Lakoff-Srednicki: 3 Main Issues for UC Now

From Mark Srednicki:
I would like to mobilize as many as possible from the teach-in to show up at the "UC Future" meeting, Thursday, Oct 22, 2-4:30 PM in Campbell Hall:

Taking the advice of George Lakoff, I would like to encourage faculty, staff, and students to speak and stress the following memes:

1) The Regents have failed. Their mission is to lead the greatest public university in the history of the world, and yet they have presided over staggering losses of funding.  Their stewardship has been lax and ineffective.  Their failure is unacceptable. 

2) We need majority rule in California.  A majority of the people of California support affordable access to a top-quality university education for themselves, their children, their grandchildren, and all those who can use it for the common good.  Ask the panelists to declare their public support for majority rule. 

3) The Schwarzenegger Tax harms us all.  The Schwarzenegger Tax (tuition hikes covered by long-term student loans that must be repaid with interest and with after-tax dollars) will have terrible long-term consequences for the competitiveness of the California workforce and hence the future of the California economy.

Some background material:

Moving Forward from the 2009 Budget
Stanton Glantz, Professor of Medicine, UCSF
Former Chair, UC Committee on Planning and Budget

Privatization is The Issue
George Lakoff, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, UC Berkeley


An Open Letter to UC Students (on the use of future tuition revenue to securitize bonds)
Bob Meister, Professor of Political and Social Thought, UCSC
President, Council of UC Faculty Associations

Ending minority rule in California
George Lakoff

Current Budget Trends and the Future of the University of California ("the Futures report")
Adopted by the UC Academic Council, December 2006


The Cuts Report
Adopted by the UC Academic Council, March 2008