Opinion

So much about the University of California has changed since Mario Savio’s infamous speech Dec. 2, 1964. Since then, the state and the UC Board of Regents have moved far away from the Master Plan. In 2011, for the first time in the university’s history, undergraduate students paid more than the state of California for their educations. This warrants discussion of how the idea and practice of “shared governance” of the university can be applied to tuition-paying students.

2010 was a watershed year in the history of the university. “Tuition” was added as a term in official policy.

Crossing this “tuition line” redefines students’ relationship to the regents and the state.

This wasn’t something students asked for. It is the product of growing privatization of higher education.

Something that students, faculty and staff have mobilized and protested against for years and must continue doing.

But we now have the power to do something about that privatization.

No longer are we the “raw materials” being modeled by the “employees” at the whim of “managers.” Today, we are the major stakeholders in the UC enterprise. Today we are those whom the university administration should be chiefly beholden to. The moment is ripe for students to demand a renewed relationship as partners in the operation of the university and call for its priorities to be re-examined in accordance with greater student voice.

Through years of state divestment in public higher education, the university is now more accurately defined as a “public-private partnership.” More of the cost of getting an education is paid by students with the assumption that our edu­cations are private goods that benefit us more than bolstering democracy, the economy and society as a whole. However, this is still a public institution, and we are the public — therefore the comparison to private school student-administrator relations is incomplete.

The university was a pioneer in granting shared governance to its faculty in the early part of the 20th century under the presidency of Benjamin Ide Wheeler. This move proved to be a distinctive element that allowed the university to flourish and become the great institution it is today. The system of shared governance gives UC faculty, operating through the Academic Senate, a voice in the operation of the university in areas of admissions, curriculum and advising on budgeting, to name a few. With this role, the faculty assume more responsibility over the maintenance of the quality of instruction and research at university.

In the beginning of the 21st century, the university should pioneer a more democratic model that includes students as stakeholders in university operations — and thus in their educations and futures. This will take the form of policy reforms in the UC governance structure at all levels, campus- and systemwide, to include more student voice in decision-making.

An example of such a partnership on our campus is Lower Sproul redevelopment, where the ASUC and campus are partners in the $220 million project.

“Shared governance” is t h e structure of the program committee and working group. The ASUC makes decisions to ensure that students get the best possible deal out of the project. This model ought to bea dopted for all types of decision-making, at all levels.

We should urgently step into this role to influence the regents to be bolder in advocating to refund California to the taxpayers and state Legislature. Students should seek to influence the selection of upper-level administrators, notably the chancellor’s replacement, and necessary services like health centers, academic support units and libraries. We should monitor teaching quality of undergraduates. Further, students should be able to sit on all campus committees that deal in capital construction projects, given that at UC Berkeley, the students are the greatest single donors to capital construction in its history.

This shift is already happening. For example, the University of California Student Association and the student regents are organizing a campaign to push for four more student regents — one graduate and one professional student seat, plus their designates. We pay more and should expect more out of our educations. We should partner with UC alumni to step into the role of responsibility in governing the university to change the current priorities of UCOP. We must demand seats at the table — not just token representation like the one voting student regent but meaningful voting authority that includes our shared priorities and vision of the university as a public good. The university is nurturing the leaders of tomorrow, and we all want to ensure that access and affordability are priorities for the benefit of all people in our society. Students can now more directly shape the priorities and policies of our excellent UC system with the tools of shared governance and give new meaning to the axiom “Our university!”

Elliot Goldstein is an ASUC senator with the Cooperative Movement party.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this op-ed stated that Mario Savio’s speech occurred on Dec. 3, 1964. In fact, he gave the speech on Dec. 2, 1964.

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