Vice President and Secretary of the University Peter Patton spoke at Sunday’s Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) meeting, addressing questions about President Michael Roth’s initial strategic plans for the University’s future. In particular, Patton addressed concerns about both the University’s endowment and future construction projects.

Patton expressed Roth’s goal to have a precise plan in place by the end of the spring term, a contrast to the three years it took former President Doug Bennet to create a comprehensive strategic plan

When asked about the relative swiftness of Roth’s planning process, Patton highlighted differences between the state of the planning process then and now.

“We didn’t have an academic plan when Doug came in,” Patton said. “It took Doug a little longer to figure out where we needed to go.”

Patton addressed the state of the University’s endowment, a central concern for the administration. Wesleyan’s endowment currently stands at $710 million, a number Patton placed within a disconcerting context.

“We’re under-endowed relative to our peer group,” Patton said. “If we compared [Wesleyan’s endowment] to those of the top 20 liberal arts colleges, in endowment per student, we’d be at eighteenth or nineteenth.”

The size of the endowment has particularly limited efforts to decrease student debt after graduation, an issue Patton addressed.

“We can’t eliminate loans the way Princeton and Amherst have done,” Patton said. “We don’t have the endowment.”

Roth has expressed concern for the state of the endowment in speeches and on his blog, “Roth on Wesleyan,” where he has made several mentions of fundraising meetings with Wesleyan alumni. He has also publicly acknowledged that while the University is currently not in the financial position to eliminate loans, it will be in the long term. Patton did not address this goal Sunday night.

As for facilities, Patton provided an update on the planning of the Molecular and Life Sciences building, the renovation of the former Davenport Campus Center, and the state of the University’s 140 woodframe houses.

Patton said that a detailed schematic plan for Molecular and Life Sciences building would be presented to the Board of Trustees at its next meeting, with any further progress on the plan contingent on the Board’s approval. Patton, a professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says that the building project is motivated by problems with the Hall-Atwater Laboratories.

“Hall-Atwater is on its last legs,” Patton said. “It doesn’t meet OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] standards.”

Patton later discussed the status of the renovations at Davenport, soon to be rechristened The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. The project, which Patton estimated should cost about seven million dollars, remains in its planning stages. A final consensus on the function of and plan for the building has not yet been reached.

Finally, Patton addressed the declining state of the University’s wood frame houses, some of which Patton identified as being at the end of their usable lives. He further suggested that other forms of housing, like new three-residence senior prototype housing, might be a better alternative to the stand-alone woodframes that make up most of the University’s housing for seniors.

Patton mentioned other goals within Roth’s strategic plans, including increasing the number of science majors and expanding course access in the highest-demand areas of the curriculum.

Despite the multitude of plans laid out on Sunday night, Patton tempered his talk with a note of caution, emphasizing the need to look at old campus problems in new ways.

“Wesleyan is really good at innovation, but sometime we’re not good at clearing the decks and trying again,” Patton said.