To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

May 1 add a note of local financial history to your article of November 6th, which was headlined: "Dean Ford Forecasts Large Faculty Deficit?" It has been true in recent years that the budgeted income for an academic year has turned out to be under-estimated and the budgeted expenditures have turned out to be over-estimated, when compared with the actual year-end results. While it is of current interest to know how the budget estimates compared with actual results in any single year, it may be helpful also to review the trend of actual results over a period of years (and ignore for a moment the budget estimates).

Following is a summary of year-end actual income in the Main Operating Budget of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the past six years, when unrestricted and restricted gift and endowment income is compared with expenses from those sources. Deficits are indicated by parentheses.

Year. End Surplus/(Deficit)

1963/64 $2,630.785

1964/65 3,642.228

1965/66 2,033.969

1966/67 (18.109)

1967/68 1,885.852

1968/69 391.404

While the trend is downward, and thus perhaps worrisome for the future, surpluses occurred in five years out of six, and the one deficit was a relatively small one. For most purposes, however, the inclusion of restricted endowment and gift income and expense in this summary is misleading. The uses for which this money can be spent often are not those for which our greatest need now exists. In 1969/70, for example, the largest single increase in budgeted expenditure is for scholarships. Most of that increase must come from unrestricted funds. If one care to appraise the Faculty's ability to take on new commitments immediately as the need arises, then the trend in unrestricted surpluses and deficits is probably a more accurate indicator-although any one single gross index cannot represent full appraisal. Here is the six-year summary of unrestricted surpluses and deficits.

Year. End Unrestricted Surplus/(Deficit)

1963/64 $1,982.253

1964/65 2,435.374

1965/66 1,372.045