Statement On Duke's Arts And Sciences Budget

Recent media reports about a potential long-term shortfall in the budget for Duke's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences have incorrectly implied that the university faces an imminent problem. Arts and Sciences' budget is not in deficit. However, in light of reduced returns on endowment investments, the need to complete critical new facilities and the university's commitment to provide the support necessary to attract and retain exceptional faculty, it clearly will have to implement some combination of expenditure reductions and revenue enhancements to avoid a projected deficit. We anticipate that the Arts and Sciences budget will continue to grow, but at a slower rate in the next several years.

Any cuts to faculty positions will occur by attrition - by not filling vacant lines. We project that the Arts and Sciences budget actually will grow by as much as 4.3 percent next year. As we look at the out-years, we clearly will have to make some tough choices by looking at a number of options, including slowing some planned facilities growth, filling fewer faculty lines that become open from retirements or faculty departures, etc. Whatever steps we take will be guided by a desire to ensure that both current and future faculty are well supported. Duke has managed very conservatively; in each of the last several years, administrative budgets have been kept essentially flat so that additional resources could be transferred to the academic program. Last year, administrative units absorbed all administrative salary increases, with flat budgets, except in a couple of isolated cases. So, we really are not in the position of a number of other universities that have implemented or are contemplating more draconian budget measures.