UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1980-02-28_Page-016

\ ' '- The 1978/79 budget ended up in very good condition, as your papers will show, allowing us to set a5ide in plant fund enough pounds to do much of the construction you will see completed or going on around the campus. We also have two proposals for the Finance Committee on which we hope to get approval this session which will (a) enable UEEF to payoff its pound debts to AUC without decreasing its assets, (b) enable AUC to start a pound quasi-endo'NlTlent, and (c) unscramble quasi-endowment from current operating and plant fund accounts. Housing Needs We hope the Board will be willing at this session to authorize us to proceed to construct new student and faculty housing, utilizing AID endowment funds (and in particular the value of ZI and Cairo properties) as the principal source. The spectfic proposal I favor is to build a multi-story student-faculty building on Z2 with space for about 135 students and 20 faculty members. The cost would be about LE2 million, out of which the proceeds of the sale of ZI would provide about LEl.2 million. The rest would be sought from US foundations and internal borrowing. Also the construction of another 16 faculty apartments on our remaining unused lot in Maadi right across from Cairo American College. The cost of these would be roughly another LEI million, to be financed from internal (UEEF) or external borrowing. I would suggest that the student space be built without any attempt to amortize capital costs but that the faculty apartments be financed on a capital amortization basis, including interest charges. The costs of this construction will seem high, but we are all convinced that they will more than amortize themselves over 20 years (and if rents continue to rise, as seems inevitable from inflation) on an earlier basis. The alternative of continuing to rent faculty apartments will be more costly in the long run. Instead of building on Z2 we can build something smaller next to the Men's Hostel, the original proposal of two years ago. This could be completely financed by the sale of ZI and Z2, and the site is, of course, closer to AUC for students and to the center of Cairo for faculty as well. I do ' not favor this approach, however, because I would like to keep that site as a place for possible future academic expansion; because I believe in the long run the Zamalek site is more desirable for residential purposes (AUC being in an institutional and commercial area and Zama1ek being a prime residential area of Cairo), because I want to retain as much open (and sports) space around the University as possible; and because of the desirability of holding on to any available Cairo property (legally at the moment neither AUC nor UEEF can acquire any more real-estate, and as a practical matter AUC, and probably UEEF, could not afford it). More precise details of plans and costs are in other papers for you. Student-Faculty Issues You will find the faculty to be restive about various things The number of changes that are taking place in AUC, the implications of AID's current view for our future structure and financing, and the rat