In front of a large audience of students, faculty and staff in the Kerckhoff Grand Salon, Executive Vice Chancellor Scott Waugh reiterated what has become common knowledge throughout the University of California system.
“A year ago, we did not think we’d be facing this situation. … The situation has turned starkly grimmer,” he said, referring to the decrease in state funding for the university. “The question in everyone’s mind is if this is a one-year problem or a many-year problem.”
Amid concerns of fee increases, faculty and staff furloughs, and the future of the UC system, UCLA faculty hosted a colloquium Thursday titled “Defending the Public University.”
The discussion was composed of two panels, the first of which included speeches from university administrators, as well as representatives from the undergraduate and graduate student governments. The second panel featured professors and union officials, who suggested solutions to the budget crisis.
The first panel discussed the current situation, drawing attention to the fact that all of the state’s institutions of higher education are affected by the decrease in funding, not only the UC.
Waugh said the state’s budget has been reduced across the board, with a $131 million reduction at UCLA alone.
Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, vice chancellor for graduate studies and dean of the graduate division, said the issue of funding has hovered in the horizon for some time.
She said the university has been a “train off the track for decades,” emphasizing that now is the time to think about core values and the university’s spending in those areas.
“Public universities exist for public purposes,” Mitchell-Kernan said. “They’re of great value to the commonwealth as well as the individual.”
The second discussion included analysis of the university’s financial problems, as well as suggestions for remedies.
“We’ve seen a lot of changes: the suspension of tutors, the sending of layoff notices,” said Robert Samuels, president of the UC-American Federation of Teachers. “We think it’s not so much of a budget crisis as a crisis in leadership.”
This view was repeated by other speakers, including Sondra Hale, professor of anthropology and women’s studies.
“This is a crisis of priorities,” she said, adding that the elimination of smaller programs, such as women’s studies, was a threat to academic freedom. “If we’re not careful, rich donors will control programs.”
The panel also discussed the importance of alumni support as a means of action.
“We’ve got to stop the happy talk,” said Mark Sawyer, associate professor of Afro-American studies and political science, calling for support from UC graduates. “We need to say how things really are, and we need to sound the alarm.”
However, George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley, said that loud protests during the November UC Board of Regents meeting would not be effective.
Despite the looming issues, the overall sentiment of the colloquium was that students, faculty, staff and advocates of quality education across all levels need to coalesce to find a solution to the crisis.