Proposed Midyear Cuts to UC Could Topple Outreach Activities

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed $2 billion in midyear budget cuts Monday that would take the heaviest toll on social programs and higher education, putting UC's K-12 outreach activities on the brink of collapse.

Schwarzenegger's plan would slash $34 million from UC's coffers in the coming months, leaving prisons and K-12 public schools untouched.

Coming on top of a nearly $400 million decline in state aid last year, the proposal would put UC in a bind.

"We've already taken very deep cuts, and our ability to preserve UC's world- class status will be compromised by these cuts," said UC spokesperson Hanan Eisenman. "Every additional cut to UC is a painful cut."

These cuts could mean further student fee hikes. A similar mid-year reduction totalling $74 million last year pushed the UC Board of Regents to raise student fees 10 percent for the spring term.

Although the extent of the loss is still unspecified, outreach programs face the biggest single hit-a $12.1 million reduction.

Already struggling with a 50 percent cut this year, outreach programs would be "devastated," said Genaro Padilla, vice chancellor of undergraduate affairs.

It could mean the "wholesale elimination" of programs that provide academic enrichment and college guidance for students in some of the state's lowest performing schools, he said.

"It's stunning news," Padilla said.

For UC Berkeley senior Carla Mena, the cut hits home. A product of UC Berkeley's outreach efforts, the San Diego native said she would not be here without that opportunity-she attended a high school where almost no students passed Advanced Placement courses.

"I didn't know about other opportunities," Mena said.

Now an officer in the campus's Raza

Recruitment and Retention Center, Mena said the budget loss would force the group, which works with high school students across the state, to scale back even more.

"With cuts like these, a lot of students are going to miss out on opportunities," she said.

The plan would also eliminate the $2 million in state funds to UC's Institute for Labor and Employment, a major research center on work and its impact on family and the economy.

The institute, which has offices at UCLA and UC Berkeley, would be able to give fewer grants to graduate students and researchers and could even result in some layoffs.

Officials at the center said that although it makes up only a miniscule portion of the governor's reduction, the center was singled out because of an association with organized labor.

"Labor was behind the anti-recall," said Margaret Weir, director of the research branch at UC Berkeley. "That's the number one reason. It's just politics."

On the whole, higher education, including the California State universities and California community colleges, would see a $159 million cut.

The proposal still requires approval from the heavily Democratic state Legislature, but with an approximately $12 billion shortfall, some cuts are likely.

In addition, Schwarzenegger's plan calls for a 1.8 percent reduction in UC's funding next year-a figure that could balloon if Schwarzenegger's $15 billion bond initiative fails in the spring ballot.

But after a nearly $400 million blow to UC last year, that figure is likely to grow.

"This is the least of it," said public policy professor John Ellwood. "Once you exempt K-12 and corrections, the only things left are higher education and medical aid. That is just based on where the money is."

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