Conference Targets College Finances

BOSTON--University presidents and trustees must work closely together to weather the present financial crisis in higher education, panelists said yesterday at a conference in Hynes Convention Center.

The panel was one of four that addressed questions of financial aid, administrative cooperation and the future of higher education at the one-day conference, titled "The Financial Crisis Facing New England Colleges."

The conference was attended by about 200 presidents, trustees and financial aid officers from New England colleges and universities.

Former Yale University President Benno C. Schmidt Jr. spoke about the role of presidents and trustees in meeting the "peculiar circumstance"--a term he said he preferred to "financial crisis"--facing American universities today.

Schmidt, who left Yale to direct the Edison Project, an experimental, for-profit education system, said that university fiduciaries must guard against the "tendency to prefer the present to consume our future."

"The primary responsibility of the trustees and the president is that...every decision that is made...will serve equally well the needs of the present and the concerns of the future," he said.

Despite Yale's financial straits during the time of his presidency, Schmidt said that the university's administration regarded it as a top priority to keep Yale accessible to all students, regardless of their ability to pay.

Still, such priorities lead to tough financial choices. And Yale, like many other institutions, had for years been radically underinvesting in its physical infrastructure and educational resources, Schmidt said.

Schmidt said his belief in strengthening Yale's infrastructure led to a reputation for "[caring] more about buildings than about people." But, he asked, "by what right do we consume these facilities in our time to...[leave] to the future a crumbling infrastructure?"

Panelist D. Ron Daniel, a member of the Harvard Corporation and the University's treasurer, said that one problem universities face in controlling costs is the difference in focus between the president and the trustees.

The president is obliged to focus on short-term revenue rather than long-term expenses and to concentrate on the faculty as his or her main constituency. Meanwhile, the trustees can engage in longer-term problems and can embrace a broader base of constituent groups, Daniel said.

Closer cooperation between the president and trustees is necessary, Daniel said, pointing out that the two perspectives can complement each other.

"These different mindsets are increasingly andnecessarily merging...The president can help thetrustees see the pieces of the problem moreclearly and the trustees can help the presidentsee the integrated whole more clearly," saidDaniel.

Also on the panel were Daniel Taylor, a memberof the University of Massachusetts' board oftrustees, and Sylvia Q. Simmons, a senior vicepresident at the Massachusetts Higher EducationAssistance Corporations.

The conference was sponsored by the New EnglandBoard of Higher Education and the MassachusettsHigher Education Assistance Corporation

"These different mindsets are increasingly andnecessarily merging...The president can help thetrustees see the pieces of the problem moreclearly and the trustees can help the presidentsee the integrated whole more clearly," saidDaniel.

Also on the panel were Daniel Taylor, a memberof the University of Massachusetts' board oftrustees, and Sylvia Q. Simmons, a senior vicepresident at the Massachusetts Higher EducationAssistance Corporations.

The conference was sponsored by the New EnglandBoard of Higher Education and the MassachusettsHigher Education Assistance Corporation