July 15, 2009
UC chancellors outline impacts of budget cuts
The 10 UC chancellors testified Wednesday about the impact the state budget cuts will have on classes, faculty recruitment and retention, student services and academic programs. Under a fiscal emergency plan the Board of Regents’ finance committee endorsed, the campuses will absorb 40 percent of UC’s $813 million state budget cut - at least $300 million.
Each chancellor described bigger class sizes, elimination of courses and programs, staff layoffs and dramatic cutbacks in faculty recruitment. Those actions will ultimately lead to lower graduation and student retention rates, they said, as well as declines in research activities and community services.
At UC San Francisco, nine of 11 graduate programs are limiting enrollment, and the nursing program has closed down a community family clinic that served more than 1,700 patients.
At UC San Diego, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said, this month alone five prominent professors have left for other universities and research centers because of the budget problems.
At UC Davis, a 10 percent reduction in teaching assistant positions and elimination of more than 400 part-time campus student jobs will leave both undergraduate and graduate students without jobs they count on to support themselves.
The chancellors said they feared the long-term affects of the cuts on UC’s ability to attract top faculty and students.
“While I reluctantly support the need for pay reductions, these actions make our campus, our university and our state vulnerable to a rapid brain drain,” said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal. “Here’s the brutal truth. Fewer of California’s best and brightest students will enjoy the rich educational opportunities and experiences available to previous generations of UC students. Some will say that’s too bad. I say it’s a tragedy.”
- Category: Campus cuts
