Trustees told 'call to engagement' response strong; OK $2.26 billion budget

By Jacquie Powers

President Jeffrey Lehman told the Cornell Board of Trustees that he has received more than 1,000 responses to his "call to engagement," which will help inform his vision for Cornell in the coming years.

"The response has far exceeded my hopes and expectations," Lehman said in his report to members of the board at their final meetings of the academic year, May 28 and 29 on campus. Lehman said he would spend the summer reviewing all the responses, then discuss his reflections with members of the senior administration before going public with his vision in early fall. He issued the "call to engagement" at his inauguration last October.

Robert Harris, vice provost for diversity and faculty development, gives a report to the Cornell Board of Trustees on the university's progress toward faculty and student diversity and inclusion, May 28, in Appel Commons. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

The board also approved a $2.26 billion spending plan for the university, including the Weill Cornell Medical College, for 2004-05, and it approved the establishment of a Ph.D. program in computational biology, the establishment of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the establishment of an undergraduate major in China and Asia-Pacific studies. Trustees also heard an update on the progress toward faculty and student diversity.

The $2.26 billion spending plan approved by the trustees for 2004-05 is 6 percent more than the $2.13 billion that is forecast in expenditures this year.

Overall revenues for 2004-05 are projected at $2.31 billion, an increase of 5.8 percent over those forecast for the current year. The budget includes a 4.9 percent increase in tuition and fees; an expected 2.9 percent increase in unrestricted gifts and an expected 13.6 percent increase in restricted operating gifts over 2003-04; and a projected 4.0 percent increase in investment income.

State appropriations are planned at $135 million, a decrease of $5.3 million or 3.8 percent from the 2003-04 forecast. However, the projection is tentative, as the state of New York has not yet approved a budget for 2004-05.

Robert Harris, vice provost for diversity and faculty development, reported that: "About 55.6 percent of new tenure track faculty appointments over the past decade have been women and minority scholars. We fell a bit short of that average this past academic year with 47.6 percent of new tenure track appointments. Relative to the Ivy Plus Group [universities in the Ivy League, as well as MIT, the University of Chicago, Stanford and Duke], we had the fourth largest percentage increase in women faculty this past academic year."

According to Harris' report, "Summary Update: Progress Toward Diversity and Inclusion," the percentage of undergraduate minority students remained fairly constant at 27.4 percent, compared with 27.3 percent the previous year. The undergraduate student population dropped by 0.5 percent, and there were small decreases in the numbers of American Indian or Alaskan Native, Black, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander students.

There also was a 45.5 percent increase in the number of students who did not report race or ethnicity, Harris reported.

"Cornell is more than holding its own in a highly competitive environment for a more diverse student body, staff, administration and faculty," Harris said. "Our success is due, in part, to the range of diversity programs across the university that are coordinated by the Diversity Council, appointed by Provost [Biddy] Martin."