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[ucprof]

I already posted a couple of comments on the article but I will add some additional comments here.

(a) As stated in the article comments - not all departments and campuses in the UC system are experiencing all of the issues brought up by the author.  For example in my department we still have phones and chalk and people to type letters.

(b) The central admin of the UC systems (mainly UCOP) has cut back significantly their adminsitrative costs over the last 5 years.
UCOP = UC Office of the President in Oakland.  However it's not clear to me how this has effected the overall budgets of the campuses.  This is still somewhat opaque.

(c) I believe we are going to continue to see downsizing of the ladder faculty in the UC system and more of the lower division teaching done by temporary faculty i.e. lecturers and adjuncts.

(d) Something that is difficult to discuss in a public forum is the role of the UC campuses as part of the entire state of CA educational portfolio.  More specifically we are the only PhD granting institutions funded by the state and as such have to maintain that mission and the quality of that part of our job.  Granting PhDs means research that is internationally competitive and hence the focus on quality over quantity and access during times of budget tightening.   The public does not typically understand much about that side of our work they mainly are focused on the undergraduate part of what we do - which deserves attention of course but at the same time our mission is drastically different from the CSUs and the community colleges. 

It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the next 5 years in the UC system. 

[southerntransplant]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

[spinnaker]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

[voxprincipalis]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

No, no. You think it's so easy -- how would YOU work on it?

VP

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Are any of the lab sciences easy and/or cheap?

Not compared to (say) English or math. - DvF

[spinnaker]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

No, no. You think it's so easy -- how would YOU work on it?

VP

OK, hehe...I'm not qualified not give a detailed strategic answer, but logically, if the public's perception is a problem, then the public's perception needs to be improved, not by waiting for them to look up salaries and educate themselves, but by being more aggressive in involving them. Otherwise, the administrators will do what they do, and we'll get what we get.
It doesn't help to fantasize that students are demonstrating because they want to preserve the venerable university and all that it has stood for. The students are pissed off because they keep paying more, and the custodians are laid off and the buildings are neglected. This is the same thing the taxpayers hate.

[southerntransplant]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

No, no. You think it's so easy -- how would YOU work on it?

VP

OK, hehe...I'm not qualified not give a detailed strategic answer, but logically, if the public's perception is a problem, then the public's perception needs to be improved, not by waiting for them to look up salaries and educate themselves, but by being more aggressive in involving them. Otherwise, the administrators will do what they do, and we'll get what we get.
It doesn't help to fantasize that students are demonstrating because they want to preserve the venerable university and all that it has stood for. The students are pissed off because they keep paying more, and the custodians are laid off and the buildings are neglected. This is the same thing the taxpayers hate.

That's the "what." How about the "how"?

[msparticularity]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

No, no. You think it's so easy -- how would YOU work on it?

VP

OK, hehe...I'm not qualified not give a detailed strategic answer, but logically, if the public's perception is a problem, then the public's perception needs to be improved, not by waiting for them to look up salaries and educate themselves, but by being more aggressive in involving them. Otherwise, the administrators will do what they do, and we'll get what we get.
It doesn't help to fantasize that students are demonstrating because they want to preserve the venerable university and all that it has stood for. The students are pissed off because they keep paying more, and the custodians are laid off and the buildings are neglected. This is the same thing the taxpayers hate.

That's the "what." How about the "how"?

I would argue that a major part of the issue is neoliberalism: the idea that the business model is the best for all areas of life. The associated problem is that three decades (or so) of this approach have created a system in which the media is controlled by a very few large corporations, which, in turn, makes major public education initiatives very, very difficult.

The big question here is (as always), qui bono? Make no mistake: the current situation is highly profitable to a lot of people. Basically, you don't need an organized conspiracy between government and industry, with secret boardroom meetings, if the hegemonic relations among those in the current system create significant advantage for maintaining the status quo.

[systeme_d_]

The big question here is (as always), qui bono? Make no mistake: the current situation is highly profitable to a lot of people. Basically, you don't need an organized conspiracy between government and industry, with secret boardroom meetings, if the hegemonic relations among those in the current system create significant advantage for maintaining the status quo.

Bingo.




