The University is making public the 20 reports from the tasks forces that have recommended ways on how to restructure Cornell’s academic operations to cut costs, Provost Kent Fuchs will announce today.

The reports contain a wide range of strategies for how Cornell’s academic programs can be either reorganized, merged, consolidated or eliminated as the University seeks to function more efficiently in what Fuchs called “an era of reduced resources.” The University created the task forces in June to cut costs and reorganize in the face of a $215 million budget shortfall. This strategic planning process contrasts with the University’s mandated 5-percent “across-the-board” budget cuts instituted for academic units last semester, which President David Skorton has admitted were “blunt and clumsy” but necessary to take a first stab at reducing the deficit.

Today’s announcement comes amidst mounting student and faculty pressure to release the reports, which were completed Oct. 1 as part of the University’s strategic planning initiative dubbed “Reimagining Cornell.” Yesterday, the Student Assembly unanimously passed Resolution 18, which requested the administration provide them with at least portions of the documents. The Faculty Senate unofficially passed a similar resolution on Oct. 14.

At this point the suggestions contained in the task forces are under consideration, and report recommendations have yet to be finalized. Fuchs said that he expects “some decisions on the recommendations from the reports will be made in December.”

The administration decided to release the reports now so that the Cornell community can engage in dialogue about the proposed changes, Fuchs said. He will hold a series of public discussions focusing on each of six reports that deal with broad university-wide issues: social sciences, management sciences, libraries, budget model, life sciences and student enrollment. The first discussion will be held Nov. 18 to discuss student enrollment.

Summaries of the reports will be available on the University’s web page starting today while the full reports will be available for review in the Dean of Faculty office during business hours.

“The reports were written with the understanding that they would have limited distribution, and thus I am requesting that the [full] reports not be duplicated or distributed electronically,” Fuchs wrote in today’s announcement.

The Sun was provided a copy of the report summaries yesterday:

The Social Sciences Task Force recommended exploring options for transforming one or more of Cornell’s colleges into a “School of Public Policy.” The task force also suggested reducing the number of social science programs available at the University. Although it admits that Cornell’s breadth of social sciences is consistent with its motto of “any person, any study,” the task force worried that, due to budget constraints, the quality of programs would fall if the quantity of programs is maintained: “We strongly encourage the administration to choose excellence over breadth in the social sciences.”

The Management Sciences Task Force determined that the current structure of undergraduate business instruction at Cornell is “complex” and “opaque.” It suggests three consolidation options to provide students with a larger pool of resources and streamline administrative functions. The first option calls for moving the applied economics and management program from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to the Johnson School to create a single school of business. The second option would combine portions of AEM, PAM and ILR to create an undergraduate “School of Management and Public Policy.” The third option would keep current business programs as they are, but establish a “Division of Undergraduate Business” to centralize and coordinate student admissions.

The Libraries Task Force found that it will be “impossible” to maintain a high-ranking library system while continuing to support all 18 physical libraries on campus. Closing some libraries and creating “cross-college subject clusters,” making the remaining libraries specialize in a particular subject rather than be college-based, and incorporating the Cornell library system into a “new multi-institutional entity,” starting with the ongoing collaboration between the Cornell and Columbia University libraries announced last month and expanding to include other universities will help meet budgetary needs.

The Budget Model Task Force recommended that the University decentralize its budgeting process, giving individual academic units more fiscal autonomy. Under this “activity-based budgeting,” individual units would receive the revenue they generate and would be responsible for their own costs or a proportionate amount of costs they share. The provost would have the discretion to “tax” individual units in order to support institutional priorities or initiatives that are not self-sustaining. According to the task force, Cornell would best achieve its objectives through this proposed budget process as the “financial consequences of decisions made are predictable.” The task force also cited several concerns, such as increased internal competition for resources, behavior driven by financial incentives rather than quality and more administrative costs due to decentralization, though it said these problems could be remedied by effective management.

The Life Sciences Task Force looked extensively at the issue of overlapping programs, noting that some form of life sciences are taught in at least six colleges. While trying to maintain “well-coordinated” life science programs, the task force sought to make programmatic cuts. The task force also recommended expanding the computational biology, genetics and genomics, and molecular and cellular biology research programs, while also suggesting Cornell “disinvest” from departments that do not “bring distinction to the University.” The task force wanted to reexamine the newly devised undergraduate biology curriculum to make sure it is feasible, and recommends an undergraduate global health major. Graduate fields should be clustered for graduate programs to improve and simplify graduate recruitment.

The Student Enrollment Task Force examined how to increase Cornell’s net revenue from tuition by $20 million. It found that if the revenue goal was met by exclusively expanding the freshman class — rather than admitting additional transfer or graduate students-–an additional 309 students would be required. The task force “strongly encourage[d]” balancing Cornell’s budget through cutting administrative costs before trying to increase student enrollments. Increasing enrollment should only be considered “if the only alternative is additional reductions in the size of the faculty.”

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Task Force said the goal of a 15-percent cut in operating budget requires a reduction of faculty from 370 to 330 and a reduction of departments from 26 to 18. It recommends mergers in horticulture, food science, entomology and plant pathology. horticulture would also become part of a larger plant sciences cluster, which would include plant biology, plant breeding and genetics and crop sciences. “Schools” were proposed as new academic units within the college, but the task force said further discussion with faculty and college and University leadership is required to fully develop these ideas. Applied economics and management as well as environmental sciences, which integrates biological, physical and social sciences, are two proposed schools.

