In a letter to faculty and staff earlier this month, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Geoff Swift announced that the college has asked senior staff to reduce their programmatic budgets by five percent across the board next year. Though he assured employees that the college is “stronger than ever,” he cited a changing economic environment as the reason that departments need to be more frugal. Since the 2020 fiscal year, Bates’ operating costs have grown by $15 million, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
