At yesterday’s meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), professors confronted the administration about a range of issues, including Allston spending and retirement benefits for the Faculty’s oldest professors.

Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby presented key points of his annual letter to the Faculty, focusing on Allston construction, faculty appointments, academic planning and the curricular review.

He once again warned the Faculty that “at present, and in the coming years, we face certain challenges...and declining surpluses, potentially resulting in deficits,” even though “we have in this Faculty enviable resources at our disposal.”

Kirby pointed to Harvard’s need to make the best use of both unrestricted funds and monies earmarked for specific purposes. He also said the Faculty should remain “focused in our spending.”

It was this warning, coupled with his talk about the opportunities afforded Harvard by development in Allston, that worried Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn.

Mendelsohn expressed apprehension about “constriction that is occurring here while growth is happening elsewhere,” and said Allston spending may “starve” the FAS.

“The FAS is taxed of its endowment at the rate of some $40 million a year,” Mendelsohn said, referring to a yearly percentage the University takes from the endowment of each Harvard school. “That was a decision made for us...if one projects this out [over the 25 years the tax will be incurred], you’re talking about an amount well over a billion dollars.”

And it seems every cent of that amount is needed, University President Lawrence H. Summers said at the meeting.

When Gurney Professor of English Literature James Engell asked about the fate of any funds left over after the tax on the FAS endowment, Summers made it clear that there are no excess funds.

“The expenditures on Allston have exceeded the allotments from the endowment,” Summers said.

Engell said this may have come as a surprise to some professors.

“I can’t recall seeing a report of how money has been spent [on Allston],” Engell said. “I think I know more about this now than I did this morning.”

“I think from our point of view, we want to make sure that in our urge to build in Allston, we don’t find ourselves squeezing the day-to-day activities in the FAS,” Mendelsohn said after the meeting.

Faculty worries were not confined to the prospect of present and future belt-tightening. Mendelsohn also spoke about the need for more comprehensive health-care coverage for Faculty members who retire.

“The incentives for retirement are few, very few. The risks of retirement are great,” Mendelsohn said. He mentioned that the University had terminated certain health-care provisions, and worried that it might also do away with other benefits.