Uc Regents

George S. Mitrovich ("California's 'Secret' Elite Has Got to Go," Commentary, April 19) substituted frustration for facts. Thirteen of the 15 sitting appointed regents are Republicans, two are Democrats; at least five of the seven ex-officio regents are Democrats, including the student regent, both alumni regents, the lieutenant governor of California and the Speaker of the Assembly. While most regents would agree that 12 years is too long a term, during what Mitrovich calls the "zenith" period of the University of California, appointed regents served 16-year terms.

SACRAMENTO - The graduation rates of UC students came under more scrutiny Wednesday as Gov. Jerry Brown urged administrators and faculty to prod more undergraduates to earn a degree in four years, not six. Brown recently proposed giving UC and Cal State more funds if they increase their graduation rates by 10% by 2017. UC leaders have said that is an admirable but unreasonable goal and that such issues as students' outside employment and their desire to take double majors slow them down.

SAN FRANCISCO - Two UC campuses received important endorsements Thursday for long-stalled projects: a new medical school at Riverside and a major classroom building at Merced. The UC regents included a proposed $15 million to help run the medical school and $45 million for the Merced building in their 2013-14 budget request to the governor and Legislature. The regents said they were more optimistic than in the past about their chances since state tax revenues are improving. Meanwhile, about 60 student protesters - demanding that any new UC revenue be used to freeze tuition or roll it back - blocked an intersection for several hours near the UC San Francisco facility where the regents were meeting.

Mark Yudof likes to point out that he was the first real outsider in more than a century chosen to run the sprawling University of California system. And he often jokes that, as a result of his leadership, it is likely to take a hundred years more before UC hires another. Maybe not. But the comment does represent a dilemma facing the UC regents as they look for his successor: No obvious heir apparent is lined up inside the system. So experts predict the search for a new president will concentrate on large public university systems elsewhere in the country that dealt, like UC, with dramatic declines in state support.

Republican Gov. George Deukmejian's appointment of two attorneys--both over 60, both males, both Republicans--to the University of California Board of Regents ("2 Attorneys Join Regents," Part I, July 4) shows his contempt for the state Constitution as well as for the diversity of the people of California. Article IX, Section 9, subsection d, of the state Constitution clearly states, "Regents shall be able persons broadly reflective of the economic, cultural, and social diversity of the state, including ethnic minorities and women."

"Affirmative Action Ban Still Divides UC" (July 21) fails to state the main reason for the divisiveness, namely that the affirmative action ban is a direct attack on a philosophy that is entrenched in our universities. This philosophy is one of collectivism, and it holds that individuals are to be valued for their race, class or gender. It repudiates individualism, the philosophy upon which the U.S. was founded. The upheaval in the UC system is only the first encouraging sign that a bankrupt, immoral and anti-reason intellectual infrastructure will eventually be replaced.

Fearing potentially violent disruptions, University of California regents on Monday canceled a meeting scheduled for this week in San Francisco, while UC and Cal State students prepared for demonstrations Tuesday at campuses across the state. The UC board had planned to hold its regular bi-monthly meeting Wednesday and Thursday at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay campus but postponed the session after what officials termed credible threats. University police had received reports that "rogue elements intent on violence and confrontation with UC public safety officers" were planning to join otherwise peaceful protests at the meeting, according to a statement by regents Chairwoman Sherry Lansing, Vice Chairman Bruce Varner and UC President Mark G. Yudof.

Even as they dealt with student protests over economic inequities and rising tuition costs, the University of California regents this week approved salary raises of between 6.4% and 23% for 12 highly ranked administrators and attorneys, most of whom now earn more than $200,000 a year. The action has renewed debate about the university's efforts to retain what it describes as important talent while it seeks more state funding and considers further fee increases. Coming as Occupy protests disrupted the regents meeting, the raises struck some critics of UC as inappropriate and likely to anger taxpayers and legislators.

If the UC Regents do indeed find it necessary to approve a 21% pay raise for hospital administrators in order to attract and retain quality leadership, then it would seem that their secondary goal is to lower the quality of care delivered at UCI Medical Center since most rank and file employees here have been denied raises for the past two to three years as well as being subjected to pay cuts and time reductions. Furthermore, the regents seem to have no qualms about raising student fees once again, a measure that goes one step further in guaranteeing a university education only for those in upper-income brackets.

