Even Ithaca's main industry (education) isn't recession proof.
The Cornell University Physical Sciences building will continue to grow in 2009 as it is built between Baker Lab, left, Clark Hall, at the rear and Rockefeller Hall, right. The almost 200,000-square-foot building, scheduled for completion in 2010, will provide space for research in bio-physics and nano-biotechnology. To learn more about the building, visit info.physciproject.cornell.edu/index.php. (SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo)
Ithaca College, Cornell to trim budgets in new year
By Liz Lawyer •
elawyer@gannett.com • December 31, 2008
ITHACA — The efforts of Cornell University and Ithaca College to shore up their finances in the current recession are expected to define the beginning of 2009.
As Cornell moves forward with a diminished endowment and Ithaca College scrambles to keep student enrollment from falling, both schools are looking for ways to tighten their belts, eliminate inefficiencies and cut costs.
Ithaca College's department heads have been asked to cut 4 percent from their operating budgets in this budget year, while Cornell President David Skorton has called for up to a 10 percent reduction in the university's operating budget over the next few years.
Both schools' endowments shrank over the past couple of months, but Cornell depends more heavily on its endowment than Ithaca College does.
Cornell implemented a construction and hiring freeze in October. The construction moratorium will last until the end of January, and the hiring freeze will hold until March 31. An internal hiring program is working with those workers who are on layoff notice to find new placement for them within the university in jobs left open due to the hiring freeze.
President David Skorton said there will be further layoffs in his end-of-the-year letter to the campus, saying that “while I do not anticipate any across-the-board cuts, the fact remains that this is a very serious situation and any reasonable solution will affect real programs, real jobs and real people.”
Other things ahead for Cornell include release of its complete Climate Action Plan in September.
The plan will outline the steps the university will take to limit its greenhouse gas production and energy consumption. The action plan is part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which Skorton signed in February 2007.
Ithaca College is hoping for a bigger freshman class after a smaller enrollment year than expected this fall. The school depends on enrollment for 90 percent of its operating budget, President Thomas Rochon said in a college-wide e-mail this month.
The task of the school is “to convince prospective students that this is, in fact, the place they should attend,” said college spokesman Dave Maley.
To help achieve that goal, Rochon created a position of vice president for enrollment management, replacing the position of dean of enrollment management, which reported to the provost rather than the president.
Though Ithaca College's endowment also took some hits, the blows to family budgets have more potential to reduce the college's revenue stream as more students may look to public schools for their education instead of more costly private schools.
In April, Ithaca College will be inaugurating its new president, Thomas Rochon, who stepped into the role of president at the school in July. Rochon is the college's eighth president.
Also during spring 2009, the college will break ground for its new athletics and events center. Construction is planned to take two years. When finished, it will be the largest building on campus.
TC3
At Tompkins Cortland Community College, enrollment is expected to go up. Tuition will not go up at the college next year, said Peter Voorhees, media relations coordinator.
The community college will also see the opening of a new residence hall this year and the completion of an expansion of the campus' main building.