Faculty Unsure of ‘Reshaping’

During a town hall meeting two weeks ago, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith tasked staffers and professors with “reshaping” their operations—but with few specifics emerging in the wake of the charge, a confused Faculty is waiting with bated breath for details.

At the time, Smith called for broad-based restructuring of FAS, instead of simply shaving costs at the edges, to make up a $220 million deficit over the next two years.

“Reshaping starts with the academic activities we’re doing,” said the FAS leader. “We have to prioritize them, decide which ones we want to do, which ones—as worthy as they are—we’ll have to forego in the future.”

In an interview last week, Smith said the administration will soon release a communication plan detailing the $77 million of cost-reduction measures to be implemented over the next year. But for now, department leaders have expressed confusion regarding Smith’s call to restructure FAS.

“I don’t know what on earth he means [by restructuring],” said English professor W. James Simpson. “Does it mean cutting certain programs? I’m worried that decisions of that kind will be extremely grave decisions that would be very disruptive.”

John M. Duffy, chair of the classics department, said he is similarly unsure of the meaning behind the phrase, calling it “a visionary approach without exactly having a clear vision.” Smith may be deliberately withholding details to stimulate discussion among faculty and staff—or Smith himself may simply not have enough details to dispense, Duffy said.

“One thing was clear: the Dean doesn’t exactly know himself what this ‘reshaping’ will mean,” said Duffy, who recalled a recent meeting after the town hall in which Smith was unable to provide clarifying answers to questions posed by department chairs.

Professors and staff said they are aware that sacrifices will have to be made in any programmatic revamping.

“We heard from the floor a number of constituents coming up and saying, ‘You’re not going to cut my part,’” said a professor, who asked to remain anonymous, of the question-and-answer portion of the town hall meeting. “But something’s got to give, and someone’s got to choose.”

Anne Harrington, chair of the history of science department, said she finds it unlikely that restructuring will occur at the departmental level because “the unit-analysis is wrong.”

“We all hang together,” Harrington said. “If we each reshape ourselves, we’re going to end up a bunch of different-shaped puzzle pieces.”

With the administration in discussions about a retirement incentive program for faculty and no indication of increasing the pace of faculty hiring anytime soon, a number of professors expressed concern that restructuring FAS may be a euphemism for shrinking the size of the Faculty.

History lecturer Adam G. Beaver, who is also the department’s assistant director of undergraduate studies, said the FAS administration took a “very drastic measure early” by freezing most of its running faculty searches.

“The long-term health of the University lies with the long-term strength of its faculty,” said Economics Department Chair James H. Stock. “That requires ongoing hiring and recruiting.”

Some professors expressed anxiety that the administration may seek to eliminate faculty positions if the Faculty does not shrink enough through attrition.

Smith said in a recent interview that he would not replace retiring professors by default, but rather “take that as an opportunity” to rethink where else he might want to build faculty.

English professor Louis Menand said that the administration may discuss the possibility of merging some humanities departments to be able to let go of professors more directly.

“The only way you can fire people who are tenured is to close the department,” Menand said.

In the meantime, Smith is soon set to appoint six working groups composed of administrators and undergraduates charged with reexamining finances within FAS.

Although the working groups will be making recommendations to the FAS administration, they will not have any decision-making power, Smith said. All budgetary decisions will ultimately lie with the divisional deans and with Smith.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.