High Salaries for UC Executives

I am writing as a faculty wife who has been a part of the UCLA faculty for 57 years. I find David Gardner’s threat that unless the University of California continues to bloat the salaries and indulgences of the “executives,” the university “will no longer be a world-class university.” It is not only an unseemly and false prophesy, but repugnant, coming from a former president.

The superiority of a university depends on the authentic talents of the teachers who devote themselves to the education of coming generations. Their character and talents do not go up and down with the weight of the money they receive. Alan Post is right when he says “UC is a public trust, not a money-making enterprise. The pay (of administrators) should not be on a par with that of executives in corporate America” (“Study Assails Secrecy, Pay, Perks of Top UC Executives,” Sept. 30).

The image of the University of California cannot be destroyed by passing events. Presidents and “executives” come and go. Universities remain, progress, and meet modern challenges because the faculty, staff and students uphold the universities’ integrity.

ALICE BANOS

Los Angeles