UC Students, Alumni Lobby in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO-UC students and alumni converged on the state capitol yesterday for the annual UC day, lobbying legislators to bring money back into the university system.

Lobbyists targeted legislators to bring some of the $352 million cut from UC in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's May budget revision back to the university for fewer fee increases, enrollment cuts and cuts to outreach programs and financial aid.

These cuts make it harder for California's youth to gain access to higher education and compromise the California Master Plan for Higher Education, said recent UC Berkeley graduate Jennifer Winford.

Under the Master Plan, established in 1960, all eligible California high school graduates are guaranteed an affordable college education.

A recent compact between Schwarzenegger and UC President Robert Dynes that proposed deep cuts to UC next year in exchange for increased funding in future years, some argue, challenges the long-standing plan.

Lobbyists said the compact should be seen as a minimum, not a maximum level of state funding to UC.

"It's a floor, not a ceiling," said Mike Trevino, a UC Berkeley alumnus. "We want them to restore the money that was cut."

The governor's proposed budget cuts would deplete $33 million from outreach programs to high schools. The California Alumni Association, the organization sponsoring UC Day in Sacramento, says it wants to see this amount fully restored.

"The compact was silent on outreach," said Kathleen Moazed, director of Government and Community Affairs for UC Berkeley. "It's up to legislators to get those funds restored."

Groups of delegates walked about the capitol visiting legislators and aides who welcomed them and supported their stance on the need for more funding. Despite the consensus between delegates and legislators on the budget, however, the effort to find a source for those funds remains a struggle.

Assemblymembers Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, and John Dutra, D-Fremont, have introduced a bill to increase the income tax of the wealthiest 2 percent of Californians. The proposal would generate $2.9 billion a year for five years, totalling 14.5 billion dollars by 2010.

But the bill faces opposition, Chan said.

"Republicans want no new taxes. The governor is taking that position too," she said.

Assemblymember Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, proposes looking for alternative sources of money without resorting to new taxes.

One proposed alternative is to reallocate money in the state government.

"There are eleven energy research committees," said Houston's legislative director, Carole Weiner. "Maybe some are duplicative. California has the money, it's just the way we're spending it."

Legislators in budget subcommittees have been readjusting the Senate and Assembly budgets to bring back money to UC. The result of their efforts is pending a joint budget committee meeting between the Assembly and Senate in the coming weeks, where the final budget for UC will be fleshed out and sent to a conference committee for approval.

Alums said they hoped they would be a strong source of persuasion for the legislature, seeing themselves as a strong funding source for UC.

"Ultimately the legislature decides the budget," Trevino said.

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