highest governing body, last May.
Going forward, Simmons said she set terms for future discussion between the city and the University regarding donations. The University should not be the only nonprofit singled out, she said, adding that she could not partner with the city if the mayor continued to vilify the University to the press.
The University "cannot see the city fall apart," she said, but donations must be made in a rational way. "We have no choice but to work hard to see what we can do to help without crippling the University," she said.
Faculty members also voted not to change the academic calendar, which is determined by the faculty rules and regulations. This motion was separate from the four other options proposed in the December faculty meeting, which proposed changing the starting date of the school year in 2013 since it conflicts with Rosh Hashanah.
This motion was approved after much debate about the merits of beginning before or after Labor Day as well as University attempts to accommodate religious holidays within the calendar. Faculty members also discussed the role of teaching versus the role of research, as a shorter summer break would conflict with many faculty plans to conduct research.
Chung-I Tan, professor of physics and chair of the Campus Advisory Committee, spoke on behalf of the Campus Advisory Committee for the Presidential Search. The process is ongoing and on schedule, he said, and the Corporation and the committee are working together in the next steps of the search process. He emphasized the need for confidentiality to ensure the best results for the next president and did not take any questions.
Provost Mark Schlissel P'15 gave a report about athletics to faculty members. He highlighted efforts to reduce the number of recruiting slots to prospective students and to increase the academic caliber of incoming student athletes. These efforts involve using an academic index to track recruits' performance at the University as compared to that of their peers who are not involved with athletics.
Schlissel also talked about initiatives to improve and broaden the academic career of current student athletes. Athletes should not be as clustered in certain courses, he said, adding that the dean of the College wants athletes to think more broadly about their academic life.
Schlissel discussed the ongoing efforts of the Brain Science Initiative, an interdisciplinary program that attempts to study the brain on multiple scientific levels. There are around seven positions open to candidates in multiple departments, and the administration is working on fundraising for the initiative, he said.
