Rise in tuition, Hale approved

The University's Board of Trustees unanimously approved next year's 5.9 percent undergraduate tuition and fee increase and the appointment of Janet Hale to the post of executive vice president in Friday's stated meeting. The Trustees also approved the appointment of Virginia Clark, the associate vice president for development and alumni relations, to replace Senior Vice President for Development and Planning Rick Nahm. Nahm will step down as the University's chief fundraiser in July to become president of Knox College in Illinois. Hale, who attended both the stated meeting and the Budget and Finance Committee meeting held earlier, said she is eager to get to work. Hale will officially begin her job on March 29 and is expected to be in Philadelphia again later this week. Trustees and administrators welcomed Hale to the University, offering her congragulations and advice. "Here we like to have revenues exceed expenditures," Trustee Chairperson Alvin Shoemaker joked. Hale comes to the University after 12 years in various posts in the federal government including the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1989, Hale testified before a Congressional subcommittee investigating favoritism and mismanagement at HUD about her role in two HUD scandals, one of which eventually cost the government several million dollars. In other action, the Trustees approved $717,000 to complete exterior renovations to Kings Court Residence Hall, $264,000 to replace furniture in Kings Court and $500,000 for other capital improvements to Kings Court, English House, High Rise South and the parts of the Quadrangle. Trustees also voted to spend over $1 million to renovate the John Morgan Building of the Medical School and to commit an additional $947,000 to further planning and design for the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology building, which is likely to replace Smith Hall on Smith Walk. Budget Director Stephen Golding briefed the Budget and Finance Committee on the proposed University budget for fiscal year 1993-94. Golding assured them that the five schools that have not yet balanced their budgets will do so and that the University will only run an $18.5 million deficit. Currently, there is $25 million out of balance in the University's budget figures. "It will not be easy," Golding said. "There will be a lot of hard work but we will balance those budgets." Trustees asked Golding if the University's increasing dependence on tuition for unrestricted funds -- money which is used by the University for financial aid and wherever else it is most needed -- will be a long-term trend. "For the next couple of years tuition will be an increasingly important part of the budget," Golding responded, adding that there is a committee studying alternative sources for unrestricted funding. Golding said that the lack of unrestricted funds puts the University at "a competitive disadvantage" in offering financial aid packages comparable to those offered by other Ivy League schools. Golding also said that while the University has made gains in offering in competitive salary and benefits packages to faculty, several faculty members may still be lost to other schools. "A number of very interesting offers are being made to a number of our faculty," Golding said. "We are working with the deans of the schools to address those packages."