Student coalition calls for system-wide strike

A student coalition is calling for a system-wide strike to be held Nov.18-20, concomitantly with the Regents' meeting where the proposed fee increases for next year will be considered.

The students demand:

• that the Regents vote no on the proposed fee increases.
  

• that the UC stop cuts and layoffs, and end its aggressive union-busting tactics.
  

• transparency of the UC budget, including complete figures on how much of the additional revenue from fees will be diverted for construction and used as bond collateral.
  

• that the Regents expand enrollment of underrepresented groups and ensure equal access to education for all.
  

• an explanation for the failure of the UC leadership to make an effective case for public higher education.
  

These seem all pretty much on track to me.

AFSCME's rebuttal and UCOP's priorities

AFSCME, the union representing public eployees at the State, County, and City level, has replied to UCOP off-handed dismissal of their alternative budget proposals. While AFSCME's proposals might have been, in part, somewhat unrealistic (e.g., it's clear that the idea of cutting senior managment's salaries by 25%, no matter how attractive it might appear to us, was not going to fly), they made some interesting points that were well worthy of discussion, especially when UCOP's itself had solicited the unions for proposals that would achieve the same level of savings.

ASFSCME's rebuttal contains one new piece of information, which sheds further light on the way UCOP has decided to run its finances. We had already commented on the financial scheme by which UC would borrow $200M on behalf of the State against its own assets, only to lend it, in turn, to the State to finance capital construction projects around the campuses (mostly at the medical centers, one would assume).

We now learn from AFSCME that while the State will take over 3 years to repay UC, the University will have to repay that loan short term, within nine months, as is the case for all instances of commercial paper. This means that UC can find an extra $200M in its budget over the next nine months.  The question poses itself: was this the best way to use those $200M?

If UCOP had instead decided to put those $200M towards the budget shortfall, that would have been tantamount to slowing down capital projects in times of financial hardships. What's wrong with that?

We also take time to notice a piece of news that does not appear to have received a lot of attention, but is also indicative of UCOP's budget priorities: as reported by the Sac Bee, UCOP has just decided to add one more lobbyist, Vince Stewart,  to its Sacramento outfit, at a annual salary of $120K (before the furloughs). Previously, Stewart was the Schwarzenegger's deputy secretary of higher education.

That UC maintains lobbying offices both in Sacramento and Washington, DC is a little known fact. Payroll for the Sacramento office: $859K; for the Washington, DC office:  $741K, for a total of a cool $1.6M.

This might be perhaps a worthwhile endeavor if the lobbyists were employed to reverse the de-funding
of the University. Instead, they have been active lately to kill legislature to bring whistle-blower protection to the UC and impose salary caps for senior management. (The former lobbying effort failed, the latter succeeded only partially, for the record.)

Yudof's address to the Regents

The UC Regents met yesterday, Sept. 16, to discuss the proposed increase in fees for undergraduate students at the University. After a bit of bru-ha-ha, the meeting could get down to business, beginning with Yudof's address to the Regents (the videos can be found here, here and here).

This was a passionate plea by Yudof to the Regents, and again one that is worth a close look for the information it provides on the direction where the University is headed. Yudof began by painting a rather bleak picture: the worst is far from over, the state budget will not improve next year, federal stimulus money will go away, all the while the university has to deal with an "unreliable partner," viz., a "dysfunctional state government."

Having thus described the situation, Yudof then proceeded to articulate his argument, whose first premise is that we shold give up "faith-based budgeting," i.e., coping with the present situation hoping that things will get better. Things will not get better, the State will not provide more money for the University (for a number of complex but well known reasons). We have to face the "unhappy truths;" we can, and should go to Sacramento for more money, but we should be aware that the State has no more money to give.

The second premise of Yudof's argument is that "mediocrity is the greatest enemy of the UC." We must do everything we can to preserve quality. From these two premises it follows that we must increase our reliance on the only other source of revenue that is available to the University, and increase student fees. Students must realize that the State "stopped building freeways to higher education" and is now "building toll-roads."

