Regents to decide on appointment, salary of UC president Thursday

The University of California Board of Regents is set to appoint and name the salary for the next UC president at their bimonthly meeting this week.

The board will decide on Thursday whether to appoint the chosen nominee, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, as UC president. Napolitano will be present at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus on Thursday for the regents meeting.

Regents and state officials alike have already voiced their support for Napolitano as president, though some students have unfavorable opinions of the federal official.

The regents will discuss in closed session how much money the new president will make. Current President Mark Yudof earns about $591,000 a year, while Napolitano makes about $200,000 a year in her federal post.

High executive salaries like Yudof’s have come under fire from UC union employees and students in the recent past.

The regents are also set to decide on or discuss:

• A $618 tuition increase for the UC’s four nursing professional degree programs

• Amendments to the Faculty Code of Conduct to allow for academic freedom

• The 2014-2015 UC budget, which includes a tuition freeze but no tuition buyout funds from the state

• The approval of UC Berkeley undergraduate Sadia Saifuddin as the next student regent-designate, the successor to the UC student regent position

• An update on the UC’s online education efforts, including a faculty grant program to create more online courses

• An increase in contribution rates to the UC Retirement plan for employees and the University

• An information security framework to be enforced throughout the UC

• The 2014-2015 budget for the UC Office of the President, which includes a 4.7 percent increase in expenditures