Nathaniel Solley/Staff

In an effort to improve access to key business districts, the city of Berkeley will implement changes to its parking policies Tuesday.

The changes include varying meter rates based on the demand for parking in particular areas and raising time limits for street spots. The city seeks to address frustration over congestion and businesses’ concerns that customers don’t have enough time to shop.

Parking meters Downtown, in the Telegraph area and in the Elmwood district will use a demand-based pricing model, said Matthai Chakko, a spokesperson for the city.

“By increasing the price in the high-demand areas and then lowering (it) in places where parking is more ample, you hope to encourage people to be parking in different places and to not have as much congestion in one spot,” Chakko said.

Parking in popular areas near shopping destinations on Southside and Downtown will cost $2.25 per hour, while parking in less frequently used areas will cost $1.25 per hour, said Matt Nichols, principal transportation planner for the city.

Current parking rates across the city are $1.75 per hour Downtown and $1.50 per hour elsewhere, according to Nichols.

Elizabeth Deakin, a UC Berkeley professor of city and regional planning and urban design who appeared before the City Council as long ago as 2006 to discuss demand-based pricing, emphasized the importance of promulgating information about the new prices and time limits. It could take several months for shoppers and visitors to adjust to the new system, she said.

“If it works well, it will be a little easier to find a parking space if you really want one and you’re willing to pay a little more,” Deakin said.

In the Elmwood district, near College and Ashby, one-hour street-parking limits will increase to three hours, with an increasing hourly rate.

That came as a relief to Melissa Hatheway, the director of marketing and communications for Rialto Cinemas, which operates a theater in Elmwood. Patrons often struggled to find sufficient parking for two- or two-and-a-half-hour films, she said.

“We’re delighted,” Hatheway said. “We’re hoping this parking solution takes off a layer of anxiety and stress from everybody so they (can) come and spend money.”

UC Berkeley senior Max Jason said he would pay more for parking if it resulted in longer time limits and better availability.

“When I’m going and driving around the city, it’s been pretty difficult (to find parking),” he said.

The new rates are the latest in a series of projects in a three-year transportation pilot program funded by federal and regional grants called goBerkeley, Chakko said.

Nichols said it is unclear how the program will affect city parking revenue, but officials will present a detailed revenue report to the City Council in March.

Contact Connor Grubaugh at cgrubaugh@dailycal.org.

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Elizabeth Deakin, a UC Berkeley professor of city and regional planning and urban design, has officially taken on her role as chair of the Berkeley division of the Academic Senate for the 2013-14 school year after serving as vice chair last year.

As vice chair, Deakin oversaw the development of new online degree programs, helped establish appropriate criteria for evaluating professors and promoted research opportunities, particularly for undergraduate students.

“You have to be nimble and ready to take on another issue,” she said of her leadership philosophy. “That’s just part of the job.”

The Academic Senate represents the interests of the faculty to both the campus and the UC system in issues including academic freedom, research and student affairs.

Before serving as vice chair, Deakin was a member of the campus Committee on Academic Planning and Resource Allocation, which provides recommendations to the chancellor about budget and resource allocation.

As chair, Deakin said she will work to increase the involvement of faculty in the senate, among other things.

“We’re trying to get even more people involved in the Academic Senate, so we’re speaking with a clearer voice on behalf of the faculty,” she said.

Above all, Deakin said her main priority is to enhance the overall student experience. Specifically, she hopes to improve the quality of instruction, student health, the availability of research opportunities and the accessibility of study abroad programs.

Andrea Green Rush, executive director of the Berkeley Division Staff, worked with Deakin when she was a member of CAPRA and said Deakin brings a wide breadth of knowledge to her new position.

“(Deakin) is especially well versed on issues at the intersection of the academic mission and the administrative structures supporting it, such as budget and finance, resource allocation and long-range planning,” Rush said.

This breadth of knowledge extends to her academic pursuits. Deakin has studied a variety of subjects during her academic career, including political science, law and engineering. She said she intends to use her diverse educational background to move UC Berkeley in a more interdisciplinary direction.

“Teaching is not just in the classroom but in many other venues,” she said.

