Whining President Yudof: talk no action. Ranking drops for world class preeminent public research and teaching University of California Berkeley (Cal). In 2004 the London-based Times Higher Education ranked Cal the 2nd leading research university in the world, just behind Harvard; in 2009 that ranking tumbled to 39th. By 2011 Cal had not returned to 2nd place. Cal below top ten in tuition to Return on Investment (ROI)
While UC could make cuts, decreasing the opportunity for students, regardless of income, to get a first class education would be penny wise and pound foolish. I grew up in a lower middle class family in New York and am grateful that the City University of New York provided an affordable education to me so I could be the first college graduate in my family. Years later, I became a UC faculty member, even taking a salary cut to do so, because I believed in providing that opportunity to others.
I hope the UC bigwigs are paying attention to these comments. Us "little people" have been struggling so long - it seems to me that we need to know what kind of living challenges and difficulties each and everyone of them are equally facing. ... yeah. I didn't think so.
UC could also help itself by publishing more articles on how, exactly, UC has helped our state, and science in general. I googled UC Research that helps people and found some interesting articles. There should be lots more of this. Also, UC is one of the biggest employers in the state. Laying more people off hurts the economy more.
When I started working at UC 9 years ago, there was ONE Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. Now there are at least SIX that I know of - all 6-digit incomes. The trend has been to cut the wages of the staff, but not down-size our top-heavy administration.
I would like Gov. Brown to stop talking about state employees like we all make loads of money! This '100K a year custodian' idea is total B.S., and makes life very difficult for those making less than 40K per year to live in the Bay area.
I am a UC student and I truly believe there is no way we can save the UC if we wants to preserve the quality of the UC system with so little funding. Forget about it.
Maintain the quality. Quality always wins out in the end. Raise tuition as necessary, as the State withdraws support. Eventually we wil have a quasi private University, because the State has defaulted on its master plan commitment. The politicians don't care about quality. It will just be another contentious budget item to them, and treated exactly that way each budget cycle. Quasi privatizing is the only option that maintains quality.
This budget crisis is NOT the fault of the faculty, staff or administrator salaries. Look @ the overall economic crisis of the State & country. We're fighting wars on how many fronts? We bailed out the banks & auto companies, but not our schools. We passed Prop 13 in the 70s, but did they stabilize the school systems' budgets? No. Stop taking the pay away from the people who are trying to keep what was once a global powerhouse of education. I was laid off in Nov 2010, but still love my UCs!
The cashier was so good at his job that he was promoted to manager, so they hired a new cashier to do his job. The new manager was so good at his job that they promoted him to Super Duper manager and hired a manager to do his old job. The Super Duper manager was so good at his job that they promoted him to Super Duper Extraordinary manager, and hired a Super Duper manager to do his old job. Then they ran out of money and had to let the cashier go. Without anyone to cashier they had to shutdown.
Cut the middle management. Keep the operation managers. What's so hard about it?
What does it mean to be a director anyway? None of them contribute anything to the operation of the system. I'm tired of the doing the work and the directors get the praises.
I know this is far reaching and this is really just my modest opinion, but maybe the UC system, and all government agencies in that matter, should revisit the way budgeting and spending is done in general. The system we have in place right now promotes frivilous spending and unwise use of money that is "restricted" to certain activities. It was earlier stated that some building projects can not be stopped to save money, which is true in the current system that we have.
I am a UCalumni who recently returned as a staff member after 12 years at another state univ. I am embarrassed at how things have changed over the past 20 years. It is time for the Chancellors and Dean's to take paycuts. I have heard that faculty salaries are low in comparison, and yet I am aware of a faculty making over $500,000 per year plus they get mortgage assistance. Staff can't even get a parking space, let alone mortgage assistance as part of salary/benefits. Unfunded obligations??!
Close the Merced campus? Jfrench needs to look beyond his or her "division". How would you like it if your campus were "Closed". You are a selfish person indeed.
Cutting top administrator pay IS important because otherwise their livelihood is independent of solving the UC budget issue. Handling (i.e. spending) a multi-billion dollar budget that is state-funded is different than running a company whose budget is related to its earnings. Yudof doesn't earn his salary, he spends the UC budget on it. Even if there is money allocated solely for new buildings, the operations and maintenance cost of those buildings might make construction an uneconomical idea.
Just a quick look at the database shows at UC Davis (for example) 20 Assistant Deans ('assisting' 12 deans btw), 11 Assistant Directors, 11 Assistant Vice Chancellors, and 98 Directors making over 100k a year (some well over) - all staff titles. And my guess is that most of these have managers making 70k+ working for them. Meanwhile, an entry level admin asst. comes in at 28k and the lowest faculty salary is 43k for a lecturer or 53k for a professor.
My last comment: It's fine to complain about overpaid employees, esp. if it's thoughtfully considered and not just a knee-jerk reaction. It's obviously wrong to be paid $150k and not show up, or whatever. But it's intellectually lazy, at best, to suggest that these instances are enough to make a dent in the real financial hole UC is in. So how about if we agree to bitch and moan about these things for a while and then get down to serious and mature discussion about how to move forward?
@reastnt It's irresponsible to not take an unbiased look at where the money is really going and to discount people who have observed the problems first hand as "knee-jerk" and "intellectually lazy". Insults to hide the truth and avoid a true debate. It's a tactic staff members at UC know well, unfortunately.
@jnscromgirl That's what reastnt is asking you to do - look at the real problem and effective solutions, rather than focusing solely on the easy but misleading targets. It's not a tactic, it IS the true debate.
