At last week's Board meeting, trustees discussed a possible deficit of $3 million or less for fiscal 2010 and $14.5 million for fiscal 2011, as opposed to earlier projections of a balanced budget in 2010 and a deficit of $7 million to $9 million for fiscal 2011, faculty representative to the Board of Trustees Prof. Sue Lanser (ENG) said at Thursday's faculty meeting. One large factor in those gaps is the effect of the economic crisis on University fundraising, Lanser said.

She noted that there had been some significant successes in the area of Institutional Development. The Campaign for Brandeis, an ongoing fundraising campaign for Brandeis that has existed since 2001, has raised $857 million of its $1.22 billion goal.

She noted that at this point in time, 30 percent of all donations to Brandeis come from trustees.

Lanser said that several challenges lie ahead in fundraising. She stated that nationwide giving to universities is down 16 percent, while donations to Jewish organizations are down 25 to 50 percent. Donations to Brandeis are currently down 13 percent.

"There's been a 100-percent increase in the number of people who can't contribute because they're out of work," she said. She added that the fiscal 2010 budget was largely balanced due to the University's one-year suspension of retirement contributions with no plans to repeat that measure. She also said that any planned retirements would not yet be yielding extra funds by 2011.

At the beginning of the academic year, former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French had projected a balanced budget for fiscal 2010.

In October, then-Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Jeffrey Apfel had projected an increase of the fiscal 2011 deficit to $9 million from $7 million due to a slower-than-expected pace of faculty retirements. He also stated at that time that financial projections for 2010 and onward are uncertain because of fundraising difficulties, in part because of President Jehuda Reinharz's resignation.

Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe added that trustees were concerned about the long-term success of the proposals of the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee, particularly whether the 10-percent faculty reduction would result in enough savings. He emphasized, however, that nobody was suggesting further reductions.

Lanser said there were discussions about a special Board of Trustees meeting in December or January to discuss the fundraising issues. She said that trustee Meyer Koplow '72 noted a certain "tension between resources and running Brandeis as it's run today."

She added that the trustees emphasized the importance of faculty involvement and that they hoped to see the University take the initiative with plans.