UC Berkeley's Chancellor's take on the budget crisis.

Parents Forum
1

<p>08.26.2009</a> - Chancellor Birgeneau speaks out on the budget crisis</p>

<p>"BERKELEY — By all accounts, the UC system is facing the most serious financial crisis in its history. Staff and faculty at all of its 10 campuses will soon see their paychecks cut, their work time reduced, and their workloads increased. Berkeley has experienced significant layoffs already, and campus units are being forced to cut an average of 20 percent from their operating budgets for this fiscal year. Prospects for increased support from the state of California — which slashed UC's funding by $813 million this year, precipitating the crisis — are slim.</p>

<p>With the campus gearing up for a fall semester unlike any since his arrival in 2004, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau met with the Berkeleyan to discuss the challenges ahead — and what his administration is doing to meet them.</p>

<p>"As we begin the fall semester — and contemplate the reality of furlough days, salary cuts, increased workloads, and the rest — what message do you have for staff and faculty?</p>

<p>A. Everyone should be clear about one thing: We are not going to let Berkeley deteriorate. We should not underestimate or mask the challenges that we are facing. But I think that we are facing them extremely well. We have done as well as we possibly could have with this shock that we got in May, as we saw our budget shortfall suddenly increase by $80 million, almost doubling our overall budget shortfall to $150 million for this year. It was shocking, to all of us. We had been having regular budget meetings since January, and we thought that we had a plan that was basically going to get us through quite smoothly. Suddenly there we were with $80 million more in cuts, which is approximately 15 percent of our operating budget.</p>

<p>We will be working very hard to find savings in our operations and to find new revenues that will progressively bring us back to equilibrium. But it's important to keep in mind that we see this as a several-year process. I cannot stress it enough: There is no silver bullet. We are all in this together."</p>

2

<p>Why does one of the top universities in the world have to spend $3 million of taxpayer money for consultants to do what should be done internally by UCB Chancellor Birgeneau?
Who teaches auditors how to audit? Do UC professors not have the knowledge to perform what they teach?
Having firsthand knowledge of consulting, I know one cardinal rule, “Don’t bite the hand that pays you.”
In a nutshell, we have a high-paid, skilled UCB Chancellor who is unable or unwilling to do the job he is paid to do. Why do we wonder that UC and California are in a financial crisis!
I’m sure taxpayers would not object to the $3 million payout if the money is reimbursed by taking money from the UCB Chancellor’s salary over the next 10 years.
Please let me know your decision on whether you are or are not going to stop the spending of $3,000,000 on consultants by President Yudof and the UCB Chancellor</p>