UWP Lecturers Fwd: probably worth signing
Adriana Craciun
adrianac at ucr.edu
Tue Jul 14 07:33:43 PDT 2009
Dear Deborah and all,
I too signed Lakoff's letter, for the "tyranny of the minority" larger picture, to
which the entire state is held hostage but which hasn't really come up in
previous UC proposals.
best, Adriana
Adriana Craciun
Professor of English
Department of English
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:13:57 +0000
>From: steven.axelrod at gmail.com (on behalf of Steven Axelrod
<steven.axelrod at ucr.edu>)
>Subject: Re: Fwd: probably worth signing
>To: dwill at ucr.edu
>Cc: keithh at ucr.edu, adriana.craciun at ucr.edu, Andrea.Denny-Brown at ucr.edu,
carole.fabricant at ucr.edu, cf7516 at gmail.com, Caroleanne.tyler at ucr.edu,
Deborah.Willis at ucr.edu, erica.edwards at ucr.edu, George.Haggerty at ucr.edu,
heidi.braymanhackel at ucr.edu, jamestobias at mindspring.com,
James.Tobias at ucr.edu, jennifer.doyle at ucr.edu, John.Briggs at ucr.edu,
John.Ganim at ucr.edu, joseph.childers at ucr.edu, katherine.kinney at ucr.edu,
keith.harris at ucr.edu, devlinucr at earthlink.net, michelle.raheja at ucr.edu,
rise.axelrod at ucr.edu, rob.latham at ucr.edu, Stanley.Stewart at ucr.edu,
susan.zieger at ucr.edu, Tiffany.Lopez at ucr.edu, Traise.Yamamoto at ucr.edu,
Vorris.Nunley at ucr.edu, englecturers at lists.ucr.edu, William Dahling
<William.Dahling at bbklaw.com>, jmillard47 at pacbell.net,
michelle.bloom at ucr.edu
>
> Dear Deborah,
> You make a good point, but it's a subtle one. I
> don't think most casual observers or even
> legislators will take the message about cutting
> state funding further. I think it's important to
> show solidarity with a colleague who has the stature
> to make our concerns audible. Moreover, I think the
> letter is worth endorsing just for the "tyranny of
> the minority" line. I've signed.
> From the land of Guelphs and Ghibelines,
> Steve
> --
> Steven Gould Axelrod
> President, The Robert Lowell Society
> Co-editor, The New Anthology of American Poetry,
> Vols. 1-3
> Professor of English
> University of California
> Riverside, CA 92521
>
> On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 5:55 AM, Deborah Willis
> <dwill at ucr.edu> wrote:
>
> I'm having trouble making up my mind about this
> letter. I like many things
> about it, but I also have a major reservation.
> If not a relatively equitable
> distribution of pay cuts (i.e. furloughs), what
> then? The letter repeats a
> soundbyte I keep seeing in news articles --that
> UC's overall budget is $19
> billion, while the paycuts to faculty and staff
> only come to a piddly $193
> million. The implication seems to be that UC
> has tons of money hidden away
> somewhere that could be used to plug this tiny 1%
> hole. Though it's not
> Lakoff's point, in other contexts the message
> people take from this $19
> billion/$193 million contrast is that cuts to UC
> shouldn't be a problem. In fact,
> since UC is so wealthy, why not just cut state
> funding even more?
>
> Well...sure, the UC budget is huge. It's a
> 10-campus operation, with
> multiple hospitals and multiple research centers,
> etc etc. And 72% percent of
> that $19 billion budget total are "restricted
> funds" -- meaning the funds come
> from grants, contracts, donations, and other such
> sources, which are
> earmarked for specific things and can't legally be
> used for faculty salaries.
> Salaries etc come from "core funds," the remaining
> 28% of the overall budget.
> A fairer contrast would be $5.3 billion vs. $193
> million. Okay, $5.3 billion is
> still a lot of money. But finding that $193
> million from the "core funds" to
> prevent faculty/staff paycuts means taking it away
> from faculty/staff salaries
> and/or basic operations. In other words, it
> would mean laying off some faculty
> and staff altogether or shutting down some units,
> or ... closing UC
> Merced/UCR/UC Santa Cruz. We're back to the
> Scull letter, or worse.
>
> Maybe there is a pot of gold that some
> administrator has hidden away
> somewhere. I suppose it can't hurt to ask.
> What I like about Lakoff's letter is
> that his main point is to motivate our
> well-connected regents to use their
> power to get MORE funding from the state or other
> sources. I like his point
> about the "tyranny of the minority." I like it
> that he includes staff along with
> faculty. I like it that he pans online
> education. I like it that he makes his point
> about the probable "brain drain" and its
> consequences for the state of
> California without sounding unduly elitist. I
> like his mournful yet controlled
> tone.
