Dear Chancellor Zeppos,

We are Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees. This letter is written in regards to the No Cuts Campaign aimed at protecting Vanderbilt's lowest wage workers from layoffs, hour cutbacks and loss of benefits.

Rain, hail and several location changes did not stop the No Cuts rally Thursday afternoon in front of Kirkland Hall. The protest, sponsored by LIVE, sought to pressure the university to prevent the layoffs of Vanderbilt’s lowest paid employees.

“The goal is to reach out to the administration and give them an opportunity to make this a community-wide discussion on how to help the entire Vanderbilt community in these times of economic hardship,” said senior Braden Clark.

No Cuts, which is comprised of Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees and Vanderbilt Students of Nonviolence, has taken up the plight of the lowest-wage workers on campus in light of the economy’s impact on the university.

The student-run No Cuts campaign spent every day on The Wall this week seeking support in its efforts to advocate for university workers.

The organization is trying to prevent worker layoffs, hourly cutbacks and loss of benefits for Vanderbilt's lowest-paid employees. While the university announced in an e-mail sent to the school Jan. 28 that preserving jobs and salaries is a top priority, No Cuts campaign leader Eli Feghali, a senior, said the group remains worried.

Jeff Balser, associate vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, is leading a national search for a new chief financial officer.

Two more people have been arrested in connection with the murders of late Associate Professor Pierre Colas and his sister at his East Nashville home in August.

Contrary to some published reports, Vanderbilt's endowment decreased by a comparatively small amount of 16.5 percent.

In a letter sent to 33,000 members of the Vanderbilt community Wednesday afternoon, Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos announced that the school - despite its suffering endowment - is "indeed even stronger financially and bonded collectively to continue our mission and serve Vanderbilt." It came just hours after The Tennessean published an article online describing a dire economic situation for the university.

Provost Richard McCarty discusses the university's finances and it's short term plans with Sydney Wilmer in this podcast.

To Members to the Vanderbilt Community:

As Vanderbilt's community of faculty, staff and students advances its work in the new year, I want to update you on how our institution is doing during this ongoing economic downturn and ask for your continued support of the decisions and actions that must be made and taken to steward Vanderbilt through the immediate and unpredictable challenges we face.

James Stofan has been named associate vice chancellor of alumni relations.