As the April 6 election loomed, advocacy commercials for the region’s transit system debuted during the Winter Olympics. The first advertisement, which aired during the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Feb. 12, features testimonials from multiple St. Louis businessmen and personalities, including Chancellor Mark Wrighton. In the commercial, Wrighton cites how public transit such as MetroLink carries 25,000 of his students, faculty and staff.

Proposition M failed on Nov. 4, 2008, by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent. If it had passed, St. Louis County would have raised the sales tax by half a cent, bringing in $80 million per year for Metro. According to the Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance, an advocacy group working to improve Metro service, Proposition M’s failure has led to “agency-wide layoffs, a transit fare increase on January 1, 2009, and massive service cuts on March 30, 2009.”

Proposition A also aims to increase sales tax by half a cent. This tax, according to the Transit Alliance, will cost the average family $50 per year. The Transit Alliance is basing its campaign on the slogan “Some of us ride it. All of us need it.”

“Great cities have great transit systems,” says the Transit Alliance’s Web site, www.moremetrolink.com. “MetroLink is one of the most successful light rail systems in the country with 70,000 riders per day on a typical weekday and reaches as many as 100,000 on days with special events. Without MetroLink, St. Louis would not be at the level it is today.”

According to the Transit Alliance, although annual ridership for the MetroLink rose from 15.4 million people to 19.7 million people from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2008, the number dropped by 300,000 for fiscal 2009. Ridership for all forms of the Metro fell from 53.8 million in fiscal 2008 to 52.8 million in fiscal 2009.

There are also many opponents to Proposition A. In response to the new commercials, Citizens for Better Transit, a group which opposes the tax increases in Proposition A, wrote a new blog post on its Web site, stoptheprop.com.

“I’ve now heard radio commercials and seen television commercials for the Metro Tax increase we’re supposed to vote on in April, and can say with a straight face it’s not truthful…No matter how the vote goes, we will still have Metro,” the site reads.

Opponents from this group believe that the tax increases will be used for expansion of the Metro, not for sustaining the services the region already has, which they believe to be problematic.

“If the Vote Yes on Proposition A people won’t even bother to tell you the truth about why they want the money, how can we trust them to take care of the money when they get it,” the site reads. “The loss in Metro services that will occur when the stimulus funds runs out is still going to occur. This tax won’t fix it.”

Students have noticed the drop in MetroLink service after the failure of Proposition M in 2008.

“The trains close earlier and are much less efficient than they were before,” sophomore Aubrey Murray said. “[The failure of Proposition M] has been devastating.”

Murray, who is originally from St. Louis and uses MetroLink regularly, said that she will vote for Proposition A.

Some, including freshman Chris Bell, registered to vote in St. Louis County as a result of the University’s campaign for Proposition A.

“The Metro is adequate,” Bell said. “Nothing’s perfect, but to keep service at the current level, Proposition A has to pass. I would not like to see the service decrease at all.”

Non-St. Louis County voters share similar sentiments about Proposition A. Although sophomore Annie Pinnell is registered to vote in Kansas and has not used Metro this year, she nevertheless believes in the cause of Proposition A, and would vote for it if she were registered in Missouri.

“I think it’s a worthwhile tax increase, because a lot of people need to use the Metro,” Pinnell said.

In addition to the commercials, Wash. U. has sent out e-mails to students with instructions on how to register to vote and encouraging student volunteers to help with voter registration.

The deadline for St. Louis County registration is March 10. Even if students are already registered to vote in St. Louis County, their address must be the same as it was the last time they voted, so students must register even if they have only changed dormitories or moved to a different part of campus—otherwise, they may only vote provisionally.

A comparison of the current course listings in WebSTAC with Joshua Gross' creation at woocourses.com.

Junior Joshua Gross was dissatisfied with Washington University’s online course catalog and decided to create WashUCourses.com. The only problem was the University trademark on “Wash. U.” and other variations of the University’s name.

Gross changed the Web site’s URL to woocourses.com, after Patricia Hart, the associate general counsel of Washington University, sent a cease-and-desist letter on Feb. 18. The letter cited possible confusion that the “Wash. U.” designation might cause.