@SecantAngle The easiest targets have been the lowest paid staff and that's where the cuts have been focused so far. An abundance of overpaid managerial staff isn't a misleading target. It's a real problem that's costing the university and the students dearly. Yes, the funding is reduced, and salaries are not the only problem, but it's not irrelevant that we've shifted to a management heavy model. The disparity between management pay and staff and faculty pay is a very large contributing factor.
@jnscromgirl I agree with you 100% that the problems cannot be solved by cutting the already terribly underpaid staff. Here's the real problem with just pointing fingers at the UC fat cats - rather than presenting a unified, accurate message to the state that UC is being hugely underfunded, we instead give them the impression that the funding level is fine if only we cut the fat cat salaries. That just won't do it - the deeper systematic problem must be communicated to the public.
But Etherplain's point is key - you can't just take a doctor's salary (for example) and use it to reduce tuition. Similarly, someone donating $5M for a building does not give UC permission to use that money elsewhere. And there's the broader issue of quality - if we want a UC community college system, rather than a quality, world-class university system, by all means cut the salaries in half. But don't pretend that there won't be transformational consequences.
Wow someone's out of date. UC Irvine can't cancel their "plans" for a law school since they already have a law school.
Also canceling buildings? Once again someone lacks the basic understanding that all money is not green. Building funds are not general purpose and can't be used to support anything but the buildings. Cancelling would just be UC throwing money away, not saving money.
For goodness sakes, PLEASE someone go to the Sac Bee state worker salary database and search for those in UC paid over 100k. There's too many staff paid over 100k and not enough "workers". It's not scapegoating the administrators, it's the truth. UC pays the "golden children" a fortune, and lays off the underlings. Many high paid staff make much more than the faculty. UC is top heavy and is slowly falling over while the state it serves looks away.
@jnscromgirl Most of the people that fall under this definition are sr. administrators and clinical faculty (and some coaches). In regards to the clinicians, we're talking about Doctors who get a part of their fee returned to them in salary. It's acutally a necessary expense and doesn't effect the bottom line of the University because the money comes from patient fees. Frankly te SacBee database is out of date and ridiculously open to interpretation.
@Etherplain Yes, the database is out of date because most of the people making over 100k have received raises, while the rest have had pay cuts. Just for the record, I'm not talking about faculty or faculty administrators. Faculty are underpaid at UC. Staff without degrees are often paid higher than the PhD faculty. I would prefer to see faculty and workers hired, rather then a 150k a year "Director" who is "out" most days. Just sayin', it's my tax dollars, too.
@jnscromgirl Okay, here's the data: 3% of salaries at UCSD, 5% at UCLA, 2% at UCSB, and 5% at UCOP are over $200k. (15%, 21%, 15%, and 24% over $100k, but that's hardly "fat cat" status in coastal California!) If you really think the problem is going to be substantially solved by somehow whacking off these small numbers, then I've got a bridge I'd love to sell you. You may not realize this, but UC faculty are substantially underpaid relative to comparable institutions in the US. Scapegoating!
@reastnt I wonder what the percentages would be if you remove faculty? I absolutely realize that UC faculty are grossly underpaid. That's part of my point. 10 years ago UC departments were managed by middle manager supervisors making 10k or 20k more than the staff they supervised. Now, it's normal for a department to have several managers making 100k or more, with half the staff doing the work. Meanwhile, new faculty are hired at 60k! Much too low to compete. You can keep your bridge, but thanks
Yes, you are completely correct. Much too many arbitrary, useless, and trivial administrative procedures. Middle managers mainly nag rather than complete the tasks. Big reductions in employee hiring procedures, grant supervision, faculty mandatory training, and regulation of medical practice would be a great cost savings. Greater faculty time and creativity would then generate more federal grant income as well!
Reading these comments is really disheartening. Focusing on the pay of the administrators is not going to solve the problem. Of course it's nice to find scapegoats, and it makes people feel good to trash the administrators, but if this is our focus we are lost. Let's grow up and deal with the real issues, folks.
I would like for "Other unfunded obligations" to be defined. In addition, does that mean every campus will receive a one hundred million dollar cut instead of fifty million? And where does this leave the office of the president? What cuts will they make for UC.
There's a lot of derogatory talk about overpaid administrators here. However, please consider what these people would be getting paid elsewhere. One person below suggests that "any given chancellor" makes about $400k per year. Presuming this person is correct, look at the job they have... here at UC Davis, the campus's overall budget is in the neighborhood of about $3 billion. In the private sector, if someone was managing a multibillion dollor organization, they'd make AT LEAST 8 figures.
As a 23-year UCSD employee it’s infuriating to listen to this bulls**t when the Assistant Vice Chancellor of my own division is suing the university for a huge pension increase while meanwhile we’re short-staffed to the bone and coming off of a year-long 10% pay cut. IT’S A JOKE!!
UCSD used to be a great place to work. UNCONTROLLED GREED AND MISMANAGEMENT BY UPPER MANAGEMENT, THE CHANCELLORS AND THE REGENTS HAS TURNED THIS ONCE FINE INTITUTION INTO A JOKE!!!
Never does the term "layoff" apply to the fattest of cats (president, chancellors, provosts) within the system. Nor does "salary/benefit reduction". Instead, it always, always falls on students, low and mid-level employees -- i.e., the working stiffs, or middle class if you will. I'm no fan of any war, but these people seem bent on pushing a class war. While I'm not suggesting such a war is imminent, they'd better keep their eyes on the tipping point, because it's really not that far off.
I hope executives and board members are taking note that majority of the UC population agree that we need to trim the fat off over-compensation to leaders who are a partial cause for this deficit. Its time they realized the importance and impact they will have by taking a salary cut, giving up their paid mortgage, and eliminating frivolous spending on programs and policies that don't directly benefit the core mission statements of our UC campuses.
