Hundreds of members of the UC community are expected to rally today throughout the 10-campus system in efforts aimed at publicizing the impact of state and university budget cuts on faculty, staff and students.

The walkout and union strike have been organized in response to budget decisions by the university administration. However, organizers said they are also seeking a response from the California legislature concerning the state of the university.

Walkout organizers at UC Berkeley have planned a noon rally on Upper Sproul Plaza, as well as a meeting of the entire campus community this afternoon to discuss future action for the movement.

'Not a Reliable Partner'

While walkout organizers have pointed to budget cuts, pay decreases and other financial issues plaguing the university as evidence of the university's mismanagement of state budget cuts, UC officials have countered that the reductions were the inevitable result of the $813 million in state cuts to the university.

"The state is not a reliable partner," said UC President Mark Yudof at the Sept. 16 UC Board of Regents meeting.

Over the past several years, support of the university through California's general fund has increased to $3.3 billion in 2008-09. However, the portion of the general fund that goes to the university has decreased from 5 percent in the mid-1980s to 3.2 percent in 2008-09.

However, lawmakers said the economic recession has taken a heavy toll on state revenues. Other issues, such as the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass a state budget and raise taxes, coupled with a long-term decrease in state revenues, have

impeded the ability of the state to adequately fund higher education.

"(The two-thirds requirement) empowers the minority party to have veto power over the budget," said California Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena, chair of the assembly committee on higher education. "It was the absence of the revenue that forced the legislature to make extremely difficult choices."

Budget experts said that since the university's budget is one of the few areas of discretionary spending for the state, it is usually one of the first public services to be cut.

"It's one of the areas that tends to get hit first and hit hard, both UC and CSU," said Jean Ross, executive director of the California budget project.

'Unfair Labor Practices'

Even before talk of the faculty walkout took place, the University Professional and Technical Employees union had already made the decision to hold a strike on Sept. 24. The union represents more than 11,000 UC employees systemwide.

"We're all outraged at the direction Yudof is taking the University of California," said union spokesperson Jelger Kalmijn.

Union members decided in July to authorize a strike to protest what they call "unfair labor practices" of the

university. The union has been bargaining for a new contract with university representatives for about 18 months and is speaking out against systemwide furloughs and salary reductions ranging from 4 to 10 percent.

Union members have also called on the university to use its reserve funds to offset the budget deficit and cuts.

University officials, however, have maintained that the union proposals are not feasible if the quality of the university is to be kept intact. The reserve funds referred to by the union are already committed across the system to necessary programs such as university hospitals, UC officials said.

Members of other unions said they will join the picket line today during their work breaks in support of the strike.

Shared Governance

Following the call for the union strike, a group of 16 faculty members began circulating an online petition in support of a faculty walkout for the same day.

The letter was drafted by faculty members from UC Davis and was circulated online to faculty at the other UC campuses. As of yesterday, at least 1,189 UC faculty have attached their signature to the letter.

Walkout organizers have said the level of cooperation across the academic spectrum underscores their shared level of concern for the future of the university.

"The faculty rarely organizes themselves as a whole group," said Todd LaPorte, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of political science. "When the faculty organizes, it's through the Academic Senate, almost always."

Faculty members said that they decided to organize a walkout in response to what they called a breach of shared governance by the university administration when administrators decided not to allow faculty members to take instructional-day unpaid days off.

Additionally, the July 15 declaration of a fiscal emergency in the system granting Yudof emergency powers infuriated some faculty members who said the move was a violation of the shared governance of the university between the administration and faculty.

Standing in Solidarity

The walkout is being backed by student governments systemwide. Leaders of the UC Students Association voted to support the strike on Sept. 13, followed by a similar unanimously approved resolution by the ASUC Senate last week.

ASUC President Will Smelko and other ASUC executives said in an open letter that student government support for the walkout stems from the need for students to band together to speak out against the cuts to the university.

"We are walking out on September 24th to show our collective dismay concerning what is happening to the UC as an institution; to stand against the gutting of the UC as a public institution of higher learning; and to show unity among students, faculty and staff as we say that we will not accept the degradation of the UC system without a fight," they said in the letter.

In addition, 500 graduate students are expected to participate in the walkout.

No End In Sight

If turnout at the walkout is as large as organizers expect, it could turn out to be the Free Speech Movement of this generation. Many members of the UC Berkeley community said they do not remember an occasion when staff, students and faculty all banded together around a central cause, at least in the recent past.

Still, others have said even with the walkout, the end to the university's budget woes are not in sight.

"The California education system is the worst," said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "The means of education will be much more limited than in the past. If some of this isn't restored, I don't believe that there's much of a bright future here for those who worry about the prestige and to get a good higher education in California."

Allie Bidwell, Cristian Macavei, Mojgan Rastegar and Heather Ross of The Daily Californian contributed to this report.

Stay tuned to dailycal.org for real-time updates about the systemwide faculty walkout and union strike. Get published online by sending your own photos and observations to youreport@dailycal.org.

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