Sunday, July 12, 2009

UC Budget cuts, yet again

UPDATE: Petition to the UC Regents

Mark Yudof released the proposed UC budget plan [pdf] on Friday.

The New York Times has an article that appears to be basically a press release from the UC Regents. No one is quoted who is not a UC administrator. Nice work, NYT!

A good blog on the issue is Remaking the University. There are also a number of documents up at the UCB English blog and at a site hosted by the faculty of UCLA.

The Chronicle also has an article [paywall], which laudably addresses both UC and Cal State, but gives little detail.

I'm wondering whether we'll be seeing bigger classes this fall. I sincerely hope not; students are not widgets, and it does not behoove us to cut corners in educating them.

This concerns me:
At the briefing, the current chairman, Russell Gould, announced creation of a new University of California Commission on the Future, which he and Mr. Yudof will head. The commission will consider how to maintain access, quality and affordability in a tough economic climate, what delivery models for higher education make the most sense, how big the university should be, and how to maximize traditional and alternative revenue streams.

“We’re going to have to change the way we do business,” Mr. Yudof said.

..."Delivery models"? What, we now "deliver" education, like it's shrimp lo mein? And here I thought we did these things called "research" and "teaching." Huh.

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