UC advocates asked to lobby for money

  BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Steven
Arditti, legislative liason for the University of
California, encourages UC alumni to lobby for state funding.

By Kelly Rayburn
Daily Bruin Reporter

SACRAMENTO “”mdash; University of California advocates from all
nine campuses were asked on Monday to request funds to help the
university fulfill its obligations to the state.

The more than 300 faculty, staff, students and alumni who
attended Monday’s orientation in Sacramento will become
lobbyists today when they meet with legislators at the state
Capitol for this year’s UC Day.

UC Assistant Vice President and Legislative Liaison Steven
Arditti and Senior Vice President for the UC and External Relations
Bruce Darling spoke at the orientation, which was followed by a
UC-wide reception and a UCLA dinner.

Darling was a stand-in for UC President Richard Atkinson, who
was originally scheduled to speak but could not attend because of
what Darling called a “minor medical problem.”

Darling said the UC is a vital educational and research
institution.

“I truly believe that there is no other institution that
has had a more powerful role in transforming the way of life of
Californians than the University of California,” he said.

Arditti addressed the importance of state funds for the UC to
achieve the goals laid out in the California Master Plan for Higher
Education ““ growth, excellence and diversity ““ with the
coming of Tidal Wave II. Tidal Wave II refers to a large projected
influx of students to the UC over the next decade.

The master plan, currently under legislative review, is a
document that helps define the university’s mission in the
state. It was first adopted in 1960.

“You need to stress that the university has got to fulfill
its commitment to the state, to take all these young people and
educate them,” Arditti told those who will be advocating
today on behalf of the UC.

Arditti stressed that education issues should be a top priority
even with the energy crisis still hanging over legislators’
heads.

“The energy crisis has cast a cloud over the state’s
ability to fund all kinds of things in the state budget including
issues related to UC,” he said. “You couldn’t be
here at a more opportune time.”

Even though the number of applicants UC-wide is up 8 percent
from last year, funds for certain projects and the likelihood of a
2002 funding bond ““ which UC advocates are pushing for
““ may be in danger because so much of the budget surplus is
being spent of the energy crisis, Arditti said.

“The juxtaposition of this ““ our needs and the
energy crisis ““ could not be worse,” he continued.

But Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, whose district
includes UCLA, said he is not too worried that UC priorities will
be forgotten, adding that he believes education is a high priority
for most elected representatives.

“I’m not quite so sure how much of an impact (the
energy crisis) will have, but I think the money set aside for
education will survive,” Koretz said.

Because the state’s budget will be limited, the state
Senate will break up into sub-committees to consider the importance
of one-time expenditures proposed by Gov. Gray Davis.

That list includes funds to build UC Merced and to start UC four
science institutes, including UCLA’s new Nanosystems
Institute, which is to conduct research in medicine and
high-technology.

“It is absolutely crucial that we receive funding for
these institutes,” Darling said.

State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said she likes the
science institutes, but she supports many of the other one-time
expenditures that are being considered, including a multi-million
dollar clean-up project for Santa Monica Bay.

“We can’t simply rubber-stamp the governor’s
one time expenditures,” she said.

Kuehl added that such expenditures can some times be put off
another year or two.

But Arditti said the time may be now or never for UC Merced and
the science institutions.

“We need to get these things moving or risk losing them
all together,” he said.

Attending the event was Anagha Apte, a third-year UCLA political
science student. She and the other student advocates were there
both to argue for UC funds and for the personal experience.

“I am here to ask for more funding for UC’s in terms
of research, but also for my own knowledge ““ to learn about
how things work, about the master plan and Tidal Wave II,”
she said.

Another UCLA student said she was attending UC day to push for
higher education in general.

“Diversity and outreach are important to me,” said
fourth-year student Juli Chau Huynh. “The voice of UC as a
whole needs to be heard.”