The UC Budget Cuts
How They Affect You
What Happened in the Past Year?
• California provides $2.2 billion per year to the
UC and Cal State
• State cuts $650 million in funding in 2011 and
may further cut $200 million 2012 budget
• For the first time, California spends less per
student than the cost of tuition (“fees”)
How the Cuts Will Affect
Undergraduate Students
University of California Undergraduate Fees
Total Fees
Projected (12%)
25000
Cost in Dollars
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
Year
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
Program Cuts
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Fewer classes, and fewer sections
Larger classes, less individual attention
Cuts in library and custodial services
Online courses?
Undergraduate Education:
Getting Less, Paying More
• Per student spending has fallen more than 40%
since 1990
• State spends ~$10,000 for each student per year
• State spends $49,000 per prison inmate
How Do the Cuts Affect Faculty
and Staff?
• Faculty must take “furloughs,” or pay
cuts
• Fewer faculty hires despite increased
enrollment
• Massive Staff Layoffs
The Humanities at UCI
• UCI humanities is consistently rated one of the best in the school
• Humanities nevertheless faces $1.8 million it cuts (30% of ‘moveable’
costs)
• Potential cuts:
– Humanities core
– Graduate programs (teaching assistants and instructors)
– Language departments
– Interdisciplinary programs (especially ethnic studies and women’s
studies, and special institutions like the critical theory institute
(CTI))
• UCI will be less of a research university and more of a teaching
university
• UC campuses are not funded equally, and UCI has a lower priority
than Berkeley and UCLA
History of the UC
• 1960: UC Master Plan
– Establishment of the “principle of universal access and
choice”
– Reaffirmation of “California’s long-time commitment to
the principle of tuition-free education to residents of the
state”
• 1978: Proposition 13
– Cut property taxes by 57%
– Required 2/3 majority to pass a budget
• 2004: Compact on Higher education
– Shifts away from state funding of the UC system
• 2009 – Present: state de-funding, fee increases, and fairly
rapid ‘privatization’ of the UC
Administrative
Malfeasance
Buildings and Executive Salaries over
Students and Workers
Headlines…
Lack of Transparency
• UC budgets not available to the students,
staff, faculty, or taxpayers
• Divisions of funds unknown
• Campuses receive unequal amount of
funding
Construction Over Academics
• UC has received A+ Credit Rating from Banks
– UC uses student fees as collateral for construction
bonds
– Recently sold $1.3 billion in new bonds, pledged $6.72
billion in collateral
• UC not allowed to use state funds as collateral, so
they use fees
• Wall Street Banks could force more fee hikes by
threatening to lower bond ratings
• Bond interest now at $300 million per year
Meanwhile…
• Number of UC executives earning over $200,000
has tripled
• $390 Million in bonuses and perks paid to top UC
administrators and staff last year
• Top 1.5% of UC employees make 11% of its total
compensation
• “UC Gould Commission on the Future” includes
no faculty from the arts and sciences, recommends
increase in online courses
• UC Regents are appointed to 12 year terms,
instead of being elected
Bureaucratic Growth
2.2 B (Actual)
President Mark Yudof’s Housing Troubles
• Refusing to live in presidential mansion, instead renting out private four story house
for at UC’s expense, trashes place and loses security deposit: $13, 365/Month +
$32,000 deposit
– UC forced to pay to fix two-story elevator within residence: $22, 603
– Simple outdoor water leak goes unfixed, causing 1.2 million gallons of water to
trickle into oakland hills: $5000
– New home paid for by UC: $11, 500/Month
• Yudof’s Salary: $600,000/Year
Blake House (Presidential Mansion)
“Instead, Mr. Yudof, 65, moved with his wife into a 10,000square-foot, four-story house with 16 rooms, 8 bathrooms
and panoramic views. He said he needed the house, which
rented for $13,365 a month by the end of the lease and was
paid for by U.C., to fulfill his obligation to host functions
for staff members, donors and visiting dignitaries…
After the Yudofs vacated the property at the end of
June, Brennan Mulligan, the landlord, informed university
officials that he intended to keep the U.C. ’ s $32,100
security deposit. Mr. Mulligan requested an additional
$45,000 to cover the repairs for hundreds of holes left from
hanging art, a scratched marble bathtub, a broken $2,000
Sivoia window shade and other claims…
“To me it’s like, ‘Is this how they spend their
time?’ ” [Landlord Brennan] Mr. Mulligan said…
He essentially turned the Office of the President into
his personal staff,” a university official said.”
