The average college graduate is $20,000 in debt – but the Cal Aggie Alumni Association has a plan to ensure their fees don’t add to the weight on recent graduates’ shoulders.

Currently, CAAA dues are paid after a student graduates – should they choose to become a member. New alumni can choose either to pay a $50 yearly fee, or a $700 lump sum for a life membership.

Kalen Gallagher, a member of the CAAA Membership Committee and former ASUCD president said the current system has led to a less than ideal membership.

“As a group, we decided that our membership numbers would greatly improve if we developed a system that is friendlier towards students,” Gallagher said.

A student may elect to join CAAA for networking purposes, as the association offers many programs to connect UC Davis alumni.

The proposed solution is the “optional student check-off model,” which provides students with a third choice – to pay a $35 quarterly fee while they are undergraduates. The option to make a payment to CAAA for future membership would appear in a checkbox while the student or their parents make their regular tuition payments.

CAAA would then keep track of how much a student has paid into the system throughout their college career – and the student could pay the remaining balance off after graduation.

“We want to make sure that it’s an option for students to pay-as-they-go, so to speak,” said Richard Engel, executive director of CAAA. “And also that they can opt out and discontinue fees at any time.”

Engel is optimistic that CAAA’s goal of having the option approved and available by the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year is attainable.

“We did some pre-work with the chancellor when the students brought it to us, and she was supportive,” Engel said. “As long as the final resolution passes through Student Affairs then getting approval shouldn’t be a problem – the chancellor knows it’s coming.”

“The CAAA board of directors has already passed their resolution in support of it,” Gallagher said. “We just need to get the senate’s support first and then go through university regulations.”

The plan was introduced to ASUCD last Thursday and was expected to be heard in their budget finance committee meeting Tuesday night, said Engel.

Committee members believe that the plan will generally go over well with students, despite recent disapproval of university expenses.

“We know that raising student fees isn’t popular and isn’t ideal, but because it is optional, it doesn’t put pressure on the students,” Gallagher said.

According to their website, CAAA has nearly 29,000 members. Gallagher said he expects the payment model to increase the association’s numbers, and stressed that because the payment model is completely optional, there is no downside for a recent graduate.

“Allowing students to pay into CAAA a little bit at a time makes the cost much more manageable.” Gallagher said. “This should help our numbers grow and put more money back into CAAA – which will lead to more programming and networking opportunities for alumni and students of UC Davis.”

MIKE DORSEY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

While spring quarter is wrapping up, the 2010 through 2011 Campus Community Book Project is under way.

This week, the Campus Council on Community and Diversity (CCCD) announced that next year’s topic will reflect on the “the value of education” and “barriers to higher education” to address the harsh economic climate that the state of California is facing and increasing cuts to educational funding.

“Recent discussions on the current economy’s impact on higher education, the importance of an educated workforce in a more competitive marketplace, and the growing diversity in colleges and universities make this an important topic in which to engage the university and greater community” said Mikael Villalobos, administrator of Diversity Education and chair of the book project.

“As an educational institution, we endeavor to explore these dynamics and engage thoughtfully about an issue that crosses all segments of the community and touches everyone’s lives.“

Villalobos and the Campus Council on Community and Diversity are currently accepting book nominations from all campus and community members interested in submitting a piece of literature that best fits the chosen theme. Submissions can be sent directly to Villalobos at mbvillalobos@ucdavis.edu, and will be considered through the end of this month.

According to Vickie Gomez, program coordinator in the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost, this topic comes at a time of specific relevance, as the University of California faces a 2,300 reduction in student admission for next year’s freshman class, continuing budget cuts and talk of eliminating Cal Grants and other major sources of financial aid.

“Personally, I would hope that the book that we choose will reinforce the importance of higher education with regard to the current economy and the critical issues we’re facing with the structure of our educational system,” she said.

