Watch where you point those scissors

The vacancy left by Marcia Bromberg has forced the University into a search for a new Vice President of Finance and Administration. More than crunching numbers, the position will call for an inventive approach to budgeting endowment and meeting goals President Bennet has planned for our finances. According to the Administration, the University has met fundraising standards set by our collegiate peers. However, the next fiscal implementation supported by Bennet is matching our spending habits as well. To get up to par with similar academic institutions, our spending must go down so that we draw a smaller percentage from our endowment each year. Taking money from the endowment defeats the purpose of Bennet’s fundraising efforts; the new vice president would need to find a way to decrease endowment draw from 7.4 to 5.5 percent.

Cuts to current services caused by the spending decrease could have dire consequences for student services that require additional funding to meet students’ needs. The spending decrease is literally reducing what we get for our tuition. While reducing our reliance on our endowment is necessary, it needs to be clear that certain important quality-of-life and academic services should be maintained.

This includes everything from student accommodation and dining services to mental health support and campus transportation. It is hopefully assumed that academic services are immune from to any kind of spending cuts. Rather, the new vice president should look at trimming “pork,” the arbitrary and vague positions or issues that require sums of money that add up in discrete increments. Getting rid of unnecessary fencing projects, cutting spending on lavish ceremonies – there are a number of ways to clean up the budget without compromising the finances that keep Wesleyan ahead of its peers socially and intellectually. We’re leaving it the Administration to evaluate what can be cut out and save cash, but we’re also hoping the spending cuts meant to keep Wes up with the Joneses (i.e., Williams, Amherst) doesn’t leave students wishing they’d opted for the Joneses in the first place.