With outsiders Bain & Co. hard at work peeling off layers of Big Red Tape, the University must be forthcoming about what these costly consultants are uncovering.

The goal to trim $100 million would be tough for anyone, especially a company like Bain with disputable credentials working in higher education. Is the situation so dire that the administrators who were first handed the task are giving up? Does a global consulting firm like Bain have the experience required to restructure a university as complex as Cornell?

Even the provost was wary of shelling out the undisclosed — yet presumably exorbitant — fee for Bain’s services. But it is not the cost we are most concerned about, for if Bain is successful in its endeavor, the cost of employing the consultants will represent a very small percentage of the amount they save the University in the long run. At this point, our main concern is how transparent the process of restructuring the budget will be when the job is in the hands of a team far removed from the Cornell community.

Until now, information regarding “Reimagining Cornell” has amounted to little more than a few press releases. Open faculty and student forums, scheduled for this month and also October, seem to be a promising start, but what remains to be seen is how much the administration takes into consideration the views and concerns expressed by students and faculty at these forums. Holding forums simply for lip service would be a waste of time on the University’s part and a disservice to the community.

The real decisions will not be made at these forums. Instead, they will be made behind closed doors at task force meetings, where only one student task force member will be present.

We understand the confidential approach that must be taken in conquering the budget cuts. These are sensitive issues regarding real people, their salaries and their job security. Releasing all data would do more harm than good, creating an air of widespread fear across the University. But the decision to outsource the duties of the central administration now obliges the University to take extra steps to ensure transparency.

We are calling for a public release of Bain’s findings when they are presented to the Board of Trustees in late October. With a critical agenda being set by a team far removed from the Cornell community, it behooves the University to hold itself accountable by ensuring that these extra dollars were well spent.