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jonesey
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« on: November 20, 2009, 07:42:09 AM » |
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From The New York Times:BERKELEY, Calif. — As the University of California struggles to absorb its sharpest drop in state financing since the Great Depression, every professor, administrator and clerical worker has been put on furlough amounting to an average pay cut of 8 percent.
In chemistry laboratories that have produced Nobel Prize-winning research, wastebaskets are stuffed to the brim on the new reduced cleaning schedule. Many students are frozen out of required classes as course sections are trimmed.
And on Thursday, to top it all off, the Board of Regents voted to increase undergraduate fees — the equivalent of tuition — by 32 percent next fall, to more than $10,000. The university will cost about three times as much as it did a decade ago, and what was once an educational bargain will be one of the nation’s higher-priced public universities.
Among students and faculty alike, there is a pervasive sense that the increases and the deep budget cuts are pushing the university into decline. |
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Jonesey, I know you're a being of sensitivity and refinement. |
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jonesey
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« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2009, 07:53:36 AM » |
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I found this part of the article of particular interest: Formerly taboo ideas, like...eliminating the research mission at some of the newer campuses, are being put forward. A UC campus without a research agenda? We have a word for that already: the CSU system. |
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Jonesey, I know you're a being of sensitivity and refinement. |
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cranefly
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« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2009, 08:20:48 AM » |
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It's so sad.... I dream(ed) of working in the UC system. But when you have the UC president being what he is ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27fob-q4-t.html?_r=1) it's downright frightening. I mean, couldn't they find anyone LESS competent to run the best university state system in the country? |
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untenured
On far too many committees
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 5,542
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« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2009, 09:44:06 AM » |
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Wow, that was a skillful interview. Notice how he parlays lack of knowledge about the word 'furlough' into a self-effacing expression of working class values. He replies to the question about the White House with a joke. He flips the $10,000 a month rental into a cost-saving measure that makes him look like penny pincher. He should run for office. Untenured |
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You are among the Pure and Truthful, however small their Number.
My goodness, that was an exceptionally good analysis of the forum. |
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mad_doctor
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« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2009, 09:57:28 AM » |
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What a boob - a textbook case of the Peter Principle. The only reason he's President is that there aren't any VPs more incompetent than he is.
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henry_adams
Junior member
Posts: 83
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« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2009, 12:34:03 PM » |
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I wish the interviewer would've asked him about other ways to salvage the UC system. What other possibilities have been proposed?
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t_r_b
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« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2009, 07:24:18 PM » |
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It's too bad the system President is a schmuck, but would you (or any competent administrator you know) want that job right now? It would be like getting appointed captain of the Titanic after the iceberg hit.
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If you want to be zen, then stay in the freaking moment.
A lot of the people posting on this thread need to go out and get kohlrabi.
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hmaria1609
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« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2009, 09:06:51 PM » |
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This story was on PBS's "The News Hour" earlier this evening.
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cranefly
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« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2009, 07:47:42 AM » |
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It's too bad the system President is a schmuck, but would you (or any competent administrator you know) want that job right now? It would be like getting appointed captain of the Titanic after the iceberg hit.
For that money? I'd do it. It's not like he'll actually shoulder any blame for it. |
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madhatter
We proudly present the fora's Least
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 5,351
Just killing time
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« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2009, 05:35:51 PM » |
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Are any of you familiar with Yudof outside of this article?
Before he came to UC, he was well-respected for the work he did with the U of Minnesota and the U Texas system. I think he walked into a hot mess when he came to UC, and I'm not sure he (or anyone) can right it.
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"I may be an evil scientist, but it doesn't take a degree purchased from the Internet with your ex-wife's money to know how special and important you are to me." -- Dr. Doofenschmirtz
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ucprof
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« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2009, 09:30:53 PM » |
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Hot mess is an understatement. It's not every day that a top state system gets 20% of funds pulled out from under them overnight. The entire state is a mess. At least the UC faculty are furloughed only up to 10%. State workers are currently at 14% (three days a week). And our furloughs are largely 8% excluding summer salary. Also we are still getting merit increases - at least those who were due this year. But still I think the UC furloughs are about the worst of any state system right now and with the trouble with the state budget going forward they may continue even with the tuition increase.
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t_r_b
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« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2009, 09:56:51 PM » |
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On the plus side, through three quarters, you're ahead of Stanford.
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If you want to be zen, then stay in the freaking moment.
A lot of the people posting on this thread need to go out and get kohlrabi.
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embitteredhistorian
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« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2009, 10:41:13 AM » |
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Well, he only makes 540k. You get what you pay for. |
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mad_doctor
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« Reply #13 on: November 25, 2009, 10:47:10 AM » |
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Well, he only makes 540k. You get what you pay for. Well, if one of the Presidents is less competent, you can put him in charge. I suppose the answer is yes - there's always room for more incompetence at the top. |
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alleyoxenfree
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« Reply #14 on: November 25, 2009, 02:30:00 PM » |
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<cross post>
I maintain that both the UC and CSU problems could be solved with some creativity, and without the multi-million-dollar consultants, who have been hired to give the chancellors the reports that draw the conclusions they want drawn.
Instead, I propose something like the following: The system's highest paid professors should go on retreat to the Awahnee in Yosemite and come up with a proposed plan. Simultaneously, the faculty of all the UCs and CSUs should convene on a date - say, Boxing Day - at their nearest Starbucks, and come up with plans. All the plans should be emailed to a jury composed of a cross-section of 12 college-educated voters with degrees from the UC or CSU systems. That jury should choose the elements that make the most sense. A second jury of similar composition should simultaneously choose new chancellors of each system to implement these. The runners-up in the chancellor search should be hired to run BofA.
Alternative suggestions?
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