COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00004 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	\\M0BASL30\M1BASI30\M2BASB30\MENGR40\M3NGR25\M4NGR20\MFSTA200\
C00007 00003	
C00012 00004	\J	After writing the above, I must confess that I am not entirely
C00013 ENDMK
C⊗;
\\M0BASL30;\M1BASI30;\M2BASB30;\MENGR40;\M3NGR25;\M4NGR20;\MFSTA200;\;
\'3;↓↓\FFS\FE
\'3;↓Q\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
\F3\CSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305
\F4



ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY\←L\-R\/'7;\+R\→.\→S   Telephone:
COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT\←S\→.415-497-4430
\F0\C14 January 1975




Professor Alphonse Juilland
Department of French and Italian
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305

Dear Alphonse:

\J	Here is the letter you asked for on administrative expenses.  If I had
hope that it would be effective, and more time, it would be better written:\.

\CADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES AT STANFORD

\J	Many faculty have come to believe that the ratio of $15,000,000
for academic salaries to $21,000,000 to administrative is not optimal
for Stanford's educational program, and that the projected increases
of these numbers to 21 million and 31 million respectively over the
next five years does nothing to rectify the imbalance.

	I agree and I have some specific points and some suggestions of how
to proceed:

	1. The information that I have seen, including last years budget,
do not contain the information required to form an opinion on what the
administrative expenses buy us.  In particular, the increase beyond
inflation in these expenses of $572,000 seems inadequately justified.

	2. Professor Massy's article in \F1Campus Report\F0 describes
a very sophisticated method of analysis, but the examples he cites of
recent administrative increases - an increase in the Personnel Department
and a computer system to inform faculty of research opportunities
both seem dubious.  If the latter involves even one salary or the equivalent
in computer costs, it is almost certainly not worth it.  If it isn't that
expensive, it may be worth the cost, but its inclusion in his essay is
then a red herring.

	3. There are three reasons why administrative expenses are not
subjected to as careful an examination as academic expenses.  First,
the effects of not filling a faculty slot are known and limited, whereas
it can be claimed that getting the payroll out \F1absolutely requires\F0
another employee.  The expansion of the personnel department Massy refers
to is much harder to evaluate than the consequences of letting an
associate professorship in computer science lapse.  Second, the officials
of the University themselves set in motion administrative projects whose
mere continuation requires further growth, and they are reluctant to kill
their own brain children.  Third, the response to all sorts of social
demands has taken the form of expansion; the example I have in mind might
give offense.\.





