UC Regents Meeting Met by Hundreds of Protesters

LOS ANGELES-Against the backdrop of hundreds of student protesters, the UC Board of Regents mulled what may be another impossible budget year with a projected $1.8 billion shortfall.

The dismal budget forecast will likely translate into higher student fees and enrollment caps.

But without any clear indication of what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal will hold, the regents could only discuss priorities and a few possible solutions to make up for another major drop in state funding next year.

"It just did not seem realistic to have you vote on a budget plan that was dead on arrival," said Larry Hershman, UC vice president of budget.

PROTESTS

Hundreds of angry UC students clogged the stairways outside the meeting room, demanding that regents freeze fee increases and hold their meetings at campuses more accessible to undergraduates.

The protesters' loud chants drowned out the regents discussion at times. Eventually, three regents and UC President Robert Dynes stepped outside the meeting room to address the protesters.

"You are a powerful and noisy group," said Dynes through a megaphone to protesters, who cheered his remark. "We're all on the same page on this."

But when Regent John Moores took the megaphone, protesters chided him for his recent report blasting UC Berkeley for admitting hundreds of students with low SAT scores.

"If you want to get your message across, you need to make people understand it," he said.

Speaking after Moores, Regent Odessa Johnson assured the crowd that their "voices will be heard."

"Comprehensive review is not on its way out, let me assure you of that," she said.

Following Johnson's remarks, UCLA senior Yousef Tajsar pressed Dynes to explain why the regents generally have meetings at UC San Francisco-the only UC campus without undergraduates.

The protesters demanded that the next regents meeting in January be held at UCLA or UC Berkeley.

Dynes said he had already planned a special visit to UCLA this December.

"We don't want a special visit. We want the meetings where you make special decisions," Tajsar responded, with protesters cheering him.

Each meeting for 2005-06 year is scheduled to be held at UC San Francisco. Student Regent Matt Murray said Dynes or regent could commit to holding a meeting at any particular place.

Following Murray's explanation to the crowd, the three regents and Dynes walked back to the meeting room as protesters jeered.

Earlier in the meeting, several members of the student group By Any Means Necessary demanded that UC Regent Ward Connerly resign, presenting the regents with a petition of 13,400 signatures.

"It is time he stop using every one of you on the Board of Regents," said ASUC Senator Yvette Felarca, a BAMN member.

Connerly dismissed their demands.

"When you start getting this outside influence of BAMN that wants me to resign and wants to stir things up, you don't get a clear sense of what the community wants," Connerly said.

BUDGET

Atop the regents discussions was the grim and uncertain budget facing the UC system this year.

Instead of passing a full budget proposal onto the state Legislature in typical fashion, the regents created a set of principles to guide the university in presenting a more realistic budget proposal to the state.

The principles reiterated UC's dual promise of education quality and four-decade commitment to enroll the top 12.5 percent of the state's high school seniors.

But they also outlined possibilities that UC will be forced to further raise student fees at an annual rate and cut enrollment growth if the state cuts do not restore funding.

Student fees were raised about 40 percent over the last year and the state did not earmark any funding for enrollment growth in the current fiscal year's budget.

Much of the blame for a possible enrollment cap is the state's because it is not fulfilling its side of the partnership even though the university is, said UC Regent Richard Blum.

A top priority for UC is to maintain faculty salaries, which are already 9 percent lower than comparable institutions.

Faculty recruitment and retention would be in peril if salaries continue to fall, some regents warned.

"This is something we should not be proud of," said UC Regent Peter Preuss.

Hershman said UC's budget could be hit even harder if voters do not pass a $15 billion bond proposed by Schwarzenegger. Without it, the state could be forced to slash $2 billion from its current budget in mid-year cuts.

Exactly how those cuts would affect UC are unclear, Hershman said.

"I wouldn't even want to guess," he said.

The guiding principles met harsh opposition from hundreds of students at the meeting. UC Students Association Chair Matt Kaczmarek chided the regents for assembling the principles without seeking student input.

Although educational quality capped the guiding principles, Kaczmarek argued that quality was only as good as students' opportunity to take advantage of it.

Maintaining access means more than just admitting the top 12.5 percent of the state's high school seniors- diversity within that percentage should also be included in the regents guiding principles, he said.

"What good is quality if no one has access to that institution?" said Anu Joshi, ASUC external affairs vice president.

Kaczmarek asked the regents to reconsider the substance of their guiding principles with student consultation and put together an updated version.

ALBANY VILLAGE

The regents approved a plan to finance the demolition of about one-third of University Village's apartments in Albany and replace them with more than 558 new units.

But some students who live in the UC Berkeley's family housing fear that increased rent for renovated units may make living in University Village unaffordable.

UC Berkeley currently offers the older two-bedroom units in University Village for $850 per month, far below market rate. A two-bedroom apartment in the newer complex will run $1,370 per month, according to the plan.

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