Editorial: College systems should retain distinct roles

When first adopted, the California Master Plan for Higher Education created clear, distinct roles for each of the three systems of public higher education. For the top achievers in California, there was the University of California, a beacon of educational discourse, research and thought that would provide the state with its most accomplished workers.

Directly after, the California State Universities would provide a high level of education for all those qualified and wanted it, while the California Community Colleges would allow anyone whose circumstances prevented them from accessing the other two levels, a chance at higher education. The point of this differentiation was broad access: Higher education would be available to all California residents, catered to their specific needs and circumstances.

However, recent circumstances have muddled the roles of the California’s three public university systems. Now, instead of a three-tiered system that allowed each tier to pursue its own kind of specialized excellence, the state seems to view the three tiers as undifferentiated from one another.

Gov. Jerry Brown, for example, has consistently suggested cost-cutting measures at the UC that de-emphasize research and create more positions for adjunct lecturers instead of tenured faculty. Those kinds of suggestions betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the UC’s intended role in the state of California: that of a prestigious research university with renowned faculty on its payroll. The CSU fulfills the role of a teaching university, less focused on research and hiring research faculty.

Any new iteration of the Master Plan should reaffirm the system’s compartmentalization while additionally playing to the unique strengths and differences of the schools – and it should make sure those roles are respected and adhered to. This kind of distinction acknowledges that California is stronger when schools are freed from having to focus on providing the exact same education to a state that contains nearly thirty million unique learners.