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Chancellor Birgeneau: I'm stepping down
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Last: 14 yr ago by Sebastabear
Oh that sucks! He's been such a good chancellor 
Wonder who will be next.
Wonder who will be next.
I'm sure others will make this a long debate on whether his term was good or bad for Cal academics or athletics - there sure are a lot of issues plaguing Cal right now.
I would be sick and tired of dealing with the decreasing state funds, goalless protests and what I think is misplaced blame on the administration for tuition increases. I think he dealt with a lot of issues poorly, but overall it was a positive time. His proposal that guarantees affordability for students from families making less than $120k/yr I though was excellent because it actually won't cost much (because a lot of those are getting support already) and is good PR.
As for Cal sports, he had his missteps for sure... but getting CMS built was a great moment for Cal athletics because many academic types would not have approved the project in the first place, or would have abandoned it with the protest delays.
And this may have been intentional or unintentional... but the funding method - bonds and repayment with essentially ticket sales has made it an ABSOLUTE requirement for any future administration in the next 30 years to be mindful to the success of the football program. Some faculty can moan all they want about spending money on football, but not spending money and then having an empty stadium would be far more disastrous to Cal than spending money (intelligently that is... not UW style). Everyone wants to believe that the next chancellor will be better, but who knows. It's not an easy job. Bring in a stuffy academic type that hates athletes and there will be pressure from both alumni and the regents (who actually issued the stadium bond) to at least maintain a program to a level that maintains attendance.
I would be sick and tired of dealing with the decreasing state funds, goalless protests and what I think is misplaced blame on the administration for tuition increases. I think he dealt with a lot of issues poorly, but overall it was a positive time. His proposal that guarantees affordability for students from families making less than $120k/yr I though was excellent because it actually won't cost much (because a lot of those are getting support already) and is good PR.
As for Cal sports, he had his missteps for sure... but getting CMS built was a great moment for Cal athletics because many academic types would not have approved the project in the first place, or would have abandoned it with the protest delays.
And this may have been intentional or unintentional... but the funding method - bonds and repayment with essentially ticket sales has made it an ABSOLUTE requirement for any future administration in the next 30 years to be mindful to the success of the football program. Some faculty can moan all they want about spending money on football, but not spending money and then having an empty stadium would be far more disastrous to Cal than spending money (intelligently that is... not UW style). Everyone wants to believe that the next chancellor will be better, but who knows. It's not an easy job. Bring in a stuffy academic type that hates athletes and there will be pressure from both alumni and the regents (who actually issued the stadium bond) to at least maintain a program to a level that maintains attendance.
Not a knock on Birgeneau but he is 68 and he is retreating to teaching. UC needs to mandate a retirement age so they can free up salaries and positions for the next generation
This is too bad. Despite all the drama during his tenure with baseball, etc., feel like he was fairly supportive of athletics in general and very supportive of the football team in particular.
He has been an excellent chancellor. :cry:
Geez, it seems that Cal can't keep a chancellor for very long. What is it, two chancellors since Tien retired in the mid/late 90s? At least he (Birgeneau) won't continue to rack up those ridiculous expenses in the renting and upkeep of his rental mansion in the hills.
university should spend its money
AOPiBear04;724232 said:
Oh that sucks! He's been such a good chancellor
I think you just showed how this can be seen as not good news.CalBeast;724350 said:
I don't see how this can been seen as anything but good news, either from an athletic or academic perspective. [...]
We may not get a better chancellor to replace him. Given our history since Heyman, I'd say the odds are against us.
CalBeast;724350 said:
... not a lot of fundraising in the wake of the state of California abdicating their responsibilities to financially support the UC and state college systems.
He's helped raise 2.4 Billion dollars.
CalBeast;724440 said:
But in the larger picture, the university needs to lower their costs and raise a lot of money. That's job one and far more important than anything in just the athletic scope.
Somehow, I don't think the new Chancellor will be very popular with the students and the unions if those are the first things they do...
