We noted in a post yesterday that the governor had appointed two new regents in advance of the regents meeting coming up at which the tuition/state funding issue will come up.
According to the LA Times, both of the new regents plan to be at the meeting. And both will surely share the governor's viewpoint.
(Newly appointed regent and past assembly leader John) PĂ©rez, in a statement, urged the regents to withdraw the tuition plan. “Not
only does the fee hike fly in the face of our efforts to make college
more affordable for middle-class students, but threatening a fee hike
unless the Legislature increases the UC’s funding is tantamount to
hostage taking and that is completely unacceptable,” he said.
The other appointee may be a bit more nuanced:
(Eloy Ortiz) Oakley has been the head of Long Beach City College since 2007 and
previously served in other positions at the community college and others
throughout the state. He has been a strong voice in favor of
educational proposals aimed at making it easier for students to graduate
more quickly and transfer to four-year campuses. In one controversial
experiment, legislation authorized six community colleges, including
Long Beach, to charge higher tuition in summer and winter for some
hard-to-obtain classes.
Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ln-uc-appointments-20141117-story.html
Meanwhile, the LA Times runs an editorial favoring the budget plan to be presented to the regents and criticizing the governor:
At issue is whether the 10-campus system will continue to rank among the
nation's premier research universities, drawing top students and the
best professors from throughout the world, or whether it will slowly
shrink its ambitions, becoming a more utilitarian institution that
concentrates narrowly on moving students to their bachelor's degrees and
into the workforce quickly and efficiently...
The governor's response to UC's funding proposal has not been helpful.
Online courses can be a useful part of a student's education, but when
done right, they don't save significant money. As for transfer students,
close to a third of the new students at UC each year are community
college transfers. But UC should not be pressed to become mostly a
two-year undergraduate program, enrolling transfers for junior and
senior years. Students seeking a top four-year university would flee the
state. And professors should not be required to reduce research or
publication, lest the state lose them as well...
When the Board of Regents meets this week, it should support
Napolitano's plan. What state leaders should be figuring out is not how
to diminish UC‘s role, but how to preserve UC as a national example of
great public higher education.
Full editorial at http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-uc-tuition-20141118-story.html
No comments:
Post a Comment