President Yudof on the revised state budget.

[dickiesgirl72]

I'm surprised comments are allowed. It's not clear to me what will happen after this furlough period ends. More furloughs? Full pay restored? Staff cuts? I realize we have to wait for the state budget, but it's been very annoying. Also annoying? Seeing people around me either reclassed into higher wages or new employees earning significantly more than their predecessors. Their should be caps on this.

[esfanneon]

As a student, what I saw is the endless increasing of our tuition, which almost reached the level of some private university. We have to work several jobs and take endless loans just to keep ourselves in the school. I really do suspect where the money actually went and I doubt if the management of UC system is still wasting those resource that can keep students alive into some useless projects. I hope the management of UC system can make it clear and show where the money went.

[moravecglobal]

President Mark Yudof approved Cal Chancellor Birgenea spending $3,000,000 on consultants to do the work of the Cal Chancellor and his senior staff of vice chancellors. Stop spending $ on consultants and use the $3 million on Faculty, Staff and Students. The diagnosis and recommendations to save $350,000,000 can be accomplished with the integrity of the world class faculty.

[afsanehpetrofsky]

i'm proud to be part of the UC system. our biggest problems are ; 1) wasting , 2) spending - we waste supplies, energy and manpower. i cringe when i think about what we do to our land mines. we spend money on water falls and decorations. have you seen the land scaping in front of our new pavillion? what a waste of land, water. it has no function- ever served in a 3rd world country? clinicians there don't care about landscaping and water falls and they can't afford to waste.

[skymy4720]

what the UC system is doing to the professors is more heart breaking to me than what they are doing to the students. How can the Regents stomach not paying the countries brightest enough to make a decent living. I mean sure my tuition is going up and I hate that, but to think that the reasons why I decided to stay @ UCSD, the teachers, are not being properly appreciated by the public education system sickens me.

[UCstaff]

Coming from the private sector, I took a huge paycut to join the UC, ~30% less salary. I did this for quality of life benefits, the community, job security, and eventually a pension. There hasn't been job security here since I came onboard; we are paying into the pension fund; and it's more political and stressful at the UC than in the private sector. Given that things are picking up in the private sector and recruiters are beginning to call me again, I'm just about to pack it in.

[browlands]

The question arises: Why is UC allowing talkback-to-the-prez this time around? Surely it's not for lack of vigilance by the little Strategic Communications people. (I'm sorry; I didn't mean to call you Shirley.) I'm afraid it's not a good sign. If Dick Blum and the Moneymen have started to run the big roughshod over the university, staff/student/faculty/public opinion won't matter to them. Maybe they've even laid off some of their little spokespeople. Dan Mogulof, are you still there?

[carolannne]

I'm with kindredg, general UC staff are NOT overpaid. However senior management often is.

The bright side: With this money Yudof can again give bonuses to his highest paid cronies!

The question is: Will he hire back the laid off janitorial staff so we can at least keep our campuses clean and tidy?

[DasBischof]

As a student, my reg fees rose almost every quarter. As a full time staff member, I realize that base salaries are better elsewhere, however, the benefits are NOT a myth. We have a new hire from a private company. Although she is only being paid $0.50/hr more than her old job, she is thrilled that she can take home more pay because she does not have to pay 50% of her health insurance premium. The UC system is not perfect, but it is comparable if not better than some companies out there.

[HumeanFace]

For the record, and whatever one thinks about budget issues, UC faculty are NOT unionized. We generally make less than our counterparts at good private universities. I'm not complaining, and I think any extra funds should go to restoring undergraduate instruction cuts rather than bumping my salary. But the idea that UC faculty are unionized and overpaid is wrong--and shouldn't be used as a reason to starve UC.

[carolannne]

@HumeanFace

They would be far better off if they were unionized.

I know many who wish they were.

[kindredg]

To you who here who talk about "overpaid" UC staff.... do your research, a huge population of UC staff are on welfare because they don't even get a living wage, and even the unionized workers get no overtime and are exempt from many basic labor laws that apply to the private sector. The great benefits of the UC system is a myth! I can say this because I myself am full time UCLA staff and couldn't even afford my own apartment on what I make.

[kindredg]

Come on, Yudof, you owe your biggest "Thank you" for the sit-ins! It was only the student Sit-Ins that made national news and finally got Schwartzenegger to promise the money.  Every penny should go to bringing student tuition back down as a concrete "thank you".

