To the Editor:
Seventy five faculty members have signed a letter entitled "Standing with the Staff," arguing against any employee layoffs as a means of addressing Dartmouth's financial woes. While nobody wants to see layoffs, College President Jim Yong Kim and the Board of Trustees should keep another group in mind: the students.
Dartmouth's non-faculty employment has grown by 1,000 over the past decade, from 2,400 in 1999 to more than 3,400 in 2008, according to the Dartmouth Fact Book. (Almost all of these additional employees are not unionized service workers.) To insist that there be no layoffs implies that all of this growth, made during flush economic times, is absolutely essential and that no adjustments should be made. Perhaps true, although it is not clear that the "Dartmouth Experience" of 1999 was grossly inferior to the "Dartmouth Experience" of 2008.
If the endowment can no longer pay for these extra employees, Dartmouth has another large source of revenue: students (and their parents). As The Dartmouth reported, a faculty member who "Stands with the Staff" raised the possibility of a tuition surcharge to prevent layoffs.
To make up the $100 million structural budget deficit through a tuition hike, Dartmouth's 5,000 students would have to cough up an extra $20,000 per year. Are Dartmouth students and their parents willing to pay more so that Dartmouth does not have to make significant adjustments to its expenses? Do students pay Dartmouth to provide employment to the people of the Upper Valley, or do they pay Dartmouth to hire the right number of people to provide them with a first-rate educational experience? If layoffs are ruled out, which classes should be cut and which departments scaled back to save money? President Kim and the Board of Trustees have some difficult choices to make, but let us hope that they "Stand with the Students" and keep their interests foremost in mind.
Douglas IrwinRobert E. Maxwell '23 Professor of Arts and Sciences in the Department of Economics
