The UC Board of Regents meets every other month with little
fanfare, but when the regents meet this week, more eyes than usual
will likely be focused on them.
In what many consider to be a critically important meeting,
which begins today in San Francisco and continues Thursday, the
regents plan to address the executive compensation problems that
have plagued the UC since a series of newspaper reports beginning
in November exposed excessive pay practices among the
university’s high-ranking officials, often out of the public
eye.
UC President Robert Dynes has taken considerable heat in recent
weeks for the scandal, with several legislators calling for his
resignation and one calling for his firing. But in a series of
newspaper interviews, Dynes has defended himself and eschewed any
talk of stepping down.
To add to the intrigue of this week’s meeting, it is
slated to be UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale’s last before
he steps down from his post at the end of June. But as the date
draws near, no replacement has been announced. Several media
outlets have reported that Syracuse University Provost Deborah
Freund, the leading candidate to replace Carnesale, bowed out of
negotiations for the position last week, leaving a void in the
chancellor search process.
The regents will hear the results today of an audit detailing
compensation practices relating to a large number of UC managers.
This audit, like the previous two audits released over the past
month, is expected to display repeated violations of university
policy without the public’s ““ and sometimes the
regents’ ““ knowledge.
As numerous audits have shown a pattern of questionable pay
practices, some have tried to make Dynes the scapegoat for the
UC’s problems. Earlier this month, State Sens. Gloria Romero,
D-Los Angeles, and Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, who are expected
to attend the meeting, issued a joint call for Dynes’
immediate resignation.
“Enough is enough,” Romero said in a press release
on May 3. “President Dynes has had over two years to clear up
accounting and compensation abuses in the University of California
system. Instead, it seems the problems have flourished on his
watch.”
Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, even went so far as to demand the
regents fire Dynes.
But some are wary of drastic knee-jerk responses to a relatively
young scandal.
“It would be irresponsible and shortsighted to allow the
initial furor over the audit reports to result in the dismantling
of the leadership that has helped guide the University of
California to its prominence and is integral to its continued
success,” said an op-ed piece written jointly by Intel
co-founder Gordon Moore, venture capitalist Arthur Rock and former
Regents Chairman William Coblentz, in Monday’s edition of the
San Francisco Chronicle.
And Dynes has support within the UC as well.
“I think he has as good a chance or better than most
people to be able to solve the compensation problems,” said
UCLA Academic Senate Chairwoman Adrienne Lavine. “But
it’s not an easy task because it requires some cultural
change and it requires trying to remain competitive while trying to
““ as we should ““ adhere to high standards of
transparency and accountability.”
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week, Dynes said
many of the problems now surfacing stem from the culture of the UC
that was firmly in place when he took over as president in October
2003. He also said he plans to explain to his fellow regents
““ in closed session ““ exactly “what I was
thinking, why I did what I did.”
As the regents plan to discuss possible disciplinary action
against Dynes, this meeting is especially significant for a leader
with an unknown future.
Much of today’s agenda focuses on compensation. The
regents will discuss salaries for a number of university employees,
including Carnesale, who will return to teaching after stepping
down on June 30.
But most of the discussion will come in closed session, in which
reporters are not allowed. A lawyer for the state legislature
issued an opinion several weeks ago suggesting such a closed
session would violate California’s open-meeting laws. On this
basis, the San Francisco Chronicle last week filed a suit in
superior court to bar the regents from holding this meeting behind
closed doors.
“UC is a public trust, and its actions have to be taken
openly,” said Karl Olson, the newspaper’s lawyer, in a
Chronicle article that ran May 12.
An Alameda County judge rejected the suit without comment.
Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky said in a statement that the
regents have a long-standing policy to discuss such matters
privately and then vote publicly.
“UC has an obligation to be open and accessible to the
public, and the regents are committed to ensuring (that) that
obligation is met. At the same time, we are equally obligated to
ensure that employees’ rights to privacy under the law are
honored,” Parsky said.
Adhering to their traditional methods, he said,
“appropriately balances these two obligations.”
One item which will come in open session is the modest send-off
for Carnesale.
Though he did not know exactly what would be done to mark
Carnesale’s departure, UC spokesman Trey Davis said the
regents “always acknowledge people who are
departing.”
Don’t expect balloons and streamers, though. Davis said
the farewell at the meeting may be little more than an
acknowledgement. The real send-off for Carnesale will come in the
form of a closed-door, invitation-only dinner at a later date, he
said.
But some question has arisen this past week over whether this
will actually be Carnesale’s last meeting as chancellor,
since there is no clear candidate to fill the position.
UC officials have remained guarded about the chancellor search
process but avow that it is continuing. They have said Carnesale
has not been approached about staying on past June 30.