EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in
Chief  Timothy Kudo
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 Michael Falcone
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 Cuauhtemoc Ortega
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 Edward Chiao
 Kelly Rayburn
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 Maegan Carberry
 Edward Chiao
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While the university talks about raising student fees and
cutting programs because of an economic downturn, they are also
choosing to sit on almost $2 billion in non-specified, unrestricted
funds accruing from at least 1991 through the 2000 fiscal year.
It’s understandable that the university wants to have
emergency funds for a rainy day. But while it’s not yet
pouring on the UC, the drizzle has already started.
Among the many groups that would benefit from the university
spending extra money is the Coalition of University Employees, a
union that has repeatedly lobbied the university for increases in
wages. Working for $20,000 to $30,000 a year has translated into an
average 54 percent quitting rate of the UC clerical employees the
union represents. And after the state’s recent budget
downturn, prospects of increased wages have diminished. Allocating
the 7.5 percent pay increase the union seeks from this fund would
be a strong show of support for living wages and would help
maintain consistency in the various departments these employees
work in.
The money should also be invested in education. Much of the
UC’s funding is spent on research, instead of classroom
academics. The problem with this is that there are many alternative
sources of funding for research from entities like the federal
government and private donations. Classroom academics, however,
receive their funding from the state. The importance of funding
research is indisputable, but when an opportunity to aid classroom
academics is available ““ especially when tight funding
accompanies rising demands on resources ““ we must take
it.