UC President Yudoff restates the obvious, i.e., the state is broke and all employees need to understand this. Only nimble individuals and companies recover from bankruptcy, i.e., there must be fundamental reform re: how UC performs and rewards. The halcion days are gone and anyone who think they qualify for special consideration either needs a psychiatrist or a pink slip, or both.
"Your voice matters???" The fact is, the only voices that matter in the UC are the regents voices . These people are neither appointed by faculty at UC, nor are they answerable to a constituency. They are appointed by the governor, and have the privilege of voting for their own promotions and off-scale benefits while the university burns. Instead of getting the state to fight Yudof's battle, maybe he should advocate a system where people 's voices really do matter.
My wife works @ UCSD and it would take two weeks to have someone hook up her printer. She asked if I would do it. I parked my scooter in a little v-area out of the way, found her printer, renamed it to location (building, floor, office) went out and had a $40 parking ticket. I appealed to no avail. Now you want something from me? Go buy a tractor to pull you head out of your rectal sphincter.
It's time we stood up for the UC system by canning Mr. Yudoff!
It's hard to listen to a thing the man says about budgets when he cost us nearly a million dollar in personal living expenses with his $13,365 a month mansion in the Oakland hills and 600,000 in damages when he moved out. Not to mention the thousands of dollars we paid him to move out here.
that came out of my tuition--thanks!
without that and his bloated salary we'd have more than enough money for a sustainable college system.
Cutting top salaries certainly will not solve the budget problem, but neither will reducing the compensation for a few staff workers, canceling one building project, etc. UC's budget problems can obviously only be solved through an aggregation of cost-cutting measures. However, if the high-level UC employees are not willing to *lead by example,* perhaps it's time to reconsider whether these individuals are fit for the office.
Even during supposedly hard financial times, UC seems to think that spending money expanding its campuses and programs is an intelligent idea. Cuts to top administrator salaries wouldn't solve UC's problems instantaneously, but say any given chancellor makes about $400k. Half of that is $200k, and an extra $200k per year invested in the basic operations of the university is better than $200k per year invested in an egotistic, irresponsible, short-sighted individual's lifestyle. Seriously people.
Wow the head coaches of UCLA and UCBerkeley each earn over 2 million/ year! Are those programs self sufficient since they are not part of the direct mission of the University?
@planthead667 Yeah, it's amazing how pissed people are that the head of the largest university in the world gets paid $600k but no one seems to care that FOOTBALL coaches are making 2 million/year. Why do people give football coaches the free pass?
Maybe of UC Executives took a pay cut and was put in the same retirement and pension plan as everyone else, then UC budget would be a lot different. If the state was paying for president Yudoff' 11000/month mortgage payment and get rid of the greed at the top, then maybe the 'workers' would be willing to do something else!!!
Cuts to top salaries may make you feel good, but it won't do a thing. And compared to administrators at other universities or in the private sector(!), the admin salaries at UC are hardly egregious. The state of California has to do decide if it wants higher education to be a public good or a private purchase. If we do not want to pay with state taxes, then tuition will skyrocket for individuals. It's pretty simple.
Yeah, killing retirement funds will really help out the state. Good grief.
This is not true that it wouldn't do a thing. Leading by example would boost morale: if the president is asking others for sacrifices, he and other administrators need to lead. Not only by taking a pay cut, but by eliminating all the necessary administrative functions (and I'm talking about the highly paid vice chancellors for this and that, their first and second assistants, and so on) before any cuts are made in this staff that makes the university go.
Telling the big wigs to take a pay cut might feel good, but it amounts to a drop in the bucket compared with the real problems UC faces. Let's focus our energies on real solutions and ideas, not just juvenile ranting at the administration.
To Yudof: this is too little, too late. We need more strategic action, and we needed it two years ago.
another round of meaningless bull---- from Yudoff. "Hard decisions" - what, exactly. As others remarked here: what about reducing your own salary, paying your own mortgage, and reducing administration numbers and salaries? Professors will have reduced salaries, students reduced tuition, and UC will be falling more and more behind in ratings - this year USC overtook UCLA. (and - on the record - Brown is an idiot, and those who voted for him deserve this).
UC HAS to decrease the amount of administrators by 1/2 MINIMUM. The bad news is that it's the administrators who make these decisions. Faculty and students can stand up and say enough! We have WAY too many people who sit on their hands while others are doing the work.
Balance the budget by starting with the elimination of retirement funds of ALL state employees. This threatens to drain the state coffers in the future, ACT now, remove this long standing cash cow for state workers.
Measures to balance the budget in UC are a failure because many groups got exempted from salary cuts. Only employees without a voice are impacted. If all employees contributed, it would not be as painful for everyone. Let us all band together and cooperate. Enough selfishness! Executives stop asking for a raise! Be more like the CEO of Japan Airlines. You know what I mean.
No, I won't be contacting my legislator. That train has left the station. YOU, Mr. Yudof, and your cronies need to lead the way by taking pay cuts--by 1/2!! And start paying your own rent or mortgage. I do. And I don't get paid what you do. I'm sure you've heard this suggestion before but you need to take it seriously. Your paycuts would not make much of a dent in the budget crisis, but it would fill the deep hole that everyone's morale is falling into.
Did you graduate from a UC? Does your son/daughter, grandchild or niece/nephew attend a UC or aspire to attend a UC? Do you work at a company formed by a UC alumnus? Have you been treated by a healthcare provider trained at a UC? President Yudof needs our help to maintain the integrity of the crown jewel of education, innovation and job creation in the great state of California. Call your assembly representative, state senator and Governor Brown. Support UC. The time is now. It's up to us.
