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MyspaceIt’s no secret that the California budget crisis continues to cripple the state’s higher education institutions. Both the University of California and California State University systems have endured tremendous financial blows in 2009. In spite of the drastic measures taken by UC President Mark G. Yudof this year, UC Vice President for Budget Patrick Lenz recently told the UC Regents that the university still faces a $535 million budget gap this fiscal year. Without any additional revenue, the number could grow to more than $600 million by 2010.
Paul Wellman
Fighting furloughs: Richard Appelbaum, of the sociology department, is one of many UCSB professors united against furlough provisions.
To address the shortfall, the UC Office of the President (UCOP) has coupled a 9.3-percent student fee increase with salary reductions and a furlough-or unpaid leave-plan for faculty and staff. And in an effort to protect the academic integrity of the UC system, the UC Office of the President has required that these furlough days not be taken during scheduled instructional dates. But the question of enforcing this requirement has proven to be complicated at UC Santa Barbara, where a large number of faculty members have announced plans to take furlough days and weeks during instructional periods; some have already done so.
The discrepancy emerged after an August 21 memo was issued by UC Vice President for Academic Affairs Lawrence Pitts, which defined that faculty furlough days would not occur on days when a faculty member is scheduled to give a lecture or lead a class and/or workshop. Although this memo was widely distributed among the 10 UC campuses, a UCSB-based movement led by the English Department opposes these restrictions, encouraging members of the UC community to seek alternative solutions to the budget problem. According to the English Department, faculty is, in fact, allowed to make alternative arrangements for instruction (such as non-classroom or non-podium instruction). Citing official UC directives, the English Department’s Administrative Committee stated that such a policy is “consistent with UC regulations” and that the tweaked plan “implements optional alternative instructional arrangements in a fair and equitable fashion that provides faculty with a way to decrease their workload, while also minimizing any negative impacts on student learning.”
Additionally, faculty members-in a subtle protest against the original furlough decree- have taken days off during instructional periods in a reported attempt to draw attention to what they feel is an under-publicized issue. Professor of sociology Richard Appelbaum is one of the many UCSB professors united against the furlough provisions, actively speaking to his students and fellow faculty on the nature of the plan. “The College of Letters and Sciences and the deans of the social sciences and humanities issued a statement that I interpreted as a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” Appelbaum said. “It was very loose on whether or not furloughs could be taken during scheduled instruction.”
The current furlough plan-which became effective September 1, 2009 and is expected to last through August 31, 2010-requires participating UC faculty and staff to take anywhere from 11 to 26 furlough days this academic year. The number of furlough days required is based on pay groupings, meaning the higher a faculty member’s salary, the more furlough days he or she is forced to take. For some employees, the plan yields salary reductions amounting to nearly 10 percent.
Although the furloughs have a sizable impact on both faculty and their course curriculum, students are taking the brunt of the downsizing during the UC’s economic hardships. For many students, it’s common to see only nine weeks of instruction per term in an already hurried 10-week quarter system. UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang said his administration would continue its dedication to higher education despite the current financial situation. “Students are the reason we are all here. Our faculty is tremendously dedicated, and we take very seriously our sacred responsibility to our students,” Yang said.
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Comments
California is broke. As Margaret Thatcher said, "Socialism works well until you run out of other people's money." Something many among the UC faculty should ponder.
revisionist (anonymous profile)
October 22, 2009 at 5:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The problem isn't socialism, which has nothing at all to do with California's current financial mess, nor is it the contempt many people seem to have for professors--it's a simple matter of paying the bill. California is fortunate to have a first-class university system that provides the state with innovation, educated workers, and culture, all of which have driven the economy for many years--and it costs a certain amount to run it. Why should faculty tolerate a sudden --and essentially unjustified--demand to give back their salaries? The UC faculty have delivered the finest public system in the world to the State of California, and they continue to do so--so pay the bill, or brace yourself for what the state will be like with a mediocre one.
JD (anonymous profile)
October 23, 2009 at 8:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This problem is not new, but many faculty treat it as a surprise -- much like the auto workers who didn't see it coming.
JD is correct about UC's faculty delivering the finest public system. Sadly, when change is needed (and I am not sure what kind of change is needed) many faculty members are like global-warming deniers. Until denial stops and constructive change begins, students will continue to be the pawns.
maven12 (anonymous profile)
October 24, 2009 at 11:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It is important to note that the UCSB English Department's policy statement, referred to in the article, explicitly does not allow faculty members to take furlough days on instructional days. Faculty can optionally designate a limited number of instructional days each year for alternative instruction formats and assignments. Whether or not the faculty member is in the classroom for those assignments or not, they will not be on furlough but doing their work, including research, administration, and other instructional work (e.g., grading, preparing for class, or designing courses). This policy allows faculty who choose to do so to lighten their overall workload in recognition of their mandatory furloughs, even if they are not taking the furloughs on instructional days.
This is not just a semantic distinction. The underlying problem is that faculty work does not map meaningfully over the concept of "days," since it is ongoing on irregular and changing schedules. For instance, it is not the case that a faculty member can take off the day before a class because class preparation, grading, etc., is ongoing. Allowing faculty to design alternative instruction formats and assignments for a few days each year gives them some flexibility in exchange for the fact that their pay is being cut without any true furlough "days" off.
--Alan Liu, Chair, UCSB English Department
ayliu (anonymous profile)
October 26, 2009 at 5:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, this article is totally inaccurate. The English department's alternative instruction policy was carefully designed, in cooperation with campus administrators, to COMPLY with the system-wide ban on reducing instructional time, and not in opposition to it. The department policy requires faculty to continue teaching during the designated "alternative instruction" week, which began today, but allows them to alter how they interact with students during that period. Faculty are allowed, for example, to devote class meeting time to student conferences in their assigned classrooms instead of holding group discussion.
If anything, the English department's policy demonstrates the fallacy, if not the impossibility, of imposing a furlough on academic workers. It does not reduce work. Even if class meetings were reduced, faculty would simply put that time into their research, if only because that's what makes them eligible for future promotions and salary increases.
That's why so many faculty regard the furlough as a charade. The ban on reducing teaching days only increases the absurdity. If the UC President's office were being honest, they would call this furlough what it is: a pay cut. At least then we wouldn't be exposed to public opprobrium for furlough days we are not getting--and which we wouldn't use anyway.
mmaslan (anonymous profile)
October 26, 2009 at 7:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sigh. One really does already see the signs of the breakdown of public education in this state. The auto-workers? Good grief. Faculty are not in a union; UC faculty salaries have been falling behind national averages for at least a decade now, and the faculty's response has routinely been to put its shoulder to the wheel and try to do more with less. Global warming? Science faculty are the people who have been proving that global warming is a reality, against the self-interested denial of the Bush Administration and friends. Other people's money? Are you serious? The thousands and thousands and thousands of students, parents, teachers and administrators involved in K-12 education and beyond are all taxpayers, and a pretty huge voting bloc to boot. How about some folkin' gratitude for the people who work 60-hour weeks for chicken feed so YOUR kids will have a future and so YOU'LL have bank tellers and attorneys and paramedics who can reason and put a sentence together? Get a brain.
AnnieVarga (anonymous profile)
October 27, 2009 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)