The University of California Board of Regents unanimously voted to appoint Mark G. Yudof, current chancellor of the University of Texas, as the next president of the UC on Thursday.
Yudof will replace current President Robert C. Dynes, who is slated to resign his post of almost five years this June after two years of controversy regarding his management of UC funds.
“It wasn’t easy to leave Texas. I had a steady supply of breakfast tacos, they paid us well, but when push came to shove, I just felt this was the place to be because of the extraordinary qualities … and I wanted to be a part of it,” Yudof said.
A new president
Since 2002, Yudof, 63, has served as chancellor of the University of Texas, one of the largest universities in the country, with nine campuses, 185,000 students and an annual operating budget of $10.7 billion.
While at UT, Yudof successfully pressured Texas lawmakers to deregulate educational fees so each campus could set its own tuition.
Prior to serving as chancellor at UT, Yudof ran the University of Minnesota for five years and was a faculty member and administrator at UT Austin for 26 years, serving as dean of the School of Law, executive vice president and provost.
“Mark Yudof is a superb choice for one of the nation’s most important leadership positions in higher education. California’s university system could not have chosen a more experienced, successful, creative and qualified leader,” said Robert Bruininks, president of the University of Minnesota.
Salaries and finances
Yudof’s appointment could be a problem unless he’s willing to take a serious pay cut, given California’s looming budget cuts.
UC lost over $100 million in expected state funding after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed state programs in January to address the $16 billion state budget deficit, which left the UC $417.4 million below its proposed 2008-2009 annual operating budget.
Dynes currently commands $421,000 a year as president, which includes executive compensation, but Yudof’s total take-home pay last year at Texas was $742,209, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
“He’s expensive, but he’s worth it,” said Richard Blum, chairman of the UC Board of Regents.
Yudof will receive an annual compensation package, including perks such as an allowance for an automobile and housing costs, that has an estimated value of $828,000. His base salary will be approximately $600,000.
Blum said he isn’t worried about his salary, citing the hiring of the Monitor Group for $7 million to assist with the restructuring of the UC Office of the President as evidence of the UC’s ability to make sound financial decisions.
“I said it would pay back many times over, and I think you heard yesterday that they’ve already identified $26 million in savings and $40 million in projected savings by integrating the Office of the President with the campuses in a more intelligent way,” Blum said.
And UC faculty, staff and senior administration are underpaid according to market salary scales, said UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, who counts Yudof among her personal friends.
“It’s not surprising that he makes more than Bob Dynes. I think you’ll find that all the officers of UT make significantly more than their colleagues at UC,” Fox said.
Student concern and fee hikes
Student support for a more than $300,000 increase in pay for a new president is unlikely.
Student demonstrators chained themselves by their necks to the doors of the conference center in an attempt to obstruct the regents’ meeting on March 19 in protest of rising student fees as well as the UC’s affiliation with nuclear weapons labs and the lack of student inclusion in regental appointments.
Despite the protests and disruptions to their meeting by students, the regents presented updates on efforts to cut costs within UCOP, which, while substantial, still do not eliminate the specter of possible student fee hikes.
The proposed reductions for 2008-2009 would eliminate 404 full-time-equivalent positions at UCOP and create a savings of almost $57 million by cutting spending in UC programming.
The plan includes shaving $26.3 million from the budget by transferring non-core programs out of UCOP over to local campuses. Slated for transfer are the Education Abroad Program and the Continuing Education of the Bar, which provides professional education for California lawyers.
The new budget also incorporates a one-time savings of $3.5 million in the recovery of unspent funds from prior fiscal years and $1.5 million in anticipated savings from the Voluntary Separation Program, a buyout program for existing UCOP managers and high-level staff.
The amended budget is expected to be finalized and completed by March, said Provost and Executive Vice President Wyatt R. Hume.
Solutions and future plans
The regents postponed any decisions to raise student fees until their next board meeting in May, and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi also postponed his resolution to cap student fees at 2008-2009 levels until then, though he said he would not forsake his commitment to freezing fees.
“This is not something I’m going to drop,” Garamendi said.
But Hume said the regents must consider the possibility of raising student fees in the near future in order to avoid loss of financial support to critical student programs, such as mental health services.
“The chancellors were unanimous that fees shouldn’t be increased by more than 10 percent for students above the threshold for financial aid eligibility,” he added.
Hume said the university would be less efficient at educating and graduating students if they accepted the governor’s recommendations regarding cuts to student programs and services.
“We will not lower our standards, but we will be less efficient,” he said. “The bottom line is that program cuts of this magnitude would mean a great loss to individuals and to families and a subsequent reduction of workforce to California’s economic engine.
“We must continue to do all we can to limit that and to cut costs.”
Hume also recommended collaboration with the California State University and California community colleges to jointly advocate for greater state support of higher education.
“The proposed cuts for public higher education, which follow significant cuts earlier this decade, would be detrimental to our students, the economy and California’s future,” Hume said.
Some regents expressed disapproval of the board’s recent decision to admit all qualified UC applicants, despite the looming budget cuts.
“We’ll have more students with less courses to chose from,” said Regent Leslie Schilling.
Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, said he disagreed with the 10 percent cut across the board recommended by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
“That says every program is of equal value. We don’t have a spending problem; we have a problem with our priorities,” O’Connell added.
The UC Students Association opposes fee increases, though the group said that if the regents were unable to adequately fund student mental health services or maintain the quality of a UC education they would support a small increase to registration fees only.
“The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education was supposed to provide tuition-free education to all residents of the state. That promise has been broken and abused, and students have been carrying the budget every year through increased student fees,” said Louise Hendrickson, president of UCSA.