SAN FRANCISCO - Most UC students will get a breather of at least four months without a tuition increase. But then, all bets are off. That's the result of a UC regents vote Wednesday freezing all undergraduate and some graduate school tuition as part of a funding deal with the state Legislature. If Gov. Jerry Brown's tax hike measure on the November ballot fails, however, the regents warned that tuition might rise 20%, or more than $2,400, and that course offerings and library hours could be significantly reduced soon after the election.

Opponents of UCLA's proposed 250-room hotel and conference center on campus have filed a lawsuit that challenges the project's tax exemptions and contends it would not be financially viable if it paid all the federal and local taxes required of commercial hotels. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court late Wednesday by the Save Westwood Village organization and others, also says that existing UCLA guesthouses and visitor centers already break laws by not charging overnight guests occupancy taxes.

The University of California has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a federal whistle-blower lawsuit charging falsification of records and poor supervision of patients by UC Irvine anesthesiologists. The suit said anesthesiologists at the university's medical center filled out patient care reports before procedures started, "making it appear the anesthesiologist was present" when he or she wasn't. The lawsuit was brought by Dr. Dennis O'Connor, a former professor of anesthesiology at UCI School of Medicine, who will receive $120,000 of the settlement.

For five years, all UC students have been paying a $60 annual fee to help the university finance massive refunds for past illegal tuition practices. As a result of a UC regents vote Thursday, that charge will continue for five more years. The controversy began a decade ago when students in law, medical, nursing and other UC professional schools complained that they were being forced to pay fee increases despite promises in university brochures and websites that their education costs would not rise before graduation.

SAN FRANCISCO - While Gov. Jerry Brown urged the University of California to consider basic changes in how it operates, UC officials on Thursday said that undergraduate tuition probably will not rise next year. However, fees for more than 50 professional graduate school programs, such as law and nursing, may increase, leaders of the 10-campus system said. UC President Mark G. Yudof said it was "very unlikely" that undergraduate tuition, now about $12,200 before room, board and campus fees, would go higher next year if much of Brown's budget plan is adopted.

SAN FRANCISCO - University of California President Mark G. Yudof announced Friday that he is resigning in August for health reasons, ending a five-year stint in which he guided the 10-campus system through one of its worst financial crises and controversies over rising tuition. His announcement comes at a time of change throughout California's higher education system. Gov. Jerry Brown is aggressively pressing the university to cut costs and to reform its traditional methods of teaching and research.

With optimism brimming from the passage of Proposition 30, the University of California and California State University governing boards Wednesday approved budgets seeking increases in state funding to boost enrollment and maintain other programs -- even as both institutions were warned by Gov. Jerry Brown that costs must be controlled to avoid tuition hikes. Brown's message received a timely echo when incoming Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White requested a 10% cut in his proposed salary, saying that he wished "to contribute to the rebuilding of this great university.

S. Stephen Nakashima, a longtime member of the University of California Board of Regents, has decided to resign from the board because of a stroke he suffered eight months ago. Nakashima's resignation, which is effective immediately, tilts the political balance of the board, which has been dominated by conservatives for more than a decade. The 26-member board has three vacancies to be filled by Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat.

SAN FRANCISCO - In what was described as a brainstorming session, UC regents on Wednesday raised the possibility of controversial policy changes - including varying tuition rates by campus and sharply hiking the number of out-of-state students - to cut costs and raise revenues. Those ideas and others could gain traction if voters reject the tax increase measure backed by Gov. Jerry Brown on the November ballot. UC officials also repeated their warning that if Proposition 30 is defeated, UC will lose $375 million in funding and students probably will face a midyear tuition hike, possibly as much as 20% or about $2,400.

SAN FRANCISCO - Two UC campuses received important endorsements Thursday for long-stalled projects: a new medical school at Riverside and a major classroom building at Merced. The UC regents included a proposed $15 million to help run the medical school and $45 million for the Merced building in their 2013-14 budget request to the governor and Legislature. The regents said they were more optimistic than in the past about their chances since state tax revenues are improving. Meanwhile, about 60 student protesters - demanding that any new UC revenue be used to freeze tuition or roll it back - blocked an intersection for several hours near the UC San Francisco facility where the regents were meeting.

The University of California will pay damages of $30,000 to each of the 21 UC Davis students and alumni who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during an otherwise peaceful protest 10 months ago, the university system announced Wednesday. The agreement, which must still be approved in federal court, also calls for UC to pay a total of $250,000 to the plaintiffs' attorneys. It also sets aside a maximum of $100,000 to pay up to $20,000 to any other individuals who join the class-action lawsuit by proving they were either arrested or directly pepper-sprayed, a university statement said.