Dear Editor,
As one of many UCSD alumni who go on to attend UC Hastings College of the Law, I was shocked and dismayed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s radical proposal to eliminate all state funding for California’s oldest law school.
Hastings is a first-tier law school that has been educating our nation’s top leaders for 131 years. Notable alumni include two California Supreme Court justices; numerous state and federal judges and politicians; and civil-rights leaders such as the assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Clara Shortridge Foltz, the first practicing female lawyer in the United States.
Hastings also publishes several acclaimed scholarly journals ‘mdash; including the oldest constitutional law journal in the country ‘mdash; and our Moot Court program is currently ranked second in the nation.
Schwarzenegger’s proposal would single out Hastings for a 100 percent cut in funding, compared to an estimated 18 percent to 22 percent funding reduction to the UC and California State University systems. This decision would eliminate 25 percent of Hastings’ academic budget and could lead to yearly tuition increases of $8,000 per student. Such disproportionate treatment is unjust and alarming. If the public lets Schwarzenegger decide which educational institutions are worthy of state funding, there’s no telling which schools could be on the chopping block.
Cutting $10.3 million from Hastings will barely make a dent in the $24 billion deficit. What it could do, however, is jeopardize the livelihoods of current students and shake public faith in the stability of the otherwise stellar UC system.
I urge members of the UC community to unite against these drastic measures by contacting their state and local representatives. With a strong and united voice, we can show Schwarzenegger that California cannot attain stability by weakening the institutions that produce its political and social leaders.