Task Force Seeks Input at Town Hall on Future Campus Funding
Roxana Popescu | November 16, 2009
Members of the UC San Diego campus got a chance to voice concerns Thursday about the budget situation facing the university. At a town hall meeting organized by the Joint Senate-Administration Task Force on the Budget, about a dozen people spoke up about how funds could be better collected and administered.
Paul Drake, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, opened the meeting by introducing his co-panelists and inviting "comments, questions, suggestions, manifestoes, and declarations."
Other members of the task force present Thursday included Dan Donoghue, Drake's co-chair, immediate past chair of the Academic Senate and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Gary Matthews, vice chancellor for resource planning and management, Stephen Cox, a literature professor, Art Ellis, vice chancellor for research, David Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the school of medicine, and Erik Van Esselstyn, an undergraduate representative.
At the outset, Drake informally outlined the task force's mission, which is to "figure out a way for UCSD to be great ... with less reliance on state funds."
He said everyone hopes the state will "come roaring back," but after decades of decline in support, the reality is that the time has come for the university to consider a future without that funding.
Instead, he said, now is a time for "shared sacrifice."
"We would all prefer, of course, to have a university with rising salaries for faculty and staff, falling tuition and fees for students, rising state funding and all sorts of wonderful things, but we've got to figure out how to live with the situation."
He concluded his introduction by telling audience members that "it's your university" and inviting feedback, either in person at the town hall or via email, at satf@ucsd.edu.
Audience responses were varied and thorough.
Chandra Mukerji, a professor in the communication department spoke up against following a model set by the University of Michigan to accept a higher percentage of out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition. Accepting more students from outside the state, however, would erode the strong interdependence that currently exists between UC San Diego and the surrounding business community,” she said.
“The problem with the Michigan model is you don’t have that kind of investment in the community,” Mukerji said. “You start educating people who come from out of state and if the Michigan model is true, they go out of state.”
Brenner pointed out that while the University of Michigan faces similarly weak funding from its state legislature, it makes up for the gap by charging roughly double the tuition required by the University of California.
“If our state is not willing to pay, we are going to have to look at raising tuition appropriately,” he said.
No subject — from brain drain to campus construction — was off limits.
A student remarked that she felt there is too much construction going on given the economic climate. She advised that campus leaders "cut back on new buildings and focus more on what we do have."
Donoghue explained that "the buildings that you see going up now have been part of a long pipeline and that pipeline is pretty much empty."
Throughout the session, task force members were amenable to criticisms. After a back-and-forth between task force members and the audience, Drake concluded the session on a conciliatory tone.
"We appreciate all you coming," he said, and continued to say that nobody on the task force "wants an unbalanced university. We're trying to figure out a way that everybody can succeed."
Drake also reminded audience members that as California residents, they can contact members of the state legislature and the governor to express their opinion directly on how the state is supporting higher education in California.
An easy way to contact members of the state legislature is through the UC San Diego advocacy website at http://advocacy.ucsd.edu
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