Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, who made almost $450,000 in salary last year, plus very healthy benefits, is concerned that California is running out of money to support him and his campus. He thinks the federal government should step in to fund "research universities" like his own, to spare them the awkward task of cutting spending. Taking to the pages of the Washington Post, he and a collaborator wrote:
... the federal government should create a hybrid model in which a limited number of our great public research and teaching universities receive basic operating support from the federal government and their respective state governments.
Not all WaPo readers agreed. Nevertheless, the campaign for federal bucks to bailout big-spending Berkeley continues, with support from above: Other countries are aware that universities play major roles in economic development, said UC President Mark Yudof, who is writing his own proposal for a national higher-education strategy. States nationwide are cutting education budgets, he said.
"It's a national problem, and we need a national solution," Yudof said. "It's time we had a national discussion."
Why would the University of California think that it should be insulated from the cost-cutting strictures the rest of us face? One reason might be that UC Berkeley was the top university in the land, in terms of campaign contributions to the Obama presidential campaign. Hey, if the UAW gets billions from the feds to underwrite its pensions and medical care, why shouldn't Berkeley get some big bucks too? Let the taxpayers cut back their spending.
Hat tip: Velma Montoya
Share