By Isabella Cigna

This summer, Facility Services maintained, upgraded, and renovated several aspects of campus, regardless of the budget deficit.
Each year, the Financial Department allocates money to facilities. Meanwhile, facilities constantly updates a list of needed projects, prioritizing based on urgency and safety, said Joel Ribout, Associate Director of Facilities. Additional projects were implemented to keep the campus attractive to prospective students.

Compared to previous summers, this year was mild in terms of construction. Rob Robinson, Director of Financial Planning and Business Services, said that the lack of activity was not due to budget cuts.

“I often describe that we’re really operating a small city here,” Robinson said, “and when you have a small city, there are routine maintenance things that you need to do [that] are built into the budget. Just because you’re having some financial challenges doesn’t mean you can stop doing those things, because [otherwise] they typically get worse.”

Robinson asserted that the Financial Department is always frugal, and Ribout confirmed this in saying that the budget for Facilities has been affected to some degree, but very little, as maintenance has to happen regardless of financial troubles. “Surely [our budget] is not the same as it once was… but that’s the way it is right now” Ribout said.

One of the reasons the school went into a budget deficit in the first place is because there were 40 less students than anticipated for this fall’s freshman class, according to a Defender article from last fall in which Neil Robinson, former Vice President of Finance, was interviewed.

“Things still need to get done on campus no matter what. You have to keep the campus looking nice to attract students,” Ribout said.