The University of California Board of Regents met on May 15 and 16 at the Sacramento Convention Center to discuss the fiscal budget, educational policy and campus building plans. The UC Student Association hosted a press conference on the first day to reveal its official UCSA 2012–2013 Higher Education Report Card for individual California state senators and state assembly members.
The May 15 meeting featured a 20-minute public commenting period, an update on the 2013–2014 budget and a report from UC President Mark Yudof regarding the state of the University of California and a discussion of academic performance indicators.
The meeting comes the day after the release of Governor Jerry Brown’s revised 2013–2014 state budget.
“We all appreciate the priority given to higher education and the interest the governor is showing in the university,” Regents chair Sherry Lansing said. “At the same time, there are still additional unmet needs that we feel are critical to our students’ success into achieving long term financial stability for [the] UC [system].”
Regents discussed financial goals, including the increase of state reinvestment, administrative cross savings and new revenue streams as well as addressed the issues surrounding the recent threat of strike by UC medical care employees.
“First I want to assure the members of the UC community and the public that the university administration is working to avert a strike,” Yudof said. “Beyond that, the university seeks a legal injunction in the hopes of minimizing any effects on patients and their families and to let no one in this room be unaware that this is a threat to the safety of the patients.”
UCSA’s press conference featured the presentation of this year’s grade for each member of the California State Legislature. UCSA’s first annual Higher Education Report card grades legislators on their votes for UCSA sponsored bills and student-friendly legislation.
The conference was led by UCSA President Raquel Morales, an undergraduate student at UCSD. UC student leaders from UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz were also present.
“UC students are excited to introduce our 2013 Higher Education Report Card,” Morales said in a UCSA press release. “The report card will assign a letter grade from A to F to all state senators and assembly members based on their support for higher education. The public should know who in the legislature has stood with students and supported higher education.”
Thursday’s meeting included a closed session by the special committee to consider the selection of a president who will succeed Yudof after his end of tenure this August.
