UC System Provost talks budget with UCSC staff, students - Santa Cruz Sentinel

UC System Provost talks budget with UCSC staff, students - Santa Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ -- Quality of education, access to that education and affordability were the common threads a top University of California official heard after meeting with students and faculty at administration at UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday. In Kerr Hall, under high security after the December student occupation that damaged the building, interim UC Provost Dr. Lawrence Pitts met with various groups to discuss what budget cuts might mean for a university system with a soaring number of applicants for next year, but with fewer spots to put them in. "If the University of California loses quality in some demonstrable way, the entire university will sag. If we don't do everything in our power to preserve quality, it will change the face of the university, and it will be hard to recapture or regain in any short amount of time," he said to a group of UCSC student reporters. It was a worthwhile meeting, said Jacob Margolis, a third-year politics major and news director for campus radio KZSC. He said the Santa Cruz community calls in to the radio station about their budget concerns, namely the privatizing of public education in a reduced-funding environment and the long-term development plan of the university. "It's been the flavor of the last couple of quarters, and what we've been talking to the chancellor about as well in student media meetings," Margolis said. Systemwide, UC campuses have reduced the number of undergraduates they've enrolled because of lost funding, and students are often not getting into their first choice school. Graduate student numbers have held steady since last year, Pitts said, because there is no money to fund increased numbers. The state is obligated to pay for students, which it is not doing, he said, in response to a student journalist's question of how reduced enrollment will affect diversity. Pitts also said the state needed to start paying into retirement benefits again, which is something the Office of the President would like to see in a final state budget, which is in its early stages. Pitts said the Office of the President was gratified to see a return of one-time cut funds in the proposal. He is a faculty neurosurgeon at UCSF and became provost in February 2009. UCSC was Pitts' fourth campus visit in his tour of all 10 campuses. "It's very useful for me to get out to the campus and see what's on their minds," he said.