UC's admissions policy: We will admit no mistakes

You may have seen the headline in the LA Times about how CSU ended up with a better deal from the state budget than UC. It is worth noting that CSU started with a better deal on its pension than UC since CSU is part of CalPERS which the state funds as an obligation without question. In contrast, the state takes the view that UC’s pension is somehow independent of the state and anything the state puts in is a gift.

It might also be noted that the governor has personal preoccupations with UC that he doesn’t have with CSU. So the idea of putting in a former governor as UC president to deal with Brown as a fellow politician had plausibility. The main problem was that once the “Committee of Two” negotiations started, there apparently was no ability to abort the mission when it turned out not to be producing good results. Instead, the Regents were told things were going well. 

Some advance consultation with the Academic Senate on the pension part of the Committee of Two deal would at least have exposed its shortcomings as it was being negotiated. And – as this blog has noted – even the multi-year pension deal that was apparently agreed on in the end is not what the legislature enacted. Instead of multi-year funding, the legislature provided for just one year and explicitly stated that there was no guarantee of more in the future. The extra money the legislature added for enrollment is short of what UC wanted and comes with strings that UC spokespersons and the UC prez have said are not satisfactory.

Undoubtedly, the results of the Committee of Two deal, despite the actual outcome, will continue to be celebrated at the upcoming Regents meeting. To do anything else would be an admission of a mistake and mistakes never happen.

The Times’ article is at http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-cal-state-strategy-20150705-story.html

Mistakes are for the birds: