Snappy answers to stupid questions

Choice selections from the Minutes of the March 22 faculty meeting:

"Professor Hopkins noted that a useful measure of the endowment is a per capita one... Dean Ciulino responded that it is $96,000 per student... Professor Hendrix added that one reason for the relatively low figure is that our enrollments have expanded significantly over the past ten years."

And another reason is that our endowment has not.

"They [The Trustees] are also wondering about the impact the move to a 3-2 teaching load will have on the budget."

If only they'd had some advance warning!

"As we start finding ways of economizing, the demand on the benefit pool eases, and thus overall compensation dwindles or accelerates at a slower pace. The most dramatic instance of this process occurred with the change in tuition remission, from the equivalent of our tuition to a third of it. The amount paid out in compensation looked as if it had diminished significantly."

And when Fridays reduces the size of their servings, it looks like you're getting less food for your money.