Thursday, January 15, 1998
Community Briefs
UC philanthropy ranks No. 1 across nation
It may be state-supported, but the University of California’s
nine campuses are the leader in philanthropy in the nation for
1997.
For the entire system, the UCs pulled in $726.3 million in
private donations in 1996-97, a $5 million increase from the
previous year.
"The University of California would not be as successful as it
is today in serving the needs of students and our society without
the continuing strong support of our many donors," said Meredith J.
Khachigian, chairman of the UC Board of Regents.
"The regents are extremely grateful for this support and
appreciative of the many volunteers, friends and UC staff members
whose efforts have led to another exceptional year of private
giving."
Although private donations to the UCs equal the second-largest
total of private giving to any organization in the nation, private
funds only make up 3.6 percent of the UCs’ operating budget.
Berkeley scientists gain new info on fault
The San Andreas fault, largely responsible for most of the
Pacific Rim earthquakes, may gain its instability from deep inside
the earth.
Scientists at UC Berkeley have discovered by studying the fluids
within the fault that those fluids are part of a plume originating
within the mantle. The high-pressure fluids are especially
noticeable for the presence of helium-three, a rare variation on
the common form, helium-four.
The results show that the high-pressure fluids are distributed
in amounts much like they are in the mantle. Whether the
high-pressure fluids contribute to the fault’s instability is still
unknown.
The research was conducted by Mack Kennedy, Yousif Kharaka and
colleagues at the Berkeley Lab’s Center for Isotope
Geochemistry.
Government giving state less timber funds
A source of income for California counties has been swiftly
shrinking in the last few years. Twenty-five percent of money
earned on federal land is given to the counties by the U.S. Forest
Service.
The funds come from the manufacturing of timber and various
commerce that occurs within federal boundaries. This derivation of
revenue has been flowing into the state for the last 90 years and,
until recently, has been fairly steady, averaging about $65 million
a year in the late 1980s.
"For 1995-96, just $36 million were awarded in the state," said
Larry Lloyd, a research assistant for the University of
California’s California Community Program. The sharp decline in
government grants has been blamed on the lack of timber being
produced because of the U.S. Forest Service’s increased concern for
the environment.
These federal funds allow the counties to deal with the costly
burden of national forests because they are free from local
property tax.
The government divides the funds into two categories to be used
by the counties: county road maintenance and school district
programs. Smaller populated counties rely greatly on these federal
payments. Since funds have been erratic in recent years, counties
can only invest in short-term projects or single purchases.
Lloyd, along with Alvin Sokolow, UC Cooperative Extension Public
Policy specialist, have responded with three solutions to the
county’s problems.
Decisions to allocate funds should be left up to local
governments. The funds should be based on property values of
national forests and not on the amount of timber produced. Lastly,
the national forests need to taxed as local property by selling
pieces of land to private parties.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.