On March 8th, the Council of UC Faculty Associations sent the following letter to the Regents’ Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President and the Academic Senate Committee that advises said committee.
March 8, 2013
Sherry Lansing, Chair
Regents’ Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President
University of California
1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607-5200
Fax: (510) 987-9224
Dear Chair Lansing,
The selection of a new President of the University of California provides all of us an important opportunity to set the future course of the University. The Council of UC Faculty Associations, by far the largest voluntary membership organization representing the faculty of the University of California, would like to offer these principles for who we think would best serve the interests of the university community:
The next President must have a very long and large view of the University of California, animated by extensive experience in and deep knowledge of public higher education. He or she should grasp the seriousness of the University’s current predicaments, including imperiled affordability and access to undergraduate education by the middle class, shrinking graduate programs, the difficulties of sustaining educational quality and research infrastructure, the problem of retaining and supporting a first-rate research and teaching faculty, the challenges posed by rapidly evolving but untested online education, and growing disparities among the campuses, especially their access to resources. The President must also be able to represent UC effectively to legislators, the governor, and the people of California. He or she should stem pressures toward further privatization and defend and promote the public status and public mission of the University.
Above all, the next President should be a leader in the most august sense of that word.
Sincerely,
Robert Meister,
President, Council of UC Faculty Associations
Professor History of Consciousness and Political and Social Thought, UC Santa Cruz