UC budget crisis

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“At Berkeley” Opens

Byuclafaculty

The Frederick Wiseman documentary, “At Berkeley,” opens at the Royal Theater in West LA.  Warning, it runs over four hours!  Yours truly suspects the theater opening is a prelude for a public TV showing later.  Running as a movie in a theater is probably to qualify for an Academy Award.  (That’s a guess!)  From the Kenneth Turan review in the LA Times: Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman makes his films his way, and the way he makes them is reflected in how we experience them. “At Berkeley” is Wiseman’s 38th doc in 43 years, and each of them, as titles like…

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Listen to the Regents Morning Session: Nov. 13, 2013 (including the Napolitano speech)

Byuclafaculty

As noted in prior posts, yours truly is out of town and behind on listening to, and recording, the Regents meeting.  I am now current through the morning of Nov. 13.  That was the morning in which UC president Napolitano gave her speech on her goals for UC.  Blog readers will recall that there was supposed to be a similar unveiling of goals in a speech awhile ago, but that turned out to be a booster/dud.  This one was more significant, but more on that below. Again, we provide audio archives of Regents meetings because regental policy is to preserve…

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TA Union Pushes for Lower TA-to-Student Ratio

Byuclafaculty

The labor union representing TAs at UC has gotten some attention in the San Francisco Chronicle to its demands for lowering the TA-to-student ratio.  Excerpt: …The students are asking UC to create a Committee on Class Size at each campus so that problems can be addressed on a continual basis, said Josh Brahinsky, a graduate student in history at UC Santa Cruz who serves on the bargaining team… But UC says class size is not an appropriate topic to discuss with the union.”Issues related to class sizes and quality are academic issues, not bargaining issues,” said Shelly Meron, a spokeswoman for UC… Full…

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Things to Come?

Byuclafaculty

Events at this week’s CSU Trustees meeting suggest what may occur at next week’s Regents meeting, especially if the governor shows up, as he has been doing. From the LA Times: (excerpt) A committee of the Cal State Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved a $4.6-billion budget plan that includes money to hire faculty and increase student enrollment. The 2014-2015 proposal seeks an increase of $237.6 million in state funding. Included in that total is about $80 million to increase student enrollment by about 20,000; $13 million to hire more than 500 new, full-time faculty members; $15 million to finance…

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Opening Bid on the Budget

Byuclafaculty

We noted yesterday that the preliminary Regents’ agenda for next week did not yet include the underlying attachments.  They are now available, in particular, a budget-related item. Report from LA Times: [excerpt] For the third straight year, UC students would see no tuition increase for the 2014-15 school year if state funding to the 10-campus system increases enough, according to a preliminary University of California budget released Monday. The budget proposal for next year said undergraduate tuition would remain at $12,192 before room, board and campus fees are added. Graduate and professional students pay more, and their basic fees would…

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The Leg Analyst Summarizes the Higher Ed Budget

Byuclafaculty

At around this time of year, the Legislative Analyst’s Office releases a summary about the budget in preparation for next year’s budget proposal that will come from the governor in early January.  Below is an excerpt just for higher ed.  A link to the full document follows the excerpt.================== UC, CSU, and Hastings Provides $2.8 Billion in General Fund Support for UC. The budget provides UC with $2.8 billion in General Fund support—an increase of $467 million from 2012–13. Of this increase, $200 million reflects a shift of funds used for paying general obligation bond debt service from a separate…

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Scary Thoughts for Halloween

Byuclafaculty

Over the past year or so, there have been various scary developments about which we have blogged.  Most recently there is the recently-filed anti-pension initiative that sweeps in UC.  There is the volatility of state budget because of its heavy dependence on the income tax and the incomes of those in the upper brackets that are reflective of the ups and downs of financial markets.  There is the illusion that online ed will resolve the long-term budget squeeze on the university. The hotel shown below is pretty scary but so, too, is the UCLA Grand Hotel, in part because of…

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We got a boost. Now we need some answers.

Byuclafaculty

I’ve got the booster.  But what’s for dinner? We noted in past postings that new UC president Janet Napolitano was to give an important address yesterday about her vision of UC.  The address happened.  But her remarks were mainly boosterism.  (So far, UCOP hasn’t put the transcript of the remarks on the web, but yours truly has seen them.)  Greatest public university,  The California dream.  Nobel prize.  Diversity.  The Master Plan.  Etc.  And, yes, there was reference in the speech to DREAM students – that’s what seems to have been the focus of morning news stories.  She said she would…

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A different kind of student sit-in and a modest proposal

Byuclafaculty

It may not be quite so much fun. From the Daily Bruin today: A total of three students will be able to sit on committees during the UC Board of Regents meeting next month, which some say is still not enough to fully represent the student voice. The newest student to join the discussion, Vanessa Garcia of UC San Diego, will attend the meeting as a student observer, a new position established by UC officials after receiving a request from the University of California Student Association, an activist coalition of UC students. Regents members and UC administrators hold committee meetings…

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More recall reflections

Byuclafaculty

Same result Yesterday, we posted some video reflections on the California 2003 gubernatorial recall election.  In the end, the condition of the state budget seemed to determine voter opinion.  But, of course, the UC budget went for a ride on the state budget.  Below is a link to more video clips from this episode in state politics.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkE11Egb_7Q?feature=player_detailpage]