“Your use of the ‘Wash. U.’ trademark in this context causes confusion as to the sponsorship of your Web site’s services by implying to consumers (students) that the University is somehow affiliated with, or approves of your services,” Hart wrote in her letter to Gross. “Such consumer confusion regarding affiliation or approval constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition under Missouri state law and federal law.”

A new Web site created by junior Joshua Gross for browsing course listings provides students with an alternative to WebSTAC with additional features and a new user interface. (Matt Lanter | Student Life)

Gross, a student in the art school, created the Web site at the beginning of the semester after past experiences with the University’s course catalog. He was displeased that the University’s course catalog did not allow him to search by basic graduation requirements for the art school.

“I have been using the course Web site for the past two years, and I’ve always been dissatisfied,” Gross said. “You have to fill out certain credits, but you can never search by these requirements, so I wanted to create a way that students can search by requirements that they need.”

Gross’ site allows students to search not only by basic requirements, but also by length of class, frequency, instructor, room, number of credits, course title and course description, and by whether the course has a subsection or whether the course needs prerequisites. Students can also comment on courses.

Gross has received positive feedback from students inside and outside the art school. Students, he said, have complimented him on expanding the information already available on the course catalog.

“I try to make the information as clearly presented as possible and add the ability to search by a wider variety [of criteria],” Gross said.

Sophomore Melissa Cochran is one student who views Gross’ site positively. “I like woocourses.com more than WebSTAC’s course listings because it is more helpful and user friendly,” Cochran said.

Cochran also complimented woocourses.com’s color coding and the ease of searching for classes.

According to Gross, he had received prior warnings about Wash. U. Courses “a solid seven days, possibly more” before he received the cease-and-desist letter. He had not spoken to Hart prior to receiving the letter. Gross did not believe that he was violating any trademark laws.

“From my own research of the law and of trademarks, they did not own a trademark on ‘Wash. U.’ in the context of Web sites and searchable databases, so I thought I was in the clear,” Gross said.

After receiving the letter, Gross decided to change the site’s name to “WooCourses,” because he wanted it to maintain a name that was identifiable to the University but did not infringe on any trademarks. Although he still believes that he did not infringe on any trademarks, he does not want to spend the time or money required to keep the site’s original name.

While Gross willingly changed the Web site’s name to “WooCourses,” he said he believed that the University could have handled the legal matter better than it did.

Gross plans to continue running the Web site independently of the University, but he noted that if the University is willing to have an open dialogue with him, he will think about collaborating with them to improve Wash. U.’s catalog.

“I said that I would be willing to talk to the school about getting official support, since other students have told me that they want more support from the Web site,” Gross said. “I thought the school and I could work together on this.”

Despite the legal disputes he has faced, Gross emphasized that his main goal for WooCourses has remained the same.

“I want people to find classes they want more quickly, instead of browsing through the course catalog for a few hours,” Gross said.

A GO WUSTL pilot program has been underway since mid-January. Student Technology Services (STS) representatives said it has been a success.

“The feedback has been generally good,” Director of Student Technology Services Barbara Braun said. “There have been a few hiccups along the way that were Microsoft-related.”

According to Marcia Mannen, associate director of client support for Arts & Sciences Computing, most of the questions that students participating in the pilot have raised were not technical. There have not been many questions regarding the actual program, but rather addressing issues such as mail forwarding.

The Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) has been happy with the pilot.

“It’s going to be a good transition,” said sophomore Brandon Lucius, a member of STAC. “There are a lot of tools and applications that are going to make students’ lives more organized and efficient.”

Tools available with the new GO WUSTL program include video and text chat, an application similar to Google Documents, and a global address book.

According to Braun, the global address book is among one of the favorite applications of the pilot program participants.

Issues that have plagued the new e-mail service since the pilot started include backlogged e-mail and issues with the spam filters.

Sophomore Betel Ezaz, who is participating in the pilot program, has found some of its drawbacks.

“It seems inefficient right now, even compared to what we already have,” she said. “My main issue is that it loses e-mails and that the spam folder always has legitimate e-mails. I think they can figure it out. They’ve been really good about feedback.”

To remedy the issue with regular mail ending up in spam folders, all e-mails from Wash. U. addresses have been whitelisted.

“Overall I think it will be better because of the options that are available through GO WUSTL,” Ezaz said. “It’s just a matter of working out the small issues before we go live with it. I think it’s good.”

