PRIYA SHARMA/Daily Bruin Chancellor Albert
Carnesale speaks with the faculty at the James West Alumni
Center in an annual town hall meeting held Wednesday.
By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff
Chancellor Albert Carnesale talked budget, campus security and
academics with university staff during an annual town hall meeting
Wednesday.
The meeting was sponsored by the UCLA Staff Assembly to update
university staff workers on important campus developments that took
place in the past year.
“For many, this was the first opportunity to hear the
chancellor speak,” said David Miller, president-elect for the
USA.
Speaking before more than 100 staff members at the James West
Alumni Center, Carnesale first tackled the status of the UC’s
state budget, which did not allow for cost of living adjustments to
increase staff salaries proportionally to inflation. Instead, the
staff received 1.5 percent merit increases based on the quality of
job performance.
The UC had requested a $353 million increase in state funding
from Gov. Gray Davis, but only received $182 million, Carnesale
said. He rationalized the partially-fulfilled increases by pointing
out that most state agencies either received no increases or
received cuts instead.
Along budgetary lines, Carnesale addressed staff concerns about
what he called a “soft” hiring freeze on Nov. 1 for all
nonessential personnel to protect UCLA from the state’s
economic downturn and gradual recovery.
“This is not a matter of crisis,” he said.
Carnesale said he instituted the hiring freeze “so that we
won’t have to fire or lay off staff” the university may
not be able to keep in the future. The freeze will not affect vital
positions in academic departments and those under contractual
obligations.
The chancellor then proceeded to talk about campus safety issues
post-Sept. 11.
“We were far better prepared than other universities
because we’re prepared for earthquakes,” he said.
Carnesale said he was impressed by UCLA’s emergency
preparedness, joking that the biggest emergency he faced when he
was a Harvard provost was “whether to cancel classes for
snow.”
But he also explained the task of balancing people’s
concerns with precautionary measures.
“We don’t want to turn into an armed campus,”
Carnesale said. “We don’t want to sacrifice everything
we stand for just to feel a little more secure.”
The chancellor also gave an update on the search for successors
to the post of executive vice chancellor and vice chancellor for
student affairs ““ previously held by Wyatt Rory Hume and
Winston Doby, respectively.
Hume will leave UCLA this July to head the University of New
South Wales, Australia, and Doby took over the helm of UC Vice
President of Educational Outreach earlier this month.
Carnesale said he has formed an advisory group to help him
select the next EVC. He said that it would be someone already
working in the UC.
“It’s valuable for the person to have UC
experience,” he said.
The search for Doby’s replacement will be difficult
because he held the position for 19 years, Carnesale said.
A search committee for the successor to outgoing Athletic
Director Peter Dalis has also been formed, the chancellor said.
Many staff members expressed appreciation toward the chancellor
for speaking to them, but some still had questions left
unanswered.
“I would have liked to ask him about what kind of staff
involvement should be in the search process (for vice
chancellors),” said Susan Townsley, office manger in the
graduate division.