The College

In his annual "State of the College" talk to the general faculty, President Kemeny last month had some good news concerning the finances of the College. The projected deficit of $291,000 for the current year will not occur, he reported, and $340,000 of the Third Century Fund that was going to be used this year will now be carried over to 1973-74.

The major factors, beyond general economies, contributing to this improved situation are $200,000 from the three-year $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation for transitional costs, free funds from a bequest to be received in the near future, a much better financial result from the summer term than budgeted, and the prospect of income from the creation of DTSS, Inc., reported in this issue.

Even with the carryover of Third Century Fund money, the 1973-74 deficit will be approximately $1-million, President Kemeny said, but that deficit was originally projected at $1,583-million. There could also be improvement in the projected deficits of $661,000 for 1974-75 and $621,000 for 1975-76, leading up to the balancing of the budget in 1976-77, as called for in the long-range financial plan approved by the Trustees.

For the fiscal year 1971-72, President Kemeny told the faculty, the College came within $64,000 of meeting its $40-million budget. The previous year,, the College came within $40,000 of balancing its books.

The Dartmouth, which has never made a habit of praising the administration, printed an editorial October 18 saying:

John G. Kemeny has been extraordinarily successful in managing the budget of the College. President Kemeny deserves the praise and gratitude of the entire community for the healthy financial status of the institution.

At a time when many if not most of the other private institutions of higher learning in the country are facing severe financial crises and large deficits, Dartmouth has been able to make ends meet without ordering massive budget cuts. In fact, the College is unique among our sister institutions in that its financial status is actually allowing it to grow in terms of both size and diversity.

Responsible management of a budget of the complexity and magnitude of Dartmouth's is an exceedingly difficult task. President Kemeny and the officers of his administration deserve considerable credit for having accomplished just that. It is also laudable that the administration is attempting to develop sophisticated management tools and share them with other institutions. We congratulate the Kemeny administration for its efforts to date and encourage further research in this field.