Message from President Wendy Libby
to Stephens Faculty and Staff
(Sent Jan. 21, 2009)
Dear Stephens Faculty and Staff,
When we conceived the Renaissance Plan five years ago, we effectively put Stephens College “back in the game.” As a campus community, we made some very difficult, and in some ways very obvious, choices to turn this institution around – to create a stronger, sassier women’s college where we are all devoted to recruiting and preparing “career-ready women of distinction.”
It is easy to see where we have made significant progress. Over the past five years, we have increased residential and Graduate & Continuing Studies enrollment dramatically; rallied alumnae and greatly enhanced fundraising support; solidified our academic programs and hired new faculty; forged meaningful partnerships with other organizations and schools; and renovated campus buildings and improved landscaping and aesthetics. It required a vision for Stephens future, and a community that stood united and ready to do what was best for Stephens.
The world has changed a great deal in this time – in ways that, even this fall, none of us could have expected. All around us and in every industry, we see a widespread economic downturn. At Stephens, we are no different. My Senior Staff and I have struggled with numerous forces facing the College’s operating budget right now, some of which we anticipated and planned for, most of which are the result of the nation’s economic recession.
Our Current Challenges
We have seen a loss in the value of our endowment, which supports a portion of our operating budget; the rise of food costs; a tighter loan market, which affects families’ abilities to get financial aid (and their confidence in affording a four-year private education); an overall decline in fundraising revenue (donors are experiencing market losses); the loss of rental income from Columbia Independent School, which is vacating Hickman Hall on an already agreed upon schedule; and a decrease in room revenue with the opening of Columbia and Wood halls. In the latter case, a greater number of upperclass students have opted for these buildings over the Residence Quad, and that revenue goes directly to the developer who renovated them for us.
Our Solutions
These forces have combined to create a “perfect storm” that currently has us forecasting a significant deficit in 2009-10 when the Renaissance Plan called for a balanced budget. For this reason, I have convened a short-term Financial Review Team to aid Stephens in her planning for 09-10 as well as for the remainder of this year. As you know, I typically prefer a more open process, but our current situation necessitates a short planning period, and so I have identified a smaller group to think through some quick and focused decisions.
Our Core Commitment
As a campus community, we have been in difficult spots before. I have seen us come together in trying circumstances, to think creatively, to act quickly and to put the health of Stephens first for the good of many. We are a stronger, more “intentional” institution than we were five years ago – one that is very much attuned to its finances and its strengths, one that is dynamic and innovative. Our vision for Stephens is solid, our direction still clear.
It is this core mission that we must focus upon, to ensure that the changes we make are strategic and still allow us to deliver upon our mission. We have many things working in our favor. Fall-to-spring residential student retention is an impressive 93% – testimony that our students believe we are doing things right, and that our faculty and staff continue to put our students first. There are opportunities to be had even in these times, as we ramp up recruitment efforts in key areas, knowing that bad economies mean people go back to school.
We have some very tough decisions to make over the next few weeks. We meet with our Board of Trustees on campus Feb. 6-7, and afterward, we will have a better idea of the landscape. We will share more information with you as this plan crystallizes. We will be looking at everything we do very carefully, examining ways to tighten our already austere spending plan, reduce expenses and develop new sources of revenue. I ask that you think about these things as well, and if there are ideas you have, please share them with the above-named committee members or contact Tiffany Spradling in my office.
Thank you for all you do for Stephens,
Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D.
