At the UC Board of Regents’ meeting on Wednesday, New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson came to encourage the regents to enter
the competition to renew their management of the Los Alamos
National Laboratory, saying that the University of California may
be the best candidate for the job.
The lab is a multi-disciplinary research institution that has
drawn some criticism in the past months due to the loss of
classified material last July.
The UC currently manages the lab and may or may not bid to
continue to do so in 2005.
If they do choose to apply next year, Richardson said they would
likely stand a very good chance of receiving the contract.
“The state leadership in New Mexico are in very strong
support of the UC,” Richardson said.
A decision was not reached on Wednesday, but the regents and the
New Mexico governor discussed at length the pros and cons of the
UC’s continuing management of the lab.
As one of the largest institutes in the world, the lab conducts
research that is pertinent to the state as well as the nation,
Richardson said.
He presented the management of the lab as a way for the UC to
make important contributions to scientific progress in the nation
and the world.
“Institutes like yours … have a responsibility to help
the national interest,” he said.
Many regents believe involvement with the lab may also be in
California’s interest.
“We believe that California should be on the cutting
edge,” said Regent Fabian Núñez, also speaker of
the state Assembly.
And the university’s management of the lab could give
California the opportunity to be a world leader in scientific
research.
But the university has its own interests to consider, and during
a budget crisis, one of the biggest concerns is finance.
“We’ve got some financial problems of our own:
Tuitions are going up, we’re limiting our admissions. … It
may be a lot of money (to apply),” Regent Norman Pattiz
said.
“It’s one thing to compete for this if we have a
strong chance,” Pattiz said, but a different thing entirely
to spend a great deal of money to apply for management of the lab
and fail to receive the contract.
But Richardson assured the regents that, if they applied, the UC
would be a top contender.
“You don’t exactly have every institute or
industrial partner scrambling to get the contract because there
have been some problems,” he added.
The problems to which Richardson alluded are also a concern for
some regents.
The recent scandal with missing materials at the lab may be
damaging to the university.
“No matter what we do, we’re in for a very long haul
of publicity that could hurt us,” Regent George Marcus
said.
Richardson pointed to improvements in security and tried to
assure the regents that there would not be further problems.
The regents did not indicate whether they planned to apply for
the management contract in 2005.
Another item of discussion on the regents’ agenda
Wednesday was the academic preparation programs.
The regents emphasized the need for cooperation between public
lower schools, high schools and universities in California.
There now seems to be too little effort being done toward this
end.
“There is a fundamental disconnect between higher
education … and the needs and aspirations of K-12 to raise the
achievement,” said Winston Doby, vice president of outreach
for the UC.
The regents highlighted two success stories: a summer algebra
program and the Preuss School in San Diego, both of which provide
students with opportunities that may not be available to them
through ordinary public school education.
Regents and educators in California hope programs like these can
proliferate and affect more students in the future.