Friday, March 6, 1998
UC Merced construction raises questions
EDUCATION: Rising costs, innovative curriculum already posing
problems
By Brian Fishman
Daily Bruin Contributor
Faculty concerns and funding problems are plaguing UC Merced,
even in the planning stages.
The new campus is scheduled to open in 2005 with 1,000 students.
In the ensuing years 1,000 students will be added each year before
capping out at 20-25,000 students.
UC Merced is expected to handle a predicted increase of 60,000
UC applicants in the next 10 to15 years.
The statewide academic senate, in their meeting on Feb. 24,
expressed several major reservations about the Merced campus,
including the experimental nature of the undergraduate academic
program.
"It will be a broadbased undergraduate program. There will be no
particular majors. This caused a lot of problems for us," said
Chand Viswanathan, Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.
Viswanathan is concerned about an academic planning committee
that called for three general areas of study for UC Merced students
rather than specific majors. The areas are Social Science and
Public Policy, Science and Technology and Arts and Culture. The
committee’s recommendations are not final.
"We’ll derive something from the committee, but not until we see
what the faculty and the (UC) campuses say," said Karen Merritt, a
director of Academic Planning. "It’s not set in concrete that this
will take place."
Without a specific degree, graduates of UC Merced may have
trouble competing with other graduates who have specific fields of
expertise, Viswanathan suggested in a letter to UC Academic Council
leader Sandra Weiss.
Viswanathan suggested that building a strong, traditional
academic program that would attract students would be better than
an experimental approach.
"If you want to experiment, a new campus is not the place to do
it," he said.
But Viswanathan insisted that the Merced campus can be a useful
addition to the UC system.
"We need an outstanding faculty and an outstanding academic
program. These two things will make (the Merced campus) a jewel,"
Viswanathan said.
The Senate also worried that the emphasis on electronics at the
new campus was driving costs too high.
"The financial support for the highly ambitious academic plans
is not there. Will they take money from the existing campuses?"
Viswanathan asked.
Those planning UC Merced are hoping to avoid a confrontation
over money.
"We don’t want to proceed with Merced unless the existing
campuses have enough money to grow," Merritt said.
The infrastructure to support 5,000 students is expected to cost
$400 million. Over $250 million of this will be necessary before
the campus opens in 2005.
Much of the original funding for the campus is expected to come
from the state, but the balance will come through statewide bond
measures, said Mark Aydelotte, a UC spokesman in the Central
Valley.
There is also hope that charity will help pay for
infrastructure.
"Hopefully, half of the money for infrastructure will be
donated, just like at UCLA," Aydelotte said.
A report from President Atkinson’s office has outlined a
three-step process for securing funding for UC Merced. The first is
the passage of AB 1415, a state assembly bill that would stabilize
funding for existing campuses. Secondly, approval of another $5
million state appropriation that would cover start-up costs for the
new campus and thirdly, new bond measures to fund
infrastructure.
But the UCs will not have to pay for the land on which UC Merced
will be located.
The Virginia Smith Trust’s sale of 2,000 acres to UC for the
Merced campus at a price of only $10,000 has allowed plans for the
campus to move forward. While searching for a campus site, the UCs
required that the land price be nominal. The addition of a UC
campus is expected to benefit the area as well.
"Do you know what that will do to land prices? They’ll increase
dramatically," said Aydelotte.
The Virginia Smith Trust owns thousands of acres in the Sierra
foothills where they raise and sell cattle. Profits from this
operation, as required by the trusts’ bylaws, are donated to
university-bound students in the form of scholarships and
loans.
The trust will sell area surrounding the campus for related
development, thus making more money and increasing its ability to
help college-bound students, Aydelotte insisted.
UC Merced has been in the planning stages since 1988, although a
10th campus was suggested as early as the 1960s. Over 80 sites were
originally investigated as to their viability for the 10th
campus.
"The San Joaquin Valley is the only major California region of
substantial population without a University of California campus,"
stated UC President Richard Atkinson in a letter sent last
April.
A campus in the San Joaquin Valley is expected to raise the
percentage of Central Valley high schoolers that go on to attend
UCs. Currently the number is half the state average, Aydelotte
said.