Politics & Government
Did the UC Just Take a Major Step Toward Privatization?
"...UC will no longer be held accountable for its priorities in the use of any of its resources (public or private) — and especially for making it a priority to educate Californians."
Shortly after Gov. Jerry Brown presented his , which he says will slash $8.3 billion from government spending to close a $15.7 billion deficit, UC faculty delivered a bold response.
The Council for UC Faculty Associations is an umbrella association that binds the faculty associations on each UC Campus. They posted the following on their website the day after Brown's announcement.
Some have suggested that the UC is headed down a road toward privatization. What do you think?
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UC President Mark Yudof and Governor Jerry Brown are working out a deal behind closed doors that will loosen the most important ties between the university and the state.
Although they will both praise the deal by saying that it “stabilizes” funding while granting greater “flexibility,” its essence is that each will let the other off the hook: UC will mute complaints that it does not get enough money from the state and the state will stop holding UC accountable for the money it still gets.
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The likely result is that UC will dump a larger number of eligible Californians onto the CSU and Community Colleges, which will in turn pass on their overflow to for-profit schools, where students take on inordinate amounts of debt with a very high likelihood of default.
[Read what the CUCFA calls the "key elements" on their website].
Under Governor Schwarzenegger, UC got the state to agree that it should provide only as much public higher education for Californians as the state is willing to pay for. Under Governor Brown it will be free to provide even less than the state is willing to pay for. Unless this agreement is reversed, state funding for UC will continue to fall as UC separates itself from the rest of California’s Master Plan. We are reaching the point of no return.
Do you feel that the UC system is being privatized? Are Brown's proposals a step in that direction? Is the UC relaxing its mission to serve Californians, or not? Share your opinions in the comments below.
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