One administrator talks to the faculty ...

... two administrators talk to each other; three administrators form a club. Or so the story goes. It seems a common trend among mature organizations that management tends to be top-heavy, and the University of California is not that far behind the curve.

According to a posting over at Changing Universities,

In 2008, there were 397 administrators in the over 200k club making a total of $109 million, and in 2006, the same group had 214 members for a collective gross pay of $58.8 million. This group and its collective salaries, then, almost doubled in just two years. If you want to know where the UC money has been going, this is a great place to start.

Why, why on earth did UC have to double the number of administrators in the two year 2006-08?

Let's get one point across: UC's mission is teaching and research, and that is carried out by the faculty with support from the staff — in the classrooms, the labs and the departments. That's where the rubber meets the road, as they say. Administrative bloat is not only expensive, it actually interferes with UC's mission.