UC Executive Pay Issue Draws Chief’s Apology

University of California President Robert C. Dynes, testifying before a state Senate panel investigating reported extravagance and secrecy in UC’s executive pay practices, apologized Wednesday for what he described as his own and the university’s shortcomings on the issue, and promised change.

“I take responsibility for the fact that the university has not always met its obligations to public accountability” in disclosing executive compensation, Dynes told lawmakers. “And I believe I owe you ... and the state of California an apology for those shortcomings.”

The public university is facing a number of investigations into its compensation policies and practices, after recent media reports that it has quietly spent millions on bonuses, relocation allowances and other perquisites for top administrators, even as it has repeatedly raised student fees.

The Legislature recently authorized an audit of the pay practices, and Wednesday’s hearing by the Senate Education Committee in Sacramento was the first of several that also will examine the issue.

Dynes, a former UC San Diego chancellor who became president of the UC system two years ago, outlined recent steps the university has taken to investigate and establish tighter controls on compensation. A separate external audit is expected to be completed this month.

He also pledged to try to bring about what he called necessary “cultural changes” at the university to instill a greater sense of public responsibility and accountability at all levels.

But from the outset of the nearly four-hour hearing, Dynes and other UC officials were given an earful by committee members expressing frustration at what some described as the university’s historic arrogance in its use of public funds. And some recalled similar legislative hearings more than a decade ago, when the university was criticized for excessive compensation packages for departing executives.

“Obviously, UC is still conducting business the old way,” said state Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria). “Why didn’t UC officials learn from these past mistakes?”

Maldonado and others, including the committee’s chairman, state Sen. Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), applauded Dynes for his apology but said officials need to see far more transparency and accountability from UC.

State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) suggested that she could push for UC administrators to be fired if any of the deals now considered questionable were found to be more serious.

“I want to know whether heads might roll,” she said. “I want us to go beyond mea culpas and exact some responsibility.”

The university is largely autonomous under the state Constitution and is governed by its Board of Regents. It must rely on the Legislature, however, for about $3 billion in state general funds each year, about a fifth of its overall budget.

Earlier in the day, legislators heard from David Longanecker, executive director of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, who said he did not consider UC’s compensation to senior executives out of line with that paid by comparable universities.

But he said the university needed to do a better job of explaining and disclosing its practices.

The education committee is scheduled to hold another hearing on the issue Feb. 22, when it will hear from UC Board of Regents Chairman Gerald L. Parsky and other officials.