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TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012
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Highlander University
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Students, chancellor, regents join forces to lobby in Sacramento
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UC regents review prospect of 6% tuition increase
Courtesy of Timothy White From left to right: Governor Brown, Nick Oifoh, Aundrey Jones, Nicole Rosales and Johanna Sanchez.
Chris LoCascio SENIOR STAFF WRITER
For the first time since 1993, the University of California Board of Regents held a meeting in Sacramento, rather than a specific UC campus. With the threat of further budget cuts and a budget deficit looming, regents hoped to join forces with students on a united front to lobby legislators on UC issues. Four UCR students joined Chancellor White in Sacramento to speak with local state representatives and make their case for the University of California. UCR’s student representation came from the Highlander Lobby Corps, a volunteer-based group ran by the Legislative Liaison and overseen by the External Affairs Office of ASUCR. The organization focuses on lobbying efforts and making sure student voices LOBBY CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
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Protests during the UC regents meeting forced the regents to take a one-hour recess.
E r i c G a m b oa SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The implications of Governor Brown’s revised May budget were the main focus of the UC Board of Regents meeting last week in Sacramento. The regents discussed the prospect of a six percent tuition increase—which is nearly guaranteed given the revised budget’s failure to provide the $125.4 million necessary for a tuition buy-out. Other prominent issues included a discussion of a UC-wide report on campus protests, the future of the UC’s Blue and Gold Plan and a brief controversy regarding the approved salary of the upcoming UC San Diego Chancellor. Notably absent
from the meeting was UC President Mark Yudof who was unable to attend due to his wife’s hospitalization. The public forum period of the meeting witnessed protests in the form of chanting and shouting from protesters wearing mock prison attire. Protesters wore orange to draw an analogy between the plight of students—namely, via debt “sentences” and crackdowns on student protests—and the conditions faced by inmates. The regents were forced to declare a one-hour recess due to protesters’ refusal to stop chanting. No arrests were made and the protesters left the forum during the recess. One of the lengthiest portions of the
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meeting was spent evaluating the UC’s financial position following the release of Governor Brown’s revised budget. Chair Lansing began by announcing a consensus among regents pertaining to several items: the importance of restoring Cal Grants, obtaining a tuition buyout, passing Speaker Perez’s Middle Class Scholarship Act and receiving proper funding from the state. The revised budget allocates $52 million to the UC—$38 million short of the state’s $90 million commitment. But even accounting for the entirety of the $90 million pledge (which would be fully dispersed in 2014), the state’s commitment REGENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Brown’s revised budget allocates UC less funding than expected E r i c G a m b oa SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Cristina Granados STAFF WRITER
Governor Jerry Brown.
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Gov. Brown’s revised budget, which seeks to address the state’s $16 billion deficit, will temporarily withhold $38 million from the state’s initial $90 million commitment to the UC while boosting K-12 funding by 16 percent. Public education was largely exempt from the numerous cuts enacted in nearly every other government sector, which included a five percent state employee payroll freeze and nearly $550 million in trial court system cuts. “Governor Brown’s revised
budget proposal makes it clear that he considers public higher education a priority for the state, and we appreciate that,” stated Steve Montiel, the UC Office of the President (UCOP) media relations director, in a press release. Governor Brown, however, has noted that the funding of public education depends on voter approval of Brown’s tax measures in the November ballot; if the tax measures fail to pass, the UC and California State University System would each be subject to $250 million trigger cuts beginning on Jan. 1, 2013. “We can’t balance the budget with cuts alone; that would just further undermine our public
THIS WEEK’S EVENTS WED 5/23
UCR Choral Society: Songs of Loss 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ARTS 166
KUCR Comedy Apocalypse 8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. The Barn
THUR 5/24
UCR Campus Memorial 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Botanic Gardens Info Center
FRI 5/25
schools,” stated Governor Brown in a press release. “The budget I am proposing will boost funding for education, protect public safety and prevent an even deeper round of trigger cuts.” The boost referred to the additional funding of K-12 education, whereas the California State University did not undergo any substantial financial changes and the UC was granted $52 million. Some of the most controversial aspects of the revised budget related to education pertain to the California Student Aid Commission. The revised budget has reformed the Cal Grant program in terms of participation among BUDGET CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
History of Protest & Policing in the UC System and Beyond Part II 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. University Theatre
31st Annual UCR Pow Wow 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. UCR Sports Center
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Volume 60
Issue 29