College chairs wary of deal

Department chairs of the UCLA College see the new budget compact
between the university and the state as a positive step toward
addressing their concerns about fee increases compared to previous
agreements, but are still skeptical about the compact’s
long-term effectiveness.

“It is clearly a compromise in which the UC system is
making large sacrifices and is depending upon a long-term adherence
of the state to increase funding,” said Glen MacDonald,
chairman of the geography department.

“But the record of the state in sticking to such long-term
commitments is not good,” he said.

The department chairs had sent a letter to Chancellor Albert
Carnesale and Executive Vice Chancellor Daniel Neuman on March 31,
requesting additional funding for the graduate program.

The letter was effective in getting a response from the
university system. MacDonald received letters from both the
University of California president and the chancellor, and was
contacted by many UC regents.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the university will receive
better funding from the state in the 2005-2006 academic year to
offset $372 million in cuts.

“The university and our departments have already suffered
draconian cuts,” said Teofilo Ruiz, chairman of the history
department.

“One more round of these cuts may do great irreparable
harm to our research and teaching assistants,” he said.

Though many College chairs are uncertain about whether the
funding will increase, they believe the compact’s conditions
are better than the January proposal.

“Anything that allows us to plan ahead and to know what
our future (in terms of the extent and nature of the cuts) will be
is an improvement on the uncertainty of the last two years,”
Ruiz said.

The January proposal had eliminated outreach funding, increased
graduate fees by 40 percent, and created uncertainty about future
budget cuts.

The new compact reduces the fee increase for graduate students
to 20 percent, which was the main concern for College chairs.

Many department chairs are concerned that the increase in fees
for graduate students will greatly reduce the number of students in
the UC system.

Because of the increase in graduate fees, state funding will
only allow UC to finance half the amount of graduate students to
attend school, said Larry Lyons, chairman of atmospheric
sciences.

The new compact also called for an average 10 percent
undergraduate fee increase over the next three years.

“People with means should provide more support through
fees, while the system and state must provide adequate support to
those students for whom even the still relatively modest fees at
the UC present a burden,” MacDonald said.

The UC has agreed to provide $12 million for outreach. State
support of outreach funding will be determined though the normal
budget process.

But many chairs are concerned about the long-term effects of the
compact. Though many believe they need further analysis to better
understand the compact, they are still skeptical about its
long-term effects.

“It might be an improvement in a bad situation because
what has happened in the past few years has been a negative step
for the UC as a whole,” said Claudio Pellegrini, chairman of
the physics and astronomy department.

Some chairs believe the compact has positive effects
overall.

“It looks like it’s a pretty good deal; it’s a
place to begin,” said Timothy Rice, chairman of the
ethnomusicology department.

Timothy Tangherlini, chairman of the Scandinavian section, is
skeptical about the state’s implementation of the
compact.

“There is a history to this type of agreement,” he
said. “I am not going to be popping champagne corks anytime
soon.”