S(L)IDESHOW

S(L)IDESHOW

By Michael Meranze The unfolding summer has made it clearer than ever that the Regents have many plans but no sustainable vision for the future of UC. The plans are direct enough: administrative centralization, staff cuts, increasing tuition for students, a faith-based commitment to a second-tier of online UC education and a lowering of staff and faculty benefits. It is equally...

Unhappy Anniversary!

Unhappy Anniversary!

One year ago this week, the UC Regents approved furloughs for state-supported UC employees, emergency powers for President Yudof, and looked ahead to the fee hikes that would be coming at the November meeting.  The Chancellor's dramatic testimony of cuts to campus operations at the July meeting shocked the Regents and caused Regent Chair Russell Gould to form the Commission...

Delta Cost Project Casts Doubt on On-Line Education Strategy

Delta Cost Project Casts Doubt on On-Line Education Strategy

The Delta Project's new report, "Trends in Higher Education Spending, 1998-2008," has data to fuel a dozen major debates about higher education policy. One finding is particularly relevant to the much-discussed proposal to get UC into the on-line education business. The interest among senior managers in on-line education was wedded in public comments to the belief that UC was...

July Regents Meeting: Presidential Resolution Likely to Decrease rather than Increase Efficiency

July Regents Meeting: Presidential Resolution Likely to Decrease rather than Increase Efficiency

The Finance Committee of the Regents will consider an item at their July 14th meeting called "Adoption of Resolution Regarding Administrative Efficiencies" (F2).  At first glance, it is guaranteed to increase the president's executive authority, but is unlikely to increase UC efficiency. The resolution has the following features: It is the first item associated with the...

The Future of Online Learning at UC

The Future of Online Learning at UC

by Sharon Farmer History, UC Santa Barbara At its April, 2010 meeting, the Systemwide Academic Council of the UC Faculty Senate endorsed a revised version of a pilot project on online learning that had been brought forward by the UC Office of the President and endorsed by the Faculty Senate’s University Committee on Educational Policy.  In its April endorsement, the Academic...

The State We're In

The State We're In

By Michael Meranze July has come again and we are without a state budget. While this fact is no great surprise, the summer of 2010 will not be simply business as usual for UC, California, or the United States. Indeed, one doesn’t have to be a Cassandra to recognize that decisions made this summer will haunt us for a long time. At the state and federal levels Democrats in disarray...

Is California K-12 Our UC Destiny?

Is California K-12 Our UC Destiny?

I love steadily declining educational resources as much as the next person, and very much enjoyed this report just out today, which shows that California after years of striving now has successfully achieved the worst schools in the nation, 44th in this, 46, in that, 50 in librarians pet student - all numbers that make us special.  We are also 50th in class size, having the...