I agree, bigwigs should take pay cuts, starting with perks!
They get paid plenty and do not need an extra bonus, or, a brand new leased car every two years, and I with their large salary they should be able to pay their own rent (no free housing). We have to make ends meet with our very small salaries.
Maybe Mr. Yudof should request that the state open the books and show us where the money went. I want to know about every nickel that was invested in various alphabet soup derivatives peddled by our friens on Wall Street. What is about to go down in CA is already starting in the Midwest. Our pesions, savings and Public Trust has been looted. Why are there billions and trillions of dollars for bank 'bailouts' but little or nothing for the states? What happened to all the money???
Thanks for the candid look at the situation. It's a shame that higher-ed is eating all of the cuts between the three top budget items in CA. Higher-ed is losing 15.8% of funding while K-12 is losing 0.4% and the prison system 1.0%. Yet CA public schools are near the bottom nationally and the CA prison system costs 300% what the Texas system needs on a per inmate basis. We really need to get behind our UC and push for stable funding by the legislature. Pay cuts won't get us there.
Close the Merced Campus, cancel UC Irvine's plans for a law school, reduce the salaries of the OP and President Yudoff. There are probably some curriculums that could be placed on hiatus until the economy sufficiently recovers and maybe retire some professors who have been around long enough to "cap out" on their slaries. Canceling building plans is a good idea too - but no more staff paycuts (and we've laid off everyone we can in my division).
I'm not opposed to closing the Merced campus. The UCI law school is funded by a large private gift tha can't be used elsewhere. The administration is looking to reduce or close some programs. I work on staff and haven't had a raise in 3+ years. It's time for the American people to ask what we truly value. The Wall St crooks didn't go to jail or suffer any negative consequences. Why are the banks and fianancial cos so unregulated? Did we learn nothing?
This guy makes more than $800,000 a year. How about you take a pay-cut? The worst part is: he isn't even the highest paid official in the UC system! Cut from the top!
Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California System, is in yet another controversy. The New York Times reported that critics say he spent way too much university money on his rented housing and had senior university officials get too involved in handling disputes. The rental cost $600,000 for two years, and ended in fights with the owner over allegations that Yudof left hundreds of holes in the walls and a scratched marble bathtub.
I think the state of California needs to think about who gets taxed...and how much. Prop 13 has been a disaster since its passage, and after a decade of financial magic tricks that merely delayed the inevitable, we have to face the reality that capping property taxes at 1970s levels is not sustainable.
While Prop 13 was a boon for homeowners back then, it's now an albatross around California's neck, and needs to be revisited. It's time business paid there fair share, too.
If you were retired, on a fixed income, and were losing your home to taxes back then,you wouldn't think that way.
Fact is that CA is a high tax state and this is one of the causes of decreased revenue. Employers and employees look elsewhere to live. Too expensive to live here. We *should* be reducing taxes, and the people and programs dependent on them, rather than increasing. That is why tuition and fees, in view of the default on the Master plan by the legislature, need to rise.
Mr Yudoff, thank you for going to bat for the UC system. It's a great system that needs to be preserved. As a Californian who has benefited directly from this system, I know. I do, though, agree with seventysschev statement below about upper administration taking a pay cut. Many, many people working in the UC system make 40k-50k/year. Why do you, Mr Yudoff, work for the UC? Do you love it? Then take a perm pay cut. Are we in this together, or not? Thank you.
The arguments we convey to our legislators and fellow citizens on behalf of UC will not be persuasive in the face of the decades-long history of UC's egregious compensation of executives and administrators. The system is reaping what it has sown for many years by essentially ignoring criticism of its executive compensation policies.
His not so veiled request is for the entire UC system to start engaging in active protests.... not just send an email. Why not piggy back on Wisconsin?
Whining President Yudof: talk no action. Ranking drops for world class preeminent public research and teaching University of California Berkeley (Cal). In 2004 the London-based Times Higher Education ranked Cal the 2nd leading research university in the world, just behind Harvard; in 2009 that ranking tumbled to 39th. By 2011 Cal had not returned to 2nd place. Cal below top ten in tuition to Return on Investment (ROI)
moravecglobal 9 months ago
While UC could make cuts, decreasing the opportunity for students, regardless of income, to get a first class education would be penny wise and pound foolish. I grew up in a lower middle class family in New York and am grateful that the City University of New York provided an affordable education to me so I could be the first college graduate in my family. Years later, I became a UC faculty member, even taking a salary cut to do so, because I believed in providing that opportunity to others.
Mercedmania 9 months ago
I hope the UC bigwigs are paying attention to these comments. Us "little people" have been struggling so long - it seems to me that we need to know what kind of living challenges and difficulties each and everyone of them are equally facing. ... yeah. I didn't think so.
rocsmom2000 11 months ago
This due lives in a mansion and gets a $600,000 yearly salary, and is talkin about fiscal crisis? Yudof pls go.
maneeshk88 1 year ago
UC could also help itself by publishing more articles on how, exactly, UC has helped our state, and science in general. I googled UC Research that helps people and found some interesting articles. There should be lots more of this. Also, UC is one of the biggest employers in the state. Laying more people off hurts the economy more.
pgrigg 1 year ago
When I started working at UC 9 years ago, there was ONE Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. Now there are at least SIX that I know of - all 6-digit incomes. The trend has been to cut the wages of the staff, but not down-size our top-heavy administration.
