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[jonesey]

From Inside Higher Ed:

“The privates have come calling,” says Ruiz, dean of the University of California at Irvine’s School of Humanities. “I’ve lost very valued faculty members to Yale, to Northwestern, to Penn, to Pomona, to Scripps, as well as to even.… ”

Ruiz trails off, then gives a few more names, sounding a bit surprised to mention them: Lehigh University and Fordham University. Fine institutions to be sure, but not the sort Ruiz expects to lose to in a bidding war.

These are far from the heady days of 2007, when Ruiz was named dean of Irvine’s buzz-attracting School of Humanities. In that year, she hired 17 new professors. This year she hired four, even though nine searches had been planned. Ruiz has no illusions about returning to 2007 levels any time soon.

The budget crisis facing the University of California, a 10-campus system serving 225,000 students, is without precedent. According to the latest projections – and these numbers change all the time – the system can expect last year’s $3.61 billion state budget to be reduced by about $813 million or approximately 20 percent.

[helpful]

For those making over $240,000, 26 furlough days or the equivalent of a 10 percent salary reduction would be required.

How many profs make over 240 K? I would think this would mostly be administrators like presidents or VPs?

[inthelab]

Or chairs at med schools.

[jonesey]

Or football coaches...

[sibyl]

http://apo.chance.berkeley.edu/scales0809.html

I don't know quite how to translate these scales -- it's not clear whether these are minimums or medians and so forth -- but a full professor at Step 9 (the highest step) receives:

$142,000 in most fields
$155,600 in business, econ, engineering
$164,700 in extension
$199,300 in law

Department chairs also receive an above-scale increment of $10,000-$12,000.

Berkeley doesn't have a med school, but the UCLA website shows that health science profs at Step 9 range from $164,700 to $370,600.

The highest librarian salary (Step 7) is $110,028 and the highest administrator salary (also Step 7) is $128,040. 

So yeah, there do seem to be some faculty who would be hit at the $240,000 level.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

We've discussed this (not the article, but the UC cuts) on another thread which I'm too lazy to find right now.  The fact is that there are very few schools that can compete with UC on salary/perks/status, even if they get a 10% cut.  I don't think we'll see a massive exodus of UC professors to places like Lehigh.  On the other hand, the pain that the system (and the departments and faculty) is feeling is very real. 

Like many state systems, UC expanded beyond its means, often on a political basis (eg Merced), and is now suffering the consequences of the expansion. - DvF

[lost_angeleno]

I remember the old joke about the three levels of funding for public universities:

1.  State supported,
2.  State assisted,
3.  State molested.

I also remember the chancellor of UCLA bragging that his university was over 90% self-supported, and would not be hurt much by state budget cuts.  Further down in the article, it states that these activities are causing about a 16% reduction in funding overall.

Sounds like the chancellor of Irvine hasn't been following the lead of UCLA.  Maybe this will be impetus to get a greater percentage of funding from non-State sources. All that indirect cost money from grant-funded research is starting to look reeealy good!

[larryc]

But can you rent a U-Haul truck with a State of California IOU?

[jonesey]

But can you rent a U-Haul truck with a State of California IOU?

You can't do anything with a state IOU; the banks stopped cashing them today.  Things in my old state are hitting the fan faster every day.

[inthelab]

But can you rent a U-Haul truck with a State of California IOU?

You can't do anything with a state IOU; the banks stopped cashing them today.  Things in my old state are hitting the fan faster every day.

Great, just in time for my visit there next week.

[henry_adams]

Here we are in the middle of the Bush Depression.  Some institutions are reducing salaries by 10%, and others are laying off tenured faculty.  Why can't I sympathize with Ruiz?

[jonesey]

Here we are in the middle of the Bush Depression.  Some institutions are reducing salaries by 10%, and others are laying off tenured faculty.  Why can't I sympathize with Ruiz?

Because she's still got a $200,000+ job.

[the_walrus]

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,60595.0.html

[daurousseau]

http://apo.chance.berkeley.edu/scales0809.html

I don't know quite how to translate these scales -- it's not clear whether these are minimums or medians and so forth -- but a full professor at Step 9 (the highest step) receives:

$142,000 in most fields
$155,600 in business, econ, engineering
$164,700 in extension
$199,300 in law

Department chairs also receive an above-scale increment of $10,000-$12,000.

Berkeley doesn't have a med school, but the UCLA website shows that health science profs at Step 9 range from $164,700 to $370,600.

The highest librarian salary (Step 7) is $110,028 and the highest administrator salary (also Step 7) is $128,040. 

So yeah, there do seem to be some faculty who would be hit at the $240,000 level.

I guess that explains those shacks on the Oakland border going for a million dollars.

[puffin]

But can you rent a U-Haul truck with a State of California IOU?

You can't do anything with a state IOU; the banks stopped cashing them today.  Things in my old state are hitting the fan faster every day.

Great, just in time for my visit there next week.

Take goods to barter.


On a more serious note, I've seen a university slash its personnel costs by 30% in the course of a year or two, depending on how you calculate. Some stars were held on, but people eventually moved themselves out. It was all the research and travel budgets getting cut as well.