Is MITs senior administration going to reduce its expenses as well? Are they taking salary cuts or making staff reductions?
Yes, the marked decline in our endowment and in projections for future gifts, together with the expected increase in need for undergraduate financial aid, require that we make substantial budget reductions across the Institute. Members of Academic Council, senior administrators and department heads will forgo salary increases next year. The President has declined any salary increase for the current academic year and will do so for the next. In addition there have been immediate cuts across the Office of the President and of the VP for Institute Affairs, planning for a 10% reduction for FY10. Achieving cuts on this scale requires more than simple belt-tightening; it demands new ways of thinking about how we can work more effectively at lower cost. One example is the recent move to combine some functions of the MIT News Office and Technology Review, which will produce both substantial savings and more effective ways of bringing MIT’s story to the world.
