SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; Wednesday’s UC Board of Regents
meeting opened with shouting.
During the public comment session at the beginning of the
meeting, LaKesha Harrison, president of the local American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, asked
the board to not reinstate worker contributions to the university
pension plan, saying that doing so was equivalent to cutting
pay.
Unions have been battling the University of California over a
recent attempt to reinstate employee contributions to the
university pension plan. After Harrison’s comment, more than
50 members of the audience broke out into supportive chants, which
included “hands off our pensions” and
“we’ll be back.”
After the audience continued to shout for several minutes, the
meeting was called into recess and 11 university police officers
escorted the audience out of the conference hall, threatening to
arrest anyone who resisted.
Later in the morning, the regents listened to a number of
presentations ranging from updates on university scientific
advancements to a discussion of graduate student support.
UC Provost Rory Hume briefed the board on advancements in
university facilities for the development of nanotechnology and
sequencing the genomes of bacteria in the ocean.
With progress being made in multiple fields, the UC is receiving
increased funding from industries that see potential in the
research and collaborating with businesses on a scale that is not
occurring anywhere else in the nation, Hume said.
The regents also discussed an upcoming study that will examine
the impact of Proposition 209 on UC admissions. Proposition 209,
passed in 1996, banned the use of race or ethnicity as a factor in
hiring and admissions in all public institutions in California.
The study would be a comprehensive look at the entire impact of
the proposition on undergraduate and graduate student admissions,
and may also include analysis on alumni donations and other
unforeseen impacts, UC President Robert Dynes said.
Talk among the board varied on sentiments toward the study.
Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante said the UC should look for
a way to increase admissions of underrepresented minority students
while still remaining inside the restraints set by Proposition
209.
“Perhaps we’ll be able to find how Proposition 209
was interpreted by the university. Is there a way to implement 209
in the university that will allow us to admit minorities along with
the voters’ intent?” Bustamante said.
And Regent Eddie Island said the study would be able to provide
some insight as to the reason for the drop in underrepresented
minority enrollment.
“African Americans are disappearing from the university at
an alarming rate, and I want to know if 209 is the cause,”
Island said.
In another presentation, Hume outlined a plan for the UC to
attract more graduate students. He cited data showing that the
average UC graduate student receives $2,000 less in financial aid
than students from the average competitor graduate program.
The UC has also seen a decline in applications from out-of-state
students in the past few years, mostly due to the increasing
student fees and lack of financial aid. The university has also
enrolled fewer international students since Sept. 11, 2001 due to
more stringent visa applications, Dynes said.
Regent John Oakley stressed the importance of recruiting more
graduate students, saying that the UC is losing talented
out-of-state and international students who could be contributing
to the university’s research.
“The high cost of attendance for international grad
students is a threat to our continued excellence” as a
research institution, Oakley said.
International and out-of-state graduate students face
particularly heavy fees because they are not granted subsidized
tuition like in-state students.
The board also considered making a bid to run the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory. The Department of Energy is taking
bids for a company to run the lab, which has traditionally been run
by the UC.
During the public comment session, which resumed after the
protest, several students from UC Berkeley demanded that the UC
stop receiving funding from tobacco company Phillip Morris. The
students said the UC is supporting the tobacco industry and
promoting bad science by allowing them to fund UC research.
Wednesday afternoon several committees met in closed session to
discuss the ongoing executive compensation scandal, despite public
scrutiny of closed-door meetings.
“We will be talking specifically about people ““ what
their strengths and weaknesses are. … These will be strong
personnel discussions,” Dynes said. The results of the
meetings should be made public tomorrow, including any disciplinary
actions taken against top UC officials.
In response to the compensation scandal, a committee met
Wednesday to discuss a reorganization of the UC Office of the
President.
“The regents will bring strong business and financial
leadership to UCOP,” Regent Gerald Parsky said.
The meeting ended with the approval of the 2006-2007 university
budget, with funds from the state to buy out undergraduate fee
increases and increase enrollment throughout the university.