The percentage of faculty members receiving no salary increase this year is 21.2 percent, while 32.6 percent had their salaries reduced, with a median decrease (among those who saw a decrease) of 3 percent. Faculty members at private doctorate-granting institutions were the only ones to see a real increase in average salary — 1.7 percent. The 32.6 percent figure for faculty seeing their salaries reduced is significantly larger than the 8.3 percent decline reported in CUPA-HR’s survey of administrators’ salaries. However, the median decrease for faculty members (3 percent) was about half the size of the median decrease for those administrators who saw a decline (6 percent).

Read full article [here].
by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed.

Posted: March 8th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

More than a third of all college faculty members took a pay cut during 2009-10, and overall faculty pay showed no salary increase, according to a report released this week. The results are in contrast to those in the recent past, when professors’ pay increased nearly 4 percent per year… Recent data gathered by the American Association of University Professors match the slump in faculty salaries in the new report, said John W. Curtis, the AAUP’s director of research and public policy. Higher education tends to feel the effects of a sluggish economy after other industries do, and recovery takes longer, he said, meaning that faculty members will feel a continued strain in the next few years.

Read full article [here].
by Jill Laster, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: March 8th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Mass protests last week against school funding cuts and tuition hikes spoke powerfully about California’s misplaced priorities. As occurred with campus protests last fall, the media gave overwhelmingly sympathetic coverage (other than to the self-indulgent group who blocked an Oakland freeway, diverting television coverage away from legitimate protests). But activists’ strategy for achieving their goals is far from clear… It appears activists need a three-part strategy; pass a November ballot measure ending the 2/3 vote requirement, continue building a movement to force a new Governor and Legislature to hike the vehicular license fee in 2011, and at the same time prepare a game-changing ballot measure for 2012 that ensures adequate education funding once and for all.

Read full article [here].
by Randy Shaw, BeyondChron.

Posted: March 8th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

It’s essential that this year’s race for governor features a thoughtful discussion on the state’s finances. Everything must be on the table: What programs are essential? How many state employees do we need? What is a reasonable level for employee salaries? And how do we stave off the fiscal train wreck created by generous pensions and health care benefits for retirees? This is a time for meaningful debate about the role of government, about our societal priorities. How, for example, do we divide the shrinking pie between K-12 education, our university and community college systems, state prisons and health care for the poor? Are we willing to tax more to get it, and, if so, who should bear the burden?

Read full article [here].
by The Editors, The Vallejo Times-Herald.

Posted: March 7th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

During the past decade, a period of significant changes within the UC system, the greatest growth in nonacademic, full-time equivalent positions has been in teaching hospitals (52 percent of total growth), followed by auxiliary services, such as residence halls and parking services (10 percent) and research (9 percent)… We can’t move money around. The truth is when we receive a dollar in a research grant or a dollar for patient care, we can’t move it to another account.

Read full article [here].
by Mark G. Yudof, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: March 7th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

You can talk about waste all you want, and there’s certainly waste at the University of California. But we’re looking at a need that runs into the billions, multiple billions, tens of billions — and eliminating a few million bucks of waste here and there isn’t going to solve the problem… You could probably solve half of the schools’ fiscal problems by releasing from prison every single inmate serving time for a drug offense; that’s the kind of dramatic steps we’re talking about. And if anyone wants to launch a political campaign to let 30,000 prisoners free tomorrow, I’m with you. But it’s not going to happen, not in this climate. So the only real option is to get more revenue.

Read full article [here].
by Tim Redmond, The San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Posted: March 5th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Schwarzenegger has said the recent cuts and fee increases were unavoidable given the state’s yawning budget gap. UC regents recently agreed to phase in a 30 percent fee increase, while fees in the California State University system have also ballooned. At UCSD yesterday, a large crowd of demonstrators staged a rally at the heart of campus, clanging cowbells and shaking tambourines as they decried recent state cuts totaling more than $84 million there. Many called on UC President Mark Yudof to quit. They say he is allowing the university to be dismantled while letting salaries among UC executives remain high.

Read full article [here].
by Steve Schmidt, The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Posted: March 5th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

If we continue to yearly raise tuition in California far beyond inflation, we threaten to derail all that has enabled my home state to prosper in decades past. It is no accident that the Golden State’s Golden Age of economic innovation coincided with the establishment of and continued investment in the best public university system in the world. Fifty years ago, forward-thinking policymakers declared that California would be a state where higher education was the birthright of every qualified resident. Since then, we’ve become the world’s great innovator in computers, biotechnology, space exploration, and clean technology. Unfortunately, the vision that made California one of the largest and most diverse economies on the planet has fallen to the wayside in recent years, as Governor Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers have decided that it’s politically easier to balance state budgets on the backs of students.

Read full article [here].
by John Garamendi, The Huffington Post.

Posted: March 4th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

About 100 UC Davis students had marched to an Interstate 80 onramp, threatening to block freeway traffic. They were met by law enforcement personnel that eventually numbered about 200. One person was arrested… The students are part of a statewide day of demonstrations to draw attention to California’s struggling public schools, from elementary schools to universities… While education funding cuts have affected schools nationwide, they’ve been particularly deep in California, where public universities and colleges have steeply raised fees and canceled classes and where local school districts are issuing thousands of potential layoff notices to teachers and other school workers.

Read full article [here].
by Bee Metro Staff, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: March 4th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Teachers and students from schools of all levels are fanned across the state today as part of a "day of action" that started with discussions at University of California-Berkeley and spread across the country. Here’s a running account of the protests.

Read full article [here].
by Bay Area News Group staff, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: March 4th, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.