The University of California Board of Regents approved a
statement of principles that will guide the UC in future budget
negotiations at their bimonthly meeting Wednesday in Covel
Commons.
Although the regents normally would have discussed a budget, no
budget was available; instead, they outlined the UC’s fiscal
situation and confirmed the principles that will guide them through
the current budget crisis.
“We believe in quality for the UC, access and low
cost,” said UC President Robert Dynes.
Larry Hershman, UC budget vice president, gave a presentation
that described the challenges the UC is facing, which include a
university budget cut of $478 million and a possible midyear
statewide cut of $2 billion, coupled with continuing enrollment
growth.
“There’s no easy answer. … There will be a lot of
pain,” Hershman said.
The regents then discussed how these principles could be applied
to the problems the UC faces, such as faculty salary levels and
enrollment growth, both of which affect the quality of education
the UC provides.
Hershman said faculty salaries are 9 percent behind the
UC’s comparison institutions ““ like the University of
Michigan and the University of Virginia ““ which could hurt
the UC’s recruitment of professors.
Regent Richard Blum suggested moving forward with UC Merced to
alleviate enrollment growth problems.
“It is ridiculous not to open UC Merced for $4
million,” said Blum, referring to the delay of the
campus’ opening due to this past summer’s state budget
cuts.
After the regents discussed the possible application of the
principles, Matt Kaczmarek, chairman of the UC Student Association,
presented a list of concerns the UCSA wanted added to the
regents’ statement of principles.
Kaczmarek presented the association’s concerns about
diversity, the availability of student services, and rising fees.
UCSA wanted the statement of principles amended to incorporate its
concerns, but the regents confirmed their original principles
because of time concerns.
The regents did not comment on how the statement of principles
would affect fee increases or enrollment caps.
“The three principles strongly interact ““ the
quality effects access, and the access effects the cost; it is a
kind of a three-legged stool,” Dynes said.
However, Regent Ward Connerly said it was not possible to
maintain all three principles equally.
“I like quality, access and affordability, but I like
banana cream pie too. … But it doesn’t give us a way to go
to the Legislature,” he said.
“There is no reconciliation to the often conflicting parts
of the triangle on our part,” Connerly added.
Regent Dolores Huerta proposed a very different solution.
“The regents need to get out there and do some work, to
start countering this idea that (budget) cuts are good,”
Huerta said.
“Most people don’t know how drastically the
university has been hurt,” she said.