“I think our previous books fit the same theme, of looking collective systems – before in terms of global and local health and now in terms of a quality education and the barriers to achieving it. Either way, we’re looking at ways to improve the system, what is working and what isn’t in light of new challenges, and how we can approach this, and make improvements in the future.“

The purpose of the Campus and Community Book Project as a whole is to “improve both the campus climate and community relations, to increase diversity and to promote equity and inclusiveness,” according to the Offices of Campus Community Relations‘ mission statement.

Book nominations that promote this theme will be considered and shared with a panel of faculty, staff and community members who read and review the nominations over summer and make a final decision at the end of August.

The official selection for the 2010-2011 Campus Community Book Project will be announced in late winter quarter 2010, concurrent with the 2009-2010 project showcasing Eric Weiner’s The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places on Earth.

MICHELLE IMMEL can be reached at campus@theaggie.org. 

UC regents may have less control over their policy – including their pay – if a proposed constitutional amendment passes giving managing control of the institution to state legislators.

Five legislators, including Senators Leland Yee and Roy Ashburn, held a press conference last Wednesday to announce their authorship of an amendment to the California constitution that would remove the regents‘ autonomy.

“I have tried to work with UC on matters like these and each time they oppose our bills and problems are never taken care of,” Yee said. “Enough is enough. We’re finally going to bring recognition to this issue.“

Currently, the UC system is one of the only state organizations that is not under the purview of the state legislature, and has autonomous governance by the regents. Should the legislature pass a bill, they may request that the university adopt it, but cannot mandate it.

“Over the years it’s become apparent that UC is a rogue department,” Yee said. “It operates outside the family of departments in California and they have their own rules about how to set salaries. We have the right to raise concern over this.“

In order for the amendment to go into effect, it must be passed by two-thirds of the legislature and approved by a majority of California voters.

The Office of the President has come out strongly against the proposed amendment, insisting that the regents have the most direct and fitting method of governance, and that its policy should not be managed by the state, which has been generally unsupportive of higher education.

“It is absurd that Senator Yee and his co-sponsors want to rewrite the California Constitution to strip the university of its historic autonomy and place it under direct control of the state legislature,” said a statement released by the Office of the President. “Let’s be clear: UC is working. At a time when it has become popular to mock California, the university survives as one of the state’s great success stories.“

At the press conference last week Yee, Ashburn, Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, Assemblymember Brian Nestande, ASUCD Lobby Corps Director Talia MacMath and others spoke in favor of the amendment.

“There will be a debate about [the amendment], and that’s what I’m most supportive of,” said MacMath, a senior political science major. “This is opening up a space for dialogue where there wasn’t one before.“

Lobby Corps is planning on introducing an ASUCD Senate resolution in support of the amendment, but the resolution has not been voted on yet and the senate has not adopted an official stance on the issue.

The Friday after the press conference announcing the amendment, President Mark Yudof sent a memo to UC executives announcing that the Office of the President will be moving forward with a 5 percent pay decrease for senior UC leaders.

Yudof explained in the memo that the additional state budget cuts and the failure of the recent supportive ballot measures require that the university consider further measures to accommodate such cuts.

“Admittedly, this action does not have a significant impact on our very serious budget deficit, given its magnitude and the fact that UC’s senior management group comprises only a very small fraction of University employees,” Yudof said in the memo. “Nonetheless, I believe a reduction in pay is only right, especially as we continue to consider possible furloughs and/or pay cuts for faculty and staff systemwide.“

Yee and MacMath believe that the pay decrease may have been in response to the proposed amendment. A university spokesperson stated that this was not the case.

Those in favor of the amendment have stated that the pay decrease is not sufficient compared to the recent 9.3 percent increase in student fees, as well as the oft criticized executive pay and bonuses.

“This is one step in recognizing their excessive pay, but it’s not enough,” MacMath said. “Our student fees have gone up significantly in the last several years. They need to recognize that during fiscal crises, they’re not above what’s happening to everyone else.“

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org. 

The University of California Student Association is using YouTube tactics to demonstrate flaws in graduate health care.

