The Worst of Both Worlds

The Worst of Both Worlds

By Michael Meranze“Once we allow ourselves to be disobedient to the test of an accountant’s profit, We have begun to change our civilization.” John Maynard KeynesDespite the claims of its leaders and proponents, Wednesday’s rollout of the first draft of UCOF recommendations reveal that far from being “a brave first take” as President Yudof would have it, the Gould Commission threatens...

Between impotence and noise: A systems-analysis of the Commission on the Future of UC

Between impotence and noise: A systems-analysis of the Commission on the Future of UC

by Viviane MichelTo an interested outside observer, it is puzzling why the best public university system in the world saddled itself with an unproven, cumbersome mechanism of self-reflection: the Commission on the Future of the University of California. But one need not jump to the conclusion, as some have done in the press, that the culture of the university prevents innovation...

UCOF Education and Curriculum Recommendations: Less for More

UCOF Education and Curriculum Recommendations: Less for More

by Rei Terada, Professor of Comparative Literature, UC IrvineUCOF'S EDUCATION & CURRICULUM RECOMMENDATIONS: LESS FOR MOREThe proposals offered by UCOF this week quite literally ask students to pay more for less instruction. How to get them to pay more is covered under the funding recommendations; how the UC might deliver less instruction is covered in the section called “Education...

UCOF Funding Strategies Report Pushes Privatization

UCOF Funding Strategies Report Pushes Privatization

I don't like throwing that word around but I don't see any way around it here, having just read today's Funding Strategies Working Group (FSWG) report.  Its genuine positive contributions are outweighed by recommendations of large tuition increases that embrace the current--failing-- higher education funding model without seriously considering the likely negative effects. A...

UCOF is Coming

UCOF is Coming

This is a big week in UC admin.  The Regents are meeting at Mission Bay in San Francisco, and the UC Commission on the Future is to hear its first round of ideas in the five main areas under study. A core question will be whether financial trends are driving UCOF's educational planning, or whether planning has some independence of thought. The separation of working groups...

Financial Aid Measures Bound to Disappoint

Financial Aid Measures Bound to Disappoint

It would be nice to have some good funding news for a change, but Washington is displaying a  too-little-to-late syndrome that, if it continues, is going to stall higher ed recovery. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Paul Basken has a particularly through review of the state of the student-loan bill in Congress. The bill does continue to cut out the unaffordable private-sector...

Whom Do You Tolerate?

Whom Do You Tolerate?

by David Theo Goldberg University of California, Irvine University of California administrators seem to have gathered around a singular verbal response to the variety of “incidents” that has rocked UC campuses in the past month or so.  All such incidents, they say, are expressions of “intolerance and incivility.” President Yudof has issued a statement insisting  that...

Remaking the University--A Jeremiad

Remaking the University--A Jeremiad

By Michael MeranzeChris’ recent posts on the budget and on the problem of accountability have provoked a series of productive responses by Bob Samuels and others (see the comments on Chris’ posts). There are important differences of tactics and analysis here: Does the chief problem lie in Sacramento or Oakland? What is the true nature of the crisis? Does UC have enough money...

March 4th At UCLA

March 4th At UCLA

By Tobias HigbieStudents, staff, faculty and community members participated in multi-focal protests on the UCLA campus on March 4th. The day's events...

More photos of March 4 at UCI

More photos of March 4 at UCI

I don't know why it's always referred to as a "sleepy campus," but Neon Tommy has photos and video of protest action yesterday at UC...

UCI Day Of Action/Photos

UCI Day Of Action/Photos

Quick wrap up: 12 noon rally at the flagpoles-- very good speakers, articulate, impressive, able to address a wide range of issues from the poverty draft,...

San Diego March 4

San Diego March 4

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Talking Points for Bollocks-Free Protesting: No On Fees

Talking Points for Bollocks-Free Protesting: No On Fees

Some higher education leaders are trying to head off protests by saying high tuition is good for poor folks because it means high financial aid. The San Jose Mercury News greeted Protest Day by finding a few people to sing the praises of high tuition as a Robin Hood "soak the rich" scheme to save low-income students from the injustice of low tuition. This Kool-Aid is going to...

A Very White Day at the University of California

A Very White Day at the University of California

David Theo Goldberg University of California, Irvine Recent events across the University of California—at UCSD, at UC Irvine, at Berkeley, and perhaps even more broadly at UCLA, at Riverside, at Santa Cruz, have been lumped together by top university administrators, even if the events are linked together in ways completely belying the administrative default position. Of late,...