UC president announces retirement
After serving for three years, Peltason leaves amidst reactions
of praise as well as criticism
By Phillip Carter
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — University of California President Jack
Peltason announced his retirement Friday, beginning the search for
a replacement to head the 127-year-old university system.
Peltason will officially relinquish his post Oct. 1, 1995,
having accomplished what he was chosen to do as UC President Â
restore the UC system’s financial health, Peltason wrote in an open
letter to Regents’ Chair Howard Leach.
"The California economy is now recovering and the governor has
given us indications that sufficient funding will be available to
the (university,)" he said. "As (the UC system) moves ahead to the
new century, now is the time to bring a new leader to head that
effort."
Also in his statement, Peltason added praise for the students,
faculty and staff of the UC system, as well as Gov. Pete Wilson and
the state legislature.
"I am gratified by their recognition of the university’s
importance to California, and by their renewed commitment to find
the funds to keep it going strong," he expressed.
In reaction to Peltason’s resignation, Leach gave high marks to
Peltason’s performance during his nearly three years as the UC’s
16th president.
"Peltason has led the university with wisdom, strength,
patience, kindness and unfailing good humor  we truly got the
senior statesman we needed in April, 1992," he said. "I assure you
that we’ll go to the four corners of the world to try to find the
best (replacement.)"
Leach announced that he will begin the search for Peltason’s
replacement with the formation of a special committee to "recommend
to the board the appointment of a (new UC) President."
The members of the committee include Alumni Regent David Finn
and student Regent Terrence Wooten, as well as three other members
who will be appointed next week. Gov. Wilson and Leach will also
serve on the search committee in a non-voting capacity.
Although Peltason’s resignation didn’t come as a shock to some,
the new president will have some very important matters to address
immediately, said Wooten, who holds the post of student regent for
the 1994-95 academic year.
"Quality and access are the dominant issues  and we’re
hanging onto both of them by a thread," Wooten said.
In choosing a replacement president, newly elected Lt. Gov. Gray
Davis, a non-voting regent, urged the committee to take its search
a step further by finding a president who will innovate new ways of
improving the UC system.
"(Peltason) helped navigate us through murky waters  I
think he’s served well, and we should be grateful," Davis said in
an interview. "But I don’t think we should rest on our laurels;
instead we should look for the very best this country has to
offer."
Unlike others who heaped praise on Peltason, UCLA
undergraduate-external vice president York Chang, in attendance at
the meeting, criticized Peltason’s policies because of the way they
impacted students.
"His long term fee policy had a big negative effect on
students," Chang said. "When you institutionalize a fee hike like
he is, you’re saying that every year we’re going to (get a) fee
hike  that creates a dangerous downward spiral."
Although the committee will probably select a new president very
similar to Peltason, Chang said the new president should try to be
more responsive to students’ needs.
"We need to get a president that can be someone who can work
pro-actively for students, and be sympathetic to students," he
said. "The student regent is definitely going to voice a lot of our
concerns, in pushing for a president who’s going to be accessible
to student issues."
Once a successor is chosen, 71-year-old Peltason said he will
return home to Orange County. There, he may go back to teaching at
UC Irvine, where he is still a professor of political science.
Aside from that, he said he has no plans for his retirement Â
other than to revise his textbooks and spend time with his
family.