Panel urges chancellor of Texas for UC post
SAN FRANCISCO — Mark G. Yudof has his work cut out for him if, as expected, he becomes the next president of the 10-campus University of California system in the midst of a gloomy state budget that threatens staff reductions and more student fee hikes.
But UC regents who nominated the current head of the University of Texas system Thursday to the top UC post said they had confidence in Yudof's leadership abilities in both good and bad times.
"Mark Yudof, besides being a brilliant lawyer and visionary president, also has a history of being a good manager," said UC Board of Regents Chairman Richard Blum, who also headed the search panel that recommended Yudof after a two-hour closed-door meeting.
Yudof, 63, is a legal scholar who has been chancellor of the Texas system since 2002 and was head of the University of Minnesota before that, navigating money crises in both states. An expert in freedom of expression and education law, he previously was provost and law school dean at the flagship University of Texas at Austin.
Yudof attended the search panel meeting Thursday and left the meeting hall at UC San Francisco by a side entrance without making a statement.He probably will speak publicly after his expected approval by the regents at a meeting Thursday.
Blum said the search committee "enthusiastically endorsed" Yudof as a successor to Robert C. Dynes, who is retiring in June. In researching Yudof, Blum said, he never heard anything negative.
"The only comment I ever received back," he said, "was 'You'll never get him, but if you do get him, he's the best guy.' "
Blum declined to answer questions about Yudof's compensation other than stating, "He's expensive."
Dynes' salary was $405,000, and his total compensation was $434,166 last year. Yudof's salary last year at Texas was $476,400, and deferred compensation and benefits brought the total to $742,209, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. About $70,000 of that was state funds and the rest was from privately financed endowments, according to a University of Texas spokesman.
Yudof's salary has raised criticism in the Texas system, which enrolls 194,000 students at nine campuses and six medical and health centers. A high salary could be touchy in Sacramento as state government struggles with a budget deficit that could chew into UC funding. In addition, the 220,000-student UC system suffered bad publicity two years ago over executive compensation policies that legislators called too secretive and extravagant.
- Head of University of Texas is hired as UC president Mar 28, 2008
- New UC chief is ready for action Jun 15, 2008
- U. of Texas chancellor may get top post at UC Mar 20, 2008
