Academic Senate Adds Retirement-Plan Resolution to UC System Debate

Paul K. Mueller | November 01, 2010

UC San Diego’s Academic Senate, meeting on Tuesday under new Chair Frank L. Powell, passed a resolution endorsing the “Option C” revision to the UC retirement-plan proposals currently being debated around the 10-campus system.

Prior to the vote, the senate heard a presentation by UC Academic Council Chair Daniel Simmons and Vice Chair Robert Anderson, who said that UC President Mark Yudof had already decided to recommend Option C to the Board of Regents.

That proposal, unlike options A and B, is not combined with Social Security and would have all employees pay the same percentage of their salary into the retirement fund. As a result, it would cost some employees more every year, but also provide a higher pension benefit.

Because they would apply only to employees hired after July 2013, Simmons said, changes in the retirement plans will not affect current employees.

The Board of Regents will discuss the retirement-plan changes at their November meeting and will likely make a decision in December. Any changes are subject to collective bargaining.  (Find the full discussion by the UC Academic Senate on retirement and other issues here.  Read an account of UCSD’s retirement-plan Town Hall here.)

In other business, Chair Powell, professor of medicine, introduced himself and the new vice chair, Joel Sobel, professor of economics, and thanked their predecessors and the Academic Senate staff for their service.

The senate accepted 2009-10 annual reports by the Planning and Budget and Research committees, and asked for two nominations to fill openings on the Senate Council.

The Committee on Planning and Budget reported that it “devoted a substantial portion of the year examining the impact of recent budget reductions,” and said that the committee’s discussions “focused on how the Senate might increase its participation in the budgetary process, particularly in the areas of research and academic affairs, as well as long-range campus planning.”

Among other issues, the Committee on Research “enthusiastically” supported continuation of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind as an Organized Research Unit (ORU); recommended that the Institute of Genomic Medicine be established as an ORU; and “endorsed continuation” of the Center for Magnetic Recording Research as an ORU – but only if a new director with a “clear vision” for the center’s research direction can be found.  If the center cannot re-direct its mission in a timely manner, the committee said, “the ORU should be disestablished.”

With no further reports, petitions or new business, the senate adjourned. The next meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m., Nov. 30, in the Leichtag Building conference room. Find more information about the Academic Senate here.