It almost feels like UCLA has been transported into the Twilight Zone. What else would explain the show-stopping lunacy of the fiscal policies coming out of Sacramento right now?
Cal Grants are coming late this year, and maybe not at all next year. We’re facing diminishing support from the state and simultaneously expected to enroll more students, fund more classes, and maintain our world-class education and research.
It really does resemble science fiction. Maybe in the next episode our harried legislators will be led by a fearless, action star governor to personally replace the grape vines of Napa Valley with money trees to fund higher education.
But we’re not sure that episode would have very good ratings. Apparently higher education isn’t prime-time sexy right now.
Maybe our friends and neighbors in Hollywood should consider this show: the “West Wing,” but set on the second floor of Murphy Hall.
The chancellor and his team of deans, administrators and analysts frantically calling Mark Yudof and running budget simulations until 3 a.m.
The chancellor calls his cabinet into the situation room, and in an Aaron Sorkin-inspired speech, explains the humdinger the university has been left in:
Does UCLA support current levels of enrollment, maintain the quality and quantity of our classes, and offer aid to students who should be receiving it from the state? The effort, unfortunately, would not be sustainable.
In a very short period of time, something would have to give. And our fees would probably go up.
Or, does UCLA call the state’s bluff, as our dear Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi recommends? This option boils down to a dangerous game of chicken with the state.
We could “send a message” to our idiot legislators by not raising fees, not supplying aid to students who should be getting it from the state, and not drastically reducing our enrollment.
But what would happen then? Many of the ideals we stand for as a public institution would be harmed.
By drastically reducing our enrollment we would hurt diversity, and Californians who want a quality education will lose out.
But if we don’t reduce enrollment we have more students for fewer classes and the investment we’ve all made in our education will diminish in value.
By not raising our fees in an effort to bolster the budget, we would see the value of our education fall faster than the Dow Jones. Without money to pay our professors, let alone the rising heating bill, where will we be?
If UCLA and the state both give up on funding the educations of the poor, we’ll ultimately lose a core mission of the UC and of our democracy: to provide an equal educational opportunity for all. Class mobility and definition of the American dream depend on it.
But this episode, undoubtedly Emmy-winning as it would be, only addresses the issues faced by students.
What about the professors who aren’t getting raises and can barely afford the cost of living here? What about the staff who rely on UCLA paychecks to raise their families?
No one is in a good situation here, and no one in Sacramento seems to care. We haven’t seen a gesture of hope or support. And though it’s amusing to compare the whole thing to science fiction, the frightening truth of the matter is that we’re talking about our lives here.