CalBeast;724440 said:
Getting those jobs done was only impressive relative to the lack of interest in getting it done in the past. It's not that it was a hard thing to get done - it was that there was no leadership interested in doing it regardless of how hard it was to get done.
But in the larger picture, the university needs to lower their costs and raise a lot of money. That's job one and far more important than anything in just the athletic scope.
The important thing is that they GOT done.
Also:
Quote:
Between 2005 and 2010, philanthropic giving to the campus grew faster than at any other university in the country, public or private, according to the Council for Aid to Education. Birgeneau also established the Berkeley Management Company to bring a new level of professionalism to stewardship of the campus's endowment.
Over $2.4 Billion dollars. He helped raise an amount over 5 times the endowment size of the University of Oregon in just 4 years.
I can't imagine anybody stepping in and doing a better job than him in that regard.
I've had the pleasure of meeting Chancellor Birgeneau on a couple of occasions and I can confidently say that he is a great representative of our University and a [U]staunch supporter of Cal athletics[/U]. He will be missed once he steps down.
Sack the Cal. campus Chancellor. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau picks the pockets of Californian students and their parents clean. Birgeneau's tuition/fee increases rank Cal. as the # 1 most expensive (on all-in-cost) public university. Now UC Berkeley is more expensive than Harvard, Yale.
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Tuition fee increases exceed national average rate of increase; On an all-in-cost Cal. ranked # 1 most expensive public university; Recruits (using California tax $) out of state & foreign affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace qualified instate applicants from Cal; Spends $7,000,000 + for OE consultants to do the work of his management team (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost); When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals; Pays ex Michigan governor $300,000 for several lectures; Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10; QS academic ranking falls below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made. UC Board of Regents Chair Lansing must oust Chancellor Birgeneau
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
(The author has 35 years' consulting, has taught at Cal where he observed the culture & ways of senior management & was not fired)
:cheer:cheer
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Tuition fee increases exceed national average rate of increase; On an all-in-cost Cal. ranked # 1 most expensive public university; Recruits (using California tax $) out of state & foreign affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace qualified instate applicants from Cal; Spends $7,000,000 + for OE consultants to do the work of his management team (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost); When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals; Pays ex Michigan governor $300,000 for several lectures; Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10; QS academic ranking falls below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made. UC Board of Regents Chair Lansing must oust Chancellor Birgeneau
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
(The author has 35 years' consulting, has taught at Cal where he observed the culture & ways of senior management & was not fired)
:cheer:cheer
Moravecglobal;724634 said:
Sack the Cal. campus Chancellor. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau picks the pockets of Californian students and their parents clean. Birgeneau’s tuition/fee increases rank Cal. as the # 1 most expensive (on all-in-cost) public university. Now UC Berkeley is more expensive than Harvard, Yale.
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Tuition fee increases exceed national average rate of increase; On an all-in-cost Cal. ranked # 1 most expensive public university; Recruits (using California tax $) out of state & foreign affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace qualified instate applicants from Cal; Spends $7,000,000 + for OE consultants to do the work of his management team (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost); When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals; Pays ex Michigan governor $300,000 for several lectures; Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10; QS academic ranking falls below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made. UC Board of Regents Chair Lansing must oust Chancellor Birgeneau
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
Dude, you seem to have quite the agenda...
[SIZE="5"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Quite the agenda indeed... wtf?[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Are you a robot?
sandiegobluecheese;724653 said:
dude, you seem to have quite the agenda...
[size="5"][color="royalblue"]quite the agenda indeed... Wtf?[/color][/size]
are you a robot?
lolololol
Ranting about the tuition increases and decreasing support from the state and blaming it on the chancellor is like...........oh, some analogy could apply here. Blame it on the State of California and the whole political system. And the bad economy. Citizens want felons off the street so if you shoplift a six-pack and it's your third strike you get to inhabit one of the dozens of prisons that the good people of California build instead of spending the money on schools. Thanks to the initiative process the state is basically reduced to deciding how to divide up a dwindling pile of money between education and prisons (and infrastructure, too). And we've got to have our prisons, with our well-compensated guards with their incredibly strong union. It's a complete mess, no matter who is in charge, and there is no upside until (if) the economy recovers. I am very grateful I went to Cal in the early 70's when it was affordable and I could pay my own way with summer earnings.
