Opinion
“
I think what’s happening is short of criminal, in the state’s failure to invest in what we feel is this economic engine.”
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 – Wednesday, July 6, 2011
EDITORIALS
— Patrick Lenz, UC Office of the President
Op-ed
Cutting from the future White House visit restores hope STATE ISSUES The approved state budget harms all of California and is evidence that higher education is not prioritized.
T
he budget deal between Gov. Jerry Brown and state Democrats exemplifies the danger of political paralysis. Sacramento is tied down by petty partisanship that prevented Brown from pursuing tax extensions that could have shaped the budget differently. The result is tragic for all Californians: the University of California now faces a bare-minimum cut of $650 million, $150 million more than originally expected. Unfortunately, Brown signed the deal last Wednesday, making the increased cuts a reality. Students’ efforts must now be directed toward minimizing the negative consequences of the budget, which relies heavily on spending reductions and $4 billion in revenue projections that may or may not materialize. Patrick Lenz, the vice president for budget and capital resources for the UC Office of the President, told The Daily Californian Friday that the university could face an additional $100 million in cuts should the projections fall short. Let this be clear: as students and as a state, we cannot afford nor can we tolerate more cuts of this magnitude Unfortunately, Brown’s effort to avoid drastic Despite cuts failed having made when he was unable to the case time get a pro- and time posed tax extension on again, a June ballot advocates for that would public higher have extended the education increases in have been i n c o m e taxes, sales ignored by taxes and state v e h i c l e leaders. license fees enacted in Februar y 2009. We are out of time — these extensions must be revisited and ultimately approved if the university is to maintain its level of excellence. Should the funds not come through, the state will face an even heavier economic burden in terms of lost entrepreneurial pursuits and the gradual evaporation of research because the university will be financially out-of-reach for many Californians. Despite having made the case time and time again, advocates for public higher education have been ignored by state leaders, and advocates on campus have not had the kind of public leader they need. Now more than ever, we call on ASUC External Affairs Vice President Joey Freeman to inject himself more thoroughly
into the debate and to provide necessary student leadership. The letter he and other student leaders across the UC system signed was a start, but that action should be only the first step that he takes during this time of crisis. Freeman’s role necessitates his acting as the public face for our campus to all external bodies, and he must consider the students of the campus as his top priority. We call on him to mobilize student efforts and synthesize their ideas into a coherent and purposeful message ahead of the July UC Board of Regents meeting but are discouraged by his track record thus far. Freeman’s absence from the state hinders his ability to serve as EAVP, but regardless, he must find a way to overcome the distance between California and Washington, D.C., and work for the student population he serves. But the job is not Freeman’s alone. The entire ASUC must begin working with other student governments and the regents to mitigate the effects of both the tuition increase and possible future cuts. At the regents’ meeting in July, UC President Mark Yudof will propose a 9.6 percent tuition increase as a result of the budget cut. It is crucial that students have a voice in how the increase is implemented, particularly since it is such a rushed proposal. This is where our campus leaders — the ASUC — must step up. Though we are calling on ASUC officials to become more involved, we also hope average students realize their needed input. While recent efforts at protest have proved ineffective and disappointing, we hope that any efforts to express public anger is channeled at our state officials, not the regents. Tuition increases are a result of state disinvestment, and students must remember that. As the university looks to outof-state and international students as a growing source of funding, state support continues to decline because legislators fail to prioritize higher education. The students of this university must speak out. Our student officials must provide the leadership their roles dictate. Students must have a seat at the table when implementing the cuts to our university. And state legislators must prioritize maintaining public access through affordability to the university or else risk compromising the UC’s status as the premier public university. In a statement of disappointment regarding the budget, the UC Office of the President wrote “we cannot stand silent.” It is time students unite and make it known: we will not stand silent.
He was born of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother; I had lived in three other countries before having the opportunity to call the Bay Area my home. Despite his young age, a relative lack of experience in an elected capacity and a funny name, he saw a distinct need to generate change from the stale politics of the past and took the plunge. Sharing each of those three attributes myself, I was inspired enough by this bodacious move that I, too, chose to run for elected office three years ago. But since
Igor Tregub Special to the Daily Cal opinion@dailycal.org One hours-long visit to the White House changed my perspective on what is possible for us to achieve today. I hope it might affect yours too. Last month I was honored to receive an invitation from the White House asking me if I wished to meet with President Obama and his senior advisers to discuss policies affecting the people I serve. Organized by the White House’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and the Young Elected Officials Network — which represents state and local elected officials under age 36 — the briefing and visit promised me a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to ask questions of those who craft federal policies that trickle down to the Bay Area. I was joined by my colleague on the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, Asa Dodsworth, along with Berkeley City Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, East Bay Municipal Utilities Director Andy Katz, Alameda County Board of Education Trustee Marlon McWilson, AC Transit Board Member Mark Williams and about 200 other elected officials from across the country. In some ways, this was a trip down memory lane for me. My personal biography is more intertwined with the president than he might realize.
then, he on the national front, and I on a much smaller geographic plane, discovered just how difficult it was to push for fresh policies that depart so greatly from what we had been accustomed to — this, too, in the context of dramatic economic and partisan headwinds. When I read the submissions my constituents sent me in response to my solicitation for questions to ask of the president, it was palpable to me that disappointment and moroseness had supplanted the once-strong spirit of hope. However, the words I heard from the president’s senior staff — public servants like Council of Economic Advisers Chair Austan Goolsbee, Office of Energy and Climate Change representative Heather Zichal and Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra — imbued me with a newfound sense of optimism. I do not believe that such mantras of the administration as expanding development of new forms of clean energy, rebuilding the middle class
WHITE HOUSE: PAGE 5 JAIME CHONG/STAFF
Editorial Cartoon
By Maen Mahfoud
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