2009

• 2009 messages
• Leadership changes announced
• Concern over student fee hikes
• Support 'All. Together. Now.' advocacy effort
• Updated campus closure plan
• Hard work on first day of classes
• Students welcomed to new academic year
• Challenge into opportunity
• Chancellor’s first-day letter

Offices of the Chancellor and Provost

Fifth floor, Mrak Hall
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

(530) 752-2065

I write to you today to draw your attention to and urge your support for a new effort to protect the integrity and excellence of our university and the entire UC system.

You may have already heard about or seen information related to the "All. Together. Now." message launched by UC for California, the university's systemwide advocacy network. In full-page advertisements recently published in each of the system's 10 campus student newspapers and on Facebook, the University of California is calling on all students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends to unite behind an aggressive push to make funding UC a state priority.

With the state's 2010-11 budget cycle beginning in early January, UC is stepping up efforts now to let legislators and the governor know how critical their support is to preserving the university's commitment to quality and student access.

The campaign seeks to build the ranks of the nearly 200,000 advocates who already have lent their support to UC. The university is encouraging people to sign up on the UC for California Web site and join a letter-writing campaign. No taxpayer funds are being used in the advertising.

This campaign is being launched at a critical time. The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to reluctantly vote this week on new fee increases for our students, increases that are unavoidable in the face of even more drastic cuts in state support for our academic programs. In addition, following the UC Regents' meeting, President Mark G. Yudof will be submitting a budget proposal to Governor Schwarzenegger that seeks to spur the state of California's urgently needed reinvestment in the University of California.

It is vital that our UC Davis community do what it can to support this statewide effort to protect the integrity of the UC system. Locally, there has been some talk of UC Davis instructors canceling classes and students not attending classes on Wednesday to express their opposition to the proposed fee increases. I have confidence that all UC Davis faculty, lecturers and teaching assistants will meet their classroom obligations. And I want to advise and encourage students to attend their scheduled classes. If a class is not covered, I encourage you to call the department office for guidance. Department phone numbers are available online.

President Yudof's budget proposal for 2010-11 is an ambitious one, but the good news is that a majority of Californians today agree with us that higher education in general, and the University of California system in particular, are institutions worth fighting for.

The well-respected, independent Public Policy Institute of California released a poll last week that showed that 62 percent of the state's residents think the University of California does a good or excellent job. The survey also showed the public to be well aware of recent staff furloughs and reductions in class offerings at public campuses and, perhaps most importantly, 59 percent of respondents said the state's public colleges and universities should be a high or very high priority for state funding during the budget crisis.

Our challenge and our mandate now is to harness that sentiment and support and channel it toward Sacramento, to the attention of the policymakers who will be shaping our budget for the coming year. But we must begin by building the support at home, right here within the broader UC Davis community.

As I've said before, I am convinced that together we can turn challenge into opportunity and that we need unity to get the job done. We need your understanding and your support now more than ever before.