UC Regents

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Sacramento Bee Editorial Says UC High Paid Execs Threatening to Sue “Live in Bubble”

Byuclafaculty

UC executives offer further evidence they live in bubble (excerpt) Jan. 02, 2011, Sacramento Bee We’re in a time in California when everyone has to share the pain, and leaders have to set the right example. It is dumbfounding that some top officials at the University of California are doing the exact opposite. Thirty-six executives sent a letter to UC regents on Dec. 9 with an ultimatum: Give us higher pensions or we’ll sue. They had the gall to call it a “legal, moral and ethical obligation.” What’s appalling is that people – who already earn far more than the…

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Lame Duck Nominates Crane: Crane Nomination May Not Fly

Byuclafaculty

In a very lame-duck action, Governor Schwarzenegger has nominated David Crane, generally billed as his economic advisor, to the UC Board of Regents. As you can see above, he is an odd mix of Democrat and Republican. Below is an excerpt from one news account: Capitol Alert, Dec. 30, 2010 Schwarzenegger appoints key economic aide as UC regent (excerpt) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named one of his top economic advisers Thursday to the governing board of the University of California, which has been rocked in recent years by California’s budget crisis. David Crane, 57, was named to fill the UC regents…

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Clash of the Titans II: Jerry Brown says high-paid execs at UC demanding high pensions are “out of touch”

Byuclafaculty

UC execs’ demand for more benefits angers many (excerpts) Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 30, 2010 Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, state lawmakers and others minced few words Wednesday in condemning high-paid executives at the University of California who are threatening to sue UC unless it spends millions of dollars to increase their pensions. “These executives seem very out of touch at a time when the state is contemplating billions of dollars in reductions that will affect people who are far less advantaged,” Brown said. Their demand comes as UC faces $21.6 billion in unfunded pension obligations and is reducing benefits…

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Clash of the Titans: Coming to a Regents Meeting Soon

Byuclafaculty

Background: Readers of this blog will know that at the Dec. 13 Regents meeting, where changes in the retirement plan were adopted, one item was dropped from the agenda a few days before the meeting. You can hear the Regents meeting on this blog. But there is only one vague reference to the dropping. The item involved a 1999 Regents decision to seek IRS approval to exceed a ceiling on pension benefits. The approval was received but the pension plan was never modified to implement the approval. The PEB task force recommended such implementation as part of its other retirement…

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Op Ed by Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC-Irvine Law School on UC Funding

Byuclafaculty

Invest in higher education: Over the years, the state’s contribution to the University of California has not kept pace with its needs. The risk is letting a great system become a mediocre one. (Excerpts) Erwin Chemerinsky, Dec. 27, 2010, Los Angeles Times The proposals for the University of California now being considered in Sacramento — limiting tuition and fees, freezing executive and faculty salaries and increasing legislative control over the UCs — are well intentioned. But they are a recipe for ruining a great public university system. A public university has only three choices: It can be subsidized by the…

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Regent Blum Says Consequences of More State/UC Budget Cuts Will Lead More to Internal Cuts Than Tuition

Byuclafaculty

UC regents brace for more bad news on budget (excerpt) Dec. 27, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle, Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross The University of California regents are bracing for more bad financial news from Sacramento, but board veteran Richard Blum doubts he and his colleagues could stomach another round of tuition hikes. “I think the emphasis is much more on making cuts,” said Blum, who chaired the board until recently. “I think the last thing we want to do is touch student fees, but that depends on what they do to us.” Blum said most of the newly approved 8…

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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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Newspaper Editorial Unhappy With “Happy Talk” About UC Pension Fix

Byuclafaculty

Yet another reminder that the pension/retirement issue at UC did not end with the December Regents meeting below: UC president’s happy talk not helpful (excerpt) San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial December 20, 2010 Like so many public agencies in the Golden State, the University of California has promised vastly more in retirement benefits for its employees than it can afford. Taxpayers should find the UC system’s woes particularly appalling because of this fact: For two decades, the state and UC employees didn’t put aside any money at all toward future pension costs, leading to a current overall shortfall of $13.4 billion….

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CUCFA statement about the Dec. 13th special Regent’s meeting

Byuclafaculty

Council of UC Faculty Associations statement about the Dec. 13th special Regent’s meeting At their Special Meeting on Monday, December 13, the Regents of the University of California will be making decisions on two significant issues– endorsing the principles of the UC Commission on the Future (UCOF) and drastically changing the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP). “One thing we can agree on, said Robert Meister, President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations “is the first sentence of the UCOF Report: ‘UC is at a crossroads.’” Meister continued, “Unfortunately the University leadership has ignored the outcome of this year’s…

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Agitation Around Public Pensions in California Continues

Byuclafaculty

As prior posts have noted, there has been an active campaign – with varying intensity – behind a ballot initiative that would affect all public pensions (including UC’s) in California. Although the Regents have now enacted a plan for UC, their decisions could be overridden by such an initiative. The image accompanying this entry indicates that the issue continues to simmer. Whether the proponents of such an initiative have the $1-$2 million needed in practice to gather signatures to get it on the ballot, or the considerable amount that would be needed for a campaign thereafter, remains unknown. When Meg…