P.S. Cui bono. Double dative. [/Latin pedantry]

[msparticularity]

The big question here is (as always), qui bono? Make no mistake: the current situation is highly profitable to a lot of people. Basically, you don't need an organized conspiracy between government and industry, with secret boardroom meetings, if the hegemonic relations among those in the current system create significant advantage for maintaining the status quo.

Bingo.




P.S. Cui bono. Double dative. [/Latin pedantry]

Ah--and I knew that, too! That's what happens when your Spanish overtakes your Latin in an odd posting moment, I guess.

[parispundit]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

No, no. You think it's so easy -- how would YOU work on it?

VP

OK, hehe...I'm not qualified not give a detailed strategic answer, but logically, if the public's perception is a problem, then the public's perception needs to be improved, not by waiting for them to look up salaries and educate themselves, but by being more aggressive in involving them. Otherwise, the administrators will do what they do, and we'll get what we get.
It doesn't help to fantasize that students are demonstrating because they want to preserve the venerable university and all that it has stood for. The students are pissed off because they keep paying more, and the custodians are laid off and the buildings are neglected. This is the same thing the taxpayers hate.

That's the "what." How about the "how"?

Here's How:

1) Write letters to the local press and call reporters to tell them how the admin has grown relative to the teaching faculty over the last 20 years. Provide statistics to back it up "Millions Wasted to Pay the Assistant Deans for Student Toiletries".
2) Have the faculty Senate pass an "alternative budget" as a recommendation, one that involves eliminating 60% of all Assistant Deans, 30% of all Associate Deans, 10% of all Deans, and 100% of all consulting contracts, and devoting 1/2 the savings to faculty hires, the rest to keeping tuition low.
3) If you feel quixotic, include in the Senate Budget a version which axes the entire Athletic Dept. and all university sports expenditures.

[southerntransplant]

Here's How:

1) Write letters to the local press and call reporters to tell them how the admin has grown relative to the teaching faculty over the last 20 years. Provide statistics to back it up "Millions Wasted to Pay the Assistant Deans for Student Toiletries".
2) Have the faculty Senate pass an "alternative budget" as a recommendation, one that involves eliminating 60% of all Assistant Deans, 30% of all Associate Deans, 10% of all Deans, and 100% of all consulting contracts, and devoting 1/2 the savings to faculty hires, the rest to keeping tuition low.
3) If you feel quixotic, include in the Senate Budget a version which axes the entire Athletic Dept. and all university sports expenditures.

Both 1) and 2) have been done at my university to some degree, and have gotten nowhere - for various reasons that I won't describe here but that you can probably guess. We're also a major sports program, so 3) will never ever ever fly.

[proftowanda]

Why shouldn't it be an easy to task to motivate the public to say "enough of these insane, expensive administrative positions."

You are serious?

How would you work on it?

No, no. You think it's so easy -- how would YOU work on it?

VP

OK, hehe...I'm not qualified not give a detailed strategic answer, but logically, if the public's perception is a problem, then the public's perception needs to be improved, not by waiting for them to look up salaries and educate themselves, but by being more aggressive in involving them. Otherwise, the administrators will do what they do, and we'll get what we get.
It doesn't help to fantasize that students are demonstrating because they want to preserve the venerable university and all that it has stood for. The students are pissed off because they keep paying more, and the custodians are laid off and the buildings are neglected. This is the same thing the taxpayers hate.

That's the "what." How about the "how"?

Here's How:

1) Write letters to the local press and call reporters to tell them how the admin has grown relative to the teaching faculty over the last 20 years. Provide statistics to back it up "Millions Wasted to Pay the Assistant Deans for Student Toiletries".
2) Have the faculty Senate pass an "alternative budget" as a recommendation, one that involves eliminating 60% of all Assistant Deans, 30% of all Associate Deans, 10% of all Deans, and 100% of all consulting contracts, and devoting 1/2 the savings to faculty hires, the rest to keeping tuition low.
3) If you feel quixotic, include in the Senate Budget a version which axes the entire Athletic Dept. and all university sports expenditures.

None of this can compete with the output of campus public relations offices, which are not really doing public relations for the campus en toto; they are arms of administration, so they promote the party line, which at these institutions is set by state boards of regents, which are predominantly appointees of the party in power. 

And these days, politics is anti-intellectual, no matter the party, and both/all parties promote the business model of education, to some or greater extents.  Thus, the result that we see.