A report recently authored by the main association for
college accreditation criticized the
of
“significant governance issues” that are still inadequately addressed by
administrators from the 10-campus system.
The report from the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges centers on general ambiguities regarding the roles of the UC Board of
Regents, the UC president and his staff, as well as ongoing issues regarding
executive paychecks and compensation. Specifically, the WASC report argues that
the system lacks a consistent, annual evaluation of the president or regents,
or any consistent procedures for how the regents come to decisions.
WASC found that the UC Office of the President decides which
elements of compensation to report “on a case-by-case basis” due to a lack of
compliance with WASC standards, including the absence of an internal audit
system and central system of personnel records.
Though the report does not jeopardize the current
accreditation of UC schools, its authors warned officials that failure to
address these issues could threaten the UC system’s reputation.
A university-released response countered that the WASC
report did not detail past and ongoing efforts made to fix the cited problems.
For example, the rebuttal said, an annual evaluation of the
president was already adopted in 2006, and put into practice thereafter. In
2007, the evaluation was renewed, but UC President Robert C. Dynes announced
his resignation in August. Since that time, university officials said they have
relied on committee meetings to foster “an excellent understanding of duties.”
UCOP officials also defended their recent push for
compensation reform.
“The reforms we have implemented over the last two years
ensure that compensation is not withheld,” UCOP Communications Director Brad
Hayward said. “We have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide each and every
detail of compensation publicly for those employees whose compensation must be
approved by the Board of Regents.”
Though
said the report does not focus on individual compensation, media scrunity has
been strong regarding UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox’s paycheck, the highest
among all UC chancellors.
UCSD spokeswoman Dolores Davies declined to comment on the
report.
In addition, efforts are already underway to restructure the
office of the president, with the Regents’ Committee on Governance discussing
the roles and responsibilities of the governing board,
said.
