Facing up to $2 billion in potential budget cuts, the UC Board of Regents released “”Principles for Determining Priorities for the 2004-05 Budget”” during the UC Regents meeting on Nov. 19 at UCLA. The principles indicated that both student fee increases and enrollment caps are the likely strategies for dealing with potential budget cuts. Nearly 200 student protesters from several UC campuses, including UCSD, protested at the meeting, opposing fee increases and enrollment caps while seeking greater accessibility to the Regents.
The release identified three primary principles that the Regents will use in setting the 2004-05 budget: maintaining and enhancing the quality of the university, maintaining access and honoring the Master Plan to accept the top 12.5 percent of students from California’s high school graduates and preserving affordability for students. Despite the potential budget cuts, the release stated that it would likely increase faculty salaries, hire more faculty and increase research support in accordance with the principle of maintaining quality.
“”The university will not further risk the quality of the institution. To do so would sacrifice the primary asset that makes UC valuable to the state,”” the Regents stated in the release. “”Preserving the quality of the university is in the best interest of all Californians.””
In order to fund the initiatives, the UC Board of Regents is considering instituting an enrollment cap, citing a lack of sufficient state funding. According to the Master Plan, the University of California is obligated to accept the top 12.5 percent of graduating California high school seniors, with the state providing “”adequate resources to accommodate enrollment.”” However, since the California Department of Education states it will not consider funding for enrollment growth or salary-related cost increases, the Board of Regents concluded that without state funding, the university would be forced to limit enrollment, while specifying that the cap would only be short-term.
“”The university has reached a point where taking more students without adequate resources will irreparably harm the university’s ability to offer a high-quality education to those who attend,”” the Regents stated.
Noting that fees have decreased by 10 percent over the previous seven years, the Regents also indicated that they would institute a relatively small annual fee increase, possibly to be tied into increases in state per capita income. The Regents committed to continue to apply one-third of fee increases toward financial aid, as well as covering the entire cost of any fee increase for low-income students. Because of the recent gubernatorial change and the lack of a state budget, the Regents expect to submit a budget for the University of California and determine any fee increases or enrollment caps after the state budget is released in January.
“”It totally depends on what the new governor’s stance will be,”” Student Regent Matt Murray said. “”The governor’s office has not made any decisions about the University of California budgetwise, and the range of potential things that could happen to the university is quite large, just given that lack of knowledge about where the governor stands.””
During the Regents meeting, approximately 200 students, including about 20 from UCSD, protested against the potential fee increases and enrollment caps and called for more access to the Regents. UC President Robert C. Dynes and two other Regents left the meetings to briefly address the protesters. Despite protesters’ calls for the Regents’ special February meeting to be held at UCLA, Dynes refused to commit. All Regents meetings this year are scheduled to be held at UC San Francisco, the only campus without undergraduates.
“”The UC Office of the President is up in Oakland,”” Murray said. “”For Regents meetings, many people who work in the office of the president need to be there and it costs a large amount of money to fly them somewhere and have them stay in hotels. It’s quite expensive to do it somewhere other than the Bay Area.””
Nonetheless, Murray believes that the protestors were successful in getting their message across to the Regents.
“”Dynes heard very clearly that students are concerned about being consulted in this process and about the details of the university’s principles of quality,”” Murray said. “”I think that he, [Chairman of the Board of Regents John Moores] and the other Regents went out during the protests to listen to [the protesters] Š I think that that was definitely a sign that the university and the Regents care about what the students think.””
After Dynes addressed the crowd, protesters clashed with police when the protesting students attempted to leave the public area of the meeting and approach the Regents. Police officers formed a line with their batons to keep the protesters out. Protesters claimed that officers swung batons at them, but police accounts differ. Several protesters left with cuts and bruises.
“”My understanding is that officers were not swinging batons at protesting students,”” said Nancy Greenstein, director of UCPD Community Services. “”Even though many of the people there were students, there were other people there and it is the job of the officers to protect the Regents. My understanding was that at that point, students began to grab at the batons and there was some jostling.””
During the meetings, the Regents approved a new board of directors for the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Berkeley National Laboratories in an ongoing effort to improve laboratory management. The board will draw its membership from outside individuals with expertise in science and technology, national defense and business management.
“”This action by the UC Regents is a significant step and further highlights our commitment to strong management of the national laboratories,”” said Admiral S. Robert Foley, who was recently appointed UC Vice President for Laboratory Management.
The board’s establishment is not an indication that the University of California will bid for the contract to operate Los Alamos after 2005, according to UC officials.
“”Even if the whole question of competition was not in the picture, we would be doing what we’re doing with respect to the board,”” UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said.
