Submitted by: Corliss Lee

Things I learned from the Spring Assembly:

• You’re really supposed to say the whole title: Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
• If you agonize over suggestions for your speaker, he’ll ignore them all and come up with something much better on his own
• Is it good news that almost all Universities are hurting so they’re not raiding our faculty as fast as usual?
• START, VSOP and the hiring freeze all together will only save us $8.7 million. You have to go for revenue enhancements ($30 million) and restructuring to eliminate duplication in IT, HR, Business Services, etc. (tens of millions) and, maybe, furloughs (2.1 million a DAY) to get the big savings
• We are not refueling the plane in mid-flight; we’re replacing the engine in mid-flight!
• The EVCP trusts the Library staff to make the best of a bad situation. He said that comprehensive collecting for every university is a thing of the past.
• Student advising will probably move to the “ATM model” vs. the “teller model”. Ouch.
• All that Stimulus money universities are hoping for? 2 year quick infusion only.
• The Chancellor’s pay is 40th among national research universities, although our ranking is much higher.
• 40% of the staff workforce (not sure if this is UCB or UC) are within 5 years of retirement
• In the business world there’s the feeling you should “invest opportunistically” during downturns; there are 10 proposals at the Office
• of the President for new schools or colleges within the UCs, though none from UCB. Breslauer feels opportunistic investment can’t be used as an excuse not to bite the bullet.
• Being an EVCP means being able to deliver bad news clearly, calmly, and give straightforward answers to unhappy staff. Ouch!