Regent Blum and President Yudof responded to the letter sent by the chairs of several of the UC Faculty Associations (also posted to this website a couple weeks ago). Their response is below:
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June 30, 2009
Professor Dwight Read, UCLA Faculty Association
Professor Warren Gold, UCSF Faculty Association
Professor Ian Kennedy, Davis Faculty Association
Professor Dale Seborg, Santa Barbara Faculty Association
Dear Colleagues:
We are writing in response to your June 17th letter to the Board of Regents expressing your concern about the process for determining the University’s response to the local crisis with which we are faced.
I assure you that these issues have the focused attention of the Board of Regents and the University’s administrative leadership. We have been working in close consultation with the Academic Senate, and these matters will occupy a substantial portion of the Board’s July meeting. Both the Office of the President and the campuses have done their best to communicate with faculty and staff about the nature of the challenges and the choices we face.
We agree, however, that the short-term budget decisions we face mask an extraordinarily challenging longer-term problem. State funding is unlikely to recover to a level that truly meets the University’s needs at any point in the near future. As a result, the University must develop a comprehensive plan for sustaining quality and addressing the many pressures upon the institution within the context of further diminished State support. Development of such a plan must involve reviewing, and potentially redefining, many long-held assumptions about the sources of support for the University’s operations, how the University can make best use of those resources, and what level of service the University can provide to the public in return for those resources. We are currently working on a plan to examine the fundamental questions before us, and to do it in an expeditious manner. Faculty, staff, and alumni will be well represented in this process.
In the meantime, we are approaching the immediate budget crisis with urgency and seriousness. For the first time in modern history, we initiated a process to curtail enrollment of freshmen in the University, reducing our enrollment plans for the coming fall by 2,300 students. As a way of ensuring that a path to UC stays open, we also increased the number of community college transfers by 500 students. We are examining options for further curtailment of enrollment in 2010-11. We have undergone a massive restructuring of the Office of the President, reducing its budget by more than $60 million and eliminating more than 600 positions. Campuses are undergoing a similar self-examination to identify efficiencies, eliminate duplication, and streamline processes. By way of changing the “business as usual” dynamic, we are beginning to look at new ways to deliver education at lower cost and still maintain quality. We are reviewing our ability to consolidate programs across the system where possible. And as you know, we are currently vetting options for a temporary furlough and/or pay reduction for faculty and staff. These actions are not indicators of complacency.
We appreciate your sharing your views and we welcome having them, but we do wish to remind you of Bylaw 16.9 of the University, which states that communications from members of the faculty to the Board of Regents must be presented through the President.
We look forward to working with the faculty on a plan for the future that reflects our fiscal realities and preserves the tremendous quality and service that the University provides to California, and we encourage you and your colleagues to share your thoughts and ideas with the leadership of the Academic Senate on your campuses and systemwide. In the coming days, we will be working closely with the Senate on these and other issues of concern to the faculty.
Sincerely,
Richard C. Blum
Chairman, Board of the Regents
Mark G. Yudof
President
cc: The Regents of the University of California
Chancellors
Interim Provost Pitts
Academic Council Chair Croughan
Executive Vice President Lapp
Senior Vice President Dooley
Vice President Lenz
Associate Vice President Obley