SGA learns: mo’ money mo’ problems.

In this week’s update on the actions of Barnard’s SGA, Student Government Extraordinaire Raji Ganapathy tells us just what SGA got up to. Well, more so that they’re currently discussing the terms of what they want to debate to actually do. In other words, SGA didn’t do much…again. But they did learn some cool stuff!

Last night’s SGA meeting featured an appearance from administrative guest COO Robert Goldberg, who delivered a presentation on Barnard’s current financial state. Goldberg’s presentation covered two topics: where Barnard’s money comes from, and what our revenue is spent on. Goldberg started off addressing the former by breaking down Barnard’s gross operating revenue into its constituent parts. Tuition and auxiliary services (such as room & board) make up the vast majority of our operating revenue at approximately 80% of the whole. This heavy dependence on tuition and auxiliary services for operating revenue distinguishes us amongst our peer academic institutions. Goldberg chalked up this discrepancy to Barnard’s relatively small endowment fund, which, resting at a measly 296.5 million, only accounts for 6.6% of Barnard’s gross operating revenue. Seeing as Barnard pulls from the endowment fund annually to cover operating costs, and the growth of the endowment fund would lessen its dependence on tuition and auxiliary services for revenue, Goldberg mentioned that various programs targeting the growth of Barnard’s endowment are being enacted, such as the capital campaign launched in 2012.

Goldberg then led us into a breakdown of Barnard’s operating budget. Approximately half of the operating budget is dedicated to personnel costs – salaries, benefits, and the like. As a “people-driven institution,” this portion of the budget is intended to help retain our excellent existing staff and to recruit promising new talent to Barnard. Financial aid accounts for another quarter of the operating budget. Barnard’s need-blind and full need met admission policy makes this cost variable for each incoming class, although this cost has generally been growing at a rate of 5-7% annually. Non-personnel operations, such as building maintenance, insurance, and Barnard’s financial arrangement with Columbia (currently valued at 5 to 6 million dollars), makes up 23.5% of the remaining operating budget. A smaller portion of the remainder is allocated for the debt we incurred through the construction of the new Barnard library.

Lastly, Goldberg brought up budget changes and variability. Student-driven changes, such as the proposed divestment from fossil fuels or increased food security on campus, have profound repercussions on our budget. Goldberg and his team work out the reallocation and reconfiguring of our budget to adapt to these changes. The floor was then opened to questions from SGA members. Representative for Sustainable Initiatives Christine Pries raised the issue of whether Barnard students working for CUEMS, who are currently unpaid, would start to see the same pay as their Columbia counterparts do. Goldberg stated that he and his team would look into the issue. Representative for Information and Technology Joanne Kim brought up the issue of winter housing and its financial viability. Goldberg stated that keeping dorms open over winter break would “not be an extraordinary cost,” but that other issues were also important to consider in the formation of the winter housing policy besides finances.

After Goldberg’s presentation, SGA revisited Constitutional Review. The amendments included in the discussion mostly dealt with the redistribution of current responsibilities. Highlights included the delineation of the process by which a member of the SGA Executive Board could try out for one of the two open Commencement speaker positions. The Vice President of Communications in now in charge of Fireside Chats. Finally, the Representative for Transfer, Commuter, and International Interests position will be terminated due to programming issues and lack of student response.

Finally, Representative for Academic Affairs Sarah Heiny announced that in response to the Desserts after Dark survey results released last week, there will be changes to Barnard’s PDF policy! The Committee on Instruction reached a consensus and will be working to fine-tune the proposed changes, which will probably go into effect next semester.

In other external updates:

• The meal points donation program is now live! You can donate your points until April 15th. Unclaimed points will be donated to soup kitchens and charities in the area.
• The next town hall will be April 4th at 6pm in the Event Oval, to discuss “Navigating the Barnard-Columbia Relationship”. The event will basically be “a venting session with free food,” so be sure to swing by!