Join the Discussion!
In order to make comments on blog entries, you will need to register with the site. At the bottom of the sidebar under “Meta” you will see a “register” link. Enter a username and email address, and your password will be sent to you. After you receive your generated password, you may wish to change it. To do so, click on the “Log in” link under “Meta” and go to “Preferences”. Here you can update your password as well as personal information.
If you would like to add blog entries, you will need to contact Professor Walker to request access (normally restricted to Board Members only).
Once your account has been authorized, login under “Meta”. To add a post, click on Posts > Add New. Enter a title at the top and fill in the text below. When you have completed your entry, be sure to check the “Discussion” box to the right under “Categories”. When you are ready to submit the entry, click on the blue “Publish” button. Remember you can also preview your entry, save it as a draft, or re-edit after you have published.
Sorry Tale of UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Office: easily grasped by the public, lost on University of California’s President Yudoff. The UC Berkley budget gap has grown to $150 million, & still the Chancellor is spending money that isn’t there on $3,000,000 consultants. His reasons range from the need for impartiality to requiring the consultants “thinking, expertise, & new knowledge”.
Does this mean that the faculty & management of UC Berkeley – flagship campus of the greatest public system of higher education in the world – lack the knowledge, integrity, impartiality, innovation, skills to come up with solutions? Have they been fudging their research for years? The consultants will glean their recommendations from faculty interviews & the senior management that hired them; yet $ 150 million of inefficiencies and solutions could be found internally if the Chancellor & Provost Breslauer were doing the work of their jobs (This simple point is lost on UC’s leadership).
The victims of this folly are Faculty and Students. $ 3 million consultant fees would be far better spent on students & faculty.
There can be only one conclusion as to why inefficiencies & solutions have not been forthcoming from faculty & staff: Chancellor Birgeneau has lost credibility & the trust of the faculty & Academic Senate leadership (C. Kutz, F. Doyle). Even if the faculty agrees with the consultants’ recommendations – disagreeing might put their jobs in jeopardy – the underlying problem of lost credibility & trust will remain. (Context: greatest recession in modern times)
Contact your representatives in Sacramento: tell them of the hefty self-serving $’s being spent by UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer.
Public universities are into a phase of creative disassembly where reinvention and adjustments are constant.. Even solid world class institutions like the University of California Berkeley under the leadership of Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer are firing staff, faculty and part-time lecturers through “Operation Excellence (OE)”. Yet many employees, professionals and faculty cling to old assumptions about one of the most critical relationship of all: the implied, unwritten contract between employer and employee.
Until recently, loyalty was the cornerstone of that relationship. Employers promised work security and a steady progress up the hierarchy in return for employees fitting in, accepting lower wages, performing in prescribed ways and sticking around. Longevity was a sign of employer-employee relations; turnover was a sign of dysfunction. None of these assumptions apply today. Organizations can no longer guarantee employment and lifetime careers, even if they want to. UC Berkeley senior management paralyzed themselves with an attachment to “success brings success’ rather than “success brings failure’ and are now forced to break the implied contract with employees – a contract nurtured by management that the future can be controlled.
Jettisoned Cal employees are finding that the hard won knowledge, skills and capabilities earned while being loyal are no longer valuable in the employment market place.
What kind of a contract can employers and employees make with each other? The central idea is both simple and powerful: the job or position is a shared situation. Employers and employees face market and financial conditions together, and the longevity of the partnership depends on how well the for-profit or not-for-profit continues to meet the needs of customers and constituencies. Neither employer nor employee has a future obligation to the other. Organizations train people. Employees develop the kind of security they really need – skills, knowledge and capabilities that enhance future employability.
The partnership can be dissolved without either party considering the other a traitor.
University of California Faculty, Academic Senate, Academic Council, Chancellors and Vice Chancellors and UCOP can pitch-in to curb tuition escalation.
. As Californians face foreclosure, unemployment & depressed wages it’s time timid Governor, UC Board of Regents, whining President showed leadership by curbing costs, particularly wages, benefits. As a Californian, I don’t care what others earn private, public universities. If wages better elsewhere, chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured, non tenured faculty, UCOP should apply for the positions. If wages commit employees to UC, leave for better paying position. The sky above UC will not fall.
California suffers from the greatest deficit modern times. UC wages, benefits must reflect California’s ability to pay, not what others paid elsewhere. Campus chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured & non-tenured faculty, UCOP are replaceable by the more talented.
Curb UC tuition increases:
No furloughs
18 percent reduction in UCOP salaries & $50 million cut.
18 percent prune of campus chancellors’, vice chancellors’ salaries.
15 percent trim of tenured faculty salaries, increased teaching load
10 percent decrease in non-tenured faculty salaries, as well as increase research, teaching load
100% elimination of all Academic Senate, Academic Council costs, wages.
Rose bushes bloom after pruning.
The Governor, UC Board of Regents, whining President can bridge the trust gap to public by offering reassurances that salaries reflect depressed wages in California. The sky above UC will not fall.
Californians are reasonable people. Levy no new taxes until an approved balanced budget: let the Governor/Legislature lead; make the tough-minded (not cold hearted) decisions of elected leadership. Afterwards come to public for continuing, specified taxes.
Thanking you in advance for your partnership & for standing up for Californians, University of California10 campuses.