UC

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Yudof: No Tuition Hike This Year If Voters Behave

Byuclafaculty

UC, CSU Avoid Fee Increases Despite Budget Cuts Feb. 7, 2011, CBS Los Angeles SACRAMENTO (AP) — The chancellors of the University of California and California State University systems say they don’t plan to seek student fees increases this year, despite a state budget proposal that calls for deep cuts to higher education. But UC Chancellor Mark Yudof and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said Monday that promise won’t hold if Californians don’t agree to tax extensions that Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing for the June ballot… Full article at http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/02/07/uc-csu-avoid-fee-increases-despite-budget-cuts/# Note: There may be less here than meets the eye….

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Tuition Chart

Byuclafaculty

The chart above from the Sacramento Bee shows the trend in tuition at UC and CSU since the 1960s. Source: http://blogs.sacbee.com/the-public-eye/2011/01/csu-uc-fees-outpace-inflation.html It’s just love from the state at work:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSFnyiIrPM0&w=480&h=390]

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UC is on a Bridge to Nowhere: Other Public Universities are Taking Action

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting article today on various public universities that are working on establishing some type of new agreement with the powers-that-be in their states in the wake of budget cuts. Sadly, UC seems stuck in its reactive mode, a bridge to nowhere. The legislature/governor cuts the UC budget. The Regents & Yudof responsively raise tuition and/or cut enrollment. They are then criticized for their actions by the legislature/governor. This is a a bridge to nowhere, politically and budget-wise. We cannot get off the bridge by issuing glossy brochures and statements to the effect that UC is…

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LA Times Characterizes Pension Demand as “Gimme, Gimme”

Byuclafaculty

LA Times Editorial: Tone-deaf at UC (excerpt) UC is rightly balking at granting additional retirement perks to about 200 highly paid administrators. A group of highly paid executives at the University of California has adopted an unseemly attitude best described as “gimme, gimme.” Although each of them already earns at least $245,000 a year, along with generous pension benefits, they’re threatening to sue if the university, which has imposed hefty tuition increases on its students over the past two years, doesn’t give them more. …Legislation has been introduced to take away some of UC’s historic independence from state government. Those…

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Now We Get Bipartisan Legislation on Pension Caps

Byuclafaculty

Assembly bill caps public worker pensions (excerpt)January 7, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle,Nanette Asimov Spooked by the University of California’s pension revolt – in which its highest paid executives are threatening to sue unless UC fattens their retirement benefits – a Democratic state lawmaker introduced a bill Thursday to prevent all public employees from gaining dramatically increased pension benefits. And Republicans are applauding. “You’re witnessing a moment of bipartisan joy,” said Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-San Bernardino, vice chairman of the Higher Education Committee. “I’m ashamed that I didn’t think of this myself.” The UC executives, some of whom earn more than…

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Media Continues Anger on UC Executive Pension Issue: Flogging a Dead Horse?

Byuclafaculty

PropZero blog, KNBC LA, Joe Mathews, 1/6/11 University of California President Mark Yudof this week rejected a demand for a boost in pension from some of the university’s systems highest paid employees. That was the right move, but it didn’t go far enough. The request came from executives who said it was unfair their pensions would be calculated only on their first $245,000 in income. They make more. Such a request — at a time of state budget cutbacks, cuts in university offerings and big tuition hikes — was so out of line that it deserved not just rejection, but…

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Brown Indicates He Will Protect K-12 (or is it K-14?) From Budget Cuts If Voters Approve Tax Extension

Byuclafaculty

Reports are leaking out that Gov. Brown says he will protect funding for K-12 (or maybe K-14) if voters approve extending tax increases that were put into effect in Feb. 2009. Voters rejected extending those tax increases in an election in May 2009. But the strategy appears to be to confront voters with a Budget from Hell and then offer a repeat of the May 2009 choice as a way out of Hell. Prop 98 of 1988 has various formulas for K-14 funding which the legislature can suspend. So what is unclear in the leaking reports is whether the Brown…

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Pension Rejection Hits the Press

Byuclafaculty

In an earlier post, the press release from UCOP rejecting the lifting of the pension cap for high-paid execs was reproduced. So now the story is in, where else?, the press: UC’s top leaders reject bigger pensions for top earners: Thirty-six highly paid employees have threatened to sue if benefits were not based on full salaries. The UC president and the regents board chairman support the $245,000 limit. (excerpt) Larry Gordon, LA Times, Jan. 5, 2011 The University of California system’s two top leaders on Tuesday rejected a politically controversial demand by some of the university’s most highly paid employees…

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Gall and Chutzpah: The Pension Editorials Continue to Flow

Byuclafaculty

The tone of the editorial below makes it clear which definition of chutzpah (see right-hand box) the newspaper is using. Monday, January 3, 2011, Editorial The Riverside Press-Enterprise Pension gall The tallest ivory towers at the University of California apparently have no windows, or top administrators would see that they are wildly out of touch with reality. UC executives should drop their insulting quest for bigger retirement benefits. And if not, the university’s Board of Regents should flatly reject a proposal the university cannot afford. A group of 36 UC executives sent a letter to regents last month, in advance…

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Yudof Declares There Is No Legal Pension Obligation to Raise Ceiling for High-Paid Execs

Byuclafaculty

The following news release was issued today by UCOP:UC Newsroom Statement on executive pension benefits http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/24746 Date: 2011-01-04Contact: University of California Office of the PresidentPhone: (510) 987-9200 In light of recent media reports about a letter by 36 University of California executives regarding pension benefits, Board of Regents Chairman Russell Gould and University President Mark Yudof today (Jan. 4, 2011) issued the following statement: Ten years ago the University of California sought a determination from the IRS that a proposed new method for calculating pension benefits complied with federal tax rules. The new method would have resulted in higher pension…