FAS To Use 'Idea Bank' Deposits

Facing a $110 million dollar budget deficit over the next two years, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has unrolled a new online “Idea Bank” Web site that allows students, faculty, and staff to share anonymous proposals about ways to reduce expenses.

Announced on September 15th at an open forum meeting conducted by FAS Dean Michael D. Smith, the Idea Bank, now in its second week of existence, also includes a feature by which site visitors can comment and rank the proposals that have been posted. A “Top rated ideas” tab on the site brings users directly to a list of proposals that have received the highest user rankings on a five star scale.

Currently topping the list? An idea marked “Energy Savings by turning lights off” clocks in at an average ranking of 4.91, boasting 115 votes, three comments, and a reminder that buildings like the Malkin Athletic Center are currently lit all night, and could benefit from the installation of a timer or motion sensor system.

Other ideas on the site urge administrators to shore up FAS’ economic position by charging fees to large tour groups looking to enter Harvard Yard, eliminating paper examinations, ditching dining hall trays, and cutting the Dorm Crew program that currently pays student employees to clean other students’ bathrooms.

“People can clean their own bathrooms,” the last submission reads.

An introduction on the Idea Bank’s home page signed by Smith and College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds asks visitors to “please frame your suggestions and questions in ways that reflect Harvard’s community standards of integrity and mutual respect.”

“Posts that contain profanity, personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be edited or blocked,” the statement reads.

Still some of the posts strike a cheeky tone.

One submission, marked “Invest endowment better” suggests that the University “find someone who actually knows how to invest to run the endowment.”

None of the ideas on the Idea Bank site have yet been implemented, because it has only been a short period since the site was launched, wrote FAS spokesman Jeff Neal in an e-mail to The Crimson yesterday. Neal added that the highly rated recommendations deposited on the Idea Bank will be reviewed by the working groups currently tasked with considering ways to cut costs in the various FAS divisions.

“The Idea Bank is one more way we are trying to engage the entire FAS and Harvard College community as we all consider how to best advance our core mission of teaching and research in a more efficient and cost-effective manner,” the Web site reads.

The Harvard Idea Bank is not the first of its kind. MIT launched a tool with a design uncannily similar to Harvard’s several months ago as part of its attempt to cut operating expenses, recognizing that “the work to sculpt a stronger MIT will require collective wisdom and collaborative action.”