Regents publicly support Dynes

BY RICHARD CLOUGH

Bruin senior staff

[email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; The UC Board of Regents affirmed its
support for President Robert Dynes during the board’s meeting
Thursday and pledged to move forward as the regents attempt to
repair the university’s compensation system that has been at
the heart of an ongoing controversy.

“The regents are convinced that President Dynes can
correct the compensation problems confronting us and will implement
a long-range vision for the university that ensures both its
continuing academic quality and its ability to meet the needs of
California and its people,” said Regents Chairman Gerald
Parsky, speaking on behalf of the university’s entire
governing board.

“The regents hold President Dynes accountable for the
university’s compensation problems and he has acknowledged
his responsibility,” Parsky said.

At the conclusion of the two-day meeting in San Francisco
described by regents as “difficult” and
“unusual,” the regents focused less on compensation
than they did Wednesday, but the issue was somewhat
unavoidable.

As part of their discussion, the regents voted on a salary for
outgoing UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

Despite taking criticism for giving lavish leave packages to
outgoing officials, the regents chose to stick to their existing
policy and approved a salary of $323,600 for Carnesale ““ his
current base salary ““ while he is on a one-year sabbatical.
When he returns to UCLA in July 2007 as a professor of public
policy and mechanical and aerospace engineering, he will earn
$201,700.

In their meeting Wednesday, the regents agreed to review the
policies that govern sabbatical pay. Regent Judith Hopkinson said
that to be “fair and equitable” the regents would honor
the existing policy for Carnesale since the regents have yet to
revise those procedures.

Carnesale’s sabbatical pay is consistent with the
provisions of the UC’s personnel policy for employees holding
qualifying positions for at least five years.

The compensation controversy which dominated this week’s
regents sessions started when a series of newspaper reports
beginning in November revealed that the UC has paid hundreds of
millions of dollars in incentives, bonuses and other extravagant
forms of compensation to top-level executives in violation of
university policy and often without the knowledge of the regents or
the public.

The regents met with Dynes in closed session Wednesday, where
Dynes laid out his understanding of how and why the compensation
problems occurred. In Wednesday and Thursday’s meetings,
Dynes repeatedly accepted blame for the controversy.

“I made mistakes. That’s a hard thing to own up to,
but I did,” he said.

In recent weeks, Dynes has taken criticism for his role as
leader of the UC system when many compensation violations took
place.

In a meeting with reporters after the regents issued their
statement, Dynes said he has taken to heart the criticism he has
received but he is also pleased with the vote of confidence from
the regents.

Dynes said he thought about stepping down but decided not to
because he is “totally committed to the University of
California.”

Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, who has recently called for
Dynes’ resignation, issued a statement after Thursday’s
meeting saying that by supporting Dynes, the regents “are
thumbing their nose at taxpayers and students of
California.”

The regents laid out several definite actions they will take to
avoid future violations.

“Moving forward, the regents will not rely on voluntary
compliance or promises of reform,” he said.

Parsky presented three specific actions that the regents intend
to take: restructuring the Office of the President to help correct
deficiencies, establishing a Compensation Committee to create
transparency and accountability in the university’s pay
procedures, and creating a Compliance Office to assure compliance
with UC policies.

But the regents discussed more than compensation at their
Wednesday meeting.

With the partial handover of the UC’s nuclear lab
management only weeks away, the regents heard a presentation on the
contributions of the UC-managed labs ““ Los Alamos, Lawrence
Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories ““ to
the world of science.

After management for Los Alamos, which had been the sole domain
of the UC for more than 60 years, was put up for bid by the
Department of Energy last year, the UC renewed the management
contract by teaming with Bechtel National, BWXT and Washington
Group International. The new management team will take over June
1.

“The university has created, nurtured, developed and is
now the custodian of a priceless national asset,” said Los
Alamos Director Robert Kuckuck to the regents.

There was concern that the management transition would lead to
an exodus of employees from Los Alamos, but Kuckuck said 9,100 of
9,500 employees had signed contracts to return to the lab. Three
hundred will retire and 100 have yet to respond, he said.

During discussion of the labs, a group of about 20 students in
attendance became rowdy, protesting what they believe is the
labs’ ““ and by extension the UC’s ““ role in
creating nuclear weapons. No weapons are created at the labs.

As the students yelled, clapped and hissed, the regents asked
them to be quiet. After they refused, the regents cleared them out
of the room and about 10 police officers entered, telling the
students to leave or face arrest. The students left without
incident, and the meeting resumed about 10 minutes later.

For more information on UC compensation, visit
www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compensation.