Panayiotis Papadopoulos, a UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering and the vice chair of the Academic Senate, emphasized the importance of the chair’s role in advising Chancellor Nicholas Dirks in his first year on campus. Papadopoulos, who was appointed vice chair this year, has known Deakin for three years and said he is looking forward to working with her again.

“(Deakin) understands the complexity of the institution and is passionate about maintaining Berkeley’s excellence,” Papadopoulos said. “(She) is the ideal.”

Shannon Carroll contributed to this report.

Contact Adrianna Dinolfo at adinolfo@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Elizabeth Deakin as chair of the UC Academic Senate. In fact, she is chair of the Berkeley Division of the senate.

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Though UC officials have said that if the cuts go into effect the university would be forced to implement a mid-year tuition hike of around 20 percent, other possible courses of action have been discussed to deal with longer term funding shortfalls.

At their Sept. 12 meeting, The UC Board of Regents discussed the possibility of  bringing in additional funding by increasing the number of out of state students admitted to the system, charging differential tuition based on campus or course of study and restructuring the UC’s revenue, investments and endowments.

One of the most likely actions the Regents could take would be raising the amount of out-of-state students accepted into the university systemwide from its current 10 percent cap to 15-20 percent. In addition to paying the tuition charged to California residents, out of state students are assessed a supplemental fee of about $23,000 a year. That means that for every 1,000 nonresident students enrolled, UC receives $23 million that can be used to help fund the education of California students, according to UC spokesperson Dianne Klein.

“This ‘excess’ revenue adds up quickly,” Klein said in email.

Critics have long argued that increasing out of state student enrollment could negatively impact the diversity of the UC and push California residents out of the system.

“While out of state students bring geographic diversity, they rarely bring racial or economic diversity,” said UC Student Regent Jonathan Stein. “Using out of state students as a budget solution may decrease the diversity of the institution as a whole.”

Stein added that because out of state students primarily apply to UCLA and UC Berkeley, increasing the cap could shift California residents from those schools to some of the system’s less prestigious campuses.

“The UC must remain nimble and creative in order to preserve the guiding principles of our university system: access, affordability, and academic excellence,” Klein said in the email.

Another option discussed at the September Regents’ meeting was a controversial one: the potential for charging differential tuition determined by campus or discipline. Some graduate programs and professional programs already charge differential tuition.

However, the option has been criticized because of the potential for privatization it could pose if one campus in the system charges more than another for a degree, and Stein said the option is unlikely to find much support within the system or with the Regents.

“That’s opposed by everybody,” Stein said. “I think that’s a terrible idea.”

Other potential ways to make up for funding gaps if Prop. 30 fails include providing incentives for the early completion of degrees to cut down on costs, restructuring the university’s debt — including bonds — and pulling on money earned from funds functioning as endowments.This restructuring could generate $20 million in one-time funds.

Still, according to Elizabeth Deakin, vice chair of the academic senate and a professor of city and regional planning, the bottom line is that if Prop. 30 fails, the chances are that tuition hikes will be counted on to fill the funding gap. The proposed 20.3 percent tuition hike would raise student fees by about $2400 per semester.

“The Regents would probably have no choice but to raise tuition, and that would have a tremendous impact on our students,” Deakin said. “There’s very little else that we can do as fast.”

Should the proposition pass, though students will be off the hook for a tuition increase this school year, they will likely still face a 6 percent tuition increase for the 2013-14 academic year.

Critics of the proposition have said that it does not guarantee that a substantial amount of funding will go to the schools.

“It won’t solve all our problems, but it will give us some breathing room,” Deakin said. “If it doesn’t pass, we’re in big trouble.”

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Kayla Shapiro/Staff

On Thursday, the beating heart of the usually animated UC Berkeley campus was still as friends and family gathered in front of California Hall to pay respects to campus staff, students, faculty and emeriti who have died over the past year.

The campus held its 11th annual memorial service to honor campus community members who have passed away since last September. The three-part ceremony included various artistic interludes and a reading of the names of the deceased by Academic Senate vice chair Elizabeth Deakin, Staff Ombuds Office Director and Ombudsperson Sara Thacker and ASUC President Connor Landgraf.

The commemorations — a unique selection of song, dance, and poetry — were specifically chosen to reflect the diversity among different groups on campus, according to Helena Weiss-Duman, one of the ceremony organizers and director of external relations and the Office of Protocol.

