Chancellor George Blumenthal and College Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Alison Galloway listened to the concerns of staff, faculty and academic employees at two budget forums on campus last week.
The first of the two meetings drew an estimated 400 people, including many UCSC staff members, to the College 9/10 multipurpose room. The speakers, including professor of ocean sciences Peggy Delaney, UCSC’s Vice Chancellor for Planning and Budget, addressed the seriousness of the looming, estimated $500 million system wide cut which includes an expected an $30.9 million cut to UC Santa Cruz.
The message was clear: in the face of such cuts, even a "best case scenario" would be very difficult for the campus.
"This is not a case where we can trim around the edges,” Galloway said. "This is too massive a cut. It will force us to rethink the way we provide education."
Unless Governor Jerry Brown succeeds in his push to bring a ballot measure to California’s voters this June, potentially extending a temporary increase in income, vehicle and sales taxes, the system-wide cuts could amount to $1 billion, Delaney told the crowd. "This is a moment to let [state voters] decide," she said.
Blumenthal mentioned that he and several UC regents had been lobbying in Sacramento in favor of the ballot measure. Blumenthal also noted that he, Galloway and Delaney had had met with UC President Mark Yudof recently to talk about hefty cutbacks that were instituted at UCSC before the latest round of budget news, amounting to $32 million over a three-year period.
These large cuts resulted in unfilled faculty positions, less funding for lecturers, tutors and readers, reduced hours at the campus library and cuts to staff positions, along with postponed investments.
