For the first time in recent memory the UC Board of Regents has a plan to implement positive change on the horizon.
When Regent Chairman Richard Blum sent out a letter to the other regents last week announcing his ambitious plans to streamline the UC administration, increase efficiency, and cut costs, he rightfully received praise from the public for his efforts.
Blum is no stranger to restructuring corporations, and the recently appointed chair is wasting no time applying his corporate knowledge to what he called a bloated bureaucracy, which slows down decision making in the university.
He also plans on taking the potential millions of dollars in savings the UC would accrue after cutting administrative jobs and funneling that money into additional scholarships for students and increasing the salaries of faculty to make their wages more competitive.
More scholarship money is always a positive thing, especially in a time when state lawmakers are slashing funds to the university and student fees are rising at unprecedented rates.
This money will be a valuable tool for low and middle-income students who have a hard time affording the increasing cost of a UC education.
But almost equally important to making a UC education affordable is maintaining and increasing the quality of that education.
For years, the regents have known that their pay for both faculty and staff is as much as 20 percent behind that of competing universities. It’s really nice to see a board chairman finally come up with a plan to address this issue that doesn’t demand nonexistent funds from the state or increase fees even more.
Maintaining competitive salaries for UC faculty lessens the likelihood that existing faculty will jump ship to a private university and increases the UC’s ability to recruit top-notch professors from those same private universities.
In general, it looks like this plan is positive. There will, however, be some job loss at an administrative level when this restructuring happens.
But another obvious point Blum made in his letter is that the more administrators there are, especially ones with overlapping duties, the more inefficient and resistant to change the university is.
This board is more than willing to sacrifice the jobs of overpaid administrators to increase the money available for students and professors and increase the speed of decision making at the university ““ a notion rarely brought up at the senior-level board of an organization.
In yet another positive move, the UC’s newly appointed Chief Operating Officer and Provost Wyatt Rory Hume actually agrees with Blum’s assessment. He’ll even draw up a plan to implement these changes, which he will likely present to the regents at their next meeting in September.
The ability to see through the existing structure and implement much-needed and positive change is something we are very happy to see in a regent chairman, and may even help alleviate long-standing concerns that most on the board have no experience in higher education.
Since President Robert Dynes’ announcement to step down from his post, much spotlight has been shining on the board’s moves. Blum has used this opportune time to propose positive changes, but we hope the board does not fall victim to what it is trying to combat ““ slow bureaucratic processes.
These actions also help prove that there will not be a leadership vacuum with the decreased role of Dynes, something that was previously a mild concern.