[Yesterday's] meeting did bring that home to memore than ever before," Damon said.
Fox said the costs of benefit packages willcontinue to rise for reasons beyond Harvard'scontrol--particularly the national rise in theprice of health care.
Fox said that a larger number of participantsin benefit programs, increasingly generous benefitpackage and rising social security costs have alsocontributed to the rising costs.
Independent of the $66 million oversight,Harvard's projections show that the Universitycould face a similar shortfall within five or sixyears simply because of rising costs, Fox said.
Faculty Council members said they understoodthe structural reasons for the deficit, but onedid suggest a solution.
"I understand that some of the reasons for ourdebt are Harvard controlled, but some are societalproblems," Skocpol said. "And the societal problemof the health care crisis would, in my opinion, beeffectively addressed by a national comprehensivehealth care program. But that's just my opinion.