By Donna Hemmila

UC is responding to the challenge of providing access and opportunity for California in times of grim budget challenges with the launch of the Commission on the Future of UC.

"We have delivered on our pledge to provide access, opportunity and affordability for 140 years. I refuse to renege on that pledge."   UC President Mark Yudof

UC Regents Chairman Russell Gould presented plans for the commission on July 16, the same day regents voted on a fiscal emergency plan to close a two-year $813 million state funding gap. That plan includes furloughs that will affect 108,000 faculty and staff FTEs. The campuses face at least $300 million in additional cutbacks to help close the funding shortfall.

The fiscal emergency plan calls for sacrifices and hard choices to get through the coming months, Gould said, but just getting through isn't good enough for UC: It's time to chart a new direction.

"While there is no good news in this present financial crisis, I can assure you of our determination to forge a new path for the future of the university, one that addresses stubborn fiscal realities, but also advances the overall mission of serving California with a world-class public research university system while maintaining standards of excellence and access," Gould said.

The commission, which will include members from within and outside the UC system, will seek to answer five critical questions about the university's future:

• How can UC best maintain access, quality and affordability in a time of diminishing resources?
• What educational delivery models are best suited for UC's future?
• What is the appropriate size and shape of the university going forward?
• Where should UC grow, or should it?
• How can traditional and alternative revenue streams be maximized in support of UC's mission?

Campus Impacts

The 10 UC chancellors testified before the Board of Regents on July 15 about the impact the fiscal emergency plan will have on their campuses. Each described the drastic cuts they have already made and how they will each absorb their share of the $813 million two-year state funding cut UC faces. Read each chancellor's full testimony. UC Berkeley UC Davis UC Irvine UCLA UC Merced UC Riverside UC San Diego UC San Francisco UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Cruz

UC President Mark Yudof will co-chair the commission with Gould. Others who will serve on the commission are UC Regents Jesse Bernal, Sherry Lansing, Monica Lozano and Yolanda Nunn Gorman; Student Regent-Designate Jesse Cheng; UCLA Chancellor Gene Block; UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake; UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang; UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Chris Edley; Academic Senate Chair Mary Croughan; Academic Senate Vice Chair Henry Powell; UC Regents Staff Advisor Edward Abeyta; Warren Hellman, an alumnus of UC Berkeley; California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg; and Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Ex-officio members from the UC Office of the President are Provost Larry Pitts, Executive Vice President Katie Lapp and Executive Vice President Peter Taylor.

The commission will tap experts from throughout the UC system and from outside to advise on strategies. It will provide recommendations in early 2010 with some recommendations possibly coming earlier. The commission's work carries an urgency magnified by the extent of the budget cuts the campuses must absorb.

The furlough program will fill about $184.1 million, or 25 percent, of the $813 million of the state budget cut. Already approved student fee increases will cover another 25 percent of the gap. More cost-cutting at the Office of the President and restructuring of debt will account for an additional 10 percent. But the bulk of UC's state general fund budget deficit – 40 percent – the campuses will need to absorb.

UC chancellors testified at the July 15 regents' meeting about the impact the budget cuts will have on their campuses. All expressed a fear of the "brain drain" they said is already happening as gifted faculty leave UC for universities that can offer better salaries and support for their research.

"When faculty are not hired or faculty leave, it's harder for students to get their classes, and it takes them longer to get their degrees," said Croughan, outgoing faculty representative to the UC Board of Regents and chair of the UC Academic Senate. "You decrease the number of graduate students and that affects research."

All 10 campuses are cutting back new faculty hiring and eliminating staff positions as well as on-campus student jobs and teaching assistant positions that graduate students rely on to support themselves and gain teaching experience. Campuses are cutting courses and programs. Student services like library hours and counseling will also suffer. The Commission on the Future of UC will explore innovative ways to minimize the decades-long decline in state support that has caused these cutbacks.

"We need to turn a focused eye on the way we deliver our services, on where we are and where we are going as a system," Yudof said when the commission was announced. "We have delivered on our pledge to provide access, opportunity and affordability for 140 years. I refuse to renege on that pledge."