UCSB "Save UC" Letter

July 3, 2009

To: Chancellors Birgeneau, Block, Blumenthal, Desmond-Hellman, Drake, Fox, Kang, Vanderhoef, White, and Yang

Cc: Mark Yudof, President, University of California

Re: Save the University of California

The undersigned faculty of the University of California respectfully call upon all UC Chancellors to make a strong, public, joint statement underlining the importance of the UC system to the economic recovery of the state, as well as to the individual cities and counties in which UC campuses are located.

The twenty-first century economy will demand a more highly skilled workforce than could have been imagined in 1960 when former UC President Clark Kerr fashioned the ground-breaking Master Plan for Higher Education. Yet California appears to be choosing to divest from, rather than invest in, public higher education. According to a study from the Public Policy Institute, California faces a looming "skills gap:" by 2025, 41 percent of the jobs in California will require at least a bachelor's degree, but only 35 percent of Californians will have one. The 8% salary reduction and threatened increases to course load for those faculty already teaching the greatest number of courses within the UC system will rapidly produce a "brain drain" of the system's best scholars. These measures will also lower the quality and availability of UC courses, betraying our state's children and their future, wrecking what was once the finest institution of public higher education in the world, and setting Californians behind many other state populations with
better education or more respected degrees.

The story of the University of California needs to be redirected toward the future. We ask our Chancellors to stand together, in a public statement addressed to the Regents and released to the press, to remind the state of exactly how much will be lost if the UC system becomes a target for devastating and ill-conceived cuts. We ask the Chancellors to invite President Yudof to work together with them to publicly itemize and articulate the importance of the UC system to the solving of the state's economic recovery.

Chancellors, you represent our campuses as no one else does; your voices will carry more weight than those of individual faculty sending letters to Oakland or Sacramento; you are the public face of the UC system. Please make the vision and imagination long associated with the University of California heard in Oakland, in Sacramento, and across the nation. We eagerly await your joint statement.

Sincerely yours,

Porter Abbott
Professor Emeritus (English, UCSB)

Ann Jensen Adams
Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Adebisi Agboola
Professor (Mathematics, UCSB)

Nameera Akhtar
Professor (Psychology, UCSC)

Michael Alfaro
Asst. Professor (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA)

Joel B. Altman
Professor Emeritus (English, UCB)

Richard Applebaum
Professor (Sociology, UCSB)

Elizabeth Aptheker
Professor (Feminist Studies, UCSC)

Margarita Azmitia
Professor (Psychology, UCSC)

Malcolm Baker
Professor (History of Art, UCR)

Clarence Barlow
Chair, Composition Program (Music, UCSB)

Karen Bassi
Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Stephanie Batiste
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Laurel Beckman
Assoc. Professor (Art, UCSB)

Catherine L. Benamou
Assoc. Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCI)

Ann Bermingham
Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Hilary Bernstein
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Hunter Bivens
Asst. Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Eileen Boris
Professor (Women’s Studies, UCSB)

Edward Branigan
Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Janis McLarren Caldwell
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Ignacio López-Calvo
Professor (Literature, UCM)

Julie Carlson
Professor (English, UCSB)

Brian Catlos
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSC)

Seymour Chatman
Professor Emeritus (Rhetoric and Film Studies, UCB)

Swati Chattopadhyay
Assoc. Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Jack W. Chen
Asst. Professor (Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA)

Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Timothy J. Cooley
Assoc. Professor (Music, UCSB)

Vilashini Cooppan
Assoc. Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Eve Darian-Smith
Assoc. Professor (Law and Society, UCSB)

Susan Derwin
Professor (German and Comparative Literature, UCSB)

Enda Duffy
Professor (English, UCSB)

Dorota Dutsch
Assoc. Professor (Classics, UCSB)

Adrienne Lynn Edgar
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Kevin Fellezs
Asst. Professor (English, UCM)

Mayanthi Fernando
Asst. Professor (Anthropology, UCSC)

Aranye Fradenburg
Professor (English, UCSB)

Kathleen Frederickson
Asst. Professor (English, UCD)

Sabine Fruhstuck
Professor (East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, UCSB)

Patricia Fumerton
Professor (English, UCSB)

Mary Furner
Professor (History, UCSB)

Catherine Gautier
Professor (Geography, UCSB)

Diane Gifford-Gonzalez
Professor (Anthropology, UCB)

Per Gjerde
Professor (Psychology, UCSC)

Bishnupriya Ghosh
Professor (English, UCSB)

Mark Goble
Assoc. Professor (English, UCB)

Jody Green
Assoc. Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Jonathan W. Green
Professor (Art and History of Art, UCR)

Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
Professor (History, UCSB)

Lisa Hajjar
Professor (Law and Society, UCSB)

Margo Hendricks
Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Jennifer Holt
Asst. Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Grace Kyungwon Hong
Assoc. Professor (Asian American Studies/Women’s Studies, UCLA)