I would like Gov. Brown to stop talking about state employees like we all make loads of money! This '100K a year custodian' idea is total B.S., and makes life very difficult for those making less than 40K per year to live in the Bay area.
MORGAN999 1 year ago
I am a UC student and I truly believe there is no way we can save the UC if we wants to preserve the quality of the UC system with so little funding. Forget about it.
osmanovski 1 year ago
Maintain the quality. Quality always wins out in the end. Raise tuition as necessary, as the State withdraws support. Eventually we wil have a quasi private University, because the State has defaulted on its master plan commitment. The politicians don't care about quality. It will just be another contentious budget item to them, and treated exactly that way each budget cycle. Quasi privatizing is the only option that maintains quality.
woppenhe 1 year ago
This budget crisis is NOT the fault of the faculty, staff or administrator salaries. Look @ the overall economic crisis of the State & country. We're fighting wars on how many fronts? We bailed out the banks & auto companies, but not our schools. We passed Prop 13 in the 70s, but did they stabilize the school systems' budgets? No. Stop taking the pay away from the people who are trying to keep what was once a global powerhouse of education. I was laid off in Nov 2010, but still love my UCs!
BabsbytheBeach 1 year ago 4
The cashier was so good at his job that he was promoted to manager, so they hired a new cashier to do his job. The new manager was so good at his job that they promoted him to Super Duper manager and hired a manager to do his old job. The Super Duper manager was so good at his job that they promoted him to Super Duper Extraordinary manager, and hired a Super Duper manager to do his old job. Then they ran out of money and had to let the cashier go. Without anyone to cashier they had to shutdown.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago 2
Cut the middle management. Keep the operation managers. What's so hard about it?
What does it mean to be a director anyway? None of them contribute anything to the operation of the system. I'm tired of the doing the work and the directors get the praises.
poolbum 1 year ago
I know this is far reaching and this is really just my modest opinion, but maybe the UC system, and all government agencies in that matter, should revisit the way budgeting and spending is done in general. The system we have in place right now promotes frivilous spending and unwise use of money that is "restricted" to certain activities. It was earlier stated that some building projects can not be stopped to save money, which is true in the current system that we have.
FatAddictProductions 1 year ago
I am a UCalumni who recently returned as a staff member after 12 years at another state univ. I am embarrassed at how things have changed over the past 20 years. It is time for the Chancellors and Dean's to take paycuts. I have heard that faculty salaries are low in comparison, and yet I am aware of a faculty making over $500,000 per year plus they get mortgage assistance. Staff can't even get a parking space, let alone mortgage assistance as part of salary/benefits. Unfunded obligations??!
anonstaffcat 1 year ago 4
Close the Merced campus? Jfrench needs to look beyond his or her "division". How would you like it if your campus were "Closed". You are a selfish person indeed.
klecocq 1 year ago 4
Cutting top administrator pay IS important because otherwise their livelihood is independent of solving the UC budget issue. Handling (i.e. spending) a multi-billion dollar budget that is state-funded is different than running a company whose budget is related to its earnings. Yudof doesn't earn his salary, he spends the UC budget on it. Even if there is money allocated solely for new buildings, the operations and maintenance cost of those buildings might make construction an uneconomical idea.
Orindul 1 year ago 2
Just a quick look at the database shows at UC Davis (for example) 20 Assistant Deans ('assisting' 12 deans btw), 11 Assistant Directors, 11 Assistant Vice Chancellors, and 98 Directors making over 100k a year (some well over) - all staff titles. And my guess is that most of these have managers making 70k+ working for them. Meanwhile, an entry level admin asst. comes in at 28k and the lowest faculty salary is 43k for a lecturer or 53k for a professor.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
My last comment: It's fine to complain about overpaid employees, esp. if it's thoughtfully considered and not just a knee-jerk reaction. It's obviously wrong to be paid $150k and not show up, or whatever. But it's intellectually lazy, at best, to suggest that these instances are enough to make a dent in the real financial hole UC is in. So how about if we agree to bitch and moan about these things for a while and then get down to serious and mature discussion about how to move forward?
reastnt 1 year ago
@reastnt It's irresponsible to not take an unbiased look at where the money is really going and to discount people who have observed the problems first hand as "knee-jerk" and "intellectually lazy". Insults to hide the truth and avoid a true debate. It's a tactic staff members at UC know well, unfortunately.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
@jnscromgirl That's what reastnt is asking you to do - look at the real problem and effective solutions, rather than focusing solely on the easy but misleading targets. It's not a tactic, it IS the true debate.
SecantAngle 1 year ago
@SecantAngle The easiest targets have been the lowest paid staff and that's where the cuts have been focused so far. An abundance of overpaid managerial staff isn't a misleading target. It's a real problem that's costing the university and the students dearly. Yes, the funding is reduced, and salaries are not the only problem, but it's not irrelevant that we've shifted to a management heavy model. The disparity between management pay and staff and faculty pay is a very large contributing factor.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
@jnscromgirl I agree with you 100% that the problems cannot be solved by cutting the already terribly underpaid staff. Here's the real problem with just pointing fingers at the UC fat cats - rather than presenting a unified, accurate message to the state that UC is being hugely underfunded, we instead give them the impression that the funding level is fine if only we cut the fat cat salaries. That just won't do it - the deeper systematic problem must be communicated to the public.
SecantAngle 1 year ago 5
But Etherplain's point is key - you can't just take a doctor's salary (for example) and use it to reduce tuition. Similarly, someone donating $5M for a building does not give UC permission to use that money elsewhere. And there's the broader issue of quality - if we want a UC community college system, rather than a quality, world-class university system, by all means cut the salaries in half. But don't pretend that there won't be transformational consequences.
reastnt 1 year ago
Wow someone's out of date. UC Irvine can't cancel their "plans" for a law school since they already have a law school.
