The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to vote today on the
2006-2007 university budget, which if passed would include another
round of fee increases for students systemwide.
The board also plans to discuss increasing compensation for
University of California employees in what UC officials describe as
an attempt to bring salaries up to the current market rate.
This is the first time since 2000 a full Board of Regents
meeting has been scheduled at UC Berkeley, a campus with a large
undergraduate population and a history of student activism.
Students from several UC campuses are expected to attend in
order to protest of the rising costs of education.
Student Regent Adam Rosenthal said the regents’ discussion
today will focus largely on student fees because it is a major
component of approving the 2006-2007 university budget.
If the budget is approved, undergraduate student fees will
increase by 8 percent and graduate fees will increase by 10
percent. These increases are consistent with the Higher Education
Compact reached between the university and Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger in May 2004 in order to create a more predictable
pattern for state funding and student fees.
Though these increases are part of a pre-determined agreement,
students still believe the university should not raise fees and
many will be present at the meeting to express their concerns.
About 60 students from UCLA will bus to Berkeley to attend
Thursday’s meeting, joining others from various other
campuses in protest of the fee hike.
“By rallying, we hope to bring greater attention to the
rapidly increasing cost and decreasing affordability of
education,” said Jeannie Biniek, external vice president for
UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council.
“We want to influence future decisions in the legislature
and hope that students will have a bigger say in those
decisions,” she said.
Biniek added she is glad the regents meeting will be held at a
campus with a large undergraduate student population, but said the
location chosen for the meeting, Berkeley’s Clark Kerr
campus, is too isolated from the main campus, where most students
attend class.
“It appears like they’re being more accessible to
students, but they’re really not,” Biniek said.
Despite the location, many students are expected to attend the
meeting.
The University of California Student Association, the Associated
Students of the University of California and the Graduate Assembly
plan to rally students at the main Berkeley campus and march to
Clark Kerr campus.
The board also plans to vote to approve a fee increase for
professional students in 2006-2007.
They will also discuss possible fee increases for 2007-2008 and
2008-2009.
Fee increases for professional students may be more complicated
because the governor’s compact does not explicitly state how
much professional school fees should increase each year.
For 2006-2007, the UC budget calls for a 5 percent mandatory
system-wide fee increase for all UC professional students and an
additional 5 percent fee increase for selected schools. Students at
the business and law programs in UC Berkeley and UCLA will be
subjected to a 10 percent fee increase.
The proposed budget also includes a measure to give additional
financial compensation to UC employees, which officials say will
prevent salaries from falling further behind the competitive
market.
The budget vote comes just days after a report in Sunday’s
edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, which said UC employees
received millions of dollars more in bonuses and compensation than
was reported in September by the Mercer Human Resources Consulting,
a New York-based firm.
A more controversial plan to seek private funding to increase
the salaries of top level UC executives has been postponed.
A vote at the upcoming meeting would be premature as the plan
requires further discussion and input, said Regent Judith Hopkinson
in a press release.
Tomorrow’s meeting also includes a discussion on the
oversight of the department of energy labs.
This is the last time the regents will be meeting before a
decision on the management contract for Los Alamos National
Laboratory is due from the Department of Energy on Dec. 1.
The nuclear research laboratory has been managed by the UC since
World War II, but its management was put up for competition after a
series of reports of management problems.
In July, the UC submitted a joint bid with engineering firm
Bechtel National to continue its management of the lab.
Rosenthal said the regents will also address the resignation of
UC provost MRC Greenwood, who stepped down from her office after
allegations of improper hiring practices. But discussion regarding
the resignation may occur in a closed session, he said.
Greenwood is scheduled to provide an overview of the faculty
review process for faculty appointment and advancement at the
meeting tomorrow.