This is the main argument. Are there alternative solutions? Yudof does not think so: he denied that there were administrative raises, denied that there were "unrestricted" or "reserve" funds in the budget (and even if there were, say at the Medical Centers — and he's not saying there are —it would "wrong" and perhaps "illegal" to use them), blamed the union's (and especially AFSCME's) unwillingness to negotiate for the layoffs.

The fee increases are necassary, according to Yudof, in order to "stop the decline of the academic program" at the University, prevent a brain drain at the UC, and "do away with the furloughs" as of next summer (a connection that has the added benefit. obviously, to divide the faculty and the students).

Pres. Yudof ended reminding the Regents of the Blue and Gold Program, allowing any student whose family earns less than $60K to attend UC for free, the fact that 30% of the increase returns to aid, and the very high proportion of student on Pell Grants, the highest of any research university.

Yudof's vision is clear and, if we accept the two main premises of his argument, his plan is rational and compelling. The details of his plan have, of course, been poorly executed, but that is a different story. The Pitts memos, for instance, were blunders of historic proportions: if UCOP had received the Senate's recommendations we would not probably be here considering an unprecedented faculty walkout on the first day of classes, and in fact nobody would be surprised if Larry Pitts were at some point scapegoated for this. The administrative raises, that were (contrary to Yudof's claims) real and documented, were very bad optics, even if inconsequential in the $20B budget of the University. And the decision to protect the revenue-generating units at UC, first and foremost the five Medical Centers, even it meant gutting the core campuses, could have probably been avoided or mitigated. But these are matters that concerns the implementation of plan, not the plan itself.

Yudof has been criticized as a "privitazer," but his views is not to turn UC into a private university, but into a true hybrid institution. As pointed out elsewhere on this blog, there are reasons to think that that goal might not be attainable, as hybrid istitutions are inherently unstable, but that is Yudof's vision. We can either accept that vision or reject at least one of Yudof's premises. Since preservation of quality at UC is a goal that we share, the only option on the table is to engage in political action to make sure that the State's priorities are reversed and its funding model radically altered. Not easy, but is there another way?

Graduate Student Stoppage

After UCSA's endorsement of the walkout, the Graduate Student Organizing Committee also calls for a stoppage in solidarity with the faculty walkout and the UPTE strike. GSOC calls for a suspension of graduate student teaching and official university business on September 24, pending satisfaction of the following demands:

1. No layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts for salaries under $40,000. This money can be generated through steeper pay cuts to UC’s top earners.
2. A complete rollback of fees to their 2008-09 level, and a permanent freeze on fee increases beyond the rate of inflation. Student fees can be offset by redirecting surpluses from the revenue-generating sectors of the university.
3. Full disclosure of the UC budget.

Saturday morning round-up

Here are a few items of note this morning:

1. From the NY Times: California students return to bigger classes, at higher tuition.
2. From the LA Times: UC Regents settle a dozen fertility suits, at a combined cost (over time) of $24M. How come medical centers' profits are to stay with the medical centers whereas we all have to pay for their liabilities?
3. From the Schools Matter blog: 12,000 UC Profs to strike on Sept. 24.
4. From the Fresno State Collegian: Legislature dooms our future. Very well said, hats off to the Collegian staff.
   

UCOP's reply to AFSCME, linked above, is probably worth a closer look.

Unit 18 lecturers not participating in furloughs

As reported by Bob Samuels:

The UC Office of the President has informed UC-AFT that Unit 18 lecturers will not be participating in the furlough plan.

This is probably not good news for the lecturers. Looks like UCOP is trying to achieve salary savings more directly through layoffs. Lecturers with less than 18 quarters of service (so-called "pre-6" lecturers) have very little protection under the contract, and can be laid off with little or no notice, but post-6 lecturers need a 12-month notice before they can be laid off. That's why 67 UCLA lecturers in Humanities and Social Sciences were all given letters to the effect that their contracts will not be renewed as of next summer. This was presented as a precautionary measure that the Administration had little intention to follow through —we are not so sure any more — now that the Administration can achieve salary savings and bust a union at the same time.