Moravecglobal;724634 said:
Sack the Cal. campus Chancellor. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau picks the pockets of Californian students and their parents clean. Birgeneau's tuition/fee increases rank Cal. as the # 1 most expensive (on all-in-cost) public university. Now UC Berkeley is more expensive than Harvard, Yale.
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Tuition fee increases exceed national average rate of increase; On an all-in-cost Cal. ranked # 1 most expensive public university; Recruits (using California tax $) out of state & foreign affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace qualified instate applicants from Cal; Spends $7,000,000 + for OE consultants to do the work of his management team (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost); When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals; Pays ex Michigan governor $300,000 for several lectures; Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10; QS academic ranking falls below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made. UC Board of Regents Chair Lansing must oust Chancellor Birgeneau
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
(The author has 35 years' consulting, has taught at Cal where he observed the culture & ways of senior management & was not fired)
:cheer:cheer
I am trying to be civil and avoid an ad hominem attack.
But you are WAY off the mark here.
Your rant is basically on the topic of Tuition. Blame the State of California and the California Legislature. It is not Birg's fault that they have abandoned the concept of supporting public higher education.
Without Birg, Cal would be looking at a major catastrophic hit to its faculty and academic reputation. He managed to increase revenue from outside donors and grants. He also managed major savings from smart cash management that allowed Cal to earn interest on its grant money which was pending disbursement.
And you totally discount Birg's efforts to get tuition relief to middle class parents of students.
So based upon the extreme nature of your comments I assume that you have an axe to grind or a hidden agenda. So, (buzz) off!
:bravo
No not a robot but tenacious at making sure that transparency brings all the facts into the open so informed decisions can be made by Alumni, students, parents of students and the California public that supports Cal. with higher education taxes.
No I do not watch FOX!
SanDiegoBlueCheese;724653 said:
Dude, you seem to have quite the agenda...
[SIZE="5"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Quite the agenda indeed... wtf?[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Are you a robot?
No not a robot but tenacious at making sure that transparency brings all the facts into the open so informed decisions can be made by Alumni, students, parents of students and the California public that supports Cal. with higher education taxes.
No I do not watch FOX!
68great;726210 said:
I am trying to be civil and avoid an ad hominem attack.
But you are WAY off the mark here.
Your rant is basically on the topic of Tuition. Blame the State of California and the California Legislature. It is not Birg's fault that they have abandoned the concept of supporting public higher education.
Without Birg, Cal would be looking at a major catastrophic hit to its faculty and academic reputation. He managed to increase revenue from outside donors and grants. He also managed major savings from smart cash management that allowed Cal to earn interest on its grant money which was pending disbursement.
And you totally discount Birg's efforts to get tuition relief to middle class parents of students.
So based upon the extreme nature of your comments I assume that you have an axe to grind or a hidden agenda. So, (buzz) off!
No axe to grind: was not fired or laid off by Cal. No hidden agenda other than bringing transparency to facts that allow Alumni, students, parents of students and Californians that support Cal. to make informed decisions.
Here is more on the decision making of Birg
It's an insult to taxpayers who help support the university system and to the students confronting soaring costs. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau picks the pockets of Californian students and their parents clean. Birgeneau's tuition/fee increases rank Cal. # 1 most expensive (on all-in-cost) public university. UC Berkeley is more expensive than Harvard, Yale.
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Pays ex-politician $300,000 for several lectures; Tuition/fee increases exceed national average rate of increase; Recruits (using California tax $) foreign & out of state affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace Cal. qualified instate applicants; Spends $7,000,000 + (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost) for OE consultants to accomplish senior management work and stonewalls consultants from examining Chancellor office: When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals; Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10; QS academic ranking falls below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made. UC Board of Regents Chair Lansing must oust Chancellor Birgeneau
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
(The author has 35 years' consulting, has taught at Cal where he observed the culture & ways of senior management & was not fired)
I will not call you names because you do not align with the tough minded facts. Grow up!::cheer:cheer:cheer
CalBeast;724450 said:
I don't think popularity with the unions should be a real priority right now. But lowered costs would mean less pressure to raise tuition.
