Correction: I didn’t say that “pretty much executives are being paid by the University of California right now.” I said roughly the following:

Since 2004, UC management employees have grown twice as fast as non-management employees. Adjusting the UC’s system-wide management ratio from 7:1 to 10:1 would save over $530 million annually. Governor Brown proposed to cut roughly the same amount, $500 million, in state funding from the UC system this year.

This proposal is based on the research of Bob Samuels, UCLA faculty member and President of UC-AFT.

Thanks!

While it is heartening to see that the UCLA spokesperson recognizes the need for inclusivity in the debate about the future of the UC, I have been following this issue very closely, and i do not recall the Regents holding a town hall meeting about this issue on our campus. there was a town hall meeting in fall 2009 or winter 2010 i think it was, organized by our student government members, with NO Regents present.Chancellor Block took quite awhile to even agree to holding this, and despite the fact that the situation has continued to change and affect everyone on campus, there have been precious few opportunities for students and workers to express their concerns to the Chancellor or Regents. In fact, the Chancellor has actively refused to meet with students who oppose cuts and privatization and has publicly criticized peaceful protesters. I hope the administration puts its money where its mouth is, and opens its heart and ears to the people who make our university actually tick: students, faculty, and staff.

Make a stand against University of California campus chancellors who can’t figure out how to find savings at their campus. UC Berkeley—one of the top universities in the nation, home to some of the finest professors, graduating some of the brightest students—can’t figure out how to save money. No joke. UC Berkeley spent $3 million plus expenses to hire an out-of-state auditing firm to help them find ways to reduce spending.
According to the Contra Costa Times, October 10, 2009, “When UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau ($500,000 salary) was confronted with the $150 million challenge, he gave the matter deep thought, turned his focus eastward to the Boston-based consulting firm Bain & Co. and agreed to pay a $3 million budget (actual cost $7.2 million and growing) over the next two years for someone else to solve the problem.
“We [the Times] never attended business school, but we’re pretty sure that one of the definitions of financial crisis is spending $3 million on consultants to tell you how to get by with $150 million less than you thought you had.”
The rationale for hiring the consulting firm given by Vice Chancellor Frank Yeary: “I understand at one level, … if you don’t have enough money, why are you spending money on external consultants? Most people who are closer to it say it’s more sophisticated than that.
“If we spend $1.5 million this year and $1.5 million out of savings next year and we’re successful in delivering tens of millions of dollars in savings every year, I think that’s the goal against which we should be judged.”
Incredible! Millions of dollars could have been saved just by using the expertise on UC campuses. The system has, for example, multiple senior administrators with Ph.D.s who are getting nice paychecks for their expertise, the Budget Office staff gets paid to solve budget problems, and the renowned Haas School of Business has a world class lineup of business experts and graduate programs in financial engineering, global management, accounting, financing, and operations management.
Moreover, the funds used to pay the high cost of hiring outside consultants could have been used to make up for state budget cuts, student fee increases, furloughs and layoffs.
But, according to Vice Chancellor Frank Yeary, “The reason for not relying on internal experts is that self-diagnosis is not always impartial.”
If this is the reasoning by UC Berkeley decision makers, it is no wonder they are in a fiscal crisis. If the university system can’t trust its internal audits, maybe it is time for outside auditors to make all the university’s financial decisions. Those decisions might be based on more practical thinking than those made by the current university leadership.
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