The Arts and Sciences Council discussed a proposed underload policy and the effects of the financial crisis on Trinity College at its meeting Thursday.
Peter Feaver, professor of political science, presented the underloading proposal designed by the Academic Standards Committee, a group comprising students, faculty and administrators. Feaver, who chairs the committee, outlined the plan that would allow students to underload to three one-credit courses per semester for two semesters during their Duke career if they meet specific requirements.
Lee Baker, dean of academic affairs of Trinity College, gave the proposal his "hearty endorsement."
Feaver said the committee wished to maintain the rigor of the Duke degree, noting that the policy is term-limited and would be re-evaluated in its third year if the council passes it at its Dec. 11 meeting.
"As much as possible we want to incentivize students to enrich their educational experience rather than to skate by and get by with the least amount of work," he said. "We certainly did not want to do anything that would violate the four-year rule. We are a four-year college institution... and we believe that this policy will have no negative impact on that."
According to the plan, a student who wishes to underload must have passed 16 courses, have at least a 3.0 grade point average and have declared a major.
Members sought clarification about specific implementation elements of the proposal and particular phrasing in the plan, but did not discuss making structural changes to the proposal.
Some faculty members asked that it be clearer that students must discuss plans to under-enroll with their academic adviser and their academic dean to verify that they are eligible.
Council Chair Suzanne Shanahan said in an interview that she expected the council to pass the proposal in December.
"The less the faculty say, the happier they are, and that was very limited conversation," said Shanahan, who is an assistant professor of sociology.
The proposal also has the support of those student groups most likely to utilize it, including Duke Student Government, The Chronicle and the Undergraduate Publications Board, said junior Chelsea Goldstein, DSG vice president for academic affairs and the DSG representative on the Academic Standards Committee.
"We're very excited. It was a lot of negotiating, a lot of talking to people all the time... so I'm glad it was so well received," she told The Chronicle after the meeting.
Under the policy, withdrawing to an underload would count as one of the two allotted underload semesters, whereas dropping to part-time status would not.
After the council discussed the proposal, George McLendon, dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences and dean of Trinity College, addressed the effects of the financial crisis on Trinity College. McLendon said the current financial climate is affecting the University, but he said prudent investment of the endowment and a cap on spending have helped reduce the impact.
"It would be odd if [the financial crisis] had had no effect," he said. "Even our friends in Cambridge, Mass. announced that their endowment last year of $36 billion was a lot less than $36 billion this year.... We're not immune to that, but fortunately we're less affected by it than many of our peer institutions."
McLendon announced that budget and employee cuts would occur centrally first, coming from his administrative office. He said he cut 10 percent of his budget by postponing an unnecessary $1 million worth of capital projects and not filling $500,000 worth of occupational vacancies in his offices.
McLendon asked each Trinity department to submit a plan for cutting 5 percent of its spending. He said these abstract plans would be an outline of what cuts might be made and what consequences might result. He also called on University administration to make cuts to costs that get passed on to Trinity, such as facility costs.
"If we spent a little bit less on changing the flowers every 15 minutes at Chapel Drive, then you can save a couple of bucks on flowers and spend a little bit more on the quality of the education that we offer our students," McLendon said.
Closing his address on an optimistic note, McLendon said he saw the University's strong position in the current crisis as an opportunity to hire top scholars and professors other universities have to cut. Proactive budget cuts will help the University take advantage of this "extraordinary time," he said. Although McLendon said he expects Trinity to hire fewer faculty, those gained will be elite acquisitions.
"We'd kind of like to be the Warren Buffett of universities," he said. "When no one else is investing, we'd like to go in and buy."
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