Due to safety concerns arising from campus anti-war demonstrations, the Regents have decided to move the location of their May 14 and May 15 meeting from the UCLA campus to the UCSF-Laurel Heights campus.
In a letter dated March 27 to UC President Richard Atkinson and UC Boards of Regents Chair John Moores, University of California Student Association chair Stephen Klass urged the Regents to move the May meeting back to the original location in Los Angeles. He argued that the meeting was the only opportunity for students in Southern California to voice their opinions. Klass also claimed that by relocating from the campus with the greatest student population to a satellite campus with fewer students, the Regents were denying students access to the meeting.
“”I think there’s been a lot of anti-war protests in San Francisco, so that wouldn’t be a logical leap,”” Klass said. “”I wouldn’t connect it to the war. I think [the Regents] have been fairly clear about it being to get less students that might disrupt the meeting.””
The relocation is just one other war-related consideration the Regents must grapple with. During the public comment session at the April 3 Regents teleconference meeting, many students urged the Regents to terminate the proliferation of nuclear weapons, demilitarize the University of California and place more controls on the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The management and business structure changes that occurred at the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the past two months were discussed during the meeting. Eighteen positions at the labs have been terminated, along with employees screened for theft and misuse of funds. The number of local vendor agreements has been reduced from 35 to 27, and investigations of the labs have taken place. Surveillance of delivery sites, called “”drop sites,”” ensures that laboratory property does not leave lab employees.
A motion for a set of proposals from the Committee on Grounds and Buildings was also carried at the April 3 meeting, along with a proposal that established revised criteria in leadership, management and experience for the selection of a president of the university. The Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President has met several times to revise the 1995 Statement of Criteria for the presidential selection.
In a letter dated March 6 to the Regents, John Davies, chairman of the Special Committee and also a Regent, wrote: “”It is anticipated that a recommendation will be brought to the Board sufficiently in advance of Oct. 1 to provide for an orderly transition between President Atkinson and his successor.””
The Committee on Finance also presented a budget update. The presentation emphasized that the university should not expect increased federal or private funds to solve the state’s budget cuts, due to the state of the economy and the stock market.
The budget crisis is occurring in a period of rapid enrollment growth. The general campus enrollment rate is expected to increase by 17.6 percent in the 2003-04 year, while at the same time, the state budget is expected to decrease by 5.6 percent. Suggestions to cut enrollment figures were discussed, such as a plan that would enable students to attend an agreed-upon UC campus after first attending a community college.
“”The problem of restricting enrollment is that we made a promise to the state to enroll the top 12.5 percent of high school students,”” Atkinson said. Atkinson also expressed concerns over the loss of diversity in entering classes if enrollment rates were decreased.
An increase in student fees is part of the university’s solution to addressing the budget cuts. The Regents have already approved an increase of $405 in undergraduate student fees, and $135 of this amount was implemented starting this quarter. This would raise fees by $1,200 over 18 months, or by 35 percent. Although financial aid will also increase accordingly, the Regents voiced concerns at the meeting about helping needy middle-income students.
In a speech presented to the Regents at the meeting, Klass stressed that students are sensitive to the changes in the costs of education. According to Klass, currently over 50 percent of students use loans to pay for their education, and nearly 60 percent work at a part-time job.
“”We are making unprecedented UC and higher education budget cuts … and we need to think about things like raising fees and halting salary increases,”” Klass said.
A further presentation of the budget will be presented at the next general Regents meeting in May.