









       To:    Mark Writeoff, Provost

       From:  Chuck Divest, President

       Date:  February 21, 1993

       Re:    Our Economic Woes


       Dean Lessthan Thorough suggested that modern financial-
       management tools may ameliorate our need for budget cuts and
       staff reductions in this time of crisis.  Because our
       physical facilities are rather underutilized he thinks that
       it would be advantageous for MIT to sell its physical plant
       and lease the needed facilities back as needed.  We could
       use the receipts from the sale to meet the current budget
       deficit and endow administrative operations.

       Since our technical backgrounds do not help us to evaluate
       the potential of this opportunity, I have asked the
       Distinguished Assistant to the Associate Director of
       Information Services, Louis Reasoner, to prepare a cost-
       accounting database to help us evaluate the alternatives.
       After a few false starts he has produced a prototype with
       some initial data allowing us to examine the costs involved
       in a few EECS subjects.

       I enclose Mr. Reasoner's draft for your perusal.  All I am
       sure of is that this is not written in FORTRAN (I have not
       even found a FORMAT card in this mess!).  Maybe we could get
       a UROP student who has taken 6.001 to help us with this.
       But as I understand it, more than 350 expert consultants
       will be available to help us on the evening of Wednesday,
       March 17, in the Walker Memorial Gymnasium.
