Day 50

President Yudoff was interviewed by some student journalists from various UC campuses about budget issues. When asked where he was during the walkout on September 24, he responds, "I might have been out of town. I don't remember." Really? Yeah, I can see how that helps his level of respect with campus constituents. Pretend like the walkout was so minor and unimportant that he really can't remember whether he was walking his dog or vacationing in Aruba. Since I am sure that he was probably actively working to do something that he believes is good for the university, or that he hopes would at least appear that way to the public, it seems to me that it would be worth a few brain cells to remember enough details to reassure the campus community that he was in fact trying to do his job rather than sitting at home pretending we all don't exist.

Dr. John Thelin of Kentucky University (who earned his PhD in history of education here at Berkeley and is a well known authority on higher education) wrote an op-ed for the Chronicle of Higher Education titled "How to Bail out Public Universities." He makes some great points about big-wig hiring during hiring freezes, and goes on (and on, and on) about how we could better manage finances related to big athletics on campuses so that the income from teams better support the academic mission of the institution (although most college teams cost money rather than earn). But I raised an eyebrow more than once while reading his refutes and suggestions to some of the common public university presidential cries of woe during these tough economic times. Here are my thoughts on just one little bit:

Common Public U presidential complaint: Our state gives us less and less.

• (part of) Dr. Thelin's response: State universities rely on a sleight of hand to justify their complaint that state appropriations have become a shrinking part of their annual operating budgets. They gloss over the fact that the size and complexity of a university is markedly different from years ago. New, federally sponsored research programs, medical centers, auxiliary services, research parks, and foundations are self-initiated ventures that expand the overall base budget. That then makes the state contribution decline as a percentage of the budget—even if appropriations increase in actual dollars.
• My response: Sleight of hand? Are you kidding me? Actual dollar state appropriations for higher education do in fact usually go up every year; it would be totally false to claim that as every year trickles by, we continue to see annual massive blood-letting like at UC this year. But will these funds all be replaced, costs incurred by the university to deal with these cuts be refunded, and a back-dated increase in funding be given once things improve? Of course not, and neither have any other major crisis-based cuts over recent decades. And of course, state increases in funding haven't kept up with the increased costs of running these institutions in ages despite all of the tricks and twists that you could blame like increased student services, more external money, etc. Dr. Thelin is lucky to live in a state that has maintained its funding, which is very rare. Finally, additional research money from the government and foundations contribute toward growth and additional activities on campus, and are not used merely as an accounting trick to make the state look bad.

I have 1 1/2 weeks left until my next shrunken pay check, and it looks like I'm going to make it without any overdraft fees, but man, this year is going to be hard.