LehighWeek Volume 08, Issue 15

              FEATURE
1
CONTENTS
JOBS:
10
12
Looking Back...           JL   Jl^
NEWS: Chen wins major             FEATURE: Students plan Texas    CALENDAR:
award, Balabkins honored,          town                                          6
Cornerstone laid
for            .   ll
At&T gets corporate award 1-3                                                              SOUTH MOU
DEPARTMENT: Property                       MAN THE 1
EVENTS: Randal! Robinson to  Management                                7   There will be a
NTAINEER:
ORPEOOESi
sinking when
speak, art exhibit, film series,                                                                 the undefeatec
I Engineers
music                                    4-5   PEOPLE: Ruth Kneller profiled,    go against NA\
Tin wrestling
Ott PH&*-   ■*■-*■                      mmmt
milestones, achievements       8-10   on Saturday
13-16
sout:
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LEHIGHWEEK
Volume 8, Issue
Anne Thomas
reads the
"Sermon on
the
Mountaintop"
from the
New Testament.
For the Campus Community
January 25,1995
Lehigh observes Martin Luther King birthday
Beffisford Booth shares his selected reading during
one of Lehigh's observances of Martin Luther King's
birthday. The Lehigh community gathered to read
poems, plays, texts and scripture at noon in the Great
Room of the Ulrich Student Center on Jan. 19.
photos by Trae Pattonm '98
Challenges discussed in open budget process
by William J. Johnson, Writers' Group
Lehigh's annual budget meeting, canceled last year because of snow,
was held last Monday in Perella Auditorium with spring-like temperatures
     outside. The drastic
Undergraduate Tuition
(actual)
90      i
80
c
o
70
60
50
is  40
82.90
Revenue
44.50
CO
op
00
en
cp
cb
CO
o
CD
l
05
CO
CO
i
o
CO
CM
CJ)
CO
CO
co
■
CM
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I
CO
in
I
■sr
*
CD
CO
in
en
*
Source: Treasure's Office
94-95 estimated
*95-96 budget
temperature
difference could
have been a
metaphor for the
increasing financial
heat facing higher
education, or for a
warmer, more open
budget process here
on campus.
For the first
time, all faculty and
staff were invited
to the meeting, not
just department
heads. They heard
a thorough
explanation of how
the 1995-96 budget
developed from a
different process led
by the University
Council, which has
representatives from
every area of the
university.
Budget Director Jim Tiefenbrunn reviewed how the budget model
evolved over several months. The process, he said, included various
iterations, trade-offs between line items and consultation with the finance
and executive committees of the board.
The major budget parameters were approved January 13 by the board
of trustees. Included were faculty and staff salary budget increases
averaging 3.75 percent (including special raises for promotions) and
benefits increases of about 5 percent, so that total compensation increases
will average about 4 percent. All raises will be based on merit and vice
presidents will have discretion in administering them.
The approved budget developed from one that projected a $2.3-million
deficit in September. By decreasing expenses, the University Council was
able to balance the budget model by December 19.
"These annual adjustments to the budget model are necessary largely
because the growth in unrestricted revenue sources has been less than
desired," said Tiefenbrunn. "The net realized revenue from undergraduate
tuition has grown slowly because ofthe need to substantially increase
financial aid to keep Lehigh competitive in attracting the best students.
"There also has been a planned downward trend in undergraduate
enrollment numbers. Also, the net realized revenue from graduate tuition
has been decreasing or stagnant. While the budget revenue from indirect
cost recovery on research grew in the early 1990s, it is now decreasing."
President Peter Likins said "Getting Even Better" committees this
year will be looking for ways to make work processes more efficient. He
said Lehigh also needs to consider whether there are things the university
should simply stop doing. He added that Lehigh is still healthy relative to
its competition. But everyone, he said, should be concerned with attracting
more high-quality students.
continued on page 2
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