These enrollment cuts are a watershed for the downsizing of public higher ed, as reported in the very good piece by Josh Keller, in the Chronicle of Higher Education

The California State University is the classic social escalator, the gateway for California's racially diverse and international population. It has been slowing down for years, drained financially for years by Republican minority anti-tax blocs in the state leg (Proposition 13 and the need for a 2/3rds majority to pass any budget measure is the recipie for this Country Party lock on the budget). Now is now being monkeywrenched with the excuse of the financial crisis. Faculty and students are striking all over France, and I can't understand what it will take for people to finally say ENOUGH in California.
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Friday, March 27, 2009

Forced to Downsize, Cal State Campuses Reject Thousands of Eligible Students

By JOSH KELLER

San Francisco

Faced with severe budget cuts and an increase in applications for this fall, nearly half of California State University's 23 campuses may have no choice but to turn away students who would normally be promised admission.

Campuses across the state are rejecting or wait-listing students who meet the system's minimum admissions standards. The restrictions are a response to a call in November from the system's chancellor, Charles B. Reed, to cut systemwide enrollment by 10,000 full-time equivalent students in view of the state's budget crisis.

This year's enrollment cuts may not be the last. Given California's continuing budget problems, Mr. Reed said on Wednesday that he would "probably" have to order additional limits in enrollment in the future.

The scope of the restrictions may be unprecedented in California, where the state Constitution dictates that California State University serve the top third of graduating high-school students each year. Eleven of the system's 23 campuses have adopted tougher admissions requirements, in many cases sharply limiting the number of students they admit from outside their local area.

"Never has the demand for the university been higher, but rarely has our ability to meet it been as challenged," said James C. Blackburn, the system's director of enrollment management.

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The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources has released a pay study that shows that public university salaries continue to fall behind privates. In other bad news, pay for the humanities disciplines lag enough to cast doubt as to whether they are in the same profession as fields like business. The Inside Higher Ed coverage notes:

the CUPA data suggest that the gaps between those in some professional schools and everyone else remain large, and that some humanities disciplines remain stuck with salaries much lower than counterparts across the quad. The median salary for a full professor of English for example ($79,854, across sectors) is less than the median for an assistant professor of business ($84,025). Instructors in English or in philosophy have median salaries below $40,000 at public institutions, while instructors in law and legal studies earn over $60,000 at public institutions.

These salaries do not come from the market but from custom, status differences, and other unjust lock-ins. Will the crisis help us rethink any of this?