Arts & Sciences and engineering students are making the transition from Squirrelmail.

“From our perspective we know it’s something to be excited about,” said Kristen Hornberger, communications specialist for the Engineering Public Relations & Communications department.

The business school is transitioning from a less advanced version of Microsoft Outlook.

“It’s a very smooth transition,” said Sharon Yoon, associate director of MBA student affairs. “It’s very nice I think. Students are very savvy, and this is very intuitive.”

The old e-mail accounts will not be phased out immediately; their end dates have not yet been decided.

STS will be offering a series of hour-long workshops in early March to help acquaint students with GO WUSTL. In the meetings STS will discuss how to use specific applications and how to forward mail. STS is also encouraging students to look to the GO WUSTL Web site to find answers to simple questions.

Expectations for the program’s success are running high.

“If the pilot program was any indication, it was pretty smooth,” Braun said. “I don’t think it will be too difficult.”

As a part of a plan designed to reduce the Washington University maintenance and landscaping budget by at least 5 percent, the number of tulips on campus will be cut in half.

The new plan will also reduce the number of on-call maintenance employees around the Danforth Campus, thereby producing a delay in response time. In addition, the University will employ the minimal number of custodial employees needed to keep campus clean, and the cleaning of offices and cubicles will now occur bimonthly instead of weekly.

“The University requested administrative support departments to begin the planning for a series of budget reductions almost a year ago,” Bill Wiley, the director of maintenance operations, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “Like a number of other administrative support departments, we are starting elements of the plan immediately to maximize the savings potential.”

All public spaces will continue to receive daily cleaning and trash removal.

“We have had numerous meetings to discuss this maintenance challenge among ourselves and hope that we can increase our productivity to avoid noticeable maintenance problems,” Wiley added in the e-mail. “We do not intend to tolerate lower campus cleanliness standards, but it will again be a challenge. For instance, we are discussing whether we should move a cleaning worker on a temporary basis from the Athletic Complex to Olin Library during the busy study period just before finals.”

Despite a 10 percent rise in the endowment since July 1, 2009, the University will lose $10 million in spending power from the endowment this year, according to a letter that Chancellor Mark Wrighton wrote to the University community on Monday. The restructuring of maintenance operations is just one of many departments that have had to make spending cuts.

Wiley emphasized that at this phase of the restructuring process, it is unclear how many employees will lose jobs, if any. Through retirement, redistribution of previously contracted work to maintenance staff and restricting overtime, the University hopes to keep as many current workers employed as possible.

All residential areas of campus will remain unaffected by these changes, but new maintenance staff will not be hired as more buildings open. Instead, the responsibility of current workers will be increased to these new areas.

“I can state for now however, the housekeeping for the residential side of campus will not be affected at all with these cutbacks as well as cleaning schedules will not be reduced,” Curt Harres, housekeeping manager for the Office of Residential Life, wrote in an e-mail.

In order for this program to become a permanent success, students and faculty will also need to contribute. By throwing away all trash left on tables and in common areas, keeping doors closed to maintain building temperature, not damaging walls with improperly posted signs, and possibly bringing full trash cans to central collection areas, the Wash. U. community can help ensure that current cleanliness standards are maintained.

Even with the full support of the University community, Wiley said that the plan will experience some setbacks.

“Our Facilities group has benchmarked well in recent years when measured against our counterparts at peer institutions, but we will be tested, miscalculate and make mistakes at times as we work through the future with reduced resources, but not significantly reduced goals,” Wiley wrote. “We need helpful feedback, understanding, cooperation and perhaps patience from our fellow members of the campus community.”

In an email to the University community on Monday afternoon, Chancellor Mark Wrighton laid out the results of the administration’s efforts to cut costs while continuing to develop the school’s endowment for fiscal year 2011 and beyond.

Wrighton highlighted some measures that have been taken to reduce expenditures. Among other initiatives, the cost plan for fiscal year 2011 includes the elimination of 25 part-time and full-time employment opportunities in addition to approximately 25 unoccupied positions.

“These human resource reductions have occurred in central administrative areas and in the Danforth Campus schools,” Wrighton wrote. “Individuals who have lost their jobs were given advance notice, severance, and job search assistance…Overall, reductions in staffing and in non-personnel administrative expense in the central administration alone have reduced annual expenses by about $10 million, a 6.5% reduction, over a 2-year period.”