Paying more is not a better university. Birgeneau dismissed removing much inefficiency: require faculty to teach more classes, double the time between sabbaticals, freeze vacant faculty administrator roles, increase class sizes, freeze pay & benefits & reform pensions, health costs. Birgeneau said removing such inefficiencies wouldn't be healthy. UCB ranked # 2 in earning potential in USA. Exodus of faculty, administrators: who can afford them?
Californians agree it is far from the ideal situation. Birgeneau cannot expect to do business as usual: raising tuition; subsidizing foreign student tuition; granting pay raises & huge bonuses during a weak economy that has sapped state revenues, individual income
:acclaim:
Larno;725729 said:
Ranting about the tuition increases and decreasing support from the state and blaming it on the chancellor is like...........oh, some analogy could apply here. Blame it on the State of California and the whole political system. And the bad economy. Citizens want felons off the street so if you shoplift a six-pack and it's your third strike you get to inhabit one of the dozens of prisons that the good people of California build instead of spending the money on schools. Thanks to the initiative process the state is basically reduced to deciding how to divide up a dwindling pile of money between education and prisons (and infrastructure, too). And we've got to have our prisons, with our well-compensated guards with their incredibly strong union. It's a complete mess, no matter who is in charge, and there is no upside until (if) the economy recovers. I am very grateful I went to Cal in the early 70's when it was affordable and I could pay my own way with summer earnings.
How come it costs 50% more (after adjusting for inflation) for University of California and Chancellor Birgeneau with the assist of President Yudof to provide the same service?
Total expenditures in the UC system in 1999-2000 were $3.2 billion to educate a student population of 154,000. Converted into 2011 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI calculator gets us to $4.3B in 2011 dollars, which comes out to $27,850 per student.
In 2011, the total UC system budget was $6.3 billion dollars: an increase of almost 50% after adjusting for inflation. Enrollment also rose - to 158,000 students, a 3% increase, yielding a cost per student of $39,750.
Costs went up 50% in 10 years. And yet the news out of UC President Yudof is that the UC system is "bracing" for 'another round of budget cuts'!
Email opinions to UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
:tree:tree
Moravecglobal;726813 said:
No axe to grind: was not fired or laid off by Cal. No hidden agenda other than bringing transparency to facts that allow Alumni, students, parents of students and Californians that support Cal. to make informed decisions.
Here is more on the decision making of Birg
It's an insult to taxpayers who help support the university system and to the students confronting soaring costs. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau picks the pockets of Californian students and their parents clean. Birgeneau's tuition/fee increases rank Cal. # 1 most expensive (on all-in-cost) public university. UC Berkeley is more expensive than Harvard, Yale.
UC Berkeley Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) has forgotten he is a public servant, steward of the public money, not overseer of his own fiefdom. Pays ex-politician $300,000 for several lectures; Tuition/fee increases exceed national average rate of increase; Recruits (using California tax $) foreign & out of state affluent $50,600 tuition students who displace Cal. qualified instate applicants; Spends $7,000,000 + (prominent East Coast university accomplishing same at 0 cost) for OE consultants to accomplish senior management work and stonewalls consultants from examining Chancellor office: When procuring OE consultants failed to receive alternative proposals; Tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10; QS academic ranking falls below top 10.
In tough economic times, unpleasant decisions must be made. UC Board of Regents Chair Lansing must oust Chancellor Birgeneau
Email opinion to marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
(The author has 35 years' consulting, has taught at Cal where he observed the culture & ways of senior management & was not fired)
I will not call you names because you do not align with the tough minded facts. Grow up!::cheer:cheer:cheer
Your reply is virtually a repetition of what was in your initial post.
Repeating something does not make it true.
As for growing up, I have been watching Cal (sports and non-sports) since 1959.