\J	4. The area wherein I have specific information is computing.  In
1971 I wrote President Lyman a letter, which he didn't acknowledge, complaining
that Stanford spent more money on administrative computing than any other
university in proportion to operating budget or number of students.  Since
then, the sitution has gotten much worse.  Stanford has purchased a
completely unnecessary two and a half million dollar computer that does
only administrative work, the SCIP staff has grown to 300, the merger of
computing activities has led thβPε∂π∪.k'
β≡{7CW&K;≥β∨+CC?↔#';≥ε∪7'vKOSK∂#'[∃`h+π;"βπ9β.sK↔πfKOS'~βπ7?↔#'kπ&K?9β&+∂'ON{9β#∂→β∂?v≠↔π3.!βS#*βO'k*β?→β&C↔O∀hS↔cC.sO↔Mr↓αCπ↔!β?→π##∃βπ∪?3.iβ'Mπ##πQπ##∃απ∪?[?∨!βπ;"α['∂*jCK?6{OQβ6{H4+⊗+O↔π⊗≠!βπ⊗)βC↔↔≠?;πfceβ'w3?3[.!β'9π##∃βv+]β∂}kCWS/⊃βO∂F+7∃β>C?O∃ε+cC↔w≠↔L4VCπ[∃ε;K?←rβπ;⊃ε;K?←rβπ;⊃π≠↔↔5εK;∂πε3∃ε{→β↔63Wπ&K;≥β&C∃β7}sOS↔∩βS#↔Hh+#π6)β∂K.S↔⊃ph(4(LKQβ←Nc1β*β[↔KJβ∪'≠6K∂W3"βS=β/3π3W∂#∃βSF)β∂?∨!7↔≠6+∂S'6+;↔O~β?_4W##∃β∞#7';O≠SKπ&K?99ααS#↔⊗+≠?K*aα%β∨+∨∨↔∨!βS#*β≠?3f{←';;P4(4PIE9α&C∃α.#∨↔Q¬βK'?⊗KS'↔~απ∪[O≠?Ke∧≠?77O≠O'?ph+O#␈+3⊃β∞≠GW'⊗)β¬β∨#π≠→ε{→βS>yβ?Iπ##K↔(h+';≡cW∪'v9βπ∂≡{W;SNs≥β∂∂βπ'fKSeβ&yβ3?}Yβ';&yβS#*βC?O≡K'3O#eβ?2β∂WS~β'84V∪7'vKOSK∂#'[∃ε+cC↔w≠↔M9αα'9β␈∪∪↔Iπ#=βπ6{'⊃β≡{;≠3N≠Qβ?2β';S/∪↔OQεKP4+≡C?W3"β;?Qε∪∃βWv#↔Iβ&C∃β∂}sSK?bβ?→β&C∃β↔Bk?≠≠N≠'<4Vk↔7/∪Mβ?2βS#∃∧≠?77O≠O'?rβ≠K?jβS#∃∧∪7'vKOSK∂#'?9r↓αS#O→βOS∞3_4+≡C?W3"βSπ/*βπ9β∞#[↔K≡Keβε{O'SN{9β←O#!βK.;πK⊃π#=βSF)βπ∪nK;'O'∪πS'6(4+↔Gβ↔;∪O#WK↔~q↓α'2βS#'~β'Mβ&{=β∪N3≠'∂.cQ1β&C↔9β&C∃α∂}k7'O≡K?9β≡C?W3 h+∃ε#'['&+⊃β?∩β?S#/∪←'O*βK↔?⊗;π;'V+⊃9↓¬##↔K*βO#?.c⊃β*β¬βK/β?KQπ##πPhSK↔∞[Mβ∪␈;9βC/∪O?;v+1βπv!β7?v+eβ↔Gβ↔;∪O#WK↔~β←'SBβK↔∨∂∪⊃βSzβ≠W;∨#'?9bβπ;⊂hSS#∃ε≠?;O/W↔;≡+Mβ?2β?7''#';≥ε{IβK.#W∂'v9β↔π≡Aβ≠Wv≠S'?rβO#?.c⊃β*βOC↔fc↔⊂4V{WQ8hP4(&Jβ7WO"βOπeπ##πQπ##∃α↔+∪∨↔"αCK'␈∪'S'/→απ∪6KO?KJα∂?7nKOO'}p4+O.+7Mβ&yβ#π6)β↔;&KK↔3Jβ≠?3f{←↔⊃π##∃βfK;∃β}1β';6+OS'>S'?rβOW∨>+OS↔ h+eπ##∃α∞#7';O≠SKπ&K?9β∞s⊃β∪}+O9∨"βO↔↔jβS=β⊗)β∨'6K;≥βy weight to the
idea that major economies in administration are possible.

	2. A formal comparison of each major function between Stanford
and other universities should be made in the hopes of finding another
university that accomplishes the function more cheaply than Stanford does.
Otherwise, it may be too easy to accept predictions that disaster would
follow any cut.  Perhaps the comparisons should become available only after
a preliminary evaluation of the consequences of cuts is made so that the
comparison can be used to calibrate the evaluation.
A preliminary overall comparison could probably be made rather quickly
with say Harvard, M.I.T., Yale, Princeton, and Caltech.

	3. In the particular area of computing, I can be more concrete.  The
staff of SCIP should be cut in half and the IBM 370/158 should be sold.
Academic computing should again be separated from administrative computing,
and the academic computing center should be run by a faculty committee.
As many as possible of the administrative computing functions should be
contracted to specialist firms; included in this should certainly be
payroll and medical billing both of which are done more cheaply on the
outside.\.

\J	After writing the above, I must confess that I am not entirely
confident of all the facts.  However, I have discussed the problem with
many other faculty members, and I have discovered that they know even
less, and I have discovered that the high-level University officials and
the officials of SCIP aren't even asking the right questions.  So I feel
justified in pressing the matter in spite of my lack of knowledge.\.
\←L\→S\←R\-L\/'2;\+L\→L
Sincerely yours,





John McCarthy
Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Professor of Computer Science
\←S\→L
JMC:pw
juilla.le1[let,jmc]:SU-AI