Dartblog

Forget the endowment. It has done extraordinarily well over the past two decades: right now, it is almost five times as high as it was in 1991.

In fact, there is only one number that really counts in understanding Dartmouth’s current budget nightmare: staff salaries and benefits.

In the 1998 budget year (ending on June 30, 1998), shortly before Jim Wright became President, the College spent $183,611,000 on salaries and benefits (See Page 6: Compensation) In the last budget year (ending on June 30, 2009), the College spent $438,896,000 on these areas (See Page 5: Compensation is now broken down into Salaries/Wages and Benefits).

Over 11 years, this growth represents a total increase in compensation of 138.98%. Over the same 11 years, the Consumer Price Index rose by 32.50%

Ah, but you say in reply, the number of faculty member rose by 15.53% between 1998 and 2009. Answer: that’s an extra 59 people at a current cost of no more than $10,000,000 (with benefits).

And you might point out that the financials also show that sponsored research rose from $75,469,000 to $172,638,000, of which a good portion is salaries and wages. Answer: still small potatos in the overall numbers.

You don’t need a sliderule to understand that these latter figures do not come close to explaining the budget explosion. For that we have to look to incompetence and indulgence on the part of the administration and a total absence of oversight by the Trustees.

The 2009 financials show that the College now spends 40¢ on employees benefits for every dollar spent on salaries and wages. This figures is down from 43¢ last year — but such spending is still far higher than at any other Ivy that breaks outs its benefits figures. If President Km were to cut the cost of benefits down to the Ivy average, the budget crisis would end tomorrow.

Another place to find saving: the basic wages paid to staff employees. Rather than looking at market wages, the spirit of the living wage seems to have motivated Wright and his fair-minded minions. Translation: union dishwashers at the College make north of $20/hour to ply their trade (plus benefits). Time to bring in the compensation analysts to re-calibrate wages to the local market. Additionally, let’s get back up to a 40-hour workweek for College staffers; this isn’t France. In the real world, everyone seems to survive the rigors of a full day.

This entire boom-bust situation is a farce of mismanagement; we went through the same thing as tragedy barely seven years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone at the College soon suggests that we need to cut the swim team!