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UCSB the First Stop as UC Commission Looks to Future
California’s public universities are taking a budgetary beating, but the people of UCSB aren’t taking it lying down.
The first month of classes has seen protests and Days of Action throughout the state, with all 10 University of California campuses facing increased student fees and cuts to salaries and staffs.
In July, UC President Mark Yudof’s office and the Board of Regents created a UC Commission for the Future, which will carry out work groups and a listening tour of the campuses to get input from stakeholders.
UCSB hosted the first of the campus meetings Thursday, and a few hundred staff, faculty and students attended to make sure their voices were heard.
The commission’s job is to develop “a new version for the university within the context of the university’s mission and budget, while reaffirming our commitment to quality, access and affordability.”
In addition, its job is to collect input from the campuses and bring it back to the larger committees and work groups, and public comment took up the majority of Thursday’s session.
The effects of state funding cuts were a focus of the forum, but those who commented also questioned UC leadership and the commission’s intentions in the bigger picture of the campus’ future.
Stakeholders made it clear that they don’t believe their voices are being heard. The absence of the Board of Regents and Yudof was strongly felt by many — especially in light of comments made to The New York Times last month.
“Being president of the University of California is like being manager of a cemetery: There are many people under you, but no one is listening. I listen to them,” Yudof said in the interview.
Furthermore, when asked how he got involved in education, he said: “I don’t know. It’s all an accident. I thought I’d go work for a law firm.”
Thursday’s speakers proved to be quite lively, for dead people, and some attendees wore black and red shirts with zombies on them. “Zombies United — Free UC!” was printed with staggering undead silhouettes, and the backs featured “Not Yet Dead.”
“Don’t be fooled by the shirts,” said Claudio Fogu, an associate professor of Italian studies. “There’s a lot of anger.”
The commission is a much-needed conduit because of the out-of-touch regents and president, he said. “You should use the tour of forums to send a strong message to regents before the next meeting,” he said.
As one professor said, “You’re good listeners, but the real deciders aren’t here in this room.”
Professors stressed that the UC system needs its leadership to stand up for it on a state level.
“Who will make the case for the UC if our leaders will not?” Physics Department chair Mark Srednicki said. “We cannot look to the future without first understanding the past.”
Overall, the faculty and staff urged the commission to reject the idea of privatization and any changes that would make the university a lesser institution, or “education light.”
Adding more transfer and out-of-state students, who pay more tuition than California residents, and pushing for online classes were some money-saving ideas attendees opposed at the forum.
Associate professor Edwina Barvosa spoke of a virus she dubbed “corporatis swine flu,” which has symptoms of greed and the willingness to destroy strong systems to extract profit. “It got Lehman Brothers, AIG and now UC leadership,” she said. “There’s no excuse to take UC off the trajectory of the master plan.”
Students spoke out especially on the fee hikes, which could increase in-state tuition to $10,000.
“You’re taking our money to save your own a**es, basically,” said Janelle, a senior.
Others said their debt was mounting and they weren’t sure whether they could continue their education at a UC campus, and future students may be denied the opportunity to a quality public education.
“I’m a black male student,” said Jared, a math junior. Black students make up 3 percent of the population, and it’s mostly women, he said. “If you raise these hikes, I might be the last one you see.”
The commission heads to UC Merced on Tuesday and will visit all of the campuses by mid-December.
Commissioners who attended Thursday’s forum were Regent Jesse Bernal, UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang, Academic Senate past chair Mary Croughan, UCSB professor Cynthia Brown and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
Work groups include the size and shape of UC; education and curriculum; access and affordability; funding strategies and research strategies.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 10.23.09 @ 12:38 PM
UC President Yudof inherited as bare a set of cupboards when he came aboard here in CA as Obama did when sworn in earlier this year as President in D.C. Really bad.
The governor, regents, legislators are a collective disgrace, for fiddling around while a world-class (once affordable) public university slowly sinks into the primordial muck of chronic under-funding and mis-management.
On the other hand, Yudof, as a Texas import, has shown little leadership ability, and
little visible temperament for the job, or the greater crisis.
His presidential “administrative” team up north is unbelievably bloated, given the financial hits UC is taking. They give “bureaucracy” a bad name. And the log-rolling and nepotism up there are truly embarrassing.
Maybe Yudof should lead-by-example.
Maybe he and all his command central team should take an average salary-bonus-perk total package cut 2% GREATER than any new cuts proposed on various campuses, or in course offerings.
Maybe they should take a 2% cut for every 1% they try to raise tuition and fees on the students, so they can better appreciate the pain they are inflicting.
What good does it do to have a touring Dog ‘n Pony show go from campus to town
all across CA, if none of the Gov’s senior staff, or the Legislature’s leaders attend,
listen, or care?
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» on 10.23.09 @ 03:30 PM
The UC ststem has 250.000 students and can you believe 190.000 students—REDICULOUS—
Pooly run- cut 100.000 jobs and make the schools more affordable—Wasteful spending—typical Government unions—The could never run a small business—Go union Go broke—
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» on 10.23.09 @ 09:13 PM
It’s true that Yudof inherited a bare set of cupboards—and for similar reasons. UC has been slowly but surely defunded since the early 1990s. At that time it still only cost a few hundred dollars a year to attend UC. It’s now double-digit thousands. Crazy. Regent Russell Gould oversaw the big UC budget cuts under Pete Wilson; now he’s doing it again for Schwarzenegger, along with Regent Richard Blum, the wealthy weapons manufacturer, husband to Dianne Feinstein (you remember—she’s the one who voted for the Iraqi War Resolution). The Commission is staffed by bureaucrats, businessmen, and emissaries from UC’s medical and law schools. Only two faculty from the humanities have prominent positions on it, and only one faculty member from the social sciences—and these are the disciplines largely responsible for educating undergraduates. Fee hikes will be paying for research devoted to the interests of Government and big business. This isn’t privatization. It’s subsidization—private taxpayer monies subsidizing corporate and governmental research initiatives, without being vetted by our elected representatives. Let’s start with some real oversight controls over the Board of Regents and the UC Office of the President. A small group of “de-regulation consultants” should not have the power to trifle with California’s future without interference. And the future of California depends on the future of UC.
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» on 10.25.09 @ 07:34 AM
Guess what “too many lazy employee’s (SIC)”?
UC is not a small business. Running it like a small business would be stupid, for it would fail. Not everything can be run like a small business. The state, for instance, is a much more complex entity than a small business. The goal is not simply to make a profit at all costs, no matter how much you have to stick it to your “employee’s” (SIC). The goal is to educate much of the state’s work force and there is no way the private sphere can accomplish that task.
Nonetheless, UC pays huge dividends. The average UC graduate makes about $20,000-$30,000 more than someone who does not attend college, thereby contributing tax revenue to the state. Above and beyond this, the UC feeds the state economy in all kinds of ways, innovating in ways that make money and that also make life better. Silicon Valley and the biotech industries around San Diego are just two examples of the way UC contributes revenue to the state.
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