While the California gubernatorial recall a few weeks ago sent tremors through the political landscape in the state, many University of California faculty and staff are now wondering what the election will mean for higher education in the Golden State.
What happens next following the Oct. 7 recall of Gov. Gray Davis depends on how the new governor-elect, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the state Legislature handle an $8 billion budget deficit and the issue of funding for education.
During the recall campaign Schwarzeneg-ger indicated he favored protecting funds for elementary and secondary education while vowing to rescind a recent increase in the state's car tax, the latter of which some argue might further drain state coffers. Meanwhile, recent state budget cuts have forced California's public colleges and universities to sharply increase fees and even limit transfer-student enrollment at a time when the state's college-age population is booming.
Nov. 17 is the projected day Schwarzenegger takes office.
Virginia Hinshaw, provost and executive vice chancellor, says that during any political transition there are unknowns that cause people concern.
"It's important to remember that this university has clearly maintained its presence and excellence through many different governors over the last 100 years," Hinshaw said.
Marj Dickinson, assistant vice chancellor for government and community relations, said that because higher education was not a major issue in the campaign, "we don't have specific details about the governor-elect's views."
She noted that an audit of state expenditures that Schwarzenegger has vowed to undertake may help clarify his higher education positions. After that, the Jan. 10 deadline for the governor to submit a balanced budget to the Legislature "will provide very specific information on how higher education might fare under this governor," Dickinson said.
Dramatic political changes "are more the norm than not" in her business, Dickinson said. "This mid-term, unexpected transition certainly offered an additional dimension of political complexity to an already difficult decision-making environment in Sacramento, as well as irresistible political theater for the nation and the world."
Dickinson hopes that state leaders expend the "same energy and creativity on the daunting budget decisions" now that the recall is over.
Steve Sheffrin, an economics professor and dean of the Division of Social Science at UC Davis, says that the California business community -- including the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations -- took the unprecedented step of endorsing Schwarzenegger, so they are "naturally elated."
But, he said, "They also will feel betrayed if he takes some actions that they have long opposed."
Sheffrin said most economists are forecasting rapid growth for the national economy with employment also picking up. For him, the most surprising part of the election was how poorly the public viewed the economy.
"Nearly 80 percent of the public felt the economy was bad or very bad," he said. "In objective terms, the economy is not quite that sick. I think the public was projecting a leadership vacuum at the top of the California economy."
He believes that California's economy should "follow along" with the national economy. "This will largely be independent of the 'business climate' issues that Schwarzenegger raised during the campaign," Sheffrin said, who added that recent Republican administrations have tended to be favorable to UC.
As for education, Sheffrin added, "Schwarzenegger has clearly staked out positions on K-12 and against tax increases, and that puts the UC budget in jeopardy."
Redefining partnerships
Like California, UC has new leadership.
Robert Dynes, the new UC president, took office Oct. 1, just days before the recall. In a Web chat with faculty and staff on Oct. 14, Dynes noted the importance of building relationships in Sacramento's corridors of power (see story on pages 1-2).
When asked whether the UC system could alter its funding structure to make it less dependent on state funding, Dynes agreed that the university needs to look for other funding sources while also seeking a more stable relationship with the state, noting that about 23 percent of UC's budget comes from the state -- funds that support a large number of faculty and staff and the core instructional program.
In an earlier talk with UC editors, Dynes discussed the UC's partnership agreement of mutual commitments between UC and the Davis administration. The agreement outlined support the Legislature will provide to UC to fund salary increases and more as the university reaches out to and attracts more students statewide. The state has not upheld its part of the agreement the past few years.
"It's time for us to sit down with the Legislature and governor and recraft an understanding of the University of California's support and where we're going to be going with all of that," Dynes said. "Hanging on to that old agreement may not be as fruitful as sitting down and redefining it."
Dynes also said he will hold firm to the state's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education that, among other things, guarantees access to a UC campus for the top 12.5 percent of graduating seniors. "I will do everything I can to maintain it," Dynes said.
The new UC president has at least one connection to the Schwarzenegger transition team -- his father-in-law, F. Warren Hellman, is a member of the team. Hellman is a well-known San Francisco financier and has been a generous donor to UC Berkeley.
Apart from UC issues, Schwarzenegger said during the campaign that he supports a state law, Prop. 98, that allocates about 40 percent of state funds for public schools and community colleges. That may be welcome news to community colleges, which are supposed to get about 10.9 percent of the money, but only received 9.6 percent for 2003-4.
The governor-elect also has advocated giving community colleges and public schools the ability to save money by seeking outside contracts for services. And he has talked in general about the need to protect access for all students to the state's public colleges, avoiding enrollment caps and controlling large tuition increases.
Time will tell if Schwarzenegger uses his image as a political "outsider" to solve state fiscal problems or whether his background as an immigrant may prove beneficial to education because he'd be inclined to protect opportunities for people to work their way up in society.
As far as UC Davis is concerned, the latest news from the Schwarzenegger camp is that he plans to visit the university at some point. Due to transition planning, he declined an invitation to visit UC Davis for a hydrogen-fuel research open house held Monday.
UC's 'most important student'
The need for strong relationship-building is the major lesson of the recall campaign, says Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith, an associate political science professor at UC Davis. "Elected office holders have to make substantial, continuous and personal investments in maintaining broad public understanding of and support for what they are trying to do," he said.
Wandesforde-Smith said Schwarzenegger is perhaps the university's "most important student" as the new governor embarks on getting acquainted with California higher education. "In the current budget climate all other things are not equal, but I think the governor-elect will err on the side of helping the university, rather than hurting it. This tendency will probably increase as he learns more about the university," he said.
Like Sheffrin, Wandesforde-Smith noted that "all other things being equal, Republican governors have been good for the university -- respectful of its independence and willing to give it the resources it needs."
While approving the recall, California voters overwhelmingly rejected Prop. 54. The measure would have banned public colleges and other state agencies from gathering and analyzing some types of racial data.
Wandesforde-Smith described Prop. 54 as "poorly drafted, poorly presented and dead in the water once it became clear that the lack of data could hurt people's ability to access and evaluate public services."