Also canceling buildings? Once again someone lacks the basic understanding that all money is not green. Building funds are not general purpose and can't be used to support anything but the buildings. Cancelling would just be UC throwing money away, not saving money.
Etherplain 1 year ago 2
For goodness sakes, PLEASE someone go to the Sac Bee state worker salary database and search for those in UC paid over 100k. There's too many staff paid over 100k and not enough "workers". It's not scapegoating the administrators, it's the truth. UC pays the "golden children" a fortune, and lays off the underlings. Many high paid staff make much more than the faculty. UC is top heavy and is slowly falling over while the state it serves looks away.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
@jnscromgirl Most of the people that fall under this definition are sr. administrators and clinical faculty (and some coaches). In regards to the clinicians, we're talking about Doctors who get a part of their fee returned to them in salary. It's acutally a necessary expense and doesn't effect the bottom line of the University because the money comes from patient fees. Frankly te SacBee database is out of date and ridiculously open to interpretation.
Etherplain 1 year ago
@Etherplain Yes, the database is out of date because most of the people making over 100k have received raises, while the rest have had pay cuts. Just for the record, I'm not talking about faculty or faculty administrators. Faculty are underpaid at UC. Staff without degrees are often paid higher than the PhD faculty. I would prefer to see faculty and workers hired, rather then a 150k a year "Director" who is "out" most days. Just sayin', it's my tax dollars, too.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
@jnscromgirl Okay, here's the data: 3% of salaries at UCSD, 5% at UCLA, 2% at UCSB, and 5% at UCOP are over $200k. (15%, 21%, 15%, and 24% over $100k, but that's hardly "fat cat" status in coastal California!) If you really think the problem is going to be substantially solved by somehow whacking off these small numbers, then I've got a bridge I'd love to sell you. You may not realize this, but UC faculty are substantially underpaid relative to comparable institutions in the US. Scapegoating!
reastnt 1 year ago
@reastnt I wonder what the percentages would be if you remove faculty? I absolutely realize that UC faculty are grossly underpaid. That's part of my point. 10 years ago UC departments were managed by middle manager supervisors making 10k or 20k more than the staff they supervised. Now, it's normal for a department to have several managers making 100k or more, with half the staff doing the work. Meanwhile, new faculty are hired at 60k! Much too low to compete. You can keep your bridge, but thanks
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
@jnscromgirl
Yes, you are completely correct. Much too many arbitrary, useless, and trivial administrative procedures. Middle managers mainly nag rather than complete the tasks. Big reductions in employee hiring procedures, grant supervision, faculty mandatory training, and regulation of medical practice would be a great cost savings. Greater faculty time and creativity would then generate more federal grant income as well!
Professor314159 1 year ago
Reading these comments is really disheartening. Focusing on the pay of the administrators is not going to solve the problem. Of course it's nice to find scapegoats, and it makes people feel good to trash the administrators, but if this is our focus we are lost. Let's grow up and deal with the real issues, folks.
reastnt 1 year ago 4
Good thing we built that new stadium at UCD. I bet that cost around 1 billion.
Quit giving yourselves raises already, and building all these new buildings, and turn off some lights!
superduperastrokitty 1 year ago
I would like for "Other unfunded obligations" to be defined. In addition, does that mean every campus will receive a one hundred million dollar cut instead of fifty million? And where does this leave the office of the president? What cuts will they make for UC.
eviebigtoe 1 year ago
There's a lot of derogatory talk about overpaid administrators here. However, please consider what these people would be getting paid elsewhere. One person below suggests that "any given chancellor" makes about $400k per year. Presuming this person is correct, look at the job they have... here at UC Davis, the campus's overall budget is in the neighborhood of about $3 billion. In the private sector, if someone was managing a multibillion dollor organization, they'd make AT LEAST 8 figures.
deiter1977 1 year ago 2
As a 23-year UCSD employee it’s infuriating to listen to this bulls**t when the Assistant Vice Chancellor of my own division is suing the university for a huge pension increase while meanwhile we’re short-staffed to the bone and coming off of a year-long 10% pay cut. IT’S A JOKE!!
UCSD used to be a great place to work. UNCONTROLLED GREED AND MISMANAGEMENT BY UPPER MANAGEMENT, THE CHANCELLORS AND THE REGENTS HAS TURNED THIS ONCE FINE INTITUTION INTO A JOKE!!!
2009thejames 1 year ago 3
Never does the term "layoff" apply to the fattest of cats (president, chancellors, provosts) within the system. Nor does "salary/benefit reduction". Instead, it always, always falls on students, low and mid-level employees -- i.e., the working stiffs, or middle class if you will. I'm no fan of any war, but these people seem bent on pushing a class war. While I'm not suggesting such a war is imminent, they'd better keep their eyes on the tipping point, because it's really not that far off.
metubenoggin07 1 year ago
I hope executives and board members are taking note that majority of the UC population agree that we need to trim the fat off over-compensation to leaders who are a partial cause for this deficit. Its time they realized the importance and impact they will have by taking a salary cut, giving up their paid mortgage, and eliminating frivolous spending on programs and policies that don't directly benefit the core mission statements of our UC campuses.
