UC Day at the Capitol returns next week as the university fights yet another budget battle, this time over a $500 million cut in state funding.

With the system’s finances in such dire shape, UC Day on Tuesday, March 1, will do without a hotel ballroom and fancy sit-down lunch. Instead, delegates from around the system will gather in a tent and eat box lunches.

One thing will not change: The Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! will be there in the morning in full dress uniform to give the delegates a rousing sendoff to their legislative meetings. Listen for the band at the tent between 9 and 10 a.m.

Last year, the UC system scrapped its annual legislative advocacy day altogether, in favor of a joint event with the California State University system and California Community Colleges — to promote the reinvestment in all of higher education. The three systems plan a similar advocacy day again this year, in April.

First, though, comes the return of UC Day at the Capitol, but with fewer participants and less expense.

UC Davis is sending a 20-member delegation of alumni, students, faculty and friends, led by Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. The alumni delegates include Delaine Eastin (bachelor’s degree, 1969), former state assemblywoman and state superintendent of public instruction; Rex Hime (Bachelor of Arts, 1969, and law degree, 1972), alumni representative on the Board of Regents; and Richard Rominger (bachelor’s degree, 1949), former director of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, and a deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The student delegates are from the ASUCD Lobby Corps, the Law Students Association and the Graduate Student Association.

The UC Davis delegation also includes law professor Dan Simmons, chair of the systemwide Academic Senate and former chair of the senate’s Davis Division; David Butler, chief executive officer of LEED (Linking Education and Economic Development); and Barbara Hayes, president and chief executive officer of SACTO (Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Association).

Jason Murphy, director of State Government Relations and Advocacy in UC Davis’ Government and Community Relations, said he is arranging to have the campus’s delegates visit the offices of the 13 Senate and Assembly members whose districts are the ones primarily served by UC Davis — in an area that stretches from roughly Santa Rosa and Lake Tahoe north to the Oregon border.

“The messages to be conveyed at all of this year’s UC Day legislative visits and events center around the tremendous impact that UC Davis has on our region and state as an engine of economic activity and growth — and how UC Davis is engaged through partnerships and community programs of all types in each of our regional legislator’s districts," Murphy said.

With regard to the specific request around this year’s budget, UC Davis delegates will be asking legislators to consider all of the following, Murphy said.

• A potential reduction in the cut to the UC system, to the extent that new revenues may become available.

• Maximum flexibility on the part of UC to manage any level of budget reduction that may be approved.

• A commitment to a new funding arrangement with the state that would ensure longer-term stability for the university.

UC Davis will conclude UC Day at the Capitol with a legislative reception in the lobby of the Senate Hotel across the street from the Capitol — in lieu of a sit-down dinner.

UC President Mark G. Yudof's Feb. 22 video message (and transcript) on the budget — and how you can help advocate for UC.

The UC for California website offers information on how to get involved in advocacy, and guidance on sending letters to your elected representatives.