Regents table funding debate

Six years after banning tobacco investments, the UC Board of Regents discussed serving another blow to the tobacco industry ““ banning faculty from accepting research funding from tobacco companies.

The regents also tackled diversity enrollment, the UC comanaged nuclear labs and potential cuts to promised state funding last week during their three-day meeting on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

A vote on the potential tobacco-funding ban ““ opposed strongly by faculty ““ was tabled until September after an impassioned debate drew on longer than scheduled during Wednesday’s meeting.

The ban would not rule out all funding from tobacco companies, just grants designated to fund tobacco-related studies ““ which currently makes up virtually all tobacco-sponsored research at the UC.

The Academic Senate, which represents faculty, roundly rejected the ban recently on the grounds that it would ebb away at their academic freedom and clear the way for future restrictions on funding.

Next would come bans on grants from oil companies, HMOs and any other groups deemed unsavory, they said.

“I really believe (faculty) have the ability to self-govern,” said Regent Sherry Lansing.

Proponents of the ban say tobacco companies are exploiting the university system’s prestige to cherry-pick favorable findings and collect a stable of expert witnesses to defend tobacco interests in court. Funding research, they say, allows tobacco companies to spin research findings.

The tobacco industry has a “history of distorting science,” said Sharon Eubanks, a prominent anti-tobacco lawyer invited to address the regents. “Academic freedom must coexist with academic honesty.”

UC President Robert Dynes all but formally sided against the ban, calling on the regents to hash out a compromise by September that would increase research transparency without restricting funding.

UCLA currently leads all other UC campuses in tobacco grants, with $7.7 million of research funding from Phillip Morris USA.

As a whole, the UC system is currently receiving 23 tobacco company grants totaling nearly $17 million.

Pushing diversity

In other actions this week, the regents discussed small spikes in diversity enrollment in fall’s incoming freshman class. Black enrollment system-wide rose from 3 percent last year to 3.6 percent this year, and Latino enrollment jumped from 16.3 to 17.5 percent, according to preliminary admissions numbers.

Many regents said those modest gains were not enough.

Black enrollment at UCLA dropped to just 2 percent of incoming freshmen last year, a decades-long low. Dwindling minority enrollment at the UC ““ particularly its flagship campuses UC Berkeley and UCLA ““ has been a perennial concern for the university system since 1996, when state voters passed a proposition banning racial preferences in admissions.

On Thursday the regents discussed opening up enrollment to more minority students by dropping some high school curriculum requirements that many predominantly black and Latino high schools simply do not offer.

“I’m not suggesting we fix K-12. But we can fix our admissions requirements,” Dynes said. “Our admissions requirements ought not to ignore the reality on the ground.”

A discontent constituency

The three-day meeting did not pass without interruptions from activists who believe the regents’ actions clash with the interests of students and California taxpayers.

Outside Wednesday’s meeting ““ behind UCSB’s iconic Storke Tower and across from the campus lagoon ““ more than 100 students and union members gathered to rally for stronger staff representation in determining retirement benefits.

“We’re here to let UC know they can’t mess with our pensions,” said Lakesha Harrison, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299.

Harrison was surrounded by dozens of other AFSCME members ““ most clad in green ““ and representatives from other unions, including the American Federation of Teachers.

During the meeting’s public comment period, students and union members broke out into loud, extended chants on at least three occasions, one of which lasted an entire five minutes before the regents restored order.

In other actions, the regents discussed security issues at the Department of Energy labs that the university system comanages. The discussion came just days after the DOE proposed fining the UC a record $3 million for a 2004 security breach at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“The taint of anything that would go wrong there would definitely flow to the university,” said Regent Judith Hopkinson.

The UC’s role in nuclear weapons research is a hot rod for public criticism at regents meetings, and Thursday’s meeting was no exception.

During the public comment period, several students and faculty angrily demanded that the UC withdraw from nuclear research. Throughout much of the meeting, the regents were interrupted by jeers, hisses and shouting from a group of about 20 activists.

University officials often appeared unaffected by outcries from activist groups in attendance.

While union members chanted for stronger benefits Wednesday, UC Berkeley’s chancellor, Robert Birgeneau, watched the demonstrators, smiling and snacking on a small plate of finger foods.

On Thursday, while an antinuclear weapons activist made an impassioned plea against nuclear research, Regents Lansing and Paul Wachter talked and laughed loudly. The activist angrily chastised the chatting regents, as they continued their conversation.

Beginnings and ends

This week’s meeting also marked the arrival of new student Regent-designate D’Artagnan Scorza, an incoming doctoral student in education at UCLA. Scorza will sit in on meetings for one year before he is allowed to vote.

The former UCLA undergraduate is the second black student regent in the university’s history, and one of only three black regents currently serving on a board that has grappled in recent years with sinking black enrollment.

After taking his place at the regents’ table to booming applause, Scorza said he aims to provide a critical perspective on the regents’ work and improve dialogue among students, the university and state residents.

“We’re here to serve the families of California,” Scorza said of the members of the university’s governing board.

Thursday’s meeting, the last of three days of regents meetings on the UC Santa Barbara campus, marked acting UCLA Chancellor Norman Abrams’ last.

President Dynes commended Abrams’ tenure, saying he “performed brilliantly,” which drew a standing ovation from the regents and the chancellors of UCLA’s sister schools.

“I suggested he would have fun. I probably lied,” Dynes said jokingly.

Dynes was likely referencing the many crises Abrams faced during his short tenure ““ including a sharp dip in the enrollment of underrepresented minority students, the use of a Taser on a student in Powell Library, and threats of violence toward faculty made by animal rights activists.

Chancellor-elect Gene Block will represent UCLA when the regents meet again in September, as he is taking over as chancellor on August 1.

In other news

With Republican lawmakers threatening to stall the passage of a state budget without major cuts in spending, the University of California Board of Regents cranked out an emergency statement urging Sacramento not to cut funding to the university.

State lawmakers are considering cutting $30 million of promised funding to the university system, a move that the regents said could, among having other effects, potentially lead to a hike in student fees. Fees have been increased five of the last six years.

“This is the time to quickly get a message to Sacramento,” said Regent Chairman Richard Blum.

The regents roundly supported the statement, blasting a move that would reduce a promised funding increase of 4 percent to 3 percent.

A cut would “further degrade UC’s ability to prepare tomorrow’s workforce and conduct vital research,” read the statement.

In other actions Wednesday, the regents discussed experimenting with campus building construction led by the private sector, a move recent studies predict would be cheaper and quicker.

Private developers would manage, finance and design the construction of new buildings before leasing or selling the property back to the university ““ a system that proponents of the plan say would limit the UC’s risks in a volatile market.

But the shift would not be without its drawbacks, as developer-led buildings often have more standardized layouts. If the regents shift toward private sector construction ““ a move officials are careful to point out is just one part of an overall plan to cut costs ““ new university buildings would likely look less like the Broad Art Center and more like some of the more standard South Campus fare.

“It’s time to be more cookie cutter,” said UC San Francisco Vice Chancellor Bruce Spaulding, a major supporter of developer-led building.

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