Recall: Vote against Prop. 54 and for a leader who puts education first

As the only student member of the UC Board of Regents, I know
very well that students don’t often have the chance to make a
direct, immediate impact on crucial decisions that affect the
fundamental future of our university. But before the year is out,
we will have the chance to make just such an impact on not one, but
two decisions that will rule the fate of our university in the
years to come.

The people of California will make two profound decisions in the
recall election. The first ““ the potential recall of the
governor ““ will determine who will lead our state for the
next three years. The second ““ Proposition 54, the
Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color, or National Origin
(CRECNO) initiative ““ will determine whether vital
information necessary for public health programs, academic
research, civil rights enforcement and intelligent public policy
decisions will be made illegal.

The governor is the one person who has the most control over the
university’s budget ““ he decides whether or not to
increase student fees, cut salaries, and slash student services and
outreach programs, or to prioritize higher education instead of
prison spending and tax breaks for the wealthy. No matter how we
each vote on the recall, we students need to make our voices heard
in this election. Our governor for the next three years needs to
feel the pressure to recommit our state to prioritizing public
higher education ““ to preserving quality and accessibility at
the UC. The legislature has already put us on notice that it
expects us to give up our 43-year-old commitment to accept all
eligible students.

We need a governor who will not accept this proposed sacrifice
of the education of a generation; one who will recognize the vital
importance of public higher education in this information age, in a
state supported by an information economy and bulging with a
rapidly expanding college-aged population.

Yet while the governor’s recall is incredibly important,
Proposition 54 could have far more serious impacts on our
university, and it must be stopped. While my fellow regent, Ward
Connerly, authored Proposition 54, the UC Board of Regents voted 15
to 3 this May to officially oppose the initiative due to its
serious negative potential impacts on the university.

Proposition 54 would make the collection of racial, ethnic or
national origin data illegal for the University of California. The
ramifications of losing such vital research data would be
disastrous. And the impact of potentially limiting our
professors’ ability to conduct critical research, especially
in the humanities and social sciences, could perhaps lead to an
exodus of top-quality professors. The last thing we want in
precarious budget times is a massive loss of premier faculty. It
takes decades to rebuild quality departments if many faculty
members leave at once. We cannot afford such a blow to the quality
of this institution.

Will the state force the university to give up on our promise to
provide a top-quality education to every eligible student? Or will
our governor commit to prioritizing higher education and to
preserving the world’s preeminent public university system?
Will premier faculty members leave the UC en masse? Or, will we
reject legislated ignorance, ensuring that the best of the best
professors will continue to lead their fields at the University of
California? We have the power and the responsibility to decide.

Register to vote and actually vote in the recall election.

For more information on the election, see the UC’s
specially prepared Web site at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/oct03election.html

Matt Murray is the UC student regent for 2003-2004. He is an
architecture and city and regional planning student at UC
Berkeley.