Hsuan Hsu
Assoc. Professor (English, UCD)

Olga R. Hughes
Professor Emerita (Slavic Languages and Literatures, UCB)

Robert P. Hughes
Professor Emeritus (Slavic Languages and Literatures, UCB)

Lisa Jacobson
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Andrew F. Jones
Assoc. Professor (East Asian Languages and Cultures, UCB)

Ulrich Keller
Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Sharon Kinoshita
Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Cecelia F. Klein
Professor (Art History, UCLA)

Carol Lansing
Professor (History, UCSB)

Gabriela Soto Laveaga
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Stephanie LeMenager
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Ann-Elise Lewallen
Asst. Professor (East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, UCSB)

Shirley Geok-Lin Lim
Professor (English, UCSB)

Sarah Lindheim
Assoc. Professor (Classics, UCSB)

George Lipsitz
Professor (Black Studies and Sociology, UCSB)

Alan Liu
Professor (English, UCSB)

Michael Loik
Assoc. Professor (Environmental Studies, UCSC)

Catherine Lord
Professor (Department of Studio Art, UCI)

Julia Reinhard Lupton
Professor (English and Comparative Literature, UCI)

John Majewski
Professor (History, UCSB)

Harold Marcuse
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Mark Maslan
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Judith A. Habicht Mauche
Professor (Anthropology, UCSC)

Hugh McClean
Professor Emeritus (Slavic Languages and Literatures, UCB)

W. Patrick McCray
Professor (History, UCSB)

Stephan F. Miescher
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Mara Mills
Asst. Professor (English, UCSB)

Laurie Monahan
Assoc. Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Robert Morstein-Marx
Professor (Classics, UCSB)

Ciprian Manolescu
Assoc. Professor (Mathematics, UCLA)

Patricia Morton
Assoc. Professor (History of Art, UCR)

Steven Nelson
Assoc. Professor (Art History, UCLA)

Chris Newfield
Professor (English, UCSB)

Laury Oaks
Assoc. Professor (Women’s Studies, UCSB)

Michael O'Connell
Professor (English, UCSB)

Alice O'Connor
Professor (History, UCSB)

Carol Braun Pasternack
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Lisa Parks
Assoc. Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Constance Penley
Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Ann Marie Plane
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Barbara B. Prézelin
Professor (Ecology, Evolution, Marine Biology, UCSB)

Rita Raley
Assoc. Professor (English, UCSB)

Erika Rappaport
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Ravi Rajan
Provost (College Eight, UCSC)

Geoffrey Raymond
Assoc. Professor (Sociology, UCSB)

Lucia Re
Professor (Italian and Women's Studies, UCLA)

Bruce Robertson
Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

David Rock
Professor (History, UCSB)

Lisa Rofel
Professor (Anthropology, UCSC)

Mark Rose
Professor (English, UCSB)

Conrad Rudolph
Professor (Art History, UCR)

Lynn Russell
Professor (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD)

Katherine Saltzman-Li
Assoc. Professor (East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, UCSB)

Bhaskar Sarkar
Assoc. Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Josh Schimel
Professor (Environmental Studies, UCSB)

Peter Selz
Professor Emeritus (History of Art, UCB)

Jenny Sharpe
Professor (English, UCLA)

Deanna Shemek
Professor (Italian and Comparative Literature, UCSC)

Teresa Shewry
Asst. Professor (English, UCLA)

Celine Parrenas Shimizu
Assoc. Professor (Asian American Studies, UCSB)

David Delgado Shorter
Assoc. Professor (World Arts and Cultures, UCLA)

Greg Siegel
Asst. Professor (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Dan I. Slobin
Professor Emeritus (Psychology and Linguistics, UCB)

Richard C. J. Somerville
Professor Emeritus (Scripps Institute, UCSD)

Janet Sorensen
Assoc. Professor (English, UCB)

Catherine M. Soussloff
Professor (History of Art and Visual Culture, UCSC)

Jon Snyder
Professor (French and Italian, UCSB)

Paul Spickard
Professor (History, UCSB)

Shelley Streeby
Assoc. Professor (Literature, UCSD)

Elisa Tamarkin
Assoc. Professor (English, UCB)

Sandra A. Thompson
Professor (Linguistics, UCSB)

Miriam Wattles
Asst. Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Elisabeth Weber
Professor (Comparative Literature, UCSB)

Colin Westerbeck
Director (California Museum of Photography, UCR)

Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Asst. Professor (African American Studies, UCI)

Chris Wilmers
Asst. Professor (Environmental Studies, UCSC)

Rob Wilson
Professor (Literature, UCSC)

Richard Wittman
Assoc. Professor (History of Art and Architecture, UCSB)

Salim Yaqub
Assoc. Professor (History, UCSB)

Richard K. Zimmer
Professor (Ecology and Evolution and Neurosciences, UCLA)