Listen to Audio of Regents 5-16-12 Prior to Demonstration Interruption

The Regents met in Sacramento on May 16, 2012.  Sacramento was chosen so they could lobby legislators after the meeting.  The morning session was interrupted by a demonstration.  At that point, the Regents went to another location and moved to the closed sessions listed on the agenda below, presumably while the room was cleared.  The intent was to resume the open part of the meeting after the room was cleared.

Below is a link to the audio up to the demonstration.  The demonstration that interrupted the meeting consisted of yelling from an individual followed by singing from the audience about students on a chain gang.  (There was also periodic yelling during the public comment period.)

The meeting opened with the chair of the Regents Sherry Lansing praising the governor and legislature for understanding UC needs.  [Yours truly could make an editorial comment about that strategy but will refrain.]  She endorsed the governor’s tax initiative but said the legislature should not include UC in the trigger cuts the governor proposed if the initiative did not pass.  She also wanted the legislature to give UC extra funding to “buy out” a tuition increase for next year.  

President Yudof was not present due to the illness of his wife who was hospitalized.  He left written remarks which were read that included an endorsement of UC-Davis Chancellor Katehi who has been dealing with the aftermath of the pepper-spray incident.

During the public comment period there were complaints about student arrests at Davis and in other incidents and about tuition. As noted above, an individual periodically yelled during the period while others were addressing the Regents.

Academic Council Chair Bob Anderson reported that the faculty had overwhelming endorsed the idea of the Regents supporting tax increases.  After his remarks, there were some technical approvals of matters related to the nuclear labs.  Provost Pitts talked about the impact on the budget squeeze in producing inadequate capital facilities and faculty hiring.  A student leader spoke about budget issues, the tax initiative, and student protests.  Some technical issues at Merced were handled. 

There was discussion and approval of some “clarifications” regarding the new two-tier pension plan the Regents adopted in December 2010 and which goes into effect in July 2013.  It was noted that the clarifications included a provision that rehires, not just new hires, would go under the lower tier.  Council Chair Anderson voiced concern about the rehire policy.  What happened then was not clear.  The Regents voted for the clarifications as presented by the administration – which included the rehire provision – but then told the administration somehow to deal with Anderson’s concerns.

The Regents approved creation of a captive insurance company to handle matters now covered by university self insurance.

At that point, there began to be discussion of the recent report on university policy regarding protests that resulted from the pepper-spray incident.  During that discussion, the demonstration that interrupted the meeting took place.

Below is the agenda of the meeting and below that is a link to the audio:

University of California Regents Agenda 5-16-2012

8:30 am Committee of the Whole (public comment)

9:30am Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories (open session)

9:45 am Committee on Educational Policy (open session)

9:50 am Committee on Finance (open session)

12:15 pm Lunch

1:15 pm Committee on Compensation (closed session)

1:30 pm Committee on Compensation (Regents only session)

1:45 pm Committee on Finance (Regents only session)

2:25 pm Board (Regents only session)

2:30 pm Committee on Compensation (open session)

3:00 pm Board (open session)

Audio Link:

UPDATE: The Sacramento Bee shot video of the protest that disrupted the Regents meeting: