Present: Jonathan Brand, Tom Crady, John Kalkbrenner, Mickey Munley, Jack Mutti, Russell Osgood, Susan Schoen, Paula Smith, Marci Sortor, Jim Swartz, and Karen Voss.
The meeting began at 8:05 a.m. Jonathan Brand began by soliciting comments from the Committee regarding its assessment of the budget process of the past year. He

Excerpted Minutes from the June 14, 2002 Meeting of the Budget Steering Committee shared with the Committee three areas he believes the Board will continue to monitor closely and asked the Committee to think about other issues on which it should focus--

a) the endowment contribution to the base budget; b) our reporting practices with respect to restricted and unrestricted endowment; c) our reporting practices with respect to gifts and grants.

He stated that the Committee for next year will not change significantly in structure. A student, Jacob Kaufman-Osborn '04, will join the Committee. Mark Montgomery will replace Bob Grey as Faculty Chair and Marci Sortor will replace Paula Smith as Associate Dean. It was noted that due to the addition to the Committee of a representative from the student body, the nature of the discussions may necessarily change.

President Osgood inquired about the process for deciding whether to eliminate funding for a program or position. He described his view of the current process and asked the Committee for its frank appraisal and thoughts for a possible alternate process. Discussion ensued. One member's idea was the formation of a sub-committee of the Budget Committee to consider these issues as they arise. Other ideas included more frequent meetings of the Budget Committee to maximize the amount of information which can be exchanged about the many departments and campus programs in order to allow for more informed decisions. The Committee agreed that budget managers and others need to act in good faith and be honest about what can be eliminated.

President Osgood also briefly discussed the College's reliance on the endowment. He reported that some of our peers and other colleges have increased their endowment dependence, especially as we experience the national and international economic downturn. He reiterated his confidence in the Board's Investment and Budget Committees and is convinced the College will slowly begin to decrease that dependence.

The Committee discussed the importance of setting clear goals. Communication was another area which the Committee discussed, and the importance of improving and refining the way it communicates with the campus community. Finally, the Committee discussed the process for bringing forward budget priorities and ways to streamline the process in a manner that aids informed decision-making. The idea of "clusters" or two or more departments/areas which share priorities bringing proposals to the Committee jointly was explored. Discussion ensued.

Jonathan Brand announced there will be no meeting of the Committee in July. A notice would be distributed to everyone about the meeting in August, 2002.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan M. Schoen