politics

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Gov. Schwarzenegger Argues Against Legislative Control of Higher Ed; Defends Faculty Pay

Byuclafaculty

In a farewell interview with the LA Times editorial board, Governor Schwarzenegger covered a range of topics but a couple of minutes were devoted to public higher education. He argued against legislative control of higher ed including UC and defended high faculty pay as necessary in the marketplace. And he regretted recent tuition increases but said they were necessary given the economic circumstances. The full article is at http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2010/12/arnold-schwarzenegger-exit-interview.html An audio excerpt on higher ed can be heard below:

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More Rain on the Tuition Parade Arriving from Canada

Byuclafaculty

Another cautionary tale about self sufficiency and tuition hikes in a political context today, this one from Quebec, courtesy of Inside Higher Ed. McGill decided to raise its MBA tuition from C$1700/year (clearly a subsidized rate) to C$29,500, using a self-sufficient model. [US$1.00 = C$1.02 currently.] As prior posts have noted, the UCLA Anderson School has been pursuing a self sufficiency model. But McGill’s tuition hike is huge compared to anything Anderson is considering, in part because Anderson’s tuition is already in the ballpark of where McGill wants to be. The Quebec provincial government first threatened to take away an…

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Another Editorial Complaint About UC Retirement as Too Generous

Byuclafaculty

Yet another reminder that what the Regents did at their December meeting may not turn out to be the last word. Past posts on this blog have noted that via ballot initiative, UC could be swept into some general change in all public-sector retirement plans. Here is another editorial complaining about UC’s changes in its retirement plans. Retirement ruin? Riverside Press-Enterprise Editorial, 12-20-10, Excerpt A university system that faces repeated budget squeezes cannot justify siphoning money away from education and into lavish pension benefits. The University of California has to rein in the escalating costs of its retirement plan. And…

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Budget Strategy Risks for Jerry Brown (and Therefore for UC)

Byuclafaculty

The blog Calbuzz.com pointed me to two items, both related to the state budget. One is the cartoon on the right, which suggests the political challenge for incoming-Governor Brown. [If you can’t make out the captions, go http://www.calbuzz.com/2010/12/swap-meet-jerry-and-santa-meet-landslide-harris/ and scroll down until you see the cartoon.] The other is an article that appeared last week pointing to another aspect of the challenge. The two budget-related meetings Brown has had (see earlier posts) – plus statements during the election campaign – suggest that his strategy is to get the legislature to pass a budget with no tax increases that would have…

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Aftermath of Recently-Ended Political Season at UC-Riverside: Provost Candidate in the Soup

Byuclafaculty

Campbell withdraws as UCR provost candidate Duane W. Gang, Dec. 17, 2010, Riverside Press-Enterprise Former California congressman and U.S. Senate hopeful Tom Campbell withdrew today as a candidate for UC Riverside’s open executive vice chancellor and provost position, the university announced. Campbell interviewed on campus Dec. 10, but some faculty and students raised objections to his candidacy because of his stance on immigration. During his unsuccessful primary campaign this year for the Republican Senate nomination, Campbell expressed support for Arizona’s SB1070, a controversial law targeting people suspected of being in the country illegally. In a statement, UC Riverside spokeswoman Kris…

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Observations and Worries Over at CalPERS

Byuclafaculty

The excerpt below from calpensions.com deals mainly with a state contribution cut to CalPERS, ostensibly due to increased employee contributions. Some things to note: 1) the state contribution rate to the plan is already roughly at our “normal cost.” 2) CalPERS may come down to UC’s assumed 7.5% rate of expected earnings – or possibly lower. Lower would put pressure on UC to do the same. 3) CalPERS is concerned about federal legislative proposals in the new Congress regarding public pension plan discount rates used for estimating unfunded liabilities. CalPERS state rate hike cut by $200 million (except) Ed Mendel,…

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Chair of UCLA Faculty Assn. Comments on LA Times Article Concerning Legislative Challenges to UC Autonomy

Byuclafaculty

Below is a note from Chair Dwight Read followed by excerpts from the LA Times article to which he is responding. A link to the full article is also provided. A Note from the Chair of the UCLA Faculty Association Professor Dwight Read Today, Dec. 16, the LA Times ran an article, “State Wants Say in UC, CSU Budgets,” about a constitutional amendment that would strip the University of California of its autonomy. To provide historical context, the excerpt below explains how UC gained its autonomy, why the citizens of California voted for it in 1879, and why it is…

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UC Pension Solutions and the External Threats to Them

Byuclafaculty

In prior posts, I have noted that while the Regents can modify the UC pension plan in response to its underfunding problem, their actions could be overridden by external forces such as a ballot initiative covering all public pensions in California. Now comes word of another external threat, Congressional legislation that would effectively force public pensions to use a risk-free interest rate assumption in calculating their unfunded liabilities. The proposed legislation apparently would not technically force public pension authorities to do so but it would deny tax-favored status to their municipal bonds if they did not. I was alerted to…

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UCLA Forecasts Snail-Pace Growth Which Sets Context for Brown’s State Budget Conference

Byuclafaculty

From the press release for yesterday’s UCLA Anderson Forecast: California’s forecast, authored by Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg and titled “Laying the Groundwork for California’s Economic Recovery,” continues themes that began in September – almost imperceptibly slow growth until the end of next year. “with only the first indication of changes in consumer and business expectations revealing themselves in the contemporaneous data, and in the absence of an external driver to induce faster growth, this is the most likely scenario for this phase of the recovery,” Nickelsburg writes. Stated bluntly, California must re-employ 1.3 million workers just to get back to…

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Yee of Little Faith (In UC & CSU Foundations)

Byuclafaculty

The latest from State Senator Leland Yee, the only state senator who puts Ph.D. at the top of his official webpage. From Capitol Alert, 12/3/10 Senator to revive his higher ed foundation “transparency” bill (excerpt) It ended up twice vetoed. But it was a bill that gained traction after students demanded to know how much Sarah Palin was paid to speak at a California State University campus fundraiser this year. Today Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, announced that when the state Senate reconvenes Monday he plans to re-introduce a bill that would force more disclosure of information from private foundations…