Graduate students are invited and encouraged to submit a video online at ucsa.org to share their experiences with the Graduate Student Health Insurance Program, or GSHIP. UCSA plans to show the testimonials at the next regents meeting, in July.

Regents and decision-makers aren’t aware of the impact that cuts have on the clients and services of GSHIP, and video testimonials show the reality, said Lucero Chavez, president of the UCSA.

“We want to present through personal stories and testimonials because it’s not a statistic or something in writing – it’s a live person telling their story,“ she said. “We’ve given students the opportunity to let us know how it’s affecting them right now.“

UCSA collected hundreds of testimonials throughout the system, and began travelling to campuses to meet with and film select students‘ stories.

Despite not being affiliated with UCSA, UC Davis‘ Graduate Student Association submitted more testimonials than any other school due to the efforts of External Chair Marrah Lachowicz-Scroggins, who was enthusiastic about working with a larger organization and publicized the cause.

“When I read the call for GSHIP testimonials I e-mailed it to all of our grad students and publicized it as much as possible,” she said. “I serve on the SHIP committee at Davis, so I have a vested interest in having our voices heard, and so do our students, as shown by how many testimonials were sent out.“

Kelly Osmundson, a field organizer for UCSA, visited the Davis campus last week to converse with students and film their experiences.

“One of the things that the UCSA board of directors really believes in is making sure that we are outreaching and empowering students to speak on their own behalf, and we don’t believe that non-membership should prohibit them from telling their story,” Osmundson said.

Students can submit anonymously if they wish, or they can associate themselves with their campus and give their testimony. Offering anonymity is key to sharing some very serious experiences, Lachowicz-Scroggins said.

“There have been some very specific, highly personal issues, like cancer and children,” she said.

Lachowicz-Scroggins said the lack of dependent health care has forced many families to rely on government programs like Medi-Cal, and has a direct impact on their decision of whether or not to start a family while in graduate school.

“As a female graduate student I’ve had several friends directly affected by the lack of dependent health care on campus,” she said. “It’s unacceptable that graduate students who are employees of the university don’t have health insurance for their kids and have to go use social services.“

Lachowicz spoke with a female nurse practitioner who mentioned that she had been seeing less women in the graduate age group able to have children. Lachowicz then explained that the lack of dependent health coverage and restrictions in prenatal coverage are very discouraging to someone considering having a child while in graduate school.

“It’s unfortunate because in general, Davis is a very family-friendly city and community but our own programs do not support women of child-bearing age to have children and make sure they have the coverage they need,” Lachowicz-Scroggins said.

Chavez said she is optimistic that these personal accounts will hit home at the regents‘ meeting in July.

“Since the beginning of the school year we’ve gained a lot of traction on this issue – from getting another student on the system-wide health care committee at the UCOP, to really just having it be a topic of conversation and meeting with the UCOP and the other regents,“ she said. “These testimonials ensure that the issue stays on their radar.“

More information can be found at ucsa.org.

MIKE DORSEY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org. 

This weekend members of ASUCD presented their proposed budgets for the 2009-2010 school year for the senate’s consideration.

Hearings of the budget occurred throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday on campus. The hearings are required to take place every year in order to allow ASUCD senators an opportunity to examine and modify the budgets of all units, such as UNITRANS, the Bike Barn or Pathfinder.

The final budget will be voted on at Thursday’s senate meeting at 6:10 p.m. in the Mee Room of the Memorial Union. The following are highlights from the weekend’s hearings, compiled by Aggie campus reporters.

Friday

The day’s hearing began with brief discussions on the Bike Barn and the Coffee House, both of whose budgets were passed. Later in the day, The California Aggie’s budget was also passed.

In a discussion about Unitrans, representatives said that although the unit will be adding on 14 new buses, remodeling the MU bus terminal, adding a GPS system to the buses and using more buses for a U-Dash service, their budget will not change dramatically. The Unitrans budget was then passed.

