Regents Back UC Chief

University of California regents on Thursday gave UC President Robert C. Dynes, under fire for months over an executive pay controversy, a qualified vote of support, endorsing his continued leadership of the UC system.

Regents Chairman Gerald L. Parsky, speaking on behalf of the board, said its members were convinced after a lengthy closed-door meeting with Dynes that he understood the dimensions of the compensation problems and was capable of correcting them.

“He is the appropriate leader to resolve these issues and guide the university through this difficult chapter in its history,” Parsky said. He emphasized, however, that the regents would significantly increase their oversight of compensation issues and no longer rely on the voluntary compliance of the system’s president and other administrators.

Dynes “has acknowledged his responsibility,” the chairman said.

After Parsky finished reading the board statement, the audience of several dozen UC employees and others in the meeting room at UC San Francisco rose in a standing ovation, while Dynes, looking visibly relieved, smiled and nodded.

“It’s been a difficult time and I’m obviously gratified,” Dynes said outside the meeting. “We had a very intense and focused conversation yesterday, and I do not want to underestimate the scope of these issues.”

Dynes, 63, a physicist who was chancellor at UC San Diego before becoming UC president in October 2003, said he welcomed greater scrutiny of his office by the governing board, and he made clear that he had taken its concerns to heart.

“I am the president of the university and I made mistakes. That’s a hard thing for anyone to own up to,” he said.

UC leaders already have taken some steps toward reform of the university’s compensation policies and practices and have pledged to do more.

This week, the board voted to establish an office of compliance that will report directly to the regents, and approved a broad plan for clarifying policies and strengthening its oversight. The regents also discussed ways to reorganize the UC president’s office.

For months, UC and Dynes have struggled to emerge from the controversy that erupted after it was reported that the university in recent years spent millions on questionable or undisclosed compensation for executives, even as it cut other costs and repeatedly raised student fees. Recent audits found that UC leaders systematically violated or skirted policies to give bigger salaries or more perks to top managers, and often failed to obtain required approval from the regents.

In April, a report by a task force of business, academic and media leaders described UC’s approach to compensation issues as “wholly unacceptable” and called for serious consequences to the problems and findings of evident wrongdoing.

Some critics said the regents’ move to retain Dynes did not meet that standard. State Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), who had called for Dynes’ resignation, said he was dumbfounded by the decision. The regents “are thumbing their nose at the taxpayers and students of California,” Maldonado said. Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) said she found the decision outrageous.

Others took a more forgiving view. “The UC regents have made their decision to stick with President Dynes, so I believe we now need to move on,” said Sen. Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), chairman of a Senate committee that held hearings on the controversy in February. “We need to provide stability for the thousands of students, faculty and staff within the UC.”

In recent days, several regents and faculty members have expressed concern over the problems but said that Dynes had otherwise been an effective leader. They praised his ability to work with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators to increase UC’s state funding and his role in last year’s successful effort to retain a share of the contract to run Los Alamos National Laboratory.

On Thursday, Regent Judith Hopkinson echoed those views. “I think he’s made some mistakes and inherited some problems, but he is a very good president of this university,” she said. “And I’m confident that he understands these issues and is passionate about fixing them.”

In other actions Thursday, the board approved a year’s sabbatical for outgoing UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale, to be paid at his annual chancellor’s salary of $323,600, rather than the $201,700 he will receive when he becomes a professor of public policy and mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Westwood campus. The regents, who as part of their overhaul of compensation rules and practices are reviewing the policy governing sabbaticals for administrators, said they “felt it only fair” to honor a previous commitment to Carnesale to pay him at the higher rate.

UC also will cover a low-cost mortgage loan for Carnesale of up to $1.5 million, as well as up to $12,000 to cover his costs in moving from university-owned housing to a personal residence. Carnesale is scheduled to step down at the end of June. The search for his replacement as chancellor is continuing, after the recent withdrawal of the front-runner, Syracuse University Provost Deborah Freund.