Blur125 1 year ago
Lets riot like Egypt.
waniqra 1 year ago
UC President Yudoff restates the obvious, i.e., the state is broke and all employees need to understand this. Only nimble individuals and companies recover from bankruptcy, i.e., there must be fundamental reform re: how UC performs and rewards. The halcion days are gone and anyone who think they qualify for special consideration either needs a psychiatrist or a pink slip, or both.
jdunford 1 year ago
How about taking a cut from your $800,000 salary and $350,000 pension, scumbag.
walstib1970 1 year ago
"Your voice matters???" The fact is, the only voices that matter in the UC are the regents voices . These people are neither appointed by faculty at UC, nor are they answerable to a constituency. They are appointed by the governor, and have the privilege of voting for their own promotions and off-scale benefits while the university burns. Instead of getting the state to fight Yudof's battle, maybe he should advocate a system where people 's voices really do matter.
jdblanco2 1 year ago
My wife works @ UCSD and it would take two weeks to have someone hook up her printer. She asked if I would do it. I parked my scooter in a little v-area out of the way, found her printer, renamed it to location (building, floor, office) went out and had a $40 parking ticket. I appealed to no avail. Now you want something from me? Go buy a tractor to pull you head out of your rectal sphincter.
JustaJoe2u 1 year ago
It's time we stood up for the UC system by canning Mr. Yudoff!
It's hard to listen to a thing the man says about budgets when he cost us nearly a million dollar in personal living expenses with his $13,365 a month mansion in the Oakland hills and 600,000 in damages when he moved out. Not to mention the thousands of dollars we paid him to move out here.
that came out of my tuition--thanks!
without that and his bloated salary we'd have more than enough money for a sustainable college system.
theeburr 1 year ago 5
thank you for raising fees 30% last year. How much are you gonna raise next year again? you suck.
giant24us 1 year ago 3
@giant24us 30%? It was more like over 40%...32% with an additional 8%!
reket1990 1 year ago
Cutting top salaries certainly will not solve the budget problem, but neither will reducing the compensation for a few staff workers, canceling one building project, etc. UC's budget problems can obviously only be solved through an aggregation of cost-cutting measures. However, if the high-level UC employees are not willing to *lead by example,* perhaps it's time to reconsider whether these individuals are fit for the office.
brendanmcox 1 year ago 8
give up some of your pay!
veeronicana 1 year ago 2
Even during supposedly hard financial times, UC seems to think that spending money expanding its campuses and programs is an intelligent idea. Cuts to top administrator salaries wouldn't solve UC's problems instantaneously, but say any given chancellor makes about $400k. Half of that is $200k, and an extra $200k per year invested in the basic operations of the university is better than $200k per year invested in an egotistic, irresponsible, short-sighted individual's lifestyle. Seriously people.
Orindul 1 year ago 3
Wow the head coaches of UCLA and UCBerkeley each earn over 2 million/ year! Are those programs self sufficient since they are not part of the direct mission of the University?
planthead667 1 year ago
@planthead667 Yeah, it's amazing how pissed people are that the head of the largest university in the world gets paid $600k but no one seems to care that FOOTBALL coaches are making 2 million/year. Why do people give football coaches the free pass?
HanklePete 1 year ago
Maybe of UC Executives took a pay cut and was put in the same retirement and pension plan as everyone else, then UC budget would be a lot different. If the state was paying for president Yudoff' 11000/month mortgage payment and get rid of the greed at the top, then maybe the 'workers' would be willing to do something else!!!
xdv5597 1 year ago
Cuts to top salaries may make you feel good, but it won't do a thing. And compared to administrators at other universities or in the private sector(!), the admin salaries at UC are hardly egregious. The state of California has to do decide if it wants higher education to be a public good or a private purchase. If we do not want to pay with state taxes, then tuition will skyrocket for individuals. It's pretty simple.
Yeah, killing retirement funds will really help out the state. Good grief.
HanklePete 1 year ago
@HanklePete
This is not true that it wouldn't do a thing. Leading by example would boost morale: if the president is asking others for sacrifices, he and other administrators need to lead. Not only by taking a pay cut, but by eliminating all the necessary administrative functions (and I'm talking about the highly paid vice chancellors for this and that, their first and second assistants, and so on) before any cuts are made in this staff that makes the university go.
room44322 1 year ago
Telling the big wigs to take a pay cut might feel good, but it amounts to a drop in the bucket compared with the real problems UC faces. Let's focus our energies on real solutions and ideas, not just juvenile ranting at the administration.
To Yudof: this is too little, too late. We need more strategic action, and we needed it two years ago.
SecantAngle 1 year ago
another round of meaningless bull---- from Yudoff. "Hard decisions" - what, exactly. As others remarked here: what about reducing your own salary, paying your own mortgage, and reducing administration numbers and salaries? Professors will have reduced salaries, students reduced tuition, and UC will be falling more and more behind in ratings - this year USC overtook UCLA. (and - on the record - Brown is an idiot, and those who voted for him deserve this).
delphiz99 1 year ago
UC HAS to decrease the amount of administrators by 1/2 MINIMUM. The bad news is that it's the administrators who make these decisions. Faculty and students can stand up and say enough! We have WAY too many people who sit on their hands while others are doing the work.
christinelucilleking 1 year ago 4
@christinelucilleking EXACTLY! Thank you.
jnscromgirl 1 year ago
Balance the budget by starting with the elimination of retirement funds of ALL state employees. This threatens to drain the state coffers in the future, ACT now, remove this long standing cash cow for state workers.
mm6606 1 year ago
Measures to balance the budget in UC are a failure because many groups got exempted from salary cuts. Only employees without a voice are impacted. If all employees contributed, it would not be as painful for everyone. Let us all band together and cooperate. Enough selfishness! Executives stop asking for a raise! Be more like the CEO of Japan Airlines. You know what I mean.
blueeagle75 1 year ago 2
No, I won't be contacting my legislator. That train has left the station. YOU, Mr. Yudof, and your cronies need to lead the way by taking pay cuts--by 1/2!! And start paying your own rent or mortgage. I do. And I don't get paid what you do. I'm sure you've heard this suggestion before but you need to take it seriously. Your paycuts would not make much of a dent in the budget crisis, but it would fill the deep hole that everyone's morale is falling into.
