Money in the Bank

When implementing recent budget cut decisions, the administration has appeared somewhat closed to outside influence. Thankfully, there may be a remedy to this glaring problem. FAS has now launched an online Idea Bank inviting students, faculty members, and the community to submit their budget cut ideas and rate those of others. Administrators have already successfully halved the FAS deficit, bringing it down to a more manageable $110 million from the original figure of $220 million. Now they are asking the broader Harvard community to have a role in coming up with possible additional cuts.

We are glad to see the administration request student and faculty input in this process. The shuttle conundrum could have been avoided if the administration had taken that initiative earlier. Regardless of the tardiness of this step, we believe this is a good initiative and we encourage people to make use of the website.

We hope that working groups will take the ideas seriously in their deliberations, as many ideas already on the website appear sensible and creative. We also hope to see such ideas being incorporated into the next round of budget cuts. Nevertheless, it is up to students and the community to take this opportunity to voice their opinion and be a part of the budget cut process. Many were quick to criticize the University on the lack of transparency in their decision-making process when it announced its first round of cuts. The Idea Bank is a great opportunity to remedy this. The site makes it very easy for users to contribute, as it is well-designed and simple to use. Ideas can be posted anonymously, and viewers can then rate each idea on a 1-to-5 star scale. Users can even comment on posted ideas and offer their feedback.

The administration has made important progress in incorporating student opinion into this difficult process. Now it remains up to students and the community to make sure this bank can keep FAS from going bankrupt.