In addition, the administration earlier this year decided to eliminate the print version of The Record, what used to be a weekly newsletter highlighting events and people in the community. Now, The Record publishes exclusively online daily.

“In this instance [ending print publication of The Record], it is arguably the case that we have simultaneously reduced expenses, improved the effectiveness of our communications, and reduced the amount of paper consumed,” Wrighton said.

Other budget changes include the changing of health benefits programs, a reduction of spending on library materials, improved automation and distribution of personnel forms, reduction in landscape work, and improvements in energy efficiency. Particularly with regard to energy, the administration plans to install more automatic lights controls and more energy-efficient lighting in the buildings throughout campus and the South 40 residential area.

Despite the reduction in many of the University’s expenditures, Wrighton echoed the idea that both the academic programs and the financial aid availability at the University remain strong. He argued that the University remains committed to supporting those who cannot fund their education alone.

“We will continue to support the financial aid needs of our students,” Wrighton wrote. “Even though there are signs of a recovering economy, we know the recovery is uneven and additional financial aid resources will be needed in the future. We will continue to respond to changing needs in financial aid for students so they can complete their degree programs at Washington University.”

To achieve these ends, the University has ventured on the fundraising initiative Opening Doors to the Future: The Scholarship Initiative for Washington University. The goal is to raise $150 million by midyear 2014. So far, the University has raised $35 million.

In addition, the University has received numerous donations over the past year, including $30 for the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics and over $100 million from the stimulus bill.

Students were disappointed in the cutbacks.

“Obviously change needs to be made so you have to do what you have to do,” freshman Sondra Polonsky said.

Others see waste in places that aren’t being addressed.

“I think that [the University] probably should spend their money places other than landscaping all the time,” junior Doug Richardson said. “Instead of putting in new grass every few days, they could spend it on something more useful.”

According to Wrighton’s letter, the endowment has been on a slow but steady rise over the current academic year. Since July 1 of last year, the endowment has gone up by 10 percent; but Wrighton noted that the board of trustees predicts that the endowment will decline by $10 million over the next year.

With additional reporting by Michelle Merlin

Biology professor Ralph Quatrano was named the dean of the School of Engineering on Friday afternoon.

Quatrano comes to the post as the immediate past dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences. He served as interim dean of Arts & Sciences from July 1, 2008, until June 30, 2009, when Gary Wihl took over the position.

Quatrano succeeds Salvatore Sutera, senior professor of biomedical engineering, who has served as the interim dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science since July 1, 2008. Quatrano will serve as dean designate starting March 1, 2010, serving a four-month transition period. His tenure will officially begin in July.

“Ralph Quatrano has been an outstanding academic leader at Washington University for over a decade,” Chancellor Mark Wrighton said in a news release.

Although Quatrano has held no official positions in the engineering school, he said that biology and the field of engineering are closely intertwined and he hopes to build strong interdisciplinary relationships within the school.

“Engineering and the physical sciences are intimately related to the future of the life sciences,” Quatrano said in a University-issued news release. “It is going to be very important in the next decade that the biological and medical sciences integrate with engineering, and I feel that this position, looking back from engineering into the life sciences, will be exciting and challenging for me.”

The appointment comes two years after the former dean of the engineering school, Mary Sansalone, resigned from her post amid controversy. Throughout her less than two years as dean, Sansalone had come under fire for several controversial changes, including the merging of several departments and budget cuts in response to the school’s financial situation.

Tenured faculty within the school submitted a petition to Wrighton calling for Sansalone’s removal. She announced that she would step down in February 2008.

The search for a new permanent engineering dean started in December 2009 when Provost Edward Macias encouraged faculty members to submit applications and nominations for the position.

The applications were reviewed by the Advisory Committee on the Appointment of the Dean of Engineering, co-chaired by Macias; Joseph Ackerman, chair of the chemistry department; and Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Other members of the committee include professors; department chairs; Evan Kharasch, interim vice chancellor for research; and Chris Kroeger, associate dean for engineering and applied science.

Senior Dan Brewster, president of EnCouncil—the student government for the engineering school—said that EnCouncil is looking forward to working with Quatrano.

