In 1868, the California Legislature passed the Organic
remain in California and throughout the world.
Act, which provided the charter for California’s
However, to the extent that public universities have
only land-grant university. Signed by Governor H.
come to rely on tuition for more and more of their
H. Haight on March 23, 1868, Charter Day, the new
core operating expenses, the more they are de facto
Act created the University of California. One of the
“privatized.” Typically, that word is not used because
provisions of the Organic Act allowed the State to
of public sensitivity. 1 3 But the more a university
create a “corporation…which is ‘The Regents of the
depends heavily on tuition for its core academic
University of California.’” The UC-Regents first began
programs, the closer it comes to the Stanford/
organizing in Oakland in 1869. But by 1873, the project
private model.
had been moved to Berkeley and the first campus of the University of California was opened there. For
It was not until 1879 that UC’s special status as a
many years thereafter, the University of California and
public trust took final shape. During that year the
what we now call UC-Berkeley were one and the same.
Regents attended the second State constitutional convention and lobbied for an amendment that
Governor Newton Booth spoke at the first
would give the University of California constitutional
commencement in 1873 to the 12 assembled graduates:
autonomy from legislative control. They persuaded enough citizens that it was better to put their trust in
“[The University] is for use, not show; for everyday
the Regents than in the State legislature to manage an
wear, not holiday attire…We want it not merely as a
academic institution and keep it separate from politics,
teacher and disseminator, but as a searcher after truth,
meddling, and corruption.
an investigator, a discoverer. We want a University… for the people, in sympathy with their wants… showing
In May 1879, voters approved the new constitution
by leadership and example that the educated man is not
that guaranteed the University of California a
a member of a caste… but that his guild is humanity.”
level of independence shared by few other public institutions in the nation and that gave its governing
Creating the University of California meant first
Board of Regents “full powers of organization and
creating the institution of a Board of Regents that
government,” subject only to limited oversight by
would govern it in the manner of a corporation.
the legislature. (The relevant sections of the state
However, the early Board faltered due to the
constitution are found in Appendix A to this chapter.)
interference and meddling of the state legislature in
Only five other major public university systems share
the workings of a university. The Regents knew that
the designation of a public trust, among them the
they needed independence in governance if they
University of Michigan, another of the highest-ranking
were to accomplish their mission to create a high
public college systems in the country. 1 4
quality university system. Independence could not be guaranteed by mere statute, which could be easily changed, but by the State constitution. At just about this time, across the Bay, Stanford University began with a very different premise: a private university with enough private resources to govern itself as it wished without any promises to the State or the citizens. These two models of universities
Public Pension Funding
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