By Bruce Maiman
If Mark Yudof ever steps down as president of the UC system,
he should run for president of the Society for the Tone Deaf.
Mr. Yudof recently issued a letter to the Chancellors of the
various divisions of the UC system, announcing pay raises of up to
three percent for certain categories of workers. The funds would
come from a pool of money set aside last fall. It would be left to
Chancellors at the various divisions to decide how best to
apportion that money.
Ask yourself: Is this a time when we should be announcing, let
alone even issuing, pay raises in the university system? You don't
even need a college degree to figure that one out.
You can argue it's only a three percent raise, they haven't
had a raise in four years, they probably deserve it. But sometimes
there are times when deserve's got nuthin to do with it. Like, when
you're broke, and California is flat broke.
In fact, tax revenue is down more than half a billion below
projections for the budget just passed, which means further cuts
are coming, and probably further tuition hikes.
We've raised tuition and fees at the University of California
for the last three years. This fall, the increase will be 18
percent.
Indeed, tuition is now high enough that the increases paid by
every two or three UC students are probably paying for each one of
those pay raises. And this is on top of that recent and staggering
six-figure pay raise to San Diego State's new president.
The old argument Mr. Yudof makes in his letter to the
Chancellors is that raises are necessary to keep faculty from being
lured away by higher paying institutions. Really? On what planet
would that be exactly? What, UC is the only university system in
the country with financial problems?
Ya know, if any employee of the UC system doesn't understand
the current fiscal crisis in California enough to realize that now
is not the time to be issuing raises, let 'em go. They're not
valuable enough to keep. Besides, the world needs plenty of
bartenders.
Bruce Maiman is a former radio host who lives in Rocklin.