There were a few questions, some from Lt. Governor Garamendi, the Senate chair expressed coauthorship for the new presidential powers and full support, President Yudof assured the Regents that this is not a "war powers act" as some have alleged, and then J1 passed unanimously on a voice vote.
The contrast with the views expressed during Public Comment was total.
UC Health & Service Strike News
12 hours ago
17 comments:
That was completely sickening. It shows though that institutions do not recognize petitions (speech acts); they only recognize action (withholding of labor power).
I am equally disgusted! I would leave UC right now if I could!
Student regent just declared (twice) his support for J2. So that's that, then.
I'm listening to the discussion and haven't heard a word of criticism of the furlough plan. It's scary - the "show meeting" quality of this. Academic Senate chair Mary Croughan said she was "legal obligated" to report that the campus and committee Senate commmentary was actually overwhelming negative. zip from the Rs
I am a similarly disgusted faculty member. I also am very tempted to leave UC for a properly functioning, properly funded university. When this budget crisis lifts for the private universities -- and it will, with the end of the recession -- many of the stars will decide they can shine more brightly elsewhere, and they will leave. In contrast, we have no indication that the UC system will recover from the UCOP policies, and much reason to believe it will not, given the past history of de-funding.
It is time for anger, outrage, and action. It is time to insist that funding cuts translate into SERVICE CUTS. Insist that furlough days translate into reduction of teaching days, office hours, grading hours, etc. Californians must see that they won't get what they don't pay for. The reductions cannot all be imposed on faculty and staff alone. Services must suffer, not just us.
We should also demand the immediate resignation of Yudof. Say "no" to unrestricted UCOP power to drive this university system into mediocrity.
"I would leave UC right now if I could"
Technically, we serve the people of California and have an obligation to give them the best University we can for the lowest cost. If you can't leave, that's an indication that you should be paid less.
From Yudof's tweets. Irony and Idiocy:
# At Regents meeting in SF; everyone has passionate ideas for saving UC in the face of crisis. That's what we're here to do.about 2 hours ago from web
#
Another admirable viewpoint from our faculty in today's SF Chronicle: http://bit.ly/2HQDu19:49 AM Jul 14th from bit.ly
"If you can't leave, that's an indication that you should be paid less."
You must be an arrogant doctor or engineer! Have you ever considered that many faculty work in fields in which there are 2-3 (junior) jobs in a (good) year? Or that many are upside down on their mortgage? Or that they may have family reasons that make a move difficult if not impossible? Or, for that matter, that in the middle of the summer there are no faculty openings? Or that, given the current situation of most universities, there are going to be very few openings in the near future?
But I am glad you are happy with the pay cuts (sorry, furloughs without days off). Probably because they do not affect you personally, and you need to justify this by branding those who will pay the price as academically useless.
yang on right now
"If you can't leave, that's an indication that you should be paid less."
With colleagues like you we don't need Yudof to destroy the university.
"You must be an arrogant"
Guilty
" doctor or engineer!...they do not affect you personally"
Not guilty. Not a doctor or engineer. And I'm affected.
But consider the big picture. The state of California is in bad shape. Lots of people are unemployed and losing their homes. Maybe we can put up with a modest cut (when compared with the 100% cut many are facing).
"you need to justify this by branding those who will pay the price as academically useless."
You are doing the branding. Even your typing is shrill. Hopefully with the pay cuts, you'll cut back on lattes and calm down a little.
I think there are crossed wires here. check out the Regents right now - "the passion around the table to take action, and to be bold." not yet convincing but they are a lot more serious than about J1
"Hopefully with the pay cuts, you'll cut back on lattes and calm down a little."
Actually, thanks to the pay cuts, I will drastically cut down on mortgage payments: I will not need to make any because my home will be repossessed. Because I am not only getting a pay cut, I have a partner among those who lost 100% of their income.
Happy now?
In case you have not yet heard, the Regents approved J2!
yes - just blogged it.
would you be willing to spell out your story - housing crisis etc- so people can really get it and understand? I'd like to do much more in the way of true tales of damage on the blog over the summer
"would you be willing to spell out your story "
There is not much to tell. Due to the recession, my partner lost a job that made more than 60% of our income and which we had every reason to consider secure. We have now exhausted the savings that kept us afloat for months. Our house (which we did NOT buy at the height of the market) is worth less than what we owe, due to a large drop in prices in our area. We are trying to negotiate a mortgage modification, but my 7% pay cut makes our case much less persuasive than it was. We are most likely going to be offered a shortsale or title transfer (to the bank).
It is unbearably sad to see your life and your security go up in smoke, to have to think about how you will explain all this to your children. There is no need to add insult to injury with misperceptions that we can afford $500 a month for lattes (on regular UC salaries?!) or that those of us who cannot leave are somehow undeserving of our (very modest) salaries.
But this lack of empathy for the less-well paid seems pervasive these last few weeks. I have seen many more documents arguing for the highly-paid extra-murally funded faculty than for those making $40,000 a year who are now getting pay cuts. Although cutting the salaries of the former is not fair, not considering the plight of the less fortunate is truly inhumane.
thank you -totally horrible, and I am very sorry. One practical thing we should push for is a bailout fund for emergencies like this run through each campus.
I'm going to do some kind of push around these totally unnecessary disasters.
Join the Conversation
Note: Firefox is occasionally incompatible with our comments section. We apologize for the inconvenience.