MollieSue54 1 year ago 4
UC Top Exec are demanding greater pensions...Bad timing. UC should drop about 2/3 of there executive.
Gary65391 1 year ago 3
Did you graduate from a UC? Does your son/daughter, grandchild or niece/nephew attend a UC or aspire to attend a UC? Do you work at a company formed by a UC alumnus? Have you been treated by a healthcare provider trained at a UC? President Yudof needs our help to maintain the integrity of the crown jewel of education, innovation and job creation in the great state of California. Call your assembly representative, state senator and Governor Brown. Support UC. The time is now. It's up to us.
psychojer 1 year ago 3
I agree, bigwigs should take pay cuts, starting with perks!
They get paid plenty and do not need an extra bonus, or, a brand new leased car every two years, and I with their large salary they should be able to pay their own rent (no free housing). We have to make ends meet with our very small salaries.
jhelton106 1 year ago 4
Maybe Mr. Yudof should request that the state open the books and show us where the money went. I want to know about every nickel that was invested in various alphabet soup derivatives peddled by our friens on Wall Street. What is about to go down in CA is already starting in the Midwest. Our pesions, savings and Public Trust has been looted. Why are there billions and trillions of dollars for bank 'bailouts' but little or nothing for the states? What happened to all the money???
donaldofgoldengate 1 year ago
Thanks for the candid look at the situation. It's a shame that higher-ed is eating all of the cuts between the three top budget items in CA. Higher-ed is losing 15.8% of funding while K-12 is losing 0.4% and the prison system 1.0%. Yet CA public schools are near the bottom nationally and the CA prison system costs 300% what the Texas system needs on a per inmate basis. We really need to get behind our UC and push for stable funding by the legislature. Pay cuts won't get us there.
dgibbons2050 1 year ago
Snooze, why not try to speak from your heart with passion, and not read your speech
The009Li 1 year ago
Close the Merced Campus, cancel UC Irvine's plans for a law school, reduce the salaries of the OP and President Yudoff. There are probably some curriculums that could be placed on hiatus until the economy sufficiently recovers and maybe retire some professors who have been around long enough to "cap out" on their slaries. Canceling building plans is a good idea too - but no more staff paycuts (and we've laid off everyone we can in my division).
Jfrench54 1 year ago 28
@Jfrench54 PLANS for a Law School? It's open and running. Little late for that suggestion.
PrincessPnut9 1 year ago 2
@Jfrench54
I'm not opposed to closing the Merced campus. The UCI law school is funded by a large private gift tha can't be used elsewhere. The administration is looking to reduce or close some programs. I work on staff and haven't had a raise in 3+ years. It's time for the American people to ask what we truly value. The Wall St crooks didn't go to jail or suffer any negative consequences. Why are the banks and fianancial cos so unregulated? Did we learn nothing?
NJCOLMAN 1 year ago
This guy makes more than $800,000 a year. How about you take a pay-cut? The worst part is: he isn't even the highest paid official in the UC system! Cut from the top!
rmed2012 1 year ago 5
Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California System, is in yet another controversy. The New York Times reported that critics say he spent way too much university money on his rented housing and had senior university officials get too involved in handling disputes. The rental cost $600,000 for two years, and ended in fights with the owner over allegations that Yudof left hundreds of holes in the walls and a scratched marble bathtub.
joebruin75 1 year ago 4
by digging education system for money, this country digs a grave to itself. keep your greedy hands off of the UC, barbarians.
VolandInWhite 1 year ago
I think the state of California needs to think about who gets taxed...and how much. Prop 13 has been a disaster since its passage, and after a decade of financial magic tricks that merely delayed the inevitable, we have to face the reality that capping property taxes at 1970s levels is not sustainable.
While Prop 13 was a boon for homeowners back then, it's now an albatross around California's neck, and needs to be revisited. It's time business paid there fair share, too.
KaplanMike 1 year ago 2
If you were retired, on a fixed income, and were losing your home to taxes back then,you wouldn't think that way.
Fact is that CA is a high tax state and this is one of the causes of decreased revenue. Employers and employees look elsewhere to live. Too expensive to live here. We *should* be reducing taxes, and the people and programs dependent on them, rather than increasing. That is why tuition and fees, in view of the default on the Master plan by the legislature, need to rise.
woppenhe 1 year ago
Mr Yudoff, thank you for going to bat for the UC system. It's a great system that needs to be preserved. As a Californian who has benefited directly from this system, I know. I do, though, agree with seventysschev statement below about upper administration taking a pay cut. Many, many people working in the UC system make 40k-50k/year. Why do you, Mr Yudoff, work for the UC? Do you love it? Then take a perm pay cut. Are we in this together, or not? Thank you.
kasababcia 1 year ago 4
The arguments we convey to our legislators and fellow citizens on behalf of UC will not be persuasive in the face of the decades-long history of UC's egregious compensation of executives and administrators. The system is reaping what it has sown for many years by essentially ignoring criticism of its executive compensation policies.
microfetish 1 year ago
His not so veiled request is for the entire UC system to start engaging in active protests.... not just send an email. Why not piggy back on Wisconsin?
snowarab 1 year ago
While calling for the state to not cut funding on education is great, maybe the UC bigwigs should think about a pay cut.
seventysschev 1 year ago 57