Lost Trust ~ UC Crisis, Bob Samuels in IHE

Bob Samuel's blog Changing Universities is one of many but still a standout among the websites, mainstream and local news pieces, columns, op-eds and members only listserv ruminations covering the University of California budget crisis and protests. I have been saying, blogging and tweeting so ~ as anyone checking in here regularly can't help having noticed. As president of the University Council-AFT, which represents lecturers and librarians at the University of California, Bob knows the UC system and academic labor in California. He is also on the New Faculty Majority board of directors Today, Bob's column about the UC crisis appears in Inside Higher Ed, which is covering the story better than CHE but, so far, still behind the blogosphere / twitterverse. Titled "Lost Trust," Bob's column analyzes two contrasting narratives to explain the crisis: "There are two main narratives battling to define the current crisis at the University of California . While the California situation is an extreme example of what is happening to public higher education these days nationally, these dueling narratives can be found in many other states as well." Go here for the entire article: http://www.insidehighered.com/ views/2009/ 12/07/samuels  Searching Google News for "University of California budget crisis" yields a flood of stories, 391 and links to hundreds more, from Time Magazine and New York Times to academic and activist blogs and Workers World, from local to international and all the virtual newspaces in between.

Pushing a New Measure of UC Budgets in Sacramento

Pushing a New Measure of UC Budgets in Sacramento via Remaking the University by Chris Newfield on 11/25/09

UCOP's budget request for 2010-11 was good (see the summary).  It goes looking for a big bounce - from down over $800 million this year, to in principle up over $900 million next year. It's a restoration budget, and is an improvement in tactics after years of being limited to 3% increases by UCOP's timid interpretation of the Compact such that it failed to use the mid-decade boom to get out of the hole dug by the previous bust of 2002-05.

We've analyzed the budget on this blog quite a bit: a July 11 headnote provides some background and links, and references a post that estimates the funding crash under a scenario called Extreme Arnold.  That post summarizes six scenarios for the UC budget and offers an overview of what's happened to our state funding.

The chart there was an update of those of the Futures Report (2007) (or see the slides) and the Cuts Report (2008).  Now my Futures Report co-author Henning Bohn, an economics professor at UCSB, has also updated the budget data. It's a draft, he reminds me, but it is nicely convergent with the updates noted above. Henning also updates the calculation of state personal income, so that "benchmark" line is better.

SAFRA ~ Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

Briefly, HR 3221 amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 that authorizes most highered federal spending. Skimming brief overview ~ student loans, Pell Grants, Perkins Loans, college affordability issues, community colleges, retention/ completion stats, online education.

Contingent faculty issues? As ever conspicuous by their absence ~ the point of mounting a campaign. Ever the cynic, I somehow doubt solons will be keen to consider college affordability and ad-con issues on the same plate. Debra Leigh Scott has been pushing this too. It will take more than a few organizations and a handful of individuals to do this ~ coordinated mobilization of a mass letter writing and social media campaign.

Here’s a 12 page GOA cost estimate ~  http://www.nchelp.org/elibrary/BudgetReconciliation&HEAReauthorization/Legislation/2009Legislation/SAFRA.CBO.SCORE.July24.pdf    

Fact Sheet summary ~ http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/SAFRA-FactSheet.pdf. The full bill should be online, no telling how long … Google on.

NewFacMajority tweet cloud

In case you didn't know, we tweet too @NewFacMajority. Follow and retweet please ~ spread the word... I'll get around to adding a twitter widget, but I want to the notion introduce to Steve gently and in stages.

Also recommended: @AFTFACE, @DebraLeighScott,@timeshighered (UK), @SEIU500CAL (Coalition for Academic Labor)

Below: our 1st Tweet Cloud (there will be more). Comments welcome ~ there or here.

NewFacMajority cloud

UC Actions

Thanks to Bob Samuels (President UC-AFT, member NFM Advisory Board, blogging at Changing Universities) for this informative update, also cross-posted to adj-l:


I thought the people on the list would like to hear about the historic actions in the UC system.  Contingent faculty issues were front and center... First, I want to congratulate all the unions, workers, and students pulling off a  great protest under difficult conditions.  We had over 2,000 protesters at UCLA, and there were some great actions.  Here are a few highlights:


Hundreds of people stopped traffic at one of the main intersections in L.A. and then marched up through the campus.  Over a thousand people participated in a boisterous rally outside the regents meeting (the rally got international coverage).  Even though the police tasered and hit several students and workers, we kept coming back for more.


A very surreal moment happened during the public comments period. 

Where Should We Go After the Fee Hikes?

Where Should We Go After the Fee Hikes?: "legitimacy and the great public absence"  ~ cross-posted from Chris Newfield’s Remaking the University, 11/21/09, guest post by Kris Peterson, UC Irvine:


I just finished watching a YouTube video of Regents Bonnie Reiss and Eddie Island make a quick get-a-way to their vehicle at UCLA - just after they voted to increase student fees by an unprecedented 32%. They were surrounded and followed by students chanting, "Shame on you!" Reiss represents the banking and finance industry; and Island, a retiree of McDonnell-Douglas, represents the defense industry.  So, given that these two industries, with their ballooned subsidies and profits, have done nothing more than take this country down over the last several years, I'm thinking a lot about legitimacy. Not legitimacy related to governance. Rather, legitimacy in terms of representation and intent.


Let me go back in time. Between 1952 and 2007, UC had a vibrant relationship with its patron, the weapons industry. Over the years, some found this relationship egregious, as the public was concerned about nuclear proliferation and Cold War military conflicts throughout the world. Culminating in the 1970s, student protests against UC-managed Labs indexed these global events. Yet despite all this, the one thing that the weapons industry, and indeed the US military, had in common with a stellar, highly endowed, multi-campus, public university was the priority of research. Whether it was about NSEP language grants, private sector-federal government partnerships, or DOD and NSF funding that blurred the lines between foreign policy and military interests, a strong interdisciplinary research institution, writ large, was good for this industry.


But now we have a new relationship that constitutes a mix of patronage and competition. It's been built with the finance industry, commercial real estate – Big Business generally – all of which the Regents represent.

Link Roundup: California Students & Faculty Protest Fee Increase

UC protest news links ~ not a good day/ season for Crown Jewels. Most are from a Portside post, but I've added Marc Bosquet's latest at How the University Works and a few from my feed reader.

California Students and Faculty Protest Fee Increase As California Students and Faculty Protest University Regents Approve 32 Percent Student Fee Increase

Photos: http://tinyurl.com/yj4hdly & http://tinyurl.com/y8o6afc

Audio: Statement from demonstrators: http://tinyurl.com/yc267pn, http://tinyurl.com/y88kynf

Audio: Charles Alexande, UCLA Vice Provost for Student Diversity and Director of Academic Advancement Program: http://tinyurl.com/yfwopml

(1) UC Regents Approve 32 Percent Student Fee Increase By Michael R. Blood, Associated Press Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, November 19, 2009


(2) Hundreds rally at UCLA to protest expected 32% increase in student fees, Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2009

(3) Associated Press November 19, 2009, By Michael R. Blood, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Officers armed with beanbag guns stood by as hundreds of protesters chanted, marched and even took over a building Thursday on the UCLA campus, where University of California regents were scheduled to vote on a 32 percent student fee increase.