Finance report suffers delays

The release of a cost containment and administrative overhaul report by Coopers & Lybrand will be delayed until early December, University Provost Stanley Chodorow said yesterday. Originally, the report was scheduled to come out early next month. Chodorow cited the inauguration, which occurred last week, as a cause of the delay. "We would have tried to get it out before Thanksgiving," he said. "But we missed a week or so." University spokesperson Barbara Beck said members of the firm were "taking their time" in order to do a comprehensive report. "It's something fairly complex," she added. Coopers & Lybrand was hired by President Judith Rodin last month to research the University's methods of administrative management and cost containment. At the time, Rodin said the report "will not just be another study." "This process will have an aggressive timetable for review, decision-making and implementation," she added. The Cost Containment Oversight Committee, which includes Chodorow and Executive Vice President Jack Freeman as co-chairpersons, is working directly with the firm. The committee is made up of 14 members including deans from the Wharton School, the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Dental Medicine. Chodorow said the team has consulted with many representative groups of the University, adding that the report will represent "a dialogue between the Coopers team and the campus." The firm is focusing on the concept of "redoing the way we do things," Chodorow said. But the "re-engineering" process does not necessarily mean cutting. When Rodin announced that she was employing the firm, she said its recommendations will be based on the central idea of "reallocating money from administrative functions to academic pursuits." Rodin's plans are expanding efforts originally begun by former Interim President Claire Fagin, who retained Coopers & Lybrand last year on a smaller scale.