Resolving any of these problems, however, requires resources. And Brown’s recipe for higher education is missing the most important ingredient: funding. The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960, signed by Gov. Pat Brown, established three pillars for the UC: affordability, accessibility, and quality. A year later, Pat’s son, Jerry, graduated from Berkeley with a degree in classics – when the UC was officially tuition-free. The UC’s problem is not that it is dissimilar to Chipotle. It is that our principles of affordability, accessibility, and quality have been lost… Governor Brown wants the UC to be more like Chipotle. We want him to put his money where his mouth is.

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by Rigel Robinson and Varsha Sarveshwar, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: May 31st, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Over the past two decades, as state funding for higher education declined, California’s public research university increased class sizes, sometimes failed to maintain basic infrastructure like roofs and cooling systems, and put off construction projects—even as it enrolled an additional 90,000 students. The result is a deferred maintenance backlog that UC estimates at $4 billion and fears among faculty and administrators that the system, once the envy of the rest of the country, is beginning to lose its luster.

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by Felicia Mello, Cal Matters.

Posted: May 15th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The regents need to make a better effort to engage and communicate with students. The board suffers from accountability and transparency issues that stem from the appointment process itself and continue into regents’ terms. The regents are appointed by the governor of California to 12-year terms. However, before the governor appoints any regent, he or she is supposed to first consult an advisory committee as per the California State Constitution. But in our eyes, the regent selection process has historically felt as though the governor picks people at random to sit on the board… Gov. Jerry Brown recently convened a meeting of the advisory committee for the first time since 2001. It is essential that this advisory committee continues to meet before Brown appoints any more regents. Additionally, UC students deserve to have a bigger say in the regent appointment process.

Read full article [here].
by Sarah Abdeshahian and Nuha Khalfay, The Daily Californian.

Posted: April 19th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

For the first time in 17 years, the Governor’s Advisory Selection Committee for the Regents of the University of California was convened to aid a California governor in the selection of a new regent… Joseph Kiskis, a member of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, wrote various letters to Brown and other government officials in 2011, reminding them to consult the selection committee properly. The letters requested more thorough consulting procedures and claimed that the lack of consultation was detrimental to the goal of creating a UC Board of Regents representative of the entirety of California.

Posted: April 2nd, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

I think we have to begin to address housing as an issue directly with the Legislature. … I think that the state government has not recognized how serious that issue is for students who are not economically in the same position as we all were when we were coming through the university. … We need to highlight housing the way we highlight tuition. Students chasing tuition is a misdirection on where the problem is.

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by Amanda Bradford, The Daily Californian.

Posted: March 22nd, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The increase will generate $34.8 million in revenue, according to the proposed budget plan. The Thursday decision by the board comes after it was initially approved by the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee on Wednesday… Despite the finance committee’s recommendation, Thursday’s vote still had its fair share of pushback from several regents, and the vote passed 12-3 with Regents Paul Monge, John Pérez and Newsom dissenting. The board is set to vote on a proposed tuition increase for in-state students of $348 at its May meeting… At the meeting, regents and campus representatives discussed other UC issues, including the student population growth outpacing the growth of faculty, classrooms and housing spaces. They also presented a recent poll about the UC student experience, which was shown to be in decline.

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by Ani Vahradyan and Mary Kelly Ford, The Daily Californian.

Posted: March 15th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The regents also increased professional degree supplemental tuition at 23 graduate programs in the university… Undergraduate student government External Vice President Chloe Pan said one of the reasons why student leaders do not support the tuition increase is because they believe it could lead to an increase in food and housing insecurity for nonresident students… “This application cycle was the first time in a few years that we saw a dip in international student applicants,” she said. “We don’t want (nonresident students) to think they are cash cows.” Rebecca Ora, a doctoral student of film at UC Santa Cruz, said during the meeting’s public comments session she thinks UC graduate schools are falling in rankings because of high cost of attendance.

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by Omar Said and Isabella Gago, The Daily Bruin.

Posted: March 15th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The senator pledged his support for increased university funding, calling state funding an investment in California students. He also called for lower tuition costs for students or to “abolish it altogether… Life is paying for your rent,” de León said. “Life is paying for your meals. The issue of life and having the means of paying for it is what’s forcing people to not attend four-year universities… I don’t think you can balance the budget on the backs of students.” Currently the president pro tem, or leader, of the California State Senate, de León is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California.

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by Alexandra Stassinopoulos, The Daily Californian.

Posted: March 14th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Overall public support for free speech is rising over time, not falling. People on the political right are less supportive of free speech than people on the left. College graduates are more supportive than non-graduates. Indeed, a 2016 Knight Foundation survey showed that college students are less likely than the overall population to support restrictions on speech on campus. Among the public at large, meanwhile, the group whose speech the public is most likely to favor stifling is Muslims. The alarm about student protesters, in other words, though not always mistaken about particular cases, is generally grounded in a completely mistaken view of the big-picture state of American society and public opinion, both on and off campus.

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by Matthew Yglesias, Vox.

Posted: March 12th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

It’s beyond time to reinvest in the university and the legislature has an obligation to reinvest for this generation and the next generation of Californians. And if we don’t do so, we are going to lose what is probably considered the crown jewel of California, and that is the University of California. We are going to lose the reputation and standing and we will not give this generation, and the next generations of Californians, the same opportunities that we gave my generation, and so that’s a call for reinvestment.

Read full article [here].
by Evan Ismail, The Highlander.

Posted: March 5th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.