“I think it’s great that we have a new dean and someone who has experience with Wash. U,” Brewster said. “We are all excited to have him. We haven’t heard of any changes that he will be implementing, but EnCouncil will look forward to working with him,” Brewster said.

Quatrano joined the University faculty in 1998 as the chair of the department of biology.

In his professional life, Quatrano’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms behind molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling seed development.

Quatrano earned his bachelor’s degree in botany with honors from Colgate University in 1962; his master’s degree in botany from Ohio University, Athens, in 1964; and his doctorate in biology from Yale University in 1968.

Private colleges averaged a 4.3 percent increase, the smallest in 35 years, for the 2009-2010 academic year, whereas Wash. U.’s tuition increased by 4.4 percent.

According to Barbara Feiner, chief financial officer and vice chancellor for finance, the University usually announces its tuition increase before peer institutions, so no comparisons can yet be made.

“We usually compare our tuition with the rates of the top private research universities with which we have the most overlapping applications,” Feiner wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “Among this group of 26 schools, our tuition for the current school year is right in the middle. I review this information with students annually at the Student Union Tuition Forum held every fall.”

Although increases in tuition can decrease the affordability of attending the University, Feiner noted that at times of tuition increases, the University increases financial aid for undergraduates.

“Student Financial Services takes the increase in tuition into consideration in the awarding of financial aid so the result of the tuition increase will be an increase in financial aid,” Feiner wrote. “Over the past two years the University has increased financial aid for undergraduate students by about 22 percent, which is far in excess of the tuition increases over that time.”

According to Feiner, financial aid was taken into substantial consideration of the tuition increase.

“Much of the increase in financial aid is a result of eliminating loans in financial aid packages for students whose family income is less than $60,000 as well as meeting the needs of families who have experienced reversals in their financial circumstances,” Feiner wrote.

Feiner cited increasing operating costs as the reason behind the tuition increase, saying that the economic downturn in recent years has affected budgeting more than the actual percentage increase of tuition. While the central administrative areas have focused on budgeting, the tuition has been increased to cover other costs.

“There are some expenses that continue to grow, such as the costs of updating classrooms and laboratories, health care costs for employees and the financial aid mentioned above,” Feiner wrote. “Other sources of income include the spending from the endowment and gifts, both of which are affected by the economic downturn, so there is even more reliance on tuition.”

While some students are worried about the tuition increase, they acknowledge the administration’s rationale for increasing the tuition and stressed the importance of strong financial aid as a way to keep people coming to Wash. U.

“I think it’s reasonable that they increased the tuition based on everything that’s going on economically,” senior Tedward Erker said. “If they didn’t increase financial aid with the tuition, it would be an issue.”

Sophomore Brendan Cook shared similar thoughts about the tuition increase.

“The tuition definitely is a lot higher than I would like it to be,” Cook said. “I don’t think the increase was too bad; it increased over an already high amount in this kind of economy when students are struggling to come up with that type of money.”

Cook, like Erker, also stressed the importance of increasing financial aid.

“As long as the increase in the amount of financial aid the University is willing to give out is at least proportional to the increase in the tuition, then it’s a justified increase,” Cook said. “If they increase it without providing aid at the same time, it will have negative effects and more people would be deterred from coming to Wash. U.”

Despite some concerns with high tuition costs, Feiner stressed the importance of maintaining the high standard of education the University stands by.

“Tuition is the largest source of revenue to support the budgets of the schools on the Danforth Campus,” Feiner wrote. “For the schools with undergraduate programs, tuition is almost two-thirds of the operating revenue.”

The project, which began in 2008, specifically targets low-income students. St. Louis currently ranks 24th out of the 35 largest metropolitan regions in the country in the proportion of its population that has a baccalaureate degree.

“The work that we did does target low-income students both because we think it’s the best and right thing to do and also because if you look at the demographics for this region, that is where the potential is for greatest growth,” said Faith Sandler, co-chair of the project’s steering committee and executive director of the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis.

To gather research for the project, representatives conducted informational interviews with every university in the St. Louis metropolitan area, as well as with colleges and universities that serve a large proportion of students from the St. Louis metropolitan area, such as the University of Missouri-Columbia and Missouri State University. Washington University provided support during the initial stages of the project.

Leah Merrifield, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity initiatives, supported the project during its early stages by serving as a representative from both the University and from College Bound, a college access and completion program in St. Louis.

