The UC Board of Regents, during its meeting last week on the Davis campus, raised professional school fees, added a new layer of review for the receipt of tobacco research money, and declared that UC must do more to improve diversity in student, faculty and staff ranks, and in campus climate.

The regents also approved the 2007-08 budget for state general funds, and took a $52.7 million step toward restoring faculty salaries to market levels.

For UC Davis, the regents approved the ground lease for a community college branch campus at the forthcoming West Village, and endorsed the business terms for a ground lease for a 75-room hotel at the campus's south entry.

Here is a recap of selected regents' actions from their three-day meeting:

Professional degree fees — The regents approved a three-year plan "intended to help schools maintain and enhance the quality of their programs while providing more predictability for students," according to a news release from the UC Office of the President.

The plan calls for 7 percent annual increases in professional degree fees for the majority of UC's professional schools, including the UC Davis medical and veterinary medical schools, from 2008-09 through 2010-11. Students in these schools also can expect to see systemwide and campus fee increases of 7 percent annually.

For nine professional schools — in the fields of law, business and pharmacy — the UC system plans to raise professional degree fees up to 19 percent annually from 2008-09 to 2010-11. But, when averaged with systemwide and campus fees, total fee increases would not go up more than 15 percent annually.

At UC Davis, the total increase is estimated at approximately 11 percent annually for the law school and 9 percent annually for the GSM, assuming a 7 percent annual increase in systemwide and campus fees. Calculations by the Office of the President show that in 2010-11, UC Davis law students with California residency would be charged $34,566 annually and GSM students $30,975.

At least 33 percent of the revenue derived from the professional degree fee increases will be directed to financial aid. The increased financial support for students is intended to make the professional degree program more accessible to those students who might otherwise lack the resources to pursue the degree or wish to pursue public service careers.

Tobacco funding — The regents settled a yearlong debate over whether the UC system should accept research money from big tobacco.

Instead of an outright ban, as proposed by Regent John Moores and opposed by the Academic Senate, the regents decided to establish a layer of review by scientific peers and chancellors.

Previously, researchers could accept funding from any sources as long as the funding complied with applicable university policies, say, regarding conflicts of interest.

Opponents of a ban on tobacco funding cited academic freedom, and reminded that investigators are expected to ensure the integrity of their research regardless of the funding source.

The new policy calls for regents to receive timely notice of relevant grants and the research to be undertaken.

More information is available online: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/sept07/re89.pdf.

Diversity — Acting on the recommendations of a systemwide task force, the regents affirmed that diversity is fundamental to UC's mission as a public institution, as well as to its quality and service to the state of California. The regents adopted a statement that concludes with a renewed commitment to fully realize the historic promise of UC as a pluralistic and inclusive institution. The systemwide Academic Senate previously endorsed the statement.

The statement is available online: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/sept07/re111attach.pdf.

Budget — The regents approved a spending plan for $3.27 billion in state general funds, as allocated by the Legislature and governor.

The budget includes a 5 percent pool for salary and benefits increases — a percentage point more than last year.

For union employees, distribution of this money is subject to collective bargaining. Look for details on the Human Resources Web site: www.hr.ucdavis.edu (click on "Employee & Labor Relations," then "Union Contracts").

For nonrepresented employees, UC Davis has put 4 percent into a merit funding pool and 1 percent into a fund "to address significant individual market parity and equity issues," effective Oct. 1 (or Oct. 7 for employees who are paid biweekly).

Faculty salaries — The first year of a four-year plan includes merit raises equivalent to 1.78 percent, a cost-of-living raise of 2.5 percent, plus market adjustments.

Under the approved pay scales, effective Oct. 1, an assistant professor in business, economics or engineering could make as much as $89,000 annually on an academic year basis, up from $80,400. A full professor at the top of the scale, Step 9, will be paid $155,600 on an academic year basis, up from $147,200, in these same disciplines.

For ladder-rank faculty outside of business, economics or engineering, the pay scales include a maximum of $69,200 annually (up from $62,500) on an academic year basis for an assistant professor, and $142,000 (up from $133,500) annually on an academic year basis for a full professor at the top of the scale, Step 9.

• Community college branch campus at West Village — The regents gave final approval to a ground lease allowing the Los Rios Community College District to build a branch campus at West Village, UC Davis' planned community at the southwest corner of Highway 113 and Russell Boulevard.

The satellite campus, to be run by the district's Sacramento City College, would replace the district's existing Davis Center.

• Hotel — The regents approved the business terms for a ground lease for a 75-room hotel proposed at the campus's south entry. The hotel would be clustered with the new Graduate School of Management and the new university conference center, across the south entry quad from the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

As planned, the private University Hospitality Group would build and run the hotel, and it would be affiliated with the Hyatt Place chain.

With regents' approval of the business terms, UC Davis' Real Estate Services unit can now prepare the ground lease for final approval.