UC Regent Bagley steps down

  UCOP William Bagley

By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff

William Bagley, former state assemblyman and affirmative action
advocate, steps down as a regent of the University of California
this month after helping to guide the university through a
financially and politically tumultuous decade.

Appointed in 1990 to the UC Board of Regents by then-Gov. George
Deukmeijan after serving on the state’s public utilities and
transportation commissions, the appointment gave the UC Berkeley
alumnus a chance to give back to the system that gave him his
education.

“It’s the university, not the Board, that’s
prestigious,” Bagley said.

Bagley’s term saw significant budget crises as well as
attempts by the board to eliminate affirmative action policies in
the UC.

During the early 1990s, the UC faced severe financial
shortfalls. One way the regents responded was by more than doubling
student fees between 1991-95, from $1,624 to $3,799.

A similar situation faces the university today, with state
funding for the UC coming up far short of what it requested.

Bagley said he remembered a time when he would pay no more than
$30 for tuition. He graduated from Berkeley in 1949 as
valedictorian and permanent president of his undergraduate class.
He also attended the Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley.

Now that the regents are again considering raising student fees
to make up for budget inadequacies, he maintains that the board
should seek other alternatives.

“We need to make damn sure that the university is funded
““ which is not the case today,” Bagley said.

He suggested that the state consider charging a deductible tax
increase to make up for lost funds.

Bagley had previously said the state legislature
“didn’t have the guts” to raise taxes.

Yet the issue that stands on the forefront of his
accomplishments is last spring’s repeal of SP-1 and 2,
policies the regents passed in 1995 that eliminated the use of
affirmative action in admission and hiring throughout the UC.

The policies were approved by votes of 14-10 and 15-10. Bagley
was the only regent to abstain from voting on SP-1, because he did
not wish to involve the university in politics.

The passage of the policies came under a substantial amount of
opposition from Bagley, several regents, students and even the
Clinton Administration.

“The university has become a national poster board for
anti-affirmative action,” Bagley said to The Bruin in March
2000.

Many argued that repealing SP-1 and 2 would be purely symbolic,
since the voter-initiated Proposition 209 in 1996 banned
affirmative action in all state agencies.

Bagley said RE-28, the bill that would repeal SP-1 and 2,
“would better the UC’s reputation by eliminating the
usage of the university as a political vehicle.”

He also emphasized the repeal as a welcoming message to minority
students in the state.

“Our effort is only to repair the image of the university
in the eyes of the minority community and the eyes of
academia,” Bagley said to The Bruin on March 12.

Since the repeal last May, the regents have rapidly passed
policies to fulfill RE-28’s mission to “seek out and
enroll, on each of its campuses, a student body that …
encompasses the broad diversity of backgrounds characteristic of
California.”

In July, the regents passed Dual Admissions, which allows
certain students into the UC provided they complete two years of
approved coursework at a community college. The program was
postponed due to lack of funding.

Last November, the regents passed comprehensive review, a new
method of evaluating UC applications to take personal experiences
and life challenges into greater consideration.

Earlier this month, the regents passed a modified form of
Assembly Bill 540 that allows certain undocumented immigrants and
out-of-state students to be exempt from paying more than $11,132 in
nonresident tuition.

All of Bagley’s efforts as a regent have left a lasting
impression on those who served on the board with him.

He was often the most animated and lively regent. In addition,
he would always have a joke or quip at the ready even in the most
solemn meetings to break the tension.

“I enjoyed his humor and for helping me not be so
serious,” said Regents Chair S. Sue Johnson, also an outgoing
regent.

Bagley’s persistence in pursuing causes like the repeal of
SP-1 inspired other regents as well.

“One of the things I’ve learned and admire about
Bagley is that even if you disagree, not to give up, that
persistence prevails,” said Regent Tom Sayles.

Bagley also served as a mentor to the student regents, who
acquired voting power on the board only a few years ago.

“He made the effort to involve the student regent as much
as he could,” said Student Regent Tracy Davis. “He
believed in the abilities and strengths of what a student brought
to the board.”

Bagley would broaden the context of the board’s decisions
by helping them appreciate the far-reaching effects of the
regents’ actions, nationally and sometimes internationally,
Davis said.

“He would remind us that our decisions were often greater
than just purely a policy decision for the UC,” Davis
said.

Before becoming a regent, Bagley enjoyed an illustrious career
in the public sector.

He served in the State Assembly, representing Marin and Sonoma
counties from 1960-74. One of his more well-known pieces of
legislation is the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, which allows
public access to all state agency meetings, including those of the
UC Regents.

After leaving the Assembly, Bagley was appointed the first
chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by Pres.
Gerald Ford, a post he held from 1975-79.

Looking back 12 years, Bagley said he will remember most the
people with whom he worked at the UC.

“I’ll miss the President, chancellors and officers
who really epitomize the university,” Bagley said.
“I’ll miss the quality of people that surrounded me (at
the board).”