History professor Nelson Lichtenstein offered historical context and talked about Clark Kerr, UC’s 12th president who expanded the system greatly to support the influx of baby boomers. "Under Kerr’s tenure, UC students had no tuition and almost no fees," he said, eliciting cheers from the audience. Kerr saw to it that the university resisted privatization and remained subsidized by taxpayers, "safe and accountable to democratic policies." Stan Glantz, a professor at UC San Francisco and a past chairman of the system’s committee on planning and budget, spoke about UC’s budget woes and their origins within the political landscape, taking specific issue with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cuts of higher education. Glantz was equally scathing in his treatment of former Gov. Gray Davis, and said no one was looking out for the interests of students and faculty. "There’s no one that I see — not President Yudof, not the Regents, not the chancellors — whose out there defending the idea of public education," he said.

Read full article [here].
by Lara Cooper, The Santa Barbara Noozhawk.

Posted: October 14th, 2009, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.