[dleesocal]

what are you saying? talk specifics when you have specifics

[inkie23]

I wonder how having the UC President reading from a teleprompter on YouTube, using about as much facial expression as a Thunderbird, is better than publishing a written statement on the UC website. If you're not a great public speaker, stick to writing. This is not what I would call good PR.

[sauce25]

Look how excited he is...

Yudof, you are so incredibly disconnected from the Undergraduate population on UC campuses that I am embarrassed to admit that we are both affilitated with the insituition.

[PFAOnlinevideos]

rethink these videos from an audience standpoint

[wscttwolfe]

@shaunnalee

Probably back to the students instead of you greedy unionized staff and faculty. did you even listen to the video? So glad to have transferred OUT of ucsd this spring.

[fraskydingy]

@wscttwolfe

Of course. All the best universities are run by volunteer staff and faculty.

[ThePinkCustard]

@wscttwolfe "greedy staff" ya right. I gross $2500 a month (BEFORE the furloughs which cost me 10% of that gross) and i have worked at UC for 8 years. Ya I'm rolling in the dough..

[greenanarchyify]

@ThePinkCustard $2500(12mo) - 0.1(2500[12]) = $27,000/yr = More Than Enough!

My mother supported herself and two children, alone, on less than $20,000/yr. We all came out fine. My mom's alive, and my sister and I each attended the UC (granted, on full "need based" public aid scholarships). I was always pretty shocked to hear professors and staff complain about their salaries while simultaneously claiming that those above them earned too much. Talk about a lack of reflexiveness.

[yikiad]

@wscttwolfe greedy? #1, the Unions only represent a small fraction of employees. And they have virtually no power in the UC system. We get paid significantly less here than in the outside world. I could easily find a job (in a good economy) making 25% more. Get your facts straight before your ignorant rants, please.

[browlands]

Dear President Yudof:

Since you are only a tool of your corporatist cronies, it doesn't really matter what you say. However, it would be cool if you would read over the speech they give you before the taping. These changes won't be easy. I feel your pain.

[Shaunnalee]

As a staff person that is getting to laid off today I'm wondering where this big money is going to go? To faculty for merits and promotions? To management for cost of living increases??? I know for sure that staff aren't seeing the big money and are continuing to be laid off!!!!!

[musicals68]

@Shaunnalee

The new budget is not yet law and the deal could still fall through, so no one is seeing this "big money" yet (which is a tiny proportion of the total amount of state funding that was cut last year--most of the cut was *permanent*, just this portion was temporary). Do you want UC to spend money before they have it?

[moravecglobal]

@Shaunnalee see moravecglobal on where money is going. Money is going to hire outside consultats so UCB Chancellor Birgeneau and his Vice-Chancellors do not have to do the WORK of their jobs. Did you know that the self-serving Cal senior management is spending $3 million on consultants to do the work of their jobs! Contact you representatives in Sacramento!

[UCstaff]

Does this mean that our insitutionalized, bloated, top-heavy management can stop painting the picture of lay-off doom that is creating an atmosphere of paranoia, stress, and depression for those of us who actually do the work here at the UC?

[jesscolap]

I wonder how the whole team of OB nurses that are getting laid off next week feel about this......

[gpagea]

What campus are a whole team of OB nurses getting laid off?

[ThePinkCustard]

then why are people at UCD still getting laid off.

[ccarstens1974]

Does Mark Yudof remind anyone else of Mikhail Gorbachev?

[simpleprogrammer]

@zigertube... from your mighty vantage point, you can cast your judgements on the UC system? Show proof (not examples of dust-bunnies in your corner) or show good restraint.

[planthead667]

Wow, doesn't sound very sincere.

[pgrigg]

I also work for UCSF, and think it is a very important institution. An educated populace makes democracy possible. Higher education creates opportunities, inventions and jobs. Public Universities make higher education available to more people. Thank you for advocating for long term goals and investing in the future of our state and country.

[qtip403]

Easy for a Governor about the leave office to "lay-off" so to speak, from cutting yet more funds for UCSF. Imagine what will happen if Meg Whitman becomes Governor. Slash, burn, tear down the Universities: save money. Destroy people's lives.

[zigertube]

@qtip403 I work for UCSF. The UC system is an amazing waste of tax-payer dollars.

[gravitonman]

@zigertube then stop watching youtube videos and get back to work!

[thetonyrose]

Looks like you're having issues with focus... Is it because the camera is set to auto-focus, or is your camera man (and post-production supervisor) blind?

[googoorooroo]

Why does he look so smarmy?