The Governor on Higher Ed and UC

On Oct. 16, Gov. Brown came to UCLA to promote his tax initiative, Prop 30.  As part of that visit, he met with UC student journalists at the UCLA Daily Bruin offices.  An audio was made of the interview.  The full interview runs about three quarters of an hour.  It is available at:

http://www.dailybruin.com/multimedia/51093

However, about thirteen minutes was focused on Brown’s thoughts about higher ed, particularly his long-term vision for UC as an ex officio Regent.  I think it is fair to say that while he had thoughts, it would be hard to term them a coherent, long-term vision.  At the link below, you can hear the higher ed excerpts from the interview.  Below that is a summary.

Summary: Brown referred to private fundraising but he didn’t seem entirely happy with that approach.  He said that the funding model for UC is a mix of state funding, tuition, grants, private fundraising, etc., but ultimately said he was focused on the short-term goal of passing Prop 30.  Administrators should try to be austere to win public support.  When asked whether he favored more decentralization of the UC system, he started by saying he generally likes decentralization as a concept.  But he wasn’t sure about how it might apply to UC on specific issues.  Asked about differential tuition by campus, he said he would have to think more about that question.  Brown said he doesn’t like the “intrusion” of the “market” into higher ed.  When asked about priorities among the various components of higher ed in the state, he mentioned transfers from community colleges to CSU and UC.  But he said all of education including K-12 should be viewed as a whole.  He expressed some concern about high school grads needing remedial courses when they get to college.  Asked if he was currently working on any policies that would deal with affordability, he said he wasn’t.