The senate then moved onto a discussion regarding Lobby Corps, and suggested amending the budget to lower the pay rate of several members, however both amendments failed and the budget was passed.

Regarding the Entertainment Council, the budget proposed an increase in funding for more on-campus entertainment, as well as a co-sponsorship of the annual “Buzz“ event. The unit’s budget was tabled for later discussion.

“Entertainment is a huge thing in Davis, considering there isn’t much downtown, so I think the budget for them should be increased,” said Senator Danny Garrett. “It is one of the most universal services we can be providing.“

A discussion about AS Papers began, but was tabled to be discussed on Sunday.

Saturday

The hearings began at approximately 9 a.m. with the president’s budget. Though there was some debate over whether President Chatham needs both an assistant to the president and a chief of staff, no modifications were made and the budget was confirmed.

The vice president’s budget was also passed, in addition to AgTV’s budget. AgTV’s proposed budget was increased to accommodate for more programmers and other costs. Advocates argued that the unit provides journalism experience for those who cannot study broadcast journalism.

The budget for the Experimental College was amended to lower the gardener’s pay from $250 to $182, and to lower the funds for publicity from $2,500 to $1,500. The budget was then passed.

An amendment was also proposed and passed to decrease funding for the Post Office telephone equipment from $550 to $500.

One of the more controversial items on the ASUCD budget was its outreach unit, Pathfinder, which seeks to promote diversity on campus by providing tutoring and mentoring to K-12 students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Discussion on whether to keep Pathfinder, which makes up $10,000 of the ASUCD budget, occupied the hearings for over 2 hours.

Senators in favor of closing Pathfinder argued that while it was a good program in theory, its model was flawed beyond repair and that outreach could be better conducted by other campus units like the Student Recruitment and Retention Center.

“Outreach is obviously very important,” said Senator Trevor Taylor. “However, I don’t think it would be more beneficial to lobby the administration to do more [outreach] … it shouldn’t be put on the backs of students.“

The budget was passed after further debates with an 11-1 majority.

The budgets for the Campus Center for the Environment, Classical Notes/Campus Copies, The Aggie Student Store, Administrative General funds, Refrigerator Services were all passed.

Sunday

Sunday’s budget hearing started with the unanimous approval of the Cal Aggie Camp, KDVS, Project Compost, Book Exchange, City & County Affairs and Whole Earth Festival budgets.

The Senate continued its discussion on Pathfinder. Representative Sergio Blanco led the public discussion in an effort to reopen the budget, and discussed that Pathfinder’s mission statement would change to focus on a retention program.

Senators discussed allocation of money for ASUCD elections. “I question the amount of money allocations,” said Senator Torres. “Voter turnout is based on the quality of the candidates, [not on the money spent on the election].“

Controller Eli Yani began a debate over why the Elections Committee might deserve a proposed increase with the reasoning that additional funds could bring more candidates to a slate.

“We don’t just want a high turnout in terms of voters – we also want a high turnout in terms of candidates running for office,” Yani said.

Vocal opposition came from Senators Laura Pulido and Erin Lebe. Pulido said that, to the general student body, there is a lot of mystery around what ASUCD is, and that putting $2,000 dollars in to publicizing an unknown event might not be very effective.

Budgets for the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission, Environmental Policy and Planning Commission and Gender and Sexualities Commission were increased and passed. Other additional increases to budgets included $300 to University Affairs for transportation costs, $6,000 for the Entertainment Council and funds for grants such as the REACH retreat and Upward Bound.

The pay for the student government management team historian was cut in half to $28 per week.

The senate cut funds completely for blood drives in order to voice disapproval for the policy that excludes men who have had sex with other men from giving blood.

Also, funding for AS Papers was cut entirely, but the equipment and space for publication will still exist under the responsibility of the vice president.

Matters regarding the budget of the student government were not entirely resolved, and will require further deliberation at a later meeting.

THE CAMPUS DESK can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.