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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2012
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Governor Brown signs higher education legislation Cristina Granados STAFF WRITER
Carrie Meng STAFF WRITER
This month, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that will affect California’s college and university students and faculty on multiple levels. The bills passed during the 2011-2012 state legislative session involve: future fee increases, expansions to scholarship packages and faculty tenure. AB 970, authored by Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), seeks to ensure transparency and accountability for the state’s working families in the UC and CSU systems. The bill requires that administrators consult with student organizations six months prior to any fee increases, while enforcing a 60-day open public forum. Functions of the bill create greater transparency at the administrative level and a wider threshold of time for communication. The regents and trustees will be required to post a public notice indicating how the student fee revenue will be used. Impacts on accessibility, persistence and the graduation
C o u rt e s e y
of historically underrepresented students and low-tomiddle income students will be included in the notice. Sponsored by the California State Student Association and the UC Student Association (UCSA), the bill was previously opposed by the CSU and UC, but they have now
developed a neutral stance on its passage. UC spokesperson Dianne Klein said the amendments “made the bill workable and created significant ‘outs’ in the event certain actions—such as state budget reductions or midyear budget cuts—occur,” in a statement to the Daily
S a n dy V a n With the introduction of opening statements, the U.S. Supreme Court case in Fisher v. University of Texas (UT) conducted its first trial on Oct. 10. The inclusion of race as an admissions factor is being contested by the plaintiff, Abigail Fisher, who was denied enrollment to the University of Texas at Austin back in 2008. Known as a more conservative circuit, the U.S. Justices displayed equally divided viewpoints over the structure of the university’s race-neutral admissions and whether it directly improves college diversity, in accordance to constitutional law. Based on the university acceptance policies in compliance with state law, the top 10 percent of all high school graduates receive
The Sacramento Bee
Californian. Klein notes that the many components of the bill may confuse students who are not familiar with them. “It’s imperative that students are correctly informed about their tuition increases,” said third-year UCR undergraduate Cesar Toledo. He noted that many students live
Supreme Court hears affirmative action case SENIOR STAFF WRITER
of
Governor Jerry Brown (above), recently signed a series of state laws that will affect higher education.
automatic admission into the UT of Austin. Applicants, such as Fisher, who fell below this grading bracket are considered under holistic review, which includes leadership skills, musical talent, community service, socioeconomic background and race--the factor being disputed. As a result, Fisher argues that her liberties from the Equal Rights Clause of the 14th Amendment were violated. In the previous affirmative action case of Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the US Supreme court ruled in favor of legitimate raceconscious policies in the admissions process. As a result, the court argued that the university should have a greater degree of autonomy in determining whether race should be considered. “Grutter invokes a broad ‘tradi-
tion of giving a degree of deference to a university’s academic decisions and recognizes that courts should respect the ‘educational autonomy’ of universities given their unique role in our society,” states an opposing brief against Fisher. Among the areas of debate, the justices touched upon the legitimacy to which the selection of race on an application accurately portrays campus diversity. Fisher’s defense team has yet to prove that race was the deciding factor which denied her acceptance into UT of Austin. The distinction between state enrollment and admissions policies has unearthed the argument over whether heightened levels of diversity has been fulfilled through affirmative action policies. SUPREME COURT CONT’D ON PAGE 4
on low funds, so it would be wrong for the UC and CSU to raise tuition without prior notice. “Students paying for tuition need more time to plan for future expenses,” he said. SB 1052 and SB 1053 are two measures that will create an open source textbook library for the state’s 50 most popular undergraduate courses to use at the UC, CSU and community colleges, aiming to provide financial relief to students. Second-year UCR student Tony Huo believes that this bill is beneficial to students, however it may be detrimental to textbook authors and publishers. “A good part of their income comes from the royalties authors earn from the textbooks they publish,” Huo said. “Their work deserves recognition as well as payment.” SB 1052 specifically establishes the “California Open Education Resources Council,” a group of faculty members who will determine which books and resources should be made available. The latter bill creates the California Open Source Digital Library which BROWN CONT’D ON PAGE 8
City of Riverside wins national green fleet award
B rya n T u t t l e /HIGHLANDER This RTA bus is powered by clean fuel technology.
Colin Markovich CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Among the criteria for selection were “standards in fleet composition, fuel and emissions, policy planning, fleet utilization, education, executive and employee involvement, and supporting programs,” according GREEN FLEET CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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Volume 61
Issue 04