While Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles has emphasized frugality in a time of limited budgets, the government department is using roughly $3000 in leftover discretionary funds for a planning retreat at a seaside inn in Maine.

The retreat will begin tomorrow at the Stage Neck Inn in York Harbor, Maine. Faculty members can swim in the hotel sauna and eat seaweed-covered lobster in between meetings about the future of the department.

The money is left over from funds granted last year to department chair Susan J. Pharr by Knowles' office. She said yesterday that she is not sure exactly how much the retreat will cost, but $3000 might be an accurate estimate.

Although all departments receive discretionary monies, not all parts of the Faculty live the glamorous life.

Knowles has repeatedly over the last few years cried poverty in FAS, cutting the staff of the indebted Semitic Museum and calling for professors to accept reduced pension plans.

Departments such as Visual and Environmental Studies and Linguistics have had to fight tooth and nail for enough faculty appointments to meet the needs of concentrators.

Rates at the inn range from $85 to $165 for two double beds or one king-sized bed. The hotel has 60 rooms. Faculty members will drive to the hotel themselves.

Inn facilities include golf courses, a fitness room, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, saunas and a hot tub, according to inn bellhop Joshua Horr. The inn lies along a beach. Dinner tomorrow night will be a clambake with seaweed-wrapped lobsters, steaks and clams.

The Government department is paying for every faculty member's accommodations. Junior faculty are not required to stay overnight but may if they choose.

Talks About the Future

The retreat's schedule does not inspire all members of the department.

"It's not very exciting," said Associate Professor Lisa L. Martin. From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. tomorrow, she said, "we're meeting to discuss where the department should go." On Wednesday, the senior faculty will stay for meetings on staffing and curriculum.

There will be breaks for lunch and relaxation, Pharr said.

The retreat will give faculty members a chance to discuss the department's future without being bogged down by administrative details, professors said.

"This year, faculty meetings were just filled up with business," Alt said. "It seemed as though the year went by without an opportunity to talk more broadly about plans for the future."

"Seven or eight years ago when I first came here, there was typically more time at the first faculty meeting of the year to have a discussion about where we are and where things are going," Alt said. "We're sort of a victim of our own success."