Originally published in Synapse on November 16, 1995.
Tuition increases, affirmative action, library resources, and maternity leave were the main topics of discussion at a Nov. 8 meeting of student representatives with Dennis Galligani, assistant vice-president for academic affairs for the University of California. Galligani was here to learn about the concerns of students at UCSF.
Tracy Ware, President of the Graduate Student Association, called a new UC policy on faculty maternity leave “a step backward.” The proposal calls for four weeks of “pregnancy disability leave,” which would be available to mothers only after they had used up their sick leave. Fathers are entitled to “family leave.”
Currently, male and female graduate students at UCSF are entitled to six weeks’ parental leave at the same level of compensation they received while working. Ware was concerned that the new, less generous policy might be applied to graduate students in the future.
Galligani said that Governor Pete Wilson had agreed to a four per cent increase in UC’s general fund next year. Despite this increase, the administration expects a gap between UC income and expenditures. The Board of Regents will most likely vote to keep the same tuition next fall, according to Galligani.
If there is a shortfall, the difference might be made up by a fee increase during winter and spring quarters next year. Galligani added that an additional $ 1,000 in professional fees will be added to student fees for the incoming class next year, and there will be a nine per cent increase in out-of-state tuition.
Calling the cuts proposed by Congress over the summer “draconian,” Galligani said that the UC President’s Office was “lobbying hard” to reduce the impact on the university.
He claimed that UC is in “much better shape” than in recent years, and that the administration under new UC president Dick Atkinson is “doing the best we can do for you.”
Galligani said he thinks Atkinson will be a strong and respected presence in Washington, given his previous post at the National Science Foundation.
Ware also brought up the topic of how to accommodate domestic partners in family student housing. Galligani responded that there is a proposal to retain campus autonomy to meet the needs of each campus.
This would give highest priority for family housing to students with children, while other students would have relative priority according to the discretion of individual campus housing offices. Galligani expects this to be decided by the Regents in January.
Cliff Atkisson, Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Academic Affairs, added that by next year domestic partners will be able to purchase student health insurance. Michael Perm, a second-year medical student asked whether the Regents’ affirmative action decision would contradict federal guidelines to maintain diversity.
Galligani replied that they were still unsure how the measures would pan out but expected it would have little impact on graduate students since ethnicity is less of a factor in admissions there. Galligani also mentioned the “Shared Governance” role of faculty in student admissions which is being explored by the faculty at UC Berkeley.
Shared governance is an approach approved by the Regents that would give the faculty of each campus full responsibility for admissions decisions. Jeremiah Paknawin-Mock expressed his fears about the future of the library at UCSF.
Citing figures that show the library now subscribes to only 43% of the journals it got in 1989, Paknawin-Mock said the library has had no funding increases in seven years. He warned that if funding is not increased, the library “is going to evaporate.”
Galligani claimed that technology might improve access to information via the Internet, but Donna Hendrix pointed out that not many journals are yet online.
Galligani then called the problem “disturbing” and asked Paknawin-Mock whether he would agree to raise fees in order to raise funds for the library. His reply: “The only justification for fee increases is for a real, demonstrable need,” such as the library.
