gsoccurriculumw10 abridged

8/14/2019 GSOCCurriculumW10 Abridged

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GSOC CurriculumWinter 2010

Teach-In Notes

(A lot of detail is included here in order to give teachers the flexibility to read their audiences

and emphasize the points they think are most relevant. Key points are in bold.)

Intro: Were here to:- provide some information on the effects of the budget cuts

- explain how the university is being privatized and what that means

- talk a about how students are working to protect education and how you can help

Section I: How Budget Cuts are Affecting Students Now

- Tuition Increases

o You probably know that the Regents voted to increase your tuition by

32% on November 19ththis is on top of a 9% increase passed last May.

o Some can afford this. BUT, even if you can afford to pay over $10,000 per

year for school, you should know that youll be getting less for your money.

More Limited Admissions

o In the 2009-2010 school year, the UC cut admissions by almost 1,500

students.[1] AND the Office of the President is proposing a plan to cut UC

enrollments by 8-10,000 over the next few years.[2]

- Declining Accessibility.

o According to a study released in early January 2010, UC Berkeley ranks

among the lowest in the nation in terms of enrollment rates of

underrepresented minorities.[3]

o Rising Student Debt. Average student loan debt rose nearly 20% in the first

5 years of the 21st

century; for students of color, the increase has been between 80

and 100%.[4]

o The UC is also reserving more spots forout-of-state students who can

afford to pay about $30,000 per year in tuition.

Next fall UC Berkeley will increase the percentage of non-

resident freshmen from 14% to as much as 23 % of the incoming class

of 2010-11.[5]

Declines in Quality

o Increased class sizes mean less individual attention from professors and

TAs.[6]

o Fewer classes are being offered each quarter. This winter UCSC cut course

offerings by 11%, the highest drop of all the UC campuses,[7] making it

increasingly difficult to for students to get the classes they need to graduate on

time.[8]

- Fewer resources for students.

o Departments and programs across campus that emphasize community

and accessibility have seen their budgets slashed.[9] Such as: Community


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Studies department, the Chicano and Latino Resources Center, and The Equal

Opportunity Programs Office, among other programs and resource centers.

o Library hours have been drastically cut by more than 20 hours per

week. (In 2007-08, the library was open 7 days a week, and weekday hours were

8am to midnight. This year, the library is open from 10-10 on weekdays and

closed on Saturdays.)

- Fewer Choices: Many majors are in threat of disappearing. The Humanities

Division is considering major cuts to the language program that would get rid of

Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew and Hindi, as well as replace instructors with decades

of experience teaching language with inexperienced graduate students.

- Faculty Flight: The UC will continue to lose its best faculty as it is unable to offer

competitive salaries or a supportive working environment. Others are laid off.

Section II: Privatization

POINT: The changes we are seeing now are not a temporary reaction to an economic crisis,

but rather the result of decisions made years before the current economic crisis. In 2004,Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger met with then-UC President Bob Dynes, and his counterpart

at CSU, Charles Reed, and pressured them to sign the 2004 Higher Education Compact, an

agreement to move the UC towards a privatized model.[10]

Privatization involves the transfer of a government service or responsibility to the private

sector. In the case of the UC, this has meant a plant to force private individualsstudents and

their parentsto shoulder more of the cost of tuition, and to solicit more corporate sponsorship.

With this compact, 3 key individualswithout any public debatedecided to fundamentally

change the model for supporting higher education in California.

Privatization vs. Public Good: Two Perspectives.The Argument for Privatization:

- Supporters of privatization say that government bureaucracy is inefficient and

expensive, and that privatization is the best way to cut wasteful bureaucracy.

- Second, since individuals with a college degree on average are able to attain

higher incomes than high school graduates, students and their parents should

assume more of that financial burden.

Public Good: The Critique of Privatization

Privatization does not equal Efficiency

- Critics of privatization argue that it is the UCs undemocratic structure thatproduces inefficiencies because it is unaccountable.

- Though the UC is said to be a public university, the Board of Regents, which

oversees the UCs $18 billion-dollar budget, consists of mostly unelected and

unaccountable political appointees and the budgetary process takes place behind

closed doors.[11]


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- Between 1994 and 2009, the ratio of senior management to faculty jumped

from 2/5 to 1/1.[12]

- Even as the UC Regents have increased tuition by a total of 40% over the last three

quarters, they have continued at every meeting to approve millions of dollars in merit

bonuses for top-earning executives.[13]

Public Benefit:

- Critics of privatization argue that higher education benefits the community as a

whole, as University educational attainment is highly correlated with the income of

everyone in a state.

- More educated workers mean faster economic growth and more high-paying,

knowledge-based jobs. Thus, when fewer people have access to higher education, the

whole community suffers.

