UC president outlines revised budget-cutting proposal

Most University of California professors and staff would be forced to take between 11 and 26 unpaid furlough days a year -- cutting their paychecks between 4% and 10% -- under a revised budget reduction proposal presented today by UC President Mark G. Yudof.

The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on the plan next week, and approval is thought likely in response to anticipated deep reductions in state funding for higher education. However, agreement by labor unions would be needed for large segments of the university's workforce across its 10 campuses.

The proposed furlough days would increase in seven steps up the pay scale, from those earning less than $40,000 to those above $240,000. That is a major change from a controversial earlier proposal that divided UC employees into just two salary groups, and a retreat from an idea of possibly cutting pay without offering furlough days in exchange.

Faculty leaders said professors would not be allowed to take furlough time on days when they have teaching responsibilities. But between these pay cuts and numerous program reductions expected around UC, students will feel an effect, officials conceded.

"No way are we going to be able to look every student in the eyes and say the University of California is just the way it was yesterday," Yudof said.

He said, however, that UC would not follow the Cal State system in pursuing a second student fee increase in two months. UC in May raised undergraduate fees for next year by 9.3%, or about $662, to about $8,720, not including room, board and other expenses. While he ruled out another fee hike for the fall, Yudof today did not eliminate the possibility for the middle of the school year. "There could be one in January. It depends on how tough things get," he said.

In another change from his earlier plans, Yudof’s proposal would exempt from furloughs and pay cuts those UC professors and staff whose salaries are fully funded by federal or private research grants or other outside revenues. Many of those researchers protested an earlier version that would have included them in the cuts, even though that would not have helped the university financially. UC administrators said they still need to study how to handle employees whose pay is partly funded by outside grants.

-- Larry Gordon

Comments

[Bhush]

Wow, I am glad I work for OC fire department.
Free truck, new insurance and gas.

[Brian]

And so goes the education system that was once the best in the nation....

However, current politicians is misguided. We've been on this path for a long time.

""No way are we going to be able to look every student in the eyes and say the University of California is just the way it was yesterday,""

As a UCLA student....it was already pretty bad 'yesterday.'

[Ellen Grau]

I would have GLADLY taken a pay cut instead of the layoff I was handed. Why can't corporate America be as humane as the UC system? Maybe it has something to do with "HIGHER LEARNING?" or is it more corporate greed?

[Doug]

One of the best things that California had going for it was the UC system. Looks like that is about to change.

[Jeff Kahn]

You could argue that to the extent California plays a unique role -- as an engine of innovation and jobs -- in the national economy, that the University of California plays a similar unique role within the state. UC Berkeley alone has 430,000 living graduates. With these cuts, we are now cannibalizing ourselves.

[Joel Goldstein]

The furlough tactic is nothing but a classic bureaucrat smokescreen to divert voter attention from mismanagement and corruption within the state government and state education system.

They aren't talking of reducing spending on a permanent basis.

The furloughs are only temporary measures designed to make the voter think that spending will be brought under control.

When the recession ends in two years, the bureaucrats will all get their pay back plus the days they didn't work will also be added back into their payroll account.

In other words, THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ARE GETTING DAYS OFF NOW AND YET IN A SHORT WHILE, THEY WILL BE PAID FOR IT. THEY'LL NOT ONLY HAVE DAYS OFF... BUT THEY WILL BE PAID FOR THOSE DAYS THEY GOT TO TAKE OFF.

THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE BUT ITS DONE QUIETLY ONCE THE VOTERS HAVE TURNED THEIR ATTENTION TO SOMETHING ELSE.

[CA]

Is the UC Prez also taking furlough days and a pay cut? That would save a lot of money. And what about the Board of Regents?

[Judy Sweeney]

Most staff will not be impacted by this measure, which has yet to receive final approval from the Board of Regents. Most of us are not paid out of the state budget but from grants and other funding sources. The shortfall that this cut is all about is only about 3-5% of the UC operating budget; however, as usual UC is claiming that the sky is falling. This is a power grab by President Yudof, and another attempt to pressure the state legislature into extending more funds to UC. UC has billions of dollars at its disposal. While its many construction projects and plans will continue uninterrupted, it's only staff, students and faculty that will be asked to shoulder this burden.