A letter from big names in California business in opposition to the recently proposed constitutional amendments that would eliminate UC’s autonomy:
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June 18, 2009
Dear Honorable Sir or Madam:
We are writing to express our strongest opposition to an extremely troubling proposal that would irreparably harm one of California’s greatest academic, scientific, cultural and economic assets, and our state in general.
We are referring to Senate Constitutional Amendment 21 (SCA21), authored by state Senators Leland Yee of San Francisco, Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield and Gloria Romero of Los Angeles. SCA21 proposes to undo more than 140 years of successful, independent governance by the University of California, placing it under direct control of the state Legislature. A similar and equally harmful companion bill (ACA24) has been introduced in the state Assembly by Assemblymembers Brian Nestande of Palm Desert and Anthony Portantino of La Canada/Flintridge.
We write to you as both graduates and longtime supporters of the University of California and as California employers and business owners who believe that SCA21 and ACA24 represent a misguided and over-reaching attack on UC under the false guise of reform. Framing SCA21 around his accusatory rhetoric of scandal and secrecy, Sen. Yee has unfairly distorted UC’s record, maligned its leadership and conveniently failed to recognize that UC:
• receives a relatively small and steadily declining subsidy from the state;
• faculty and staff are, in fact, underpaid on average when compared to peer universities;
• has instituted meaningful and substantive reforms to improve accountability and transparency in its governance;
• has significantly reduced administrative and institutional costs; and,
• continues to hold student tuition below the average of what comparable universities charge, even as state support has dwindled.
The direct and indirect harm that we believe Sen. Yee’s proposed legislation would cause to the University of California cannot be understated. Among the deleterious effects that we can anticipate from Sen. Yee’s SCA21 are:
• diminishing UC’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest leaders, academics and researchers;
• exposing UC governance to the corrosive influence of partisan politics;
• subjecting decisions regarding academic and scientific research to political calculation;
• devaluing UC’s hard-earned and well-deserved international reputation as an institution of integrity, innovation and independence;
• reducing educational quality and the quality of scientific research; and,
• increasing UC’s vulnerability to the state’s own budget instability.
We also harbor grave concerns about the many unintended consequences that could stem from Sen. Yee’s ill-conceived bill. For example, would the state Legislature’s direct governance role create a chilling effect on private funding of scientific research? Would philanthropists be willing to donate money to an institution controlled by politicians? Would UC’s overall budget, including the 84 percent of total operating expenditures that don’t come from the state, be subject to control by the state Legislature, and what might that mean for UC’s future financial sustainability?
It’s hard to imagine the justification for such a drastic and sweeping proposal. Would anyone argue that over the past 140 years the University of California under the independent leadership of the Board of Regents – along with the state Legislature’s strong oversight role – has not grown into one of the most accomplished and respected public university systems in the world? Many of its 10 undergraduate universities consistently rank among the best in the nation, if not the world. Its 32 Nobel laureates are the most of any university or university system in the world. Its many other academic awards and honors are too many to list here.
It’s unlikely that any of the revolutionary advances in sustainable energy, medicine, agriculture and other sciences developed at UC – including breakthroughs in the treatment of infectious diseases, commercially viable biofuels, and food and product safety – could have been achieved if the University were subject to the political contention, gridlock and inaction prevalent in California’s legislative process.
The University’s success for students, faculty and California has come against a backdrop of increasing demand on the institution, including enrollment growth and declining financial support from state government. Over the past almost 20 years, state government’s share of UC’s core spending has declined by 40 percent. Even with recent and proposed increases in student fees to help offset lower state support, UC’s undergraduate fees are an average of 20 percent lower than those charged at comparable universities. We believe it is important to note that UC has worked hard to insulate students against the full brunt of declining state revenue, drawing on public and private research funding and revenue from its own internal enterprises to blunt the financial impact on students.
Much attention has been focused in recent years on management and compensation issues at UC. Sen. Yee has been among the shrillest critics of UC and the Board of Regents over these issues. Like all Californians, we agree that UC must be accountable and transparent in its operations and governance. And we believe that UC and the Board of Regents have taken tangible and effective actions to ensure that the University honors and upholds the public’s trust. In 2007, the University began implementing of number substantive reforms to increase accountability and efficiency, including reducing overall administrative costs. These actions and many others were taken in direct response to and in consultation with the state Legislature.
Senator Yee simply refuses to acknowledge the substantial changes the University has made and is continuing to make in improving accountability and transparency. Moreover, that a member of the California Senate is calling for more transparency from UC when the Legislature’s own budget process revolves around closed-door meetings of four legislative leaders and the governor is incongruous at best. We can’t help but wonder why Senator Yee is not directing a similar fervor to cleaning up his own house, whose failings are currently pushing our great state to the brink of insolvency.
Above all, we believe that the University of California must remain true to its mission, which is firmly and historically rooted in its independence. UC must continue to compete to maintain its position as a world-class academic and research institution. This is truer now than ever before as we work to restore California to economic health. UC has always been one of California’s primary economic drivers, pushing innovation, creating thousands of jobs, spinning off hundreds of new businesses and educating our future work force. We should not take lightly any attempt to weaken UC’s ability to compete and succeed and, in turn, weaken California’s future. Sen. Yee’s misguided proposal would do just that.
Please help us keep an independent University of California healthy and strong. Please withdraw SCA21 and ACA24.
Sincerely,
Warren Hellman
Co-founder & Chairman, Hellman & Friedman LLC
Arthur Rock
Principal, Arthur Rock & Co.
William K. Coblentz
Attorney and former Chairman, UC Board of Regents
Robert D. Haas
Trustee, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund; former CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Walter J. Haas
Co-Chair, Evelyn & Walter Hass, Jr. Fund; former Chairman & CEO, Oakland A’s
Gordon Moore
Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus, Intel
George Shultz
Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Former U.S. Secretary of State
Donald Fisher
Founder of Gap Inc.
Frank E. Baxter
U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay; former Chairman and CEO, Jefferies & Co.
Richard Rosenberg
Chairman, University of California San Francisco Foundation; former Chairman & CEO, BankAmerica
Michael D. Goldberg
General Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Douglas Shorenstein
Chairman & CEO, Shorenstein Properties LLC
William F. Cronk
Former President, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream
Theodore Geballe
Class of ’41, UC Berkeley; Professor Emeritus, Applied Physics, Stanford University
Gerson Bakar
Gerson Bakar& Associates
Edward E. Penhoet
President, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
T. Gary Rogers
Chairman, Levi Strauss & Co.; former Chairman & CEO, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
Arthur Kern
Director, Yahoo!
Charlotte Shultz
Chief of Protocol, State of California
Janet McKinley
Board Chair, Oxfam
Warren E. “Ned” Spieker, Jr.
Chairman, Continuing Life Communities; Managing Partner, Spieker Realty Investments
Lynn Feintech
A.B. 1971, M.A. 1974, UC Berkeley
Georgia Lee
Managing Director, Hellman & Friedman LLC