UC endowment growth nears double digits in 2004

University of California’s endowment increased by 9.1 percent to more than $4.7 billion in 2004, an improvement over recent lackluster years, but a growth rate below the national average, according to a new report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The amount places it seventh in the nation, unchanged from the previous year.

Harvard University led the list as the institution with the largest endowment, totaling more than $22.1 billion, having grown 17.1 percent from the year before.

On average, public universities saw their endowments climb by 15.2 percent in 2004. Over a five-year period, including several sluggish years, these institutions posted an annual increase of just 3.4 percent, which includes return on investment and increased donations, in addition to other fluctuations. For endowments with values exceeding $1 billion, returns increased 17.2 percent last year, with an annual growth of 7.5 percent in each of the last five years, according to the report.

Among nonprofit organizations that raise funds for individual UC campuses, the UCLA Foundation appeared highest on the list, at number 87, with a total endowment of $588.9 million. The total represented an increase of 17.6 percent from the year before, NACUBO stated.

The UCSD Foundation appeared at number 219 on the list, with an endowment of $184.2 million, 15.8 percent more than in 2003.

House passes resolution backing recruiter access

Members of the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution expressing their support for military recruiter access to university campuses and urging the government to contest a recent federal appellate court decision ruling the law known as the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional.

By a 327-84 vote, lawmakers urged the executive branch to defend legal challenges against the 1995 law that denied universities certain federal funds if they banned recruiters from campus.

Last month, the Justice Department said it would ask the Supreme Court to review the November decision that found the law unconstitutional and stopped its application in certain parts of the East Coast.

San Diego’s Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) voted in favor of the bill.

“Such policies are obnoxious in times of peace, but they are simply intolerable in times of war, and the equal access of our military recruiters to federally funded colleges and universities must be protected,” House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) stated a press release criticizing campuses that bar recruiters.

UCSA to stage Sacramento rally over education costs

Representatives from the UC Students Association and a group of approximately 250 students will ask lawmakers for more funding for public higher education at a Feb. 7 rally on the steps of the state Capitol.

As a symbolic presentation, the students will hand over “checks” representing the debt they incurred as a result of attending a UC campus.

Besides speeches by UCSA President Jennifer Lilla and several lawmakers, students will offer their testimonials “on the difficulty of coping with rising debt, soaring fees and dwindling financial aid packages.”

The move is part of the organization’s lobbying efforts to increase UC funding in the state’s final budget, due to be approved in the summer.

In speech, president calls for community colleges’ support

President George W. Bush pledged to use community colleges in conjunction with reform in the country’s job-training system to offer job skills for more than 200,000 employees in the annual State of the Union address delivered on Feb. 3.

Though the speech focused on the president’s proposal to overhaul Social Security — a system he said would be “exhausted and bankrupt” by 2042 — and national security issues, Bush also spoke about his plan to increase the maximum Pell Grant. In a statement released with the speech, the White House stated that it planned to increase funding for the program by $15 billion over the next 10 years.

Iowa court rules university foundation records public

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned a lower-court ruling, deciding that the records of a private foundation that maintains an endowment for Iowa State University must be made accessible to the public.

In the decision, the court ruled that the foundation was subject to the state’s public records law.

“The foundation performs a government function by virtue of its contract with ISU,” the court’s decision stated. “Therefore, its records are ‘public records’ subject to examination.”