Higher Ed | Daily Report

ben.chaney/FlickrUC Berkeley students protest a fee hike Sept. 24, 2009.

University of California President Mark Yudof has set a target for the Berkeley campus to cut $80.8 million from its budget for the coming year, as the 10-campus university system struggles to come to terms with a $500 million reduction in funds proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown. 

A cut of that magnitude would constitute 16.2 percent of the proposed $500 million total, representing a disproportionate share of the system-wide cut.

The budget targets – which university officials emphasize are provisional – are exposing a long-simmering issue in the UC system, which is just how equally the 10 campuses should be treated. On an even more fundamental level, it raises the question of how, or even whether, the state can afford to support 10 world-class research universities, including the opening of a new one in the Central Valley. 

UC Berkeley, often ranked as the world's leading public university, is being asked to absorb a larger share of the budget cuts, at least in part because it has the ability to raise more money than most other campuses from a range of sources. It is also able to generate revenue by attracting more foreign and out-of-state students, who are willing to pay higher tuition for the privilege of attending UC's flagship school.

But in some ways Berkeley is being penalized for its success. 

"My greatest fear is that Berkeley will be driven into lesser and lesser stature and excellence to shore up the existence of other campuses," UC Berkeley provost George Breslauer told California Watch. "The excellence of UC Berkeley, UCSF, UCLA and UC San Diego is something everyone should be proud of and share their glory, which most people do, and I don't want to see a regression to the mean."

Breslauer said that UCLA, which unlike Berkeley also had a medical school, is being asked to take a $96 million cut, and UC Davis a cut in the $70 million range. Breslauer stressed that the targets do not take into account any cuts that UC's Office of the President will be making. After those are factored in, he thinks the total amount Berkeley will end up cutting will be around $75 million – still a huge hit. 

"We are constantly fighting to make sure that redistribution (of funds generated by the campus) does not threaten our stature, the standard by which public higher education is judged in the world," he said.

Breslauer said that after a $75 million reduction, UC Berkeley will be receiving about $225 million in state support, down from $500 million in 2005. Berkeley's total budget is $1.8 billion.   

UC spokesperson Steve Montiel said that the percentages provided to the campuses are "being used as a starting point, and are considered approximate," in part because the actual funding level to UC is still unknown. Cuts in the Office of the President "could affect the campus targets," he said.  The Office of the President declined to provide the targets set for each of the 10 campuses. 

The budget crisis is highlighting the issue of whether Berkeley should be treated just like the other UC campuses. But in some cases Berkeley leaders have resisted being treated equally, an indication of the complexities of running a 10-campus system.

In the early 1990s, during another budget crisis, the Office of the President proposed giving a generous early retirement plan for professors at all UC campuses. Then-Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien threatened to resign over the plan, because he feared that Berkeley professors were more likely to get job offers from other universities, leading to an exodus of academic stars. Then-UC President David Gardner changed the plan to make it less generous for Berkeley professors.  

Last week, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Breslauer sent a message to the campus community, indicating the university hopes to save $30 million by implementing its "Operational Excellence" plan, which involves "restructuring and reducing manager ranks" on campus and improving purchasing procedures. It also announced that its "Campaign for Berkeley" fundraising drive will have raised $2 billion by this spring, towards a goal of $3 billion it hopes to reach in 2013.

"In general, fundraising has been and is strong in spite of a difficult economy," Birgeneau and Breslauer wrote. 

Successes like these represent a double-edged sword:  while they underscore Berkeley's enduring strengths, they also provide a justification, at least to some, for the campus to absorb a larger share of the budget pain being experienced by every public education institution in the state. 

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