UC employees protest at regent meeting

By 7:40 this morning, more than 50 people had gathered outside UC San Francisco to protest at the UC Board of Regents meeting.

The agenda for the meeting was to determine emergency powers for University of California President Mark Yudof in the midst of an economic crisis, as well as potential furloughs for UC professors and staff in the coming year. The graduated pay cuts from the furloughs would start at 4 percent for UC employees earning less than $40,000 per year and go up to 10 percent for those earning more than $240,000 annually.

The furloughs are intended to shoulder 25 percent of the $813.2 million decrease in state funding for the UC system, said Katie Lapp, executive vice president of business operations in the UC Office of the President.

Protesters held signs above their heads reading: “Cut the perks, not what works” and “Honesty now! Open the books!”

Later in the day in Westwood, protesters gathered holding signs that read “Chop from the Top” and “Chop, Chop, Chop,” asking the UC and Yudof to make cuts from executive compensation, rather than from university programs and increased student fees.

“If cuts are absolutely necessary, the UC should chop from the top and excessive executive compensation,” said Patrick Hale, a radiology technician at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to a statement released the morning before the protest.

Gatherers on Westwood Boulevard adjacent to Stein Plaza included “nurses, custodians, cooks, skilled trades to technical careers,” according to the statement. They believe the budget cuts have the risk of cutting essential services without proving the necessity of the cuts.

At the meeting at UC San Francisco, Yudof said that the UC Regents’ audited financial statements were available online.

“We are in full compliance with the open records law,” Yudof said.

However, a few individuals at the morning’s protest carried signs that read, “Ax Yudof, save UC.”

Jelger Kalmijn, a UC San Diego researcher and system-wide president of University Professional and Technical Employees, the union for UC technical professionals and researchers, was present at the protest as an organizer.

“Yudof doesn’t care about our staff,” Kalmijn said.

Kalmijn said that the UC needs to move people within the system instead of firing current employees and hiring from outside the system.

Emily Montan, an analyst in the design and construction section of the UC Office of the President, said she worries the cuts will affect not just students, but the citizens of California. She also said she believes that the cuts are unnecessary.

Kalmijn suggested that the university charge researchers for using the libraries as an alternative way to raise funds.

“It’s better than having the library close all day Saturdays,” he said.

This is one reality that UC Berkeley may face in the coming year, according to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

Patricia Olivares, a UCSF employee and a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, came to the site of her work during a morning off to protest the potential furloughs.

“We’re the ones that clean the hospital, clean the students’ areas. And we are living check by check. “¦ That’s why we are here,” she said.

With reports from Carolyn McGough, Bruin senior staff.

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