10-Minute Lesson Plans on the UC Crisis from the UCSC Local

Hello Teachers,

In order to promote critical thinking and raise awareness
about the current budget situation affecting public education, we encourage you
to take 10 minutes each week to educate students about what is currently going
on at UC and beyond. UC-AFT Local 2199 members will be working to provide many
lesson plans to come to get your students thinking about what is at stake for
them and their families.

Lesson Plan #1: The Yudof Interview

On September 24, a short interview with Mark Yudof, UC President,
was published in the New York Times Magazine. Your students may find his
answers reveal a lot about the most powerful man in the UC system whose
decisions are having a huge impact on their lives. The article is one page but
packs a punch. Send the link
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27fob-q4-t.html) or make copies and
consider having a discussion that includes some of these questions, or others
you come up with.

1. How do President Yudof's answers make you feel about his
leadership of the University in a time of crisis?

2. What is your overall impression of President Yudof after
reading the interview? Is he in touch with the people that are under him,
including students, faculty, and staff of the largest University system in the
country?

3. Choose a quote and analyze the impression it gives to the
national readership of UC and our President, or its significance to you and to
the health of the University.

Examples:

Q: "Already professors on all
10 U.C. campuses are taking required 'furloughs,' to use a buzzword."

Yudof: "Let me tell you why we
used it. The faculty said 'furlough' sounds more temporary than 'salary cut,'
and being president of the University of California is like being a manager of
a cemetery: there are many people under you, but no one is listening. I listen
to them."

Lesson
Plan #2: Brief history of California public education to better explain tuition
hikes.

 Beginning
in the 1960’s the California Master Plan for Higher Education established
higher education as a public good which should be offered by the state to its
citizens free of tuition.

In
1978, Prop 13 was ratified.  Public education had previously been funded
by local property taxes but prop 13 cut the state’s income from taxes by 57%.
This meant cuts not only to public education but also to other social services
such as health care, transportation, etc. Prop 13 also requires a 2/3-majority
vote to make any changes to the tax law. No other state sets such a high bar.
This makes it extremely difficult to change the constitution and to fix the
problem of under-funding of social services like public education.

Further,
in 2004 Schwarzenegger and the UC Regents signed in the Compact on Higher
Education, which renamed education in California as a private rather than a
public good. This has cut state support and shifted costs to the direct
users/consumers: students and their families. It is important for students to
know that these tuition hikes are not only a result of economic downturn, but
that they are political as well.

We
are currently seeing a $1.5 Billion shortfall, which has resulted in slashing
programs and jobs and near fatal budget cuts.  It is important for
students to start demanding their right to education as the public school
system is slowly becoming more privatized.

Discussion
Question: The University’s own mission
statement in the 1960s held forth that, as a public university, the
education should be free.   $10,000/year in fees is a far cry from
free. Public education is at risk of being severely privatized. Some say it is
gradually going to be run as though it is a corporation with more and more of
the money being redirected to the top (as with CEOs, etc.).   Is this
the model of education you signed up for?    What might be the
long-term effects on California if fewer students can afford to attend University?  
Discuss what kinds of actions might be necessary by members of the University
community to restore public education priorities.

Save Public Education Lesson Plan #3: Administrator Salaries

UC President Mark Yudof was appointed to the UC Board
of Regents in March 2008. His first-year compensation at The University of
California was $828,000, of which $591,084 was his salary, and $228,000 was a
first-year contribution to his pension. He recently stated in a New York Times
article that he has cut his salary to $540,000.

1.  The President of
UC makes more than the President of the United States ($400,000). The Regents
voted to increase salaries for the top administrators on the same day that it
adopted the emergency salary cuts for workers and fee increases for students.
 Discuss what you think UC’s financial priorities should be and a fair way to
achieve them.

2. Compare your monthly housing cost with the President’s
($10,000 month).   What effects do fee increases have upon other areas of your
life, such as housing, food, books, the need for additional employment or
student loans, etc.?Save Public Education Lesson Plan #3: Administrator Salaries

UC President Mark Yudof was appointed to the UC Board
of Regents in March 2008. His first-year compensation at The University of
California was $828,000, of which $591,084 was his salary, and $228,000 was a
first-year contribution to his pension. He recently stated in a New York Times
article that he has cut his salary to $540,000.

1.  The President of
UC makes more than the President of the United States ($400,000). The Regents
voted to increase salaries for the top administrators on the same day that it
adopted the emergency salary cuts for workers and fee increases for students.
 Discuss what you think UC’s financial priorities should be and a fair way to
achieve them.

2. Compare your monthly housing cost with the President’s
($10,000 month).   What effects do fee increases have upon other areas of your
life, such as housing, food, books, the need for additional employment or
student loans, etc.?