-New York Times 8/21/10
Regent Richard Blum’s Conflicts of
Interest
• Blum is a UC regent, investment banker, and husband of Democratic
Senator Dianne Feinstein
• Conflict of Interest: Blum’s firm owns $700 in stock of two for-profit
education companies ITT Educational and Career Education
– Since Blum has been a regent, the UC has also invested in these
firms
– In addition, both firms have been investigated by the government
for being “diploma mills”
• Blum served on the board of URS Corporation, which in 2001 secured
building contracts from the UC valued at $275 million (at least)
• Blum has also been accused of conflicts of interest when large defense
and real estate contracts were awarded to his firm, seemingly as a
result of his wife’s legislation
Protests and Police
What’s At Stake
The Value of Your Degree
“The University of California will be at the top of your résumés for the rest of your life”
- Catherine Cole, Professor at UC Berkeley, in an open letter to undergraduates
• World-renowned faculty will leave
• Average faculty salary 30% lower than peer
faculty salaries at other institutions
• “Texas Universities Should Capitalize on
California’s Budget Crisis”
-headline from a Texas newspaper in Austin
The Excellence of the UCs
• The UC has produced more Nobel laureates
than any other university
• U.S. News ranking of universities based on
their contributions to society:
UCB (1), UCSD (2), UCLA (3), UC Davis (10),
UCSB (21) , UC Riverside, (26)
• UCI ranked as 12th best public university
• UCI: annual economic impact of $4.2 B in
Orange County
What is the “public good”
• Both Excellence and Access
If the budget cuts continue:
• The value of a UC education will be devalued, and UC
students will contribute less - economically and socially - to
their communities
• Funding will shift to professional schools that can get
corporate grants, patents, etc
• Student Body will be wealthier, with more students from
out of state
What You Can Do
• Educate yourself, friends, and relatives about the situation
• Attend Protests
• Get involved with student organizations
– Associated Students UCI
• Register to vote
Join “needs attention,” a group formed to
address budget cuts in the humanities at uci.
(“Needs Attention” is the school’s
euphemism for programs that are scheduled
to be cut or eliminated)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/25080478
8326326/
Sources and Links
not in MLA format :(
• General Budget Cut Info, including history and statistics:
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Budget Crisis: http://sites.google.com/site/ucbudgetcrisis/
Remaking the University: http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/
Open Letter from Catherine Cole: http://berkeleycuts.org/?p=21
Defend UCI: http://defenduci.blogspot.com/
George Lakoff – “The UC Budget Crisis: Past History, Present Perils, and Future
Implications” (saveuc.org/docs/TeachInKit.pdf)
Data on Tution Increases: http://www.data360.org/dataset.aspx?Data_Set_Id=9330
Bob Meister - “Where Does UC Tuition Go?” http://www.cucfa.org/news/2009_nov10.php
• Administrative Malfeasance:
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Bob Meister - “UC on Wall Street - Another Reason your Tuition Goes Up”
http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2009/10/does-uc-raise-fees-to-help-sell.html
– “They Pledged your Tuition http://www.cucfa.org/news/2009_oct11.php#_ftn4
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Steve Fainaru, NY Times - ” University Head’s Housing Raises Ire”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/education/22bcyudof.html?_r=1
Michael Hiltzik, LA Times, on Richard Blum: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fihiltzik-column-20100714,0,4328845.column
– Wikipedia page for Richard Blum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Blum
• Larry Gordon – “State Auditor Calls for Transparency in UC funding”
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/29/local/la-me-uc-audit-20110729
• http://californiareview.net/2011/08/24/graph-of-uc-administrative-growth/