Discipline, Online Ed, and Budget

Easier said than done.

UC students could face discipline for gatherings that violate health regulations, officials warn

EdSource, 8-27-20, Larry Gordon

Top leaders of the University of California system warned Wednesday that students could face various disciplines if they violate health regulations and social distancing rules with the type of crowded parties that have spread Covid-19 infections at university campuses across the state and country. UC president Michael Drake, who became head of the 10-campus system this month, and John A. Pérez, chairman of the UC Board of Regents, both declined to specify the type of sanctions for gatherings that exceed health limits or for refusing to wear masks in public. They said those decisions would be made campus-by-campus and would be judged on a case-by-case basis depending on the situation.

...The officials were asked about how life and learning at UC would be changed as a result of the pandemic even after vaccines are widely available. Drake, who is an ophthalmologist, said: “There are things we see changed already that I believe will accelerate in the future.” Among those will be the use of telemedicine and distance health monitoring at UC’s hospitals and clinics and allowing UC employees to avoid long commutes by working some of their time at home. And he predicted that online classes will become more common than they were before the virus spread.

...Governor Gavin Newsom has warned that UC’s state revenues could drop by 10% this year if $376 million in federal funds earmarked for UC from the Democratic spending plan known as the HEROES Act (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions).* That bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives but is stalled in the U.S. Senate amid negotiations between parties. Asked whether UC is basing its 2020-21 budget on wishful thinking, Pérez strongly denied that and said UC is making long term plans to avoid repeating the sharp cutbacks in classes and steep tuition increases enacted during the recession 12 years ago. “We are very cognizant of the experience of the university during the Great Recession. We don’t want to replicate some of that bad experience,” he said...

Full story at https://edsource.org/2020/uc-students-could-face-discipline-for-gatherings-that-violate-health-regulations-officials-warn/639127
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*Note: We are reproducing the article as written. Our figures show a potentially larger drop.