The Furlough Debates: Making the Cuts Visible

The UC Regents fundamentally redefined the University of California at their meeting last week. In the process, they imposed furloughs and campus operating cuts (Regents J2) on UC employees over those employees' strong objections (e.g. AFSCME's lawsuit, Academic Senate's 90 pager here, excerpts here). Now many are debating how to make the pay and operating cuts "visible."

They should. The reason is simple: given the top-heavy and one-way structure of the University of California, the practical effects of the cuts have no other form of expression.

The debate does not reflect a refusal of UC employees to "do their part in the crisis." It is a response to all the things that the Regents' last meeting made invisible:

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