advocates tell it like it is
Message: What hurts UC, hurts California
BY ANNE BURKE
UCLA Today Staff
UCLA has honed its advocacy message this year to focus more tightly
on the university’s crucial role in getting California’s
sputtering economic engine back on track.
In meetings with lawmakers at the local, state and national levels,
UCLA advocates will emphasize the mighty contribution that UCLA
— and California’s three-tiered, public higher-education
system — makes to the state’s economy, said Keith S.
Parker, assistant vice chancellor for government and community relations.
“We’re a good investment,” Parker said. “We
have to make policymakers understand that.”
For every $1 that taxpayers invest in UCLA, the university generates
almost $9 in economic activity. In 2002-03, the state contributed
$699 million to UCLA, resulting in a $6-billion economic impact
on the Los Angeles region, Parker said. The university directly
employs more than 27,400 Southern Californians, making it the 10th
largest employer in the region. UCLA-related spending indirectly
supports 38,400 more full-time-equivalent jobs in the area.
UCLA has always touted its positive economic impact on the local
and state economy, but the message has often been overshadowed by
the university’s success in its primary mission — educating
students and producing research.
This year, Parker wants to make sure that lawmakers understand
that weakening the state’s system of public research universities
would be penny-wise but poundfoolish.
“I had a corporate CEO of a major company say to me yesterday
that the reason he would keep his company in California, despite
all the worker’s compensation issues and other kinds of regulatory
constraints, is because California has the best education system
in the country,” Parker said.
The advocacy effort that is so critical during current budget
negotiations involves hundreds of campus administrators, employees,
alumni and boosters — from Chancellor Albert Carnesale to
volunteers like alumnus Dennis Gutierrez — who carry the message
from the water cooler at work to the steps of Los Angeles City Hall,
Sacramento and even the nation’s capital. Upcoming advocacy
events include UCLA Day in Washington, D.C., May 4-6, and UC Day
in Sacramento, May 26.
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