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Packed Academic Senate Ponders Damages of Vanishing State Support

Paul K. Mueller | May 2, 2011

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A standing-room-only crowd attended Tuesday’s meeting of UC San Diego’s Academic Senate, drawn by the main topic on the agenda—how the faculty can help the university adjust to steep cuts in state funding.

Intended not to present definitive numbers, but to focus faculty attention and resolve, the meeting succeeded in painting a foreboding picture of steadily declining state support—and in suggesting the (probably controversial) remedies.

To spend more time on that topic, Chair Frank Powell conducted other official business briskly, and guest speaker Chancellor Marye Anne Fox limited her remarks to formally announcing the appointment of Suresh Subramani as Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Questions from
the Faculty to
University Leaders:
"Detail the aggregate flow of funds to the campus,” said one query. “That is, identify the major revenue sources and how the money is distributed across vice-chancellor areas.”
Other questions focused on changes to the hiring mix; changes to the student mix—more or fewer graduate students, more or fewer out-of-state students, for example; the possibility of pay cuts or furloughs; new compensation plans; and other cost-cutting or revenue-increasing measures.
(Read all the questions and answers beginning on page 31 of the meeting’s agenda.)

The meeting materials included questions submitted by members of the faculty to university leaders, and the detailed answers provided in response. Rather than re-hash that material, Powell asked Vice Chair Joel Sobel, professor of economics, to sketch a broad view of the issues facing the university. His presentation suggested that there are no painless answers.

The budget problem is small, Sobel said, because of UC San Diego’s $3.1 billion in revenues, only $269 million comes from the state (and that will shrink to $210 million next year). On the other hand, the budget problem is large, he said, because the state’s contribution pays most university salaries. State funding has been trending down for 30 years, and we can expect that to continue, so the university must cut costs and find new sources of funds.

The choices are painful, he said—we’ll have to raise fees, cut salaries, or both. (“Aside from cutting salaries,” he said, “all other ideas are pocket change.”) The university can raise tuition to the level of some our peers, and it might bring in more out-of-state students, but both of those choices have consequences: In an era of competition among universities, we might drive away the students we want; and the “quality” of the student body would diminish as only the wealthy could afford to attend.

Still, Sobel said, we can expect growing numbers of out-of-state and foreign students, as well as greater stress on existing resources, pressure on graduate programs, and compromises on quality.

Allowing attrition to decrease the number of faculty, and using more part-time teachers, would save some money, but significant salary savings would be “somewhat limited.”

In the long term, he said, we’ll have to stay focused on reducing costs, from energy efficiency to online education; we’ll have to be aggressive in turning our strengths into revenue-generating activities; and faculty members will have to find ways to support themselves without state funding. That will probably result in a change in the internal “valuation” of different disciplines, and will shift how individual faculty members allocate their efforts.

In the meantime, Sobel advised his colleagues, be aware of what is happening. “Programs that do not generate revenue,” he warned, “will have to make strong cases for their importance in order to survive.”

Former Chair Henry “Harry” Powell—who also served as chair of the UC Academic Senate (2009-10)—spoke forcefully of the threat to the university, and strongly urged all those attending to contact their representatives—especially and most usefully those who block tax increases—to explain the role and importance of public research universities. (See the UC San Diego advocacy website here.)

In business conducted prior to the budget-related portion of the meeting, the Academic Senate accepted nominations for members of the Committee on Committees, and announced winners of the 2010-11 teaching awards.

Nicholas Spitzer, neurobiology, and Marcel Henaff, literature, earned Faculty Research Lecturer awards; and Patrick Patterson, history, Jan Talbot, nanoengineering, and Geoffrey Voelker, computer science and engineering, won Distinguished Teaching Awards as senate members. Non-senate members earning those awards were Christina Johnson, chemistry and biochemistry, Catherine Ploye, literature, and Fredric Rose, psychology. Graduate students Stephanie Chan, sociology, and Julian Parris, psychology, were recognized for distinguished teaching, as well.

The senate also passed a resolution to support a policy of limiting smoking on campus to designated smoking areas, which passed 32 to 19, with 4 abstaining. Those who opposed the resolution decried the “ghetto-ization” of people engaged in a legal activity, and questioned the claimed degree of harm from typical traces of tobacco smoke.

The next meeting of the Academic Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Leichtag Building conference room. Find materials and more information about the Academic Senate here.


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