From: Christopher Kutz, Vice-Chair, Berkeley Academic Senate
Dear colleagues,
At the Town Hall last week we had an extremely valuable airing of a large range of topics, including:
• Whether or not furlough days should be taken on teaching days
• Ways of expressing to the state the harm these cuts do
• The broken budgetary system of California and possibilities of political intervention
• The need to protect the economically most vulnerable of our staff and faculty
• The need for much greater transparency in financial matters, both at the campus and the systemwide levels
• Concerns about administrative growth and administrative salaries
• Concerns about the composition of the Regental Commission on the Future of UC
• The possibility of increased non-resident enrollment (this year at 10.5%) for further funding support.
We took a number of straw polls to gain a rough sense of faculty sentiment on a number of these issues, taking into account how unrepresentative such a sample actually is, and how little time for discussion there was. That said, clear majorities of those present favored taking some furlough days on teaching days (preferring that those days be taken by expanding holiday periods, rather than, say, during the week of the Regents meeting), and exploring increases in out-of-state enrollment. We did not have time to discuss adequately one of the questions before us: what policy to adopt regarding whether faculty should be permitted to use furlough days to increase the amounts they can earn through contract-supported research or consulting.
The topic of non-resident enrollment is obviously contentious and complex, and needs further treatment. We propose making it a focal topic, with materials distributed in advance, at our next Town Hall, provisionally scheduled for Wednesday, September 2nd, at 3:30. Further details are forthcoming.
In the meantime, there are possibilities for further involvement, all raised at the Town Hall:
• Submit questions, comments topics for the Town Hall, and – ideally – concrete suggestions regarding the budget situation to the Senate blog. We have already received many suggestions, including: implementing emergency loans for faculty and staff affected by the paycuts, establishing child-care co-ops, permitting faculty to buy themselves out of teaching time.
• Joining the faculty list serve, Faculty Budget Forum, where there is already a vigorous discussion of these topics. This list serve was initially launched by faculty within the humanities and social sciences, but its members are eager for participants from the sciences, engineering, and the professional schools. If you'd like to join, please send an email to either of the list's administrators, Prof. Colleen Lye at clye@berkeley.edu or Prof. Mark Goble at mgoble@berkeley.edu.
• The list serve is also associated with a new faculty group, called “Save the University,” currently led by a coordinating working group whose members are: Judith Butler, Anthony Cascardi, Peter Glazer, George Lakoff, Gregory Levine, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Jill Stoner, and Richard Walker. To join: send an email expressing interest to: SAVETHEUNIV@gmail.com, subject line "Mission Statement." Please include your department/school affiliation.
• Joining the Berkeley Faculty Association, which is in the process of reconstituting itself under the leadership of Professors Christine Rosen, Richard Norgaard and Louise Fortmann. Their website (and materials for joining) are at http://www.aaup-ca.org/bfaabout.html.
(I note that these latter two organizations, unlike the Senate, can engage in direct political and legal activities.)
Again, please put on your calendar our next Town Hall discussion, Sept. 2nd, with details to follow. We will also be scheduling a separate open discussion of intercollegiate athletics, probably later in September.
