University of California's Researchers Tell Its President to Think Before Making Cuts. (July 3, 2009)

Three weeks ago TFW reported "Some California Legislators Propose Stripping the University of California of Its Constitutional Autonomy" the move being associated with the expectation that the ten-campus University of California will have a cut of US$800 million from the US$3.2 billion in state funds it was due to receive over the next year.

Then on June 17 UC President Mark Yudof wrote a letter to all employees, in regard to proposed salary cuts, to help reduce the effect of the projected $800 million shortfall: "The University has never faced a funding deficit of this magnitude, and responding to it will require sacrifice from every member of the University community."

Greg Miller, writing in today's Science notes that: "Yudof's letter outlines three proposals that combine salary cuts and furloughs to different extents. All amount to a roughly 8% reduction in pay (4% for those making less than $46,000 a year) for 1 year and would save UC roughly $195 million. Graduate student stipends would not be cut. The reductions would apply to all employees, regardless of where their salaries come from. 'That's the approach he thinks is the fairest and makes the most sense,' says Paul Schwartz, a spokesperson for the UC office of the president."

But not all UC employees agree. "The fairness argument just doesn't hold water with people," Daniel Donoghue, a biochemist and chair of the academic senate at UC San Diego (UCSD) told Mr Miller, and cited data showing that at UCSD, for example, only 25% of salary expenditures come from state funds; the rest come from federal grants, medical centre income, and other sources.

Andrea Bertozzi, director of applied mathematics at UC Los Angeles (UCLA), put it this way: "If I'm bringing in this research money from Washington ... and I lose my grant, the rest of the university doesn't have to feel my pain, and I wouldn't expect them to." Furthermore, as Quentin Williams, a professor of earth sciences and chair of the academic senate at UC Santa Cruz says: "There's a net loss of income to the UC system that accompanies cutting [the salaries of] people who are not state-funded," because income from oncosts are a fixed percentage of the direct costs of a grantee's research, including salaries and equipment purchases. Whether or not the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health would show flexibility in the circumstances as regards oncost funding, however, hasn't been determined.

Another pressing problem for the university noted in Greg Miller's report is that "faculty members already earn 20% to 25% less on average than faculty at top private schools like Harvard and Stanford universities, according to the university's annual accountability report. 'It presents an opportunity for private universities to raid the University of California,' says UCLA neuroscientist Arthur Toga".

One June 30 President Yudof noted that there was significant dissention in the ranks. Below is a copy of the letter he sent to staff.

How the matter will be played out should become clear within the next weeks.

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