Save UC Berkeley
About SAVE SAVE is an organization of UC Berkeley faculty dedicated to preserving access to education, excellence in teaching and transparency of administrative decisions. SAVE was created in July 2009 in response to the California budget crisis and its effects on our campus and across the UC system. More than 170 professors have joined SAVE so far. What We Believe We believe the University of California is the world’s greatest public university. UC Berkeley, UCSD, and UCLA are ranked #1, #2, and #3 in the nation among public universities by The Washington Monthly. We believe the university's greatness is based on a world-class faculty. Research professors stand at the at the forefront of human knowledge. Their ideas are the source of future textbooks and policies. They train the next generation of scholars and help undergraduates become the next generation of leaders in all professions. We believe the greatness of this public University rests on its students, who come from all backgrounds, classes and ethnicities. We believe that university research and teaching are essential to California's prosperity and that UC's commitment to opportunity for all qualified students is fundamental to the future well-being of the state. We believe that the present crisis facing our campus is not only economic, but political, and is tied to lack of funding for public education at all levels in the State of California. The Current Threat The university is endangered by the recent draconian budget cuts instituted by state government. The public nature of the university is threatened by rising tuition for students. The world-class faculty of the university are in jeopardy as professors leave for lack of competitive salaries and new, young professor are not hired for lack of funds. The university is burdened by its own leaders, who have allowed administrative costs to rise at 2-3 times the rate of all other costs of operating UC. The university will be unable to serve California's less advantaged, including students of color, and middle class families will be severely overstretched paying for higher tuition -- a virtual 'tax on parents'. The university's system of shared governance between administrators and faculty, which has been a bulwark of the faculty quality and loyalty, is being jeopardized by granting the President Emergency Powers. Faculty research and student support are in danger from staff layoffs. Too many staff are being cut by administrators who have little sense of the vital support functions they carry out. What We Want We want to maintain a public university. This cannot be done if the UC administration raises tuition by 45% over the next two years, as planned. We want tuition raises stopped. We want to maintain a high percentage of California residents among students enrolled at Berkeley. The administration favors admitting more higher-paying, out-of-state residents. We want the latter capped at 15%. We want administrative costs reduced before cutting back on libraries, departments and other essential educational functions. We want cuts in a bloated administration. We want full budgetary transparency from the university and campus administrations. We want full disclosure of “secret budgets,” particularly around executive pay, administrative growth, and intercollegiate athletics. What We Call For We call for the University administration to examine its budget priorities, and to make transparent all budget issues so that they can become a matter of debate and collective decision-making. We call for immediate steps to ensure accountability. A faculty team should be allowed to record and examine all budget cuts with academic effects and make the results known to the faculty at large. We call for majority rule in the state legislature on both revenue and budgets. The 2/3 rule – which means a minority has veto power – must be eliminated and rational fiscal policy developed. California, the most powerful economic engine of national growth, cannot have a second-rate government in terms of revenues and expenditures. For further information, contact: Richard Walker: walker@berkeley.edu Shannon Steen: shannon.steen@gmail.com George Lakoff: lakoff@berkeley.edu
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