UC Berkeley Starts Drive for Private Funds

Taking the most dramatic step yet toward changing the way public universities are funded, the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday formally unveiled a campaign to raise $1.1 billion by the end of this century.

Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien said the fund-raising effort--the most ambitious in history at a public university--may change the definition of a public institution by expanding its sources of revenue.

“Traditionally, ‘public’ has referred only to institutions supported by state taxes,” Tien said. “We think the state definitely has a continuing responsibility to provide that core support for higher education. But . . . we are challenging the private sector, the Cal alumni and the tens of thousands of friends of Cal to invest in Berkeley for the public good.”

Tien, whose campus relies on state support for only 36% of its revenue, is not the first chancellor to suggest that UC must seek more private money.

UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young, considered a pioneer among fund-raisers, has long stressed the need to increase contributions and to forge public-private partnerships. State funds account for only about a quarter of UCLA’s income.

But the campaign at Berkeley, UC’s flagship campus and one of the nation’s most prestigious universities, is among the most significant steps toward loosening the financial ties that tether the university to the state.

In raising the profile of private fund-raising, Tien and Young have placed UC at the leading edge of a trend that some people believe will eventually affect all of the nation’s top public colleges.

A growing number of public-private hybrid institutions already have developed--universities owned by the state, but drawing their funding largely from private sources such as tuition, donations, revenue from services and patents, and funding from industry and research.

“This is actually a worldwide trend--we are leading the pack,” Tien said, noting that schools from Oxford University in England to the University of Michigan have been seeking to boost their private support.

But Tien dismissed worries that as private donations rise, the university’s accountability to the public will decline.

“This makes us much more responsive to the public,” Tien asserted. “If we are not doing a good job, if we have some scandals, I can tell you, not a lot of [fund-raising] money will come in.”

On Thursday, Tien told the UC Board of Regents, meeting in San Francisco, that UC Berkeley has already raised $480 million during the campaign’s so-called “quiet phase.” A board committee approved the launching of what the chancellor dubbed the “New Century Campaign,” and the full board is expected to give final approval today.

UCLA’s Young reacted wryly to Tien’s announcement, prompting laughter at the meeting when he told the board: “Probably within a year we’ll be announcing a campaign that may be a little larger than Berkeley’s.” UCLA, he said, is currently in the pre-public phase of a campaign that may also seek to top $1 billion.

But in response to a question from Regent Ward Connerly about intra-campus competition, Young and two other chancellors assured the board that Berkeley’s fund-raising efforts were welcomed by other campuses.

“I think it’s very clear that what Berkeley does helps us in what we do and . . . helps all the other campuses,” Young said, adding later, “the pie is expandable. When some people give, other people give.”

Both Tien and Young plan to resign from their jobs in June, but Tien told the board he will continue to work on the campaign after he leaves the chancellor’s office.

The Berkeley campaign is notable in that it seeks to fund not just traditional capital improvement projects, but also academic initiatives that will reach directly into the ranks of students and faculty. For example, the campaign aspires to raise $60 million for undergraduate scholarships and $30 million for graduate fellowships. Another $130 million will be sought to fund new professorships, graduate fellowships and faculty research.

“This campaign is not just about money,” Tien said. “It’s about people. It is a bold effort to redefine our relationship with the public we serve. . . . This is a campaign to take charge of our future.”

The fund-raising plan earmarks $10 million for outreach initiatives to help the state’s public schools better prepare students in kindergarten through 12th grade--and particularly underrepresented minorities--to qualify for admission to UC.

Berkeley officials said the university’s 321,000 alumni--only 10% of whom now give to the school--will be among those tapped for donations in the next four years. But they will also try to convince non-alumni that a gift to the university is an investment in California.

Already, UC Berkeley has proved successful on this front. Of the nearly half-billion dollars raised thus far, 40% came from non-alumni, officials said.

“If it becomes better understood among public universities that private support is necessary, the population as a whole will come to understand that better,” said Dan Mote Jr., UC Berkeley’s vice chancellor for university relations who is overseeing the campaign.

“When people are trying to decide what to support, it will be in their culture to support higher education. . . . This [is a] cultural change.”