- They point to Californias history of affordable higher education and economic

growth:

o In 1960, the Master Plan for Higher Education in California set public

education as a public priority, a central role of the government.

o It promised every California student an affordable (initially free) seat at

an appropriate institution of higher education.[14]

o In the years since then, the UC system has contributed to making

California the 8th

largest economy in the world and the largest in America

- They note that privatization reduces the quality and scope of research.

o Under privatization, research and teaching would be shaped by special

interests looking for a direct return on their investments.

o This would mean devaluation of basic research in favor of applied research,

increasing inequality in resources between different departments,

o This may also mean different tuition cost for different majors and cutting or

closing of departments deemed to not have sufficient market value, such as

ethnic studies, history of consciousness, and even large cuts in departments we

think of as central to the university, such as literature, history, and

languages.

POINT: Even those who do not go to college benefit from having a large college-educated

population, which generates innovation, propels economic growth, and creates jobs.

Section III: What Privatization Means for the Future of the UC

More of the Same: Privatization means a continuation and acceleration ofthe changes we are

seeing:

- increases in tuition and class sizes, reductions in class offerings and

diversity, declining accessibility, and overall declines in resources for students

the quality of education.


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- As tuitions increase, fewer Californians will be able to afford to attend college,

meaning less opportunity for social mobility and less diversity within the

university and the middle class.

Section IV: Students Taking Action

- Last quarters protests got the attention of both the Governor and UC President

Mark Yudof, but they still havent gotten the message that the UCs problems are not just

about money, but also about shifting priorities and lack of transparency and

accountability.

March 4th

- March 4th

is a state-day of action in all sectors of public education: the UCs, the

CSUs, the community colleges, and K-12. It will involve students, workers, and faculty.

- At UCSC, students are planning a campus-wide student strike, with the support

of campus unions, organized graduate students and organized faculty.

Support the Strike- SIGN THE STRIKE PLEDGE. Students are tabling all over campus.

- SPREAD THE WORD:

o Tell your reps in student government to support the strike!

o Let your professors and TAs know that you will not be in class that day and

ask them not to hold class!

o Ask your professors and TAs to teach this important lesson to their other

classes and sections.

- JOIN the Movement!

o If you are interested in helping organize this important day, please attend

the General Assembly, a large meeting of all student groups organizing to

fight the budget cuts. Location: Kresge Town Hall. Time: 6pm. Dates: 2/10,

2/24

March 1st

March on Sacramento

- After the display of strength of the student movement in November, the UC

Administration has decided to call for a march on Sacramento on March 1st

to ask the

legislature for more money for the UC Administration.

- The UC Student Association has called for a Lobby Conference from Feb. 26 to

March 1st. Talk to the Student Government to get involved!


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[1] UC Releases Fall 2009 Admissions Data, http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/20902

[2] Approval of the 2010-2011 UC Budget, University of California Office of the President, available at

www.ucop.edu

[3]Nanette Asimov, UC minority enrollment among lowest in the nation, SF Chronicle, Jan. 14, 2010,

[4] http://www.gradstudentstoppage.com/a-note-to-students-of-color-completing-the-work-of-prop-209/.

[5] Philip Matier and Andrew Ross, UC Berkeley to admit more out-of-state students, SF Chronicle, October

21, 2009

[6] Approval of the 2010-2011 UC Budget, University of California Office of the President, available at

www.ucop.edu

[7] http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-classes20-2010jan20,0,4770272.story

[8] Chris Newfield, UC Budget Questions and Answers, available at www.teachthebudgetucsc.org

[9] Tamar Lewin, University of California Makes Cuts After Reduction in State Financing,NYT, July 10, 2009

[10] This section is based on a lecture by UC Professor Stanton Glantz. A recording of that lecture can be found

at http://www.youtube.com/user/caltvinfo#p/u/48/vgDmft3DtMQ

[11] Thomas Jue and Jerold Theis, Money isnt the only problem facing the UC system, San Jose Mercury

News, Jan. 21, 2001

[12] Ibid

[13] See reports of the Regents Committee on Compensation at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents

[14] A Master Plan for Higher Education in California, 1960-1975, available at http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/

mastplan/mp.htm
http://www.ucop.edu/http://www.ucop.edu/http://www.youtube.com/user/caltvinfo#p/u/48/vgDmft3DtMQhttp://www.youtube.com/user/caltvinfo#p/u/48/vgDmft3DtMQhttp://www.youtube.com/user/caltvinfo#p/u/48/vgDmft3DtMQhttp://www.ucop.edu/http://www.ucop.edu/http://www.ucop.edu/http://www.ucop.edu/

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