October 1, 2016
The Council of UC Faculty Associations has developed important criteria for Chancellor searches in light of the vacancies at the Davis and Berkeley campuses.
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A University of California Chancellor must be committed both to broad
access to university education and to scholarly excellence, and have a
proven record of support for the value of public education. A Chancellor
must recognize that, despite increases in fundraising for specific
projects, efforts at privatization have failed to sustain the
University’s central mission of education, research, and service for the
people of California. In addition to providing intellectual vision and
integrity, the Chancellor should demonstrate accountability to the
principles and the public mission of the university.
To be forthright and transparent in dealings with the UC community and
the public, the Chancellor must show by example the values held by the
UC system:
* By focusing on education, research, and public service, not on
peripheral capital projects not directly related to the university’s
primary teaching and research missions that saddle the university with
high levels of debt.
* By respecting shared governance between administration and faculty
as vital to insulating academic freedom from external political and
financial influence.
* By limiting the number of out-of-state undergraduate students to
maximize opportunity for Californians.
* By reducing the number of senior managers; senior management has
grown by a factor of three or four over the last 20 years while the
number of faculty has remained stagnant and the number of students
increased by 60%.
* By making the administrative leadership transparent and by opening
the budget to meaningful faculty review and input.
* By implementing a cap on the salary of the Chancellor and other
senior administrators, limited to a given multiplier of the lowest paid
workers on campus on the grounds that a corporate salary leads to
corporate attitudes, whereas a more modest salary corresponds to public
service and respects the financial needs of students, faculty, and the
institution.
* By pledging not to accept any paid external board service or paid
consulting with for-profit entities.
* By developing new community outreach programs, involving the
teaching and research role of campus faculty and students and, more
generally, elevating the contributions of UC to the people of California.
Accordingly, the process of choosing the Chancellor should be open to
the university community:
* The short list of candidates selected by the search committee and
forwarded to the President should be publicly discussed. The candidates
should be invited to campus for public presentations and comments from
the university community should be debated by the search committee.
* The President and Regents should make their decision after
consultation with the Academic Senate to ensure a candidate the whole
campus supports.
Council of University of California Faculty Associations
(September 29, 2016) info@cucfa.org