The problems faced by Cal is not the Chancellor's fault. It is the fault of the CA legislature and CA taxpayers and the CA economy.
The fact that Birg is paid $450K is not really relevant when compared to the salaries of the other chancellors of other large and respected insitutions.
Moreover he has earned his salary by keeping Cal's academics, faculty and reputation up to its prior standards; keeping its finances in relatively good shape in the worst recession since 1929; increasing private donations to a level unheard of among public institutions (without a med school).
Yes he provided to pay the former Michigan a large salary. But she does a lot more than just a few lectures. She is heavily involved in the Goldman School and fund raising for the Goldman school (and the University).
Yes students have had to pay higher tuition; but that could not be avoided and Birg has been supporting a program that would lower the costs for middle class families.
Yes he has increased the number of out of state students (as part of the formula to increase revenues). But this does not mean that he has reduced the number of in-state students. Only the percentage has changed.
So all things considered he has done a GREAT job. I hope that Cal can recruit someone who is as good as Birg.
of the last four Cal chancellors, two, IMHO, were supporters of athletics (Tien and Birgenau), and two were not (Heyman and Bergdahl). It'll be interesting to see what happens this time, although I agree that the cost of the SAHPC and stadium repairs pretty much dictates providing enough other resources to have a decent football program. I doubt any chancellor is going to provide much university $ for sports.
CalBeast;728603 said:
IMO, Berdahl was far more supportive of athletics than Birgeneau ever was.
Sorry but I do not agree.
Berdahl had more funding support from the CA legislature (thus leaving more money for atheletics) and a better financial climate.
BTW who gave us Bob Bockrath?
68great;728794 said:
Sorry but I do not agree.
Berdahl had more funding support from the CA legislature (thus leaving more money for atheletics) and a better financial climate.
BTW who gave us Bob Bockrath?
This. If Berdahl had faced the pressures Birgeneau did on the funding side we probably would have scrapped the entire athletics department. Birgeneau was a friend of Cal Athletics, period. Really hope his replacement is as well.
Sebastabear;728800 said:
This. If Berdahl had faced the pressures Birgeneau did on the funding side we probably would have scrapped the entire athletics department. Birgeneau was a friend of Cal Athletics, period. Really hope his replacement is as well.
BTW IIRC, Coach Holmoe came in at about the same time as Chancellor Berdahl. I do not know who preceded whom. But I do remember that the Administration thought that there was no need to pay top dollar to a football coach.
CalBeast;728603 said:
IMO, Berdahl was far more supportive of athletics than Birgeneau ever was.
Berdahl specifically said one of the reasons he was happy to come to Cal was that there was less emphasis on football here than at Texas. The Holmoecaust occurred during his tenure, which in my opinion was a direct results of the school's unwillingness to pay the going salary for a decent coach. The one thing he did was to appoint Gladstone as AD, someone who realized that having a decent football program was important.
I would love to bring this thread back in two years. I am in the pro Birg camp as well as a supporter of SB JT and MM. I hope the next Chancellor is an improvement, but I would set the odds at 10-1 against. To me the only thing that will avoid a huge de-emphasis of athletics would be a Rose Bowl appearance. I expect a cost cutting, anti athletics, nerd to get the post who will take his marching orders from the regents, the bean counters and the faculty extremists.I really hope I am wrong, but I expect we will look back on Birg's term as the good old days. :gobears:
cmfan64;731872 said:
I would love to bring this thread back in two years. I am in the pro Birg camp as well as a supporter of SB JT and MM. I hope the next Chancellor is an improvement, but I would set the odds at 10-1 against. To me the only thing that will avoid a huge de-emphasis of athletics would be a Rose Bowl appearance. I expect a cost cutting, anti athletics, nerd to get the post who will take his marching orders from the regents, the bean counters and the faculty extremists.I really hope I am wrong, but I expect we will look back on Birg's term as the good old days. :gobears:
Yup. Like the song says, sometimes you don't know what you've got till it's gone. A lot of risk here - some of the rumored potential replacements would definitely not be good for those of us who live and breathe Cal football.
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