Core Budget Growth Capped

A 2.5 percent cap has been imposed on the growth of the core central administration budget beginning in the fiscal year starting July 1, 1995, President Neil L. Rudenstine announced late last month.

The cap is the result of work done by a committee established earlier this year to advise Rudenstine on the central administration's budget.

The core central budget includes central departments sustained by University funds instead of service fees.

"This is essentially a no-growth budget, when the expected inflation rate is taken into account," Rudenstine told The Harvard Gazette. "Given the economic Challenges we face, it is clearly important that all of us do whatever we reasonably can to contain our costs without eroding the essential quality of our programs and services. The central administration has an essential part to play in that effort, and this budget is an important step in achieving that aim."

The central budget advisory committee, chaired by Provost Albert Carnesale, includes two other central administrators: Vice President for Administration Sally H. Zeckhauser and Vice President for Finance Allen J. Proctor '74.

The committee's other members are three senior administrators not directly affiliated with the central administration. They are Medical School Administrative Dean for Financial Affairs John M. Deeley, Administrative Dean of the Faculty Nancy L. Maull and Administrative Dean of the Graduate School of Education Joel C. Monell.

Carnesale praised the work of the committee, describing the budget review to The Gazette as "a constructive process for everyone involved."

"We have benefited a great deal from the perspectives and suggestions shared by the committee members from both the schools and the center," Carnesale added. "Working together with the vice presidents and others, we have made significant progress both in containing costs and in ensuring that the needs of the University as a whole are effectively and efficiently served by the central administration."

The budget advisory committee met more than 10 times between February and May, and the committee will initiate a review of central service departments budgets this summer.

Carnesale added that several of the departments in the core are budgeted for no nominal growth in the next fiscal year. Others will show a small measure of growth.

"This isn't a one-size-fits-all budget, but one that we've tried to tailor to suit the needs of different units," he said.

According to the Harvard News Office, the university budget is expected to grow 4.4 percent in fiscal 1996.

The cap comes in the wake of criticism from a couple of members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who in recent months have charged that the central administration is too bloated.