Chancellor reassures staff on budget plan
BY AJAY SINGH
UCLA Today Staff
If you ask Chancellor Albert Carnesale whom he considers the VIPs
of UCLA, he could point to students and faculty. But he’s
also likely to single out campus staff, as he did Jan. 27 at the
annual Town Hall meeting hosted by the UCLA Staff Assembly.
“Imagine a university run by faculty or students,”
he said. “The fact is it is the staff who make it possible
to do everything.”
Carnesale spoke to a packed audience at the Ackerman Union lounge,
addressing a wide range of issues and challenges that UCLA faces
in its quest to maintain its edge as a global research university.
The chancellor said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed
budget is consistent with the compact approved by UC and CSU last
year. It calls for a 3.6% increase in state general funds over 2004-05
after several years of cuts. While emphasizing that a final budget
is subject to ongoing negotiations and that the governor and legislative
leaders still need to close a significant funding gap, the chancellor
said “all indications” are that the proposal will stand.
“Nobody appears to be looking to close the gap ... on the
back of higher education.”
The governor’s proposed budget contains enough funding to
support an overall 3% salary increase for eligible staff in 2005-06,
said Lubbe Levin, assistant vice chancellor of Campus Human Resources,
who was also on hand to answer staff’s questions. Salary increases
for employees represented by unions would be subject to the collective
bargaining process and existing labor agreements.
“We’re very optimistic that funding will continue to
be available to the university,” Levin said, adding that she
is “following very closely” the budget-related developments
in Sacramento, especially as they affect rising health-care costs.
Levin also commended a number of training and development programs
for enhancing the careers of staff. In particular, she suggested
that staff members take advantage of the yearlong Staff Enrichment
Program, which offers skill-building and experiences in vocational
and professional development. For those already holding professional
positions and who are interested in further advancing their careers,
she recommended the Professional Develop-
ment Program.
“I hope you will help us market these programs to other staff
on campus,” Levin said. In addition, she informed the audience
that staff can avail themselves of a 25% reduction in fees for a
wide range of UCLA Extension courses, as well as a 66% reduction
in fees for those accepted into regular course programs that lead
to a degree at UCLA.
In response to a question about the possibility of reduced tuition
fees for family members of UCLA employees who are admitted to a
UC campus, Levin replied the matter was not an immediate priority.
“Because our emphasis is so much on salaries right now,”
she said, “I don’t think we’re going to have the
resources to move forward on that in the very near future.”
Carnesale also commented on the funding gap that is widening between
public and private universities, despite the recent increase in
tuition fees.
“We are going to have to change our financial model to some
extent if we want to continue to be among the best universities,
both public and private,” he said.
Private universities charge more than $30,000 in annual tuition
fees, Carnesale pointed out, while the fee at UCLA is, by comparison,
close to just $7,000. But along with higher tuition fees, “we
want to make sure that access, which is equally as valuable to us
as is academic excellence, also increases,” he emphasized.
The chancellor also talked about a number of new buildings being
constructed on campus, including the Westwood replacement hospital,
which will be “the premier medical center in the world”
when construction is completed in 2006. “Our biggest uncertainty
is not so much when it will be completed, but when the hospital
will actually begin to operate, and we estimate that could be roughly
six months after construction is completed.”
Video clips of the Town Hall meeting will be available for viewing
later this month at www.ucla.edu/budget,
UCLA’s budget news page.
To find out more about career development opportunities at UCLA,
visit www.chr.ucla.edu.
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