“It really was a matter of having some key players in the St. Louis region who have been working on these issues and really wanting to see the state do something more,” Merrifield said.

Washington University remains involved with the project today.

“[The University] continues to be a place people choose to come to get their degrees, and we are a net importer of talent,” said Rob Wild, assistant to the chancellor. “We recruit a certain number of people from the region, and many, many more stay…here and join the workforce.”

Increasing the number of people in St. Louis with college degrees has implications for the local economy because it will make St. Louis a more desirable place for businesses that want to hire employees, Wild added.

The low proportion of students with college degrees is not exclusively an urban issue. North St. Louis County also has a low proportion of students with college degrees, and the more rural Jefferson and Franklin counties often see students graduating high school and not pursuing a college education.

“If we’re going to compete to attract business to this region, if we’re going to compete to keep youth within the region…then the way we’re going to do that is to reach the entire population,” Sandler said.

The project has already achieved results by informing the public, from the media and legislators to local people in St. Louis. Representatives from the project held a public forum on Oct. 7, 2009, in which Greg Darnieder, special assistant on college access in the U.S. Department of Education, spoke on the issue.

“We’ve seen first of all that the community is really hungry for the information,” Sandler said.

The project will continue to work to achieve its goal: reaching the threshold of 50 percent of St. Louis’s adult population having a baccalaureate degree or a post-secondary degree by 2020.

“In order to do that, we set forth six strategies that we think really all have to be in place, ranging from a better statewide data collection effort to creating in high schools a college-going culture where there’s an expectation that students can, in fact, pursue something beyond their high school diploma,” Sandler said.

Wild stressed the importance of the project for the region’s future.

“We are going to be a stronger region when more of our residents have access to high-quality higher education opportunities,” Wild said. “It’s just really important for our future economic stability that we continue to find ways to get more of our population educated with a college degree.”

“The University has a very unusual cost structure,” business school economics professor Glenn MacDonald said. “Most money goes to faculty and facilities, neither of which is very easy to adjust. When we get a drop in the endowment, that draw drops proportionally.”

MacDonald showed surprise that the University is freezing salary raises, because in the past, the administration has generally not let the stock market affect professors’ salaries. When the economy and the endowment were doing well, he said, the faculty did not receive the benefits of the economic upturn.

“If we were a beer company, feeling the upside and downside of the economy would be normal, but in an academic setting, it’s not,” MacDonald said. “Faculty are paid largely in benefits­—we have a lot of flexibility [and] good job security, and we get raises, so when the University takes away one of those things, we get angry.”

While workers in regular businesses take pay cuts when the economy is down but gain benefits or higher raises when the economy is up, professors do not receive the big gains when the economy is doing well. The tradeoff for not receiving such benefits when the economy is doing well is not being hit as hard when the economy is doing poorly. MacDonald, as well as other professors, did not expect to have their raises frozen as a result of the bad economy, because they did not receive the benefits when the economy was doing better earlier in the decade.

“It’s a very unusual thing to do,” MacDonald said. “It happens more in state schools, where the school is more dependent on the state economy.”

Professors hold the opinion that the University should restructure its budget in response to the current economic situation.

“I think this would be a good time for the University to cut down on unnecessary and luxury expenses and restructure its budget,” said Michele Boldrin, chair of the economics department.

Boldrin noted the importance of prioritizing what the endowment should pay for and what other revenue should cover.

“It is important for the University to learn that the endowment should be used for investment and extraordinary expenses,” Boldrin said. “It is more like a buffer that you want to use to undertake risky investments and cover dramatic situations like this one.”

MacDonald noted the difficulty in reducing budget expenditures.

“In the short run, the University would like to save some money, but it just makes people angry,” MacDonald said. “They’ll end up having to give raises in the future to keep the faculty.”

Boldrin encouraged making the budget debate public. Because faculty salaries are such a delicate issue, he believes that it would be helpful to focus the debate on where the University is making cuts.

“The University is a heterogeneous community with different interests and values that have to be made compatible,” Boldrin said. “Where to spend the money is often the most difficult thing because things that I may consider important, others may consider irrelevant.”

Despite the freezing of faculty raises, the University has done better economically than other universities, in part because of its status as a private university and because of generous donations.

