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June 02, 2009, 12:43 PM ET
U. of California Executives to Take 5% Pay Cuts
The president of the University of California and other senior executives, including campus chancellors, will take a 5-percent pay cut in the 2009-10 fiscal year, the president, Mark G. Yudof, announced in a letter late last week.
The announcement came as California lawmakers prepared to discuss further cuts in the state budget, including appropriations for public colleges and universities, after the failure last month of ballot measures that were designed to help close a widening deficit.
Besides the president’s and the chancellors’ pay, the cuts apply to the salaries of executive and senior vice presidents, the general counsel, and executive vice chancellors. Other employees are likely to be asked to make similar sacrifices, Mr. Yudof’s letter implied. “Given the magnitude of the budget shortfall,” he wrote, “all options need to be considered, and, unfortunately it is likely that every member of the UC community will be affected negatively.”
The university had already frozen executives’ pay in an earlier round of budget-cutting moves that included reducing this fall’s freshman enrollment by more than 2,000 students.
The San Diego Union-Tribune estimated that the new cuts in senior administrators’ pay would probably save less than $1-million. In his letter, Mr. Yudof acknowledged that those cuts would “not have a significant impact on our very serious budget deficit.” He added, however, that he believed “a reduction in pay is only right, especially as we continue to consider possible furloughs and/or pay cuts for faculty and staff systemwide.”
Legislative critics of the university were not appeased. State Sen. Leland Yee, a Democrat who has introduced a bill that seeks to give the Legislature more control over the university, told the Union-Tribune that other Californians had already lost jobs or taken pay cuts, and that the university “should have led the way a long time ago.”
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