Letter by S. Glantz on political focus away from UC as a public institution towards it being more of a private institution.

From the Daily Beast: 

America’s great public universities are in a financial crisis. These institutions have been open to all students of demonstrated talent, preparation, and desire for advanced learning, regardless of their family’s economic status. That high-quality low-cost education is not only valuable to the individual student but also valuable to the whole of a society built on the ideals of democracy and equality.

But the budget crises, especially California’s, have the institutions approaching a tipping point at which the democratic dynamism of the public research university turns into a sloppy copy of the famous private research universities—famous for their “selectivity” in undergraduate admissions.

My own place, the University of California, is often cited as the world’s leading public research university system. It has produced more graduates of top caliber, more research innovations of greater value (in economic and cultural terms), and a wider spread of public-service programs than anyplace else.

The generous funding from state coffers has been diminishing for years, and it has now taken a steep plunge. Drastic measures have been put in place to get us through this next year; and some are predicting that if there is no turnaround in our financial situation very soon, there will be a mass exodus of the very best of our faculty members that will make “excellence” a mere echo from the past.

The most common solution is to call for more money from state revenue (meaning higher taxes, of course), or, perhaps, a massive federal bailout/takeover of the best of public higher education.

Alternatively, however, California’s Board of Regents will speed the process of privatization, which has already begun: pushing more and more of the cost onto undergraduate students and their families, seeking more and bigger deals with large corporations to focus on the research agendas that they choose.

  Read more »

June 23, 2009

Dear UPTE Local 1 Members,

Last week, memos by Chancellor Birgeneau and President Yudof caused many to believe we are facing certain pay reductions. This is far from true and we wanted to let you know what this means for researchers and techs bargaining for our contract, and also about a much broader campaign by Yudof against UC workers and students. Some of our plans to fight back follow.

UC has publicly announced that at the next Regents meeting, on July 15th, the Regents plan to give President Yudof unprecedented "emergency powers" to enact substantial wage cuts, furloughs, or a combination of these. While UC says these cuts will affect ''all workers,'' it is illegal for UC to impose these measures on UPTE-represented employees—we are protected against furloughs and wage cuts by our union contracts. Implementation of any wage change is subject to collective bargaining. Now that techs and researchers are negotiating for new contracts, we will not go backwards on pay.

UC is still an extremely wealthy institution, and the vast majority of UC workers are not funded by the state. This is even more true for UPTE workers. We are committed to protecting the pay of unrepresented employees—those in the administrative professional titles, as well.

Yudof’s memo both exaggerates the severity of the crisis and proposes outrageous alternatives to cover a relatively small shortfall in UC's $19 billion annual budget.  Moreover, the UC retains billions in reserves.

This type of fiscal deception has led state legislators to call for independent audits and increased oversight of UC’s finances. UPTE continues to work with these legislators to bring transparency to UC’s finances and accountability to the regents.

Unfortunately, UC management has always been quick to violate labor law, impose financial burdens on staff and students, and spend lavishly as it sees fit—such as on the ten executives who were hired by the regents or given raises last month or the $80 million recently spent in purchasing overpriced property in Berkeley.

We need your support to stop Yudof's power grab and prevent him from attempting to override our contracts! A coalition of unions, students, staff and faculty is planning for a large turnout at the Regents meeting on July 15th.

We are asking all members to join us at this meeting on July 15th. To reserve your seat on the bus contact (510) 848-UPTE or send an email to uptemike@pacbell.net.

Last Thursday more than thirty UPTE members met to discuss upcoming actions. These members formed committees:  media, signmaking, student outreach, faculty outreach, etc. Let us know if you would like to join one of these committees or contribute in other ways to this campaign.

Reserve your seat on the bus today.

In solidarity,

Tanya Smith, editor, President
Dave Graham-Squire, staff research associate, Vice President
Mike Friedrich, Leadership Development Coordinator

The flyer can be found below in the attachment or at: http://upte.org/UPTEonbudgetflyer.pdf Read more »