UCLA Criticized for $560,000 Convocation : Finances: Two regents question amount spent on 75th anniversary gala. School officials say the expense was worth it and note that $140,000 was needed to prepare for Clinton’s appearance.

UCLA spent more than half a million dollars to stage a May convocation celebrating the Westwood school’s 75th anniversary, records show, and at least two key UC regents are criticizing the use of university funds as inappropriate and extravagant.

A two-page cost sheet provided to The Times by UCLA shows that the university will pay $561,524 for the May 20 event before 9,000 people at Pauley Pavilion, where President Clinton delivered a keynote address challenging the view of today’s college students as slackers and pessimists.

“Never in my wildest moment, with 26 highballs in me, would I have approved $550,000 for a celebration,” said Ward Connerly, chairman of the UC Regents finance committee.

Among the costs: $105,700 to design, light and decorate a large stage for Pauley Pavilion; $12,320 to rent caps and gowns for Clinton and other dignitaries; $33,000 for catered food, and $32,000 to produce a seven-minute video of UCLA’s history, as well as to tape the event for university archives and distribution, the listing showed.

On Monday, Chancellor Charles E. Young said Clinton’s appearance increased costs for the convocation by $140,000, or 25%, because of last-minute changes and extra security needed to accommodate the President.

Young said he will pay the convocation bill out of discretionary funds that he has available to use for any university purpose, but stressed that no state or federal public appropriations will be used to underwrite the convocation. He and other school officials said the actual bill is lower than it appears because some wages and other costs would have been paid by the university during its normal course of business.

The chancellor said the amount spent by UCLA was small compared to what other large private and public universities have set aside for milestone anniversary celebrations. And he credited the event with boosting morale on a campus heavily hit with spending cuts and with generating positive publicity in the national press.

He added that the excitement generated by Clinton’s visit would motivate alumni and friends to donate $100 million more than expected to the school over the next five years.

“How does one value this? There are several kinds of values,” said Young, adding that the convocation was the talk of the campus for weeks.

“Pauley Pavilion was beautiful,” he said. “It was an extravaganza. It was an electric experience. And those kind of things aren’t cheap.”

Young also said the fact that hundreds of faculty members could meet Clinton made the convocation especially meaningful. “That convocation was an educational purpose,” he said.

But Howard Leach, chairman of the UC Board of Regents, took issue with the convocation costs and said he intends to ask some questions about UCLA’s use of the funds.

“I think it’s an inappropriate use of the funds,” Leach said. “These are austere times, and I think that we need to spend all of our money in a prudent fashion. We can’t say that we’re going to save money in one pocket and be extravagant from another pocket.”

Leach said he was unable to attend the event but said Monday he was glad he missed it. “What I’m learning about it now, I would be embarrassed to be a participant in it,” he said.

Connerly, a regent from Sacramento, said he wants an explanation for the expenditure. He said $100,000 would have been an appropriate amount to spend on the school’s 75th anniversary.

Connerly said the burden of proof is on UCLA’s shoulders to show why the money should have been spent on the convocation while the university is going through a budget-forced restructuring. In what has been a hotly contested move, Young proposes dismantling the graduate schools of library and information science, architecture and urban planning, and social welfare as part of a consolidation to save $7 million a year.

Michael Granfield, UCLA’s vice chancellor for academic planning and budget, said the funds used by Young for the convocation came from about 20 private endowments and interest the school earns on revenues such as parking fees. He said Young could use the money for any purpose--including added instructors or courses--but the practice has been to use these funds mainly for one-time expenses.

Regent Meredith J. Khachigian said she was not particularly bothered by the amount spent at UCLA. “This is a lot of money, but it also puts UCLA on the map once again and that can have a positive effect,” she said.

Young said the cost for the customized stage needed for the event reached more than $100,000 because of security changes dictated by the White House and because it was the size of a Metropolitan Opera stage.