Proposed changes in the governance of the University of California System would empower its president, former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, with greatly enhanced autonomy by hamstringing the principal check on her power, the Regents. Regents of the University of California are entrusted with the supervision of a vast enterprise with an annual budget of over $25 billion, comprising 10 campuses, and employing almost 20,000 professors and 135,900 support staff, all ultimately reporting to Napolitano. University of California Regents begin their terms with an oath to serve as fiduciaries -- legally obligated to act solely in the best interests of the people of California.  Preserving the Regents’ authority to protect the University is even more important now that the State of California contributes only a small fraction of UC’s budget. Yet UC Regents are undermining this authority.  For one example, the Regents – whose members currently...(Read Full Article)