The budget compact that the UC system signed last year with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is alive and well, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said last Wednesday in his first brown bag forum of 2005.

"At least we have turned the corner," said Vanderhoef, referring to the governor's 2005-06 budget proposal that upholds the compact. About 100 faculty, staff and students attended the hour-long chat in the Memorial Union, during which the chancellor discussed a variety of issues in-cluding athletics, affirmative action and the campus's tsunami task force.

"It's clear that we are not going to continue to take cuts," Vanderhoef said of the governor's higher education budget. He noted a possible exception in the area of academic preparation, better known as "outreach." The governor did not fund that program in his recent budget proposal, but the UC system still plans to argue for it.

Last year, critics questioned whether the budget compact would hurt the UC system -- or not be lived up to by the governor. However, this year's budget proposal reflects that the governor is adhering to the compact, said Vanderhoef.

The budget agreement sets expectations for minimum state funding levels and student fee increases over a multi-year period, along with accountability measures aimed at demonstrating UC's performance to the state. The compact is a planning framework; the Legislature and governor negotiate a final spending plan through the state budget process. This usually takes place in the summer.

The UC system has tightened its fiscal belt in the last few years, while also expanding in significant ways. Previously, over a four-year period ending this year, UC had taken a 15 percent cut in state funding while also seeing a 19 percent increase in enrollment.

Kelly Ratliff, assistant vice chancellor for budget resource management, explained that the governor's draft budget does not "restore" the cuts UC has weathered in the past few years. It does, however, include a 3 percent increase in UC's base budget to support a 1.5 percent general salary increase for all eligible employees, funding for faculty and other academic merit programs, and a 1.5 percent increase for merit-based raises for eligible staff employees.

On outreach, Ratliff said, the state budget seeks to withdraw one-time funding outside the compact, and asks UC to take the cut in either enrollments or "outreach" programs.

The proposed UC budget calls for increasing student fees in 2005-06 by 8 percent, or $457, for resident undergraduates and 10 percent, or $628, for resident graduate academic students.

Jack Haskel, a nature and culture major, asked the chancellor if fees will keep escalating and students will have to "turn their pockets inside out" to afford their educations.

"Unfortunately, this is what happens when times are bad," said Vanderhoef, noting that the UC system had experienced eight successive years of no fee increases before the latest budget downturn. "We understand the hardship this causes for students and their parents," the chancellor said.

Academics remains focus despite Division-I move

In other matters, Bob Kerr, director of the International Alumni and Visitors program, inquired about the status of the university's shift to Division I athletics, now in the second year of a four-year transition.

Vanderhoef said Division I offers a better academic, philosophical and competitive "fit" than did Division II, and that it is appropriate for the campus to compete with its sister UC campus in the Big West Conference, which includes UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara. The campus recently won UC Regent support for a new multi-use stadium.

For those concerned about the impact on academics, Vanderhoef said that all student athletes still have to be UC eligible and if grades drop too low, then coaches are sanctioned. "These are student athletes," he said, "and students come first."

John Dixon, the Partner Opportunities Program coordinator, asked Vanderhoef for his reflections on Regent Ward Connerly's recent retirement announcement.

While noting that Connerly's efforts in rolling back affirmative action -- he led the Proposition 209 campaign -- hindered worthwhile programs on campus, Vanderhoef described the regent as a man of principle and conviction.

"Ward was always true to his principles," he said.

Vanderhoef expressed concern about recent tragic events, both on campus and in the world beyond. There was the police shooting that led to a suspect's death Dec. 14 on campus, and then the massive loss of life in South Asia's tsunami disaster, and three recent student deaths, one ruled a suicide.

"We have had an unusual rash of events, all very sad," he said. "All of this comes in such a short period of time."

He pointed out that the campus set up a Tsunami Task Force and held a memorial service on campus to honor victims of the huge waves. More information is available at http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/tsunami. "On the positive side of the tsunami ordeal, the chancellor said, "It's been a long time since our people and our country said, 'We have to do something about this. Their problem is our problem.'"