The University of California Board of Regents will meet at the Sacramento Convention Center to discuss academic performance indicators, updates on the 2013 -14 budget and updates on Department of Energy National Laboratories tomorrow and Thursday.
While the most recent meetings have been held at UC San Francisco, the meetings taking place this week will be held at the State capital, as was last year’s May meetings. In light of a recent 10-day strike by UC medical center workers represented by American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Union Local 3299, or AFSCME 3299, UC officials will be expecting protests by the UC workers’ union. The UC Regents recently filed a restraining order against the organization, which represents nearly 13,000 technical workers at medical centers in the UC.
Other agenda topics include a closed session on compensation, an open session and Regents-only session on finance as well as an open session on educational policy, in addition to public comment sessions on both days, amongst other topics.
According to UC Office of the President Spokesperson Dianne Klein, the agenda will open with a State of the University remark from UC Regent President Mark Yudof, who is expected to reflect on his tenure as his presidency comes to a close this August.
“He wanted to take some time to speak on what it’s been like leading the university,” Klein said. “He’s going to look back on his tenure, on how things have changed, what’s been accomplished and the challenges still ahead.”
Following Yudof’s State of the University, the committee on oversight of the Department of Energy Laboratories will discuss National Laboratories activities, in addition to a later discussion regarding the 2013-14 budget and expenditure and endowment actions by the Committee on Finance.
Wednesday’s meeting will also include a discussion on academic performance indicators at the UC, with focus being drawn to the effect of increased instructional workload on faculty, which Klein said has resulted from decreased state funding and increased admissions to the University.
“A lot of discussion recently has been about teaching load and academic metrics, so we’ve looked into this extensively and the Provost will be offering this up for discussion,” Klein said. “We’ll be talking about graduation rates. A lot of this has been discussed in the Legislator, so we found it appropriate to be discussed in Sacramento.”
In light of higher admission rates, UCSB Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young said the University should be prioritize the distribution of UC funds in a way that allows faculty to provide students with academic resources that successfully serve their needs.
“We have more and more students that are coming to the campus — which I think is a good thing — and I’m very pleased we still have to have the resources and the people to provide the kinds of services that serve them well … but I do think that is a real issue in terms of, at some point, you’re going to have more people to serve properly,” Young said. “At some point, one should always look at one’s ability to provide the kind of quality services that one needs to provide to have a healthy environment.”
In regards to expected protests by AFSCME 3299, Klein said such activist efforts can potentially hurt the productivity of Regents meetings.
While noting that the University has a rich history of protests and can sometimes currently act as a place of “protest and disagreement,” Klein said protestors should not resort to “violence” and added that UC officials respect a variety of opinions.
“We’re expecting the usual, what with the strike announcement by AFSCME at medical centers,” Klein said. “At the beginning of the meeting we have time set aside for public comment. The Regents certainly listen to everything that is said, and there have been protests at meetings in the past. But when a meeting is shut down because of protest, it’s very counterproductive.”
Darius Kemp, organizing and communication director for the UC Student Association, said UCSA currently has no official position on AFSCME’s grievances, in terms of the union’s attempt at UC contract negotiations. However, Kemp said UCSA does support fair treatment of UC employees.
“We stand very closely with UC workers in their struggle for fair pay for a fair day’s work,” Kemp said. “However, we have not taken official stance on contract negotiations, as they stand right now.”
According to External Vice President of Statewide Affairs Nadim Houssain, AFSCME has been in a deadlock with UC administration all year regarding contract negotiation. Furthermore, Houssain said the income security of AFSCME workers is not as assured as that of higher level employees and faculty in the UC.
“Their pensions compared to [those] higher up in the administration are very low and very disproportionate,” Houssain said. “We just want to make sure that they have a secure income once they retire, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they will at this point.”