The College of Architecture, Art and Planning Task Force said it “imagines [AAP] becoming a more visible, more extensive, but also more focused, design college.” The report highlights the fact that the college has already cut 10 percent from its budget by closing the Knight Visual Resources Facility, reducing its staff by approximately 10 percent and gaining savings from faculty retirements. To realize its goal of becoming a “design college,” the task force said AAP must seek out technologies and expertise in emerging digital art fields. Additionally, it must strengthen its partnerships with other campus resources like the Landscape Architecture department in CALS.

The College of Arts and Sciences Task Force did not recommend significant reorganizations within the college. The task force said new resources should not be distributed uniformly across all departments. Instead, the impact of the department upon the college’s reputation and the current quality of that department should be considered. Biology, chemistry, economics, government, history, literature (English and foreign), mathematics and physics are among the task force’s prioritized departments. The task force recommended renewing the college’s focus on faculty productivity in teaching and research. It also said departments should minimize the impact of cuts on undergraduate instruction through strategies like creating a “series of popular, well-taught larger courses.” More cross-college collaboration was also encouraged.

The College of Engineering Task Force report concludes that the college’s faculty hiring would need to be “severely curtailed.” The college is also considering adding a “post-tenure review process to encourage department chairs to discuss productivity with individual faculty on a regular basis.” While the college merged theoretical and applied mechanics with mechanical and aerospace engineering earlier this year, there are no plans for additional mergers, the report says. The college also determined that it could accommodate a 10-percent increase in freshman enrollment to boost revenue for the University.

The School of Hotel Administration Task Force suggested increasing the number of undergraduates and students enrolled in the Masters of Management in Hospitality program. The Hotel School’s dean wrote in a summary of the report that the college has “built bridges” with other management programs, including the Johnson School, the ILR school, and the AEM program. The report recommended decreasing the cost structure of the Statler Hotel to ensure its economic viability. The report also repeatedly mentioned the need to grow its presence on a global platform.

The College of Human Ecology Task Force said that due to significant changes the college made in recent years, such as consolidating its six departments into five departments and combining admissions, counseling, and career services into one Office of Admissions, the college has been able to successfully balance their budgets and plan for further budget cuts. The task force recommended against further academic consolidation but urged centralization of administrative functions.

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations conducted a “broad assessment” of its programs and structure a year and a half ago during an external review of the school, the task force said. The school is already implementing changes, including increasing the number of undergraduates and downsizing and restructuring the ILR Extension Divison. Due to the recent assessment, the task force found there is “no clear need for a broad programmatic re-orientation or new School-wide strategic plan.”

The Johnson School Task Force said the school already has a lean administration. Over the past year, the school decreased administrative functions by 13 positions, decreased the number of Ph.D. students admitted and postponed indefinitely some faculty searches. The report says the school plans to continue its current strategy, coupled with ongoing efforts to identify and implement cost saving initiatives, but the school must be cautious in further cost-cutting to avoid losing its top-tier rankings.

The Law School Task Force indicated that trimming departments or merging programs is unrealistic for the small law school. Instead, it hopes to continue to grow its faculty from 42 to 45 professors, the report says. The law school wrote that it is taking a number of steps in response to budget constraints, including eliminating its study abroad program in London, decreasing the number of visiting and adjunct professors and reducing the number of acquisitions for its library.

The College of Veterinary Medicine had difficulty identifying areas to cut given its 1998 academic restructuring and 2003 funding restructuring. The college is currently trying to expand its class size by 30 students, and it may cut a number of underfunded New York State supported programs in order to save approximately $4 million. The task force suggested looking at ways to teach undergraduates more equitably so that it does not lose money from tuition transfer issues in the process. The college identified nearly $500,00 dollars in savings through the elimination of some staff positions in clinical and teaching programs and hopes to close the budget gap in the Animal Health Diagnostic Center by reducing operating and salary. expenses while increasing fees. The college is also considering slimming down the number of lab animal facilities it uses.

The Graduate Education Planning Task Force said that there are no obvious efficiencies or cost savings to be achieved by transferring Graduate School functions to individual colleges. It said the number of small doctoral fields should be reduced through closure or mergers. The current fellowship budget should be maintained to attract the very best graduate students, the task force said, and a "single graduate tuition rate at the contract college level across all research degree programs" will be implemented by fiscal year 2012.

The Student and Academic Services Task Force focused on restructuring around five areas: athletics, health, residential and student services, administration, and academic services. The report's summary does not provide any specific suggestions about restructuring in these areas. The task force also suggested creating a "student financial services center," a catalog management system for organizing courses of study and a "Student Academic Success Center."

The Computer and Information Science Task Force recommended strengthening the three core CIS departments and programs: information science, statistical science and computer science. It said information science and statistical science should be transformed into full-fledged departments and the computer science department should be reinforced. In addition, three programs — digital arts, computational biology and computational science and engineering — will specifically seek to partner with the Cornell's colleges in building ties with the core programs.

The School of Continuing Education Task Force recommended strengthening summer programs that introduce high school students to the University, as well as programs that attract underrepresented minority group students and international secondary students. Faculty salaries should depend on class enrollment and Cornell Adult University should stop hiring faculty spouses as host staff, resulting in savings of at least $10,000.

This story was compiled and written by Michael Linhorst, Lucy Li, Michael Stratford, Ayala Falk, Sam Cross and Ben Eisen.