Facing a daunting reduction of more than $800 million in funding, the University of California is looking for cost-cutting options.
“All of us know that these are challenging times,” said UC President Mark Yudof in a statement. “Difficult choices will need to be made on each campus.”
But desperate times may not always call for the most desperate measures, as Yudof quickly shot down a proposal, which included one idea to close three UC campuses: UC Merced, UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz.
Andrew Scull, professor and sociology department chair at UC San Diego, wrote the proposal on how to balance the budget last month.
The four-page letter ““ signed by 21 UCSD department chairs ““ requested Yudof and the UC Regents to “drop the pretense that all campuses are equal” and recognize that the three campuses are “teaching institutions,” generally not up to par with top tier research campuses such as UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego.
“(We) argue for a selective reallocation of funds to preserve excellence, not the current disastrous blunderbuss policy of even, across the board cuts,” the letter read. “Or, if that’s too hard, we suggest that what ought to be done is to shut one or more of these campuses down in whole or in part.”
Yudof later wrote to all campuses’ chancellors before presenting his cost-saving plan at the last UC Board of Regents’ meeting.
His letter said that any action to de-emphasize the research mission of any campus or closure of any campus will not be considered.
“The suggestion of “˜closing’ smaller campuses has, I am told, been floated by certain UC faculty groups at larger campuses during previous budgetary crisis,” Yudof said in the letter. “Each time in the past such a suggestion has been understood to be short-sighted.”
Neither Scull nor any of the 21 UCSD department chairs were available for comment.
Since then, some budgetary solutions already approved by the UC Board of Regents include a graduated furlough system. Furloughs are mandatory days off that result in staff and faculty pay cuts. The measure will provide fewest furlough days to those with the lowest salaries and vice versa.
University officials already encourage faculty hiring freezes and immediate reductions on individual campuses.
Leslie Sepuka, spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President, said Yudof’s approved July proposal will help to make up for the gap of state funding, but individual campuses need to make tough decisions on how to ride out the budget crisis.
“Each site is figuring out the best way for the shortfall,” Sepuka said.
The UCLA Chancellor’s office has not spoken on the proposal, referring back to Yudof’s memo, but school officials have already made budgetary outlines to address the campus’ budget constraints.
Steps to decrease next year’s $32 million gap will include program cuts, staff furloughs, a reduction in faculty searches, an increase of the number of non-resident students and less course offerings while maintaining the number of seats available.