Among other performances, Berkeley alumna and university relations staff member Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto performed a piece called “Memories” on the Japanese koto as students flowed in and out of classes around the ceremony. Even the Campanile’s noontime carillon concert, performed by the university’s assistant carillonist David Hunsberger, was a somber dedication to the deceased.

The memorial service became a yearly campus tradition after former UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Berdahl organized the first memorial 11 years ago in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“This is a beautiful ceremony that speaks about the humanity of the Berkeley campus,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who gave the welcoming and closing remarks of the ceremony.

For academic retention counselor and Berkeley alumna Ginelle Perez, the campuswide ceremony is an invaluable commemoration for campus community members who have been lost.

“It was a beautiful ceremony, and I really liked the symbolism behind it,” Perez said. “In addition to individual memorials, the campuswide service reminds us that we are one community.”

Perez attended the service to honor her longtime friend and UC Berkeley graduate Milanca Alicia Lopez, who died in a car accident in May. Lopez’s six-year-old son, Xavier Lopez, also died as a result of the accident and was included in the memorial service.

“It means a lot to the family for people like the chancellor to organize this for us,” Perez said. “It is more meaningful than just that phone call or that letter you get from the school.”

The ceremony concluded with a release of white doves accompanied by a bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Mourners and passersby watched the doves in silence until they disappeared westward.

Contact Justin Abraham at jabraham@dailycal.org.

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In previous academic years, revenue generated from individual campuses had been collected and then redistributed across the UC system, but a change in policy implemented at the start of the 2011-12 academic year has allowed campuses to keep these revenues and instead pay 1.6 percent of that amount to UCOP.

The taxed funds can come from sources such as tuition, state general funds, application fee revenue and patent revenue. The funds then go toward shared systemwide needs such as multicampus research projects and central administrative services.

UCOP has left the question of whether to tax revenue such as fees generated by student fee referenda up to the chancellors at each campus, according to UCOP spokesperson Shelly Meron. The Berkeley campus currently does not collect revenue from student fee referenda for this purpose, but concerns have been raised at other campuses where fee referenda face taxation.

After UC Santa Barbara Associated Students expressed concern over the impact that the new funding model might have on student fee referenda, a forum was hosted on campus on April 16 at which students discussed the tax with UCOP Executive Vice President of Business Operations Nathan Brostrom and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Peter Taylor.

Student leaders on the Berkeley campus have raised objections to the inclusion of student fee referenda funds in the 1.6 percent tax.

Bahar Navab, campus Graduate Assembly president, said she felt that the inclusion of student fee referenda was unfair because students might have been aware when voting for the new fees that some of the money might go toward the UCOP tax.

“I’m hoping that UCOP will offer a stronger message to chancellors that this money shouldn’t come from student fee referenda and student money, but in the long term we’d like to see UCOP not include student referenda or student money in these calculations,” Navab said.

Erin Gore, UC Berkeley associate vice chancellor and chief financial officer, said that the new tax method, which resulted in UC Berkeley paying approximately $27 million this academic year, is better for the campus because the previous method of gathering revenue made it difficult to determine the actual revenue amount Berkeley would receive from taxed funding sources.

“As a campus, we are seeking ways to achieve financial stability — both by knowing the revenues we expect to receive and the expenses we expect to incur,” Gore said in an email. “This change is a move in the right direction, it supports our ability to predict campus revenues and expenses.”

Gore added that the amount the Berkeley campus paid this year under the new funding initiative was comparable to “off the top” funds UCOP would have received under the previous revenue collection model.

The new method of collecting revenue also gives campuses more of an idea of how money will be applied, according to Elizabeth Deakin, co-chair of the campus division of the Academic Senate Committee on Academic Planning and Resource Allocation.

“We are actually better off because we have a clearer picture of what we bring in on each campus and what we  are paying for shared systemwide services,” Deakin said.

However, in light of financial problems, UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann has expressed concerns with the new tax, and the campus has made moves to increase its independence from the system in order to strengthen its financial situation.

According to UCSF spokesperson Jennifer O’Brien, Desmond-Hellmann has asked the UC Board of Regents and the UCOP to partner with UCSF to review governance and financial issues. The regents have responded by agreeing to convene a work group, which will report to the regents in July.

Jamie Applegate covers higher education.

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