UC System Cutbacks Are Distressing

Re “UC Regents Told of Bleak ‘02-03 Outlook,” Nov. 16:

The story about cutbacks for the UC system is distressing. What was not particularly distressing was the news that normally top-paid administrators, usually at the vice chancellor level on up, will no longer get their raises, hovering in the 25% range. Poor babies.

As a former staffer at UC Irvine, I was appalled each autumn when Vice Chancellor Wendell Brase would e-mail the “good news”that the regents had approved our 1% raise. (The Times reported 2%.)

While most Californians were experiencing a double-digit increase in the cost of living, we were supposed to rejoice over this paltry raise while top executives were getting raises that, in some cases, we suspected, eclipsed our annual salaries. The possibility that those administrators may have to toil away for a 2% raise is long overdue. When times are tough, shouldn’t there be some sacrifice at every level and not just among the worker bees?

And with UCI’s plans for an extravagant new baseball stadium like no other in the UC system, there is a signal to the staff that their efforts matter little in the pursuit of varsity baseball glory.

Dave Ohman

Irvine