“Public universities have suffered more because they rely heavily on state tax revenues, which have dropped dramatically over past years,” Boldrin said. “We have had some suffering, but I would say that we have not done that badly.”

Although the University has done better than other universities, and despite the recent increase in the endowment, Boldrin does not expect a rapid improvement in the University’s financial situation.

“Improvement is going to be slow,” Boldrin said. “The University will have to plan strategically for an environment with less wealth and will need to be more efficient in use of resources. We will not quickly go back to the abundant cash flow we had three years ago.”

Among the key goals of the plan, which aims to create a more sustainable campus, are reductions in carbon emissions and the number of single-occupancy cars coming to campus. Administrators will hold a series of forums to gather feedback before finalizing the plan.

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability Matthew Malten and Executive Vice Chancellor for Administration Henry Webber contributed to the draft plan.

“Assuming that the final plan is similar to the draft plan, I think you would see a continual evolution toward a more sustainable campus,” Webber said. “This is an ambitious plan, and it’s a plan that recognizes that we’ve already made a good bit of progress. There are challenges and it will take a long-term commitment.”

Webber believes that the changes will happen over time. He brought up the University’s gradual implementation of recycling programs—going from no recycling to making changes toward the new single stream program—as a model for how the changes will be made.

“So far the comments on the draft plan have been very positive and very helpful,” Webber said. “The vast majority of people have responded positively to the thrust of the plan.”

According to Webber, one of the main challenges will be meeting goals that require action by outside entities.

“We control, as an institution, some of the key levers; some of them we don’t control,” Webber said. “We can have a large impact on our consumption of electricity, but we don’t produce electricity.”

Webber mentioned that power companies must soon begin producing 15 percent of their output from renewable sources. According to Webber, those companies will have to meet their own requirements to achieve the emissions goals.

Metro will also play an important role in transportation.

Malten said that many of the measures already have elements in various stages of implementation on campus.

“Students will start to notice more changes,” Malten said. “Some will be a little more subtle than others. One of the key components within the plan is we’re really trying to make our efforts and performance really transparent.”

The strategic plan has several areas that will directly impact students, such as several points aimed at food service on campus.

“This is going to be hard work and it’s going to require our focus and hard work for multiple years and it’s going to require that everybody within the campus community play a part,” Malten said.

Malten said that it is going to be a challenge to coordinate campus projects, as meeting the goals will require renovations of several older campus buildings.

Some parts of the plan do have set target dates for completion.  For example, the goal for 2012 is to have reduced the number of students arriving in sole-occupant cars by 10 percent. The plan also calls for reducing carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 without purchasing carbon offsets. Information provided with the plan said that the reasons for not purchasing offsets were that it is difficult to track their validity, the money may not be used appropriately and the money might go to projects that would be completed anyway.

Peter Murrey, president of Green Action, believes the University will be able to set more ambitious goals for itself in years to come and is excited to see how the current goals are implemented.

“That’s the timescale in which our University works,” Murrey said. “Would I like to see it implemented faster? Yes, but we have to work with the current structure, and that’s just a fact of how our University works. It’s slow.”

Murrey said that the choice about carbon offsets shows that the University has carefully considered how to make the plan effective.

“We’re seeking to make actual improvements here instead of outsourcing the emissions somewhere else,” Murrey said.

Webber noted that some of the goals are likely to face challenges because the University does not have control over all aspects.  For example, there is no facility in the area that can process organic waste.

“I think that’s kind of a cop-out,” Murrey said. “If there are no facilities, we are a leading institution. Why don’t we create one and become an innovator?”

Murrey said that his organization wants to become as involved as possible, and encouraged students to read and respond to the plan.

Murrey also noted that he would like to see the University become carbon neutral by 2050, if not before, as a long-term goal.

“Ultimately, our University needs to become carbon neutral,” Murrey said. “We still have not signed on to the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which so many universities and all of our peer institutions have done.”

The plan will be reviewed regularly as well. It is to be reviewed and updated in 2012 and again in 2016.

“This is not something that we think we have all the answers to today, and it’s not something that we think the goals that are appropriate today will remain appropriate several years from now,” Malten said. “We know that technology is going to certainly change. We’re going to be able to continue to do more and more and improve our performance.”

Webber said that those who want to comment on the plan should attend one of the forums or e-mail comments to sustainability@wustl.edu.