Thursday, January 15, 2009
OPEN FORUM: State needs to honor committment to UC
By Gary D. Novack
The UC Regents voted Wednesday to curtail undergraduate enrollment growth for Fall 2009. To many of us who knew then-UC President Clark Kerr and then-Gov. Pat Brown, developers of the 1960 master plan for higher education in California, this is a sad day. However, as a former UC regent, I cannot lay fault with either the UC Regents or UC President Mark Yudof. The state simply is not doing its part to support the University of California in its goal of educating the top California students.
Last month, UC alumnus and Chronicle staff writer Jim Doyle reported on the UC voluntary retirement separation program. All of us, including President Yudof, wish that when the policy was created, it closed the loophole that allowed employees to receive the retirement bonus if they stayed within the UC system. However, that story distracts our attention from the bigger story, in the same way that a magnitude 3.0 earthquake distracts our attention from the imminent 7.0 earthquake. The big one in this case is the $815 million shortfall of the state's commitment to fund UC for its mission of excellence in research and education for the people of California. The state's commitment to UC is a fundamental investment in the future, which we reduce at our peril.
The questionable retirement bonuses for the approximately 10 percent of employees who returned to the UC system were about $500,000, which in turn distracts us from the 10-fold, $5 million net annual savings of this UC regent-requested program to reduce administrative costs.
UC has been a major asset to the state since its founding in 1868. There are approximately 1.5 million living UC alumni, with 75 percent of them residing in California. Simply put, UC is the engine that drives California's economy -- from agriculture to the biomedical industry -- from strawberries to life-saving medications. In my own case, my parents, children of immigrants, were the first generation to go to college, both attending UC. My wife and I are UC alumni. The state's investment in our education has paid off many-fold in our business' creation of jobs, and in our state taxes.
The sources of income for UC for 2007-2008 include approximately $3.3 billion from state general funds. Medical centers, the national laboratories at Berkeley and Livermore, and other revenue sources (e.g., dormitories) are essentially pass-through expenses. Contracts and grants at $2.6 billion are large -- but depend upon a top quality faculty with adequate resources to obtain these mainly competitive grants. None of these sources is likely to increase substantially. This public university has substantial private gift support, providing approximately $1.3 billion per year. However, as a vice president of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, I can state that this source will not increase substantially in this current financial environment.
Thus, if the state does not meet its agreed upon commitment to UC and fully fund the system, the only option for UC is to increase tuition, requiring the students and their families bear this financial burden. Speaking from personal experience, no UC Regent wants to vote for higher tuition, tougher enrollment standards, decreased enrollment or directing our undergraduate focus to out-of-state students. Each of these actions is contrary to the mission of UC, and penalizes the very students the state should be educating. However, these actions are the obligatory UC response to failure of the state to do its part.
Tough times highlight the need to invest in the future, just as small earthquakes should remind us of the need to prepare for the big one. In these tough times, I challenge the Legislature to continue its commitment to public higher education in the state, and to continue investing in the future of California.
Gary D. Novack is a Regent Emeritus of the University of California, and president of PharmaLogic Development Inc. of San Rafael.
| Jan 15 at 07:04 PM
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Open Forum: Dishing on the White House dishes
Laura Bush is leaving behind a 320-place setting of china for the Obamas.
Laura Bush unveils George W. Bush state china
By Mike Chasar
Some might