>
> So perhaps I will add my name to his letter. It's
> probably not worth spending
> much time brooding about it. In any case,
> the Regents' meeting this week
> should bring us closer to some clarity about what
> the immediate future will
> hold for us. For those of you interested in the
> proceedings, you can find the
> agenda, accompanying documents, and a link to
> streaming audio of the 3-day
> meeting at:
>
> http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/july09.html
>
> Deborah
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:37:15 -0700 (PDT)
> >From: <keithh at ucr.edu>
> >Subject: Fwd: probably worth signing
> >To: adriana.craciun at ucr.edu,
> Andrea.Denny-Brown at ucr.edu,
> carole.fabricant at ucr.edu, cf7516 at gmail.com,
> Caroleanne.tyler at ucr.edu,
> Deborah.Willis at ucr.edu, erica.edwards at ucr.edu,
> George.Haggerty at ucr.edu,
> heidi.braymanhackel at ucr.edu,
> jamestobias at mindspring.com,
> James.Tobias at ucr.edu, jennifer.doyle at ucr.edu,
> John.Briggs at ucr.edu,
> John.Ganim at ucr.edu, joseph.childers at ucr.edu,
> katherine.kinney at ucr.edu,
> keith.harris at ucr.edu, devlinucr at earthlink.net,
> michelle.raheja at ucr.edu,
> rise.axelrod at ucr.edu, rob.latham at ucr.edu,
> Stanley.Stewart at ucr.edu,
> Steven.Axelrod at ucr.edu, susan.zieger at ucr.edu,
> Tiffany.Lopez at ucr.edu,
> Traise.Yamamoto at ucr.edu, Vorris.Nunley at ucr.edu,
> englecturers at lists.ucr.edu
> >
> >Please see the letter below. Please forward.
> >Keith
> >
> >Keith M. Harris
> >Associate Professor
> >Media & Cultural Studies
> >INTS 3126
> >900 University Ave.
> >Riverside, CA 92521
> >(951) 827-1016
> >keith.harris at ucr.edu
> >________________
> >Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:26:56 -0700
> >From: Toby Miller <tobym at ucr.edu>
> >Subject: Fwd: probably worth signing
> >To: freya schiwy <freyasch at ucr.edu>, Lan Duong
> <lduong at ucr.edu>, Setsu
> Shigematsu <setsu.shigematsu at ucr.edu>, Keith
> Harris
> <keith.harris at ucr.edu>, Ken Rogers
> <ken.rogers at ucr.edu>, Tim Labor
> <tim.labor at ucr.edu>, D Charles Whitney
> <chuck.whitney at ucr.edu>, Ruhi Khan
> <ruhi.khan at ucr.edu>, "derekb at ucr.edu>
> <derekb at ucr.edu"
> <derekb at ucr.edu>, Andrea Smith <asmith at ucr.edu>
> >
> > This from George Lakoff--it may provide a
> good
> > way-in to the Regents' meeting, so you may
> wish to
> > consider writing George as below to support
> it, if
> > his letter makes sense to you (albeit that
> there is
> > a syntactical error in it--can't linguists
> even get
> > that right?). I think it's a pretty good
> letter
> > Toby
> >
> > from: lakoff at berkeley.edu
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > Dear Colleagues,
> > A number of you have asked me to write
> an open
> > letter to the Regents. It is attached.
> I am on
> > the docket to present it on Wednesday
> at the
> > Regents' meeting. At least one member
> of
> > Regents will speak in support of what I
> am
> > saying in it. I am also going to
> release it to
> > the press.
> > For these reasons, it is important to
> have as
> > many faculty endorsing the letter as
> possible.
> > If you feel you can endorse it, please
> send me
> > an email with the subject heading
> "Endorsement"
> > and with your name, title, and campus
> and I will
> > add you to the "endorsed by" list.
> > If there are other UC faculty who you
> think will
> > endorse it, please forward this email
> to them
> > with a copy of the letter.
> > I have kept the letter short - two
> pages.
> > I have not tried to say all the
> important things
> > that are being said in the email
> discussions.
> > Those things need to be said as well,
> but by
> > others. I advise against a buckshot
> approach.
> > Rather consolidate the facts and
> alternative
> > positions that the Regents need to hear
> in one,
> > or a handful, of other letters. Work
> on them
> > together if possible. Keep it as simple
> and
> > straightforward as you can. If the
> speakers all
> > say utterly different things, the
> Regents will
> > not pay attention to any of them.
> > Thank you for your commitment to our
> university.
> > George Lakoff
> >________________
> >________________
> >
>
> -
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