UC Berkeley Partial Record of Cuts

Programs

MACSME
This past week, on purely financial grounds, the Dean of Education killed one of the nation's finest (arguably the finest) teacher preparation programs in mathematics and science.  The program, known as MACSME (the Masters and Credential in Science and Mathematics Education),  has been singled out in an upcoming book by a German scholar as the exemplary program in an elite American public university.  MACSME graduates have stayed in the profession and (by design) become leaders, most frequently teaching in urban schools. This contrasts dramatically with the graduates of most programs, who last an average of 3 years in urban districts. MACSME's career-long teacher-leaders are - but I should say were - another of UC's valuable contributions to the State, paying back over their careers far more than UC invested in them.

International and Area Studies
Elimination of Dean Position

Bridges multicultural resource center was cut $27,000 this year, and encompasses the Black Recruitment and Retention Center, Reach! (API recruitment and retention center) Pilipino-American Student Services (PASS), Raza recruitment and retention center, NARRC (Native American RRC), and the associate is the Mixed Student Union.


Courses

Advanced and Conversational Arabic cut

Reich's course in Pub Pol:
Economics Lesson for Higher Ed
September 10, 2009

    Here's an interesting cut from my unit.  It establishes the interesting precedent that ten students in a lecture course with no discussion sessions create the same amount of learning (as measured by student-units, and how else are we accountable?) as five in the same course with discussion.  The discussion option is much more expensive per unit, so an organization dedicated to maximizing learning should obviously shift to all-lecture teaching limited by the size of available venues (is Zellerbach available during the day? Surely the stadium is...).  If a unit decided to give the lecture course on DVDs or on-line, like our wonderful sexual harassment training, for the same two units, even greater economies could be achieved on the cost side with no reduction in productivity!


"as the Goldman School of Public Policy analyzed its budget this year,officials surmised that enrollment in Reich's
large lecture class would need to be reduced by140 students -- or about 32 percent -- this spring."

"Given budgetary constraints, the school was only going to be able to provide six teaching assistants for Reich's class. When Reich previously taught a class of 440 students, he needed nine TA's to help grade papers and run weekly break-out discussions of 25 students each. With just six TA's, there would only be enough support to enroll 300 students, Brady said."

 "In one class, worth four units, students would have the traditional lectures with Reich and break-out discussion groups with TA's. In a second class, worth only two units, students would attend the Reich lectures without the additional break-out sessions or the same level of coursework. Students in the lecture-only class will still receive exams, which will be graded by less expensive readers, but they won't write essays graded by TA's."

Brady anticipates the newly offered courses will produce a net savings of $15,000 to $17,000."

Nutritional Science has  had to suspend its nutritional biology lab as a requirement  it does not have the resources to     handle the large enrollments   it was attracting. THey were also forced to cancel  their molecular toxicology lab
    because  they were unable to  recruit a new lab manager after a retirement.

East Asian Languages . Due to lack of funding ( cuts in TAS budget)  EAL turns away  over 100 students a term .
    Due to tuition increases the department will not be able to meet all its commitments to graduates students for         continuing funding.

VIsual Studies (College of Environmental Design)  loss of two sections of photography classes taught by a continuing     lecturer whose position has been cut .

Integrative Biology, loss of two GSI's resulted in cancellation of lab course.

Film, reduced funding of GSI's resulted in  decreased student access to basic course for non-majors.
        Can no longer offer courses in Chinese film because cannot hire replacement.

French, due to funding decreases over the past few years, is not able to meet student demand for lower dividion language courses.


Dept. of South and Southeast Asian Studies  language offerings  at  risk  because of lack of funding.

Services
ESPM
voicemail (Also gone in Af Am)
German, no  office phone service
French, no office phone service,  reduced photocopy and scans.
English,
College of Environmental Design: loss of darkroom which had been in operation since 1964.
Comparative Literature: no phones in offices, limited photocopy and scans
Scandinavian, loss of phones in offices
Spanish and Portuguese, no phones in offices.
Architecture, library hours cut;  computer support personnel cut; reduction in cleaning services and poor building maintenance.
Custodial: see "Staff"


Staff
Custodians (9/16) 34 custodial workers got laid off this week. Now there are a total of 18 janitors servicing the 28 buildings on campus.

Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Lost Graduate Stdt Services figure
lost person to maintain website

Nutritional Sciences  loses one CAO, usiness manager, HR, purchasing,  and undergraduate SAO. 

Scandinavian, loss of graduate assistant in departmental library.

EAL lost one half time  staff person and 25% of another position.

Psychology, Lost   events manager position;  lost web manager position. is  unable to hire  fundraiser (position previously approved).

English Department lost 1.5 staff positions.

German Department (clustered with Spanish and Portuguese) lost  position of receptionist. Loss of  two part-time lecturer positions,.

Integrative Biology, loss of 10 GSI positions.

Film,  50% of receptionist time is cut.  

Spanish and Portuguese,  no replacement for loss of an urgently needed assistant professor  in Latin American literature and lack of replacements for other faculty losses that have occurred in recent years; loss of department receptionist

Architecture,  reduced number of GSI's,  no receptionist; no phones in faculty offices

French  has had to  issue 12- month notices of lay off to two long term lecturers. Staff budget has been cut 12% which  has resulted in loss of receptionist ( who performed many  other key operational functions). No phones in faculty offices; restrictions placed on photocopying and other use of supplies.


Funding

ESPM
lost "formula research funding" for all fac except those here less than 5 yrs (federal dollars that have been awarded on a competitive basis to faculty for research--major source of support for grad students, who now have to compete for GSIs)

English Dept lost $30,000 supplies and equipment budget.

Integrative Biology, TAS budget cut by 18%.

Comparative Literature, Reduced funding for graduate students

French and Comparative Literature has lost approximately 50% of its funds for operating expenses. This means that funds that would have gone into  acedmic programming will be diverted to pay for day -to day operations.

Film, Reduced funding for graduate students

Spanish and Portuguese, received no funds for Supplies and Expenses which means  there is no funding for public lectures, no student research travel,

Beatrice Bain Research Group had its funding cut by $6K, to $26K, from which it is expected to pay for: staff wages, supplies for the scholars in residence and affiliated scholars, the costs of organizing scholarly events (in the form of invited talks, scholars' panels and other research presentations)

Dept. of South and Southeast Asian Studies   expresses concern about next year's funds for graduate student recruitment because of increase fees being imposed on graduate students.