November regents’ meeting

Over the course of the next two days, the University of California Board of Regents will discuss several issues that have been important to the university during the course of the past several months. Below are some of the key topics of discussion.

Wednesday

“¢bull; Regents will consider approving the UC annual financial report, 2008-2009 budget proposal, leases and other financial matters.

“¢bull; Regents will receive an update of the UC restructuring efforts that began early this year as well as discuss changes in executive compensation. Restructuring efforts began as early as April 2007 but received increased media attention in July when Chairman Richard Blum released a statement titled, “We Need to Be Strategically Dynamic.” Provost Wyatt Rory Hume responded at the time by saying that he agreed that many changes needed to be made at the university level and pledged that the UC Office of the President would make substantive changes in the way the university is run.

“¢bull; There will be a closed session meeting on the criteria for choosing the new UC president. Following President Robert Dynes’ resignation this summer, UCOP has led the effort to find a new president to fill the position currently held temporarily by Hume. In recent months, there have been increased frustrations from some students and members of the UC Student Association because they feel students have not been adequately included in determining the criteria for choosing the new president. The results of the regents’ discussion will be released in an open session Thursday.

Thursday

“¢bull; Regents will consider supporting Proposition 92, which will appear on the California ballot in 2008 and could potentially increase funding for community colleges and decrease funding for the UCs and CSUs. If passed in February, the ballot measure would provide approximately $300 million for community colleges and California public schools. CSU and UC level officials have expressed concern that the measure could reduce funding for California universities. Regents will discuss whether they will support or remain neutral on the measure.

“¢bull; The finance and investment committees will consider amendments to conflict-of-interest policies for investment related procedures. This comes after months of nationwide investigations regarding improper relationships between universities and private lending companies. Several universities were accused of receiving gifts from companies in exchange for putting companies on their preferred-lenders list. The regents will discuss specific changes to university policy for placing companies on preferred-lenders lists.

“¢bull; Regents will receive updates on Department of Energy facilities and board of governance for the Livermore and Los Alamos laboratories. The university has been under scrutiny from the Department of Energy for mismanaging the Los Alamos laboratory and recently petitioned for more time before having to pay a $3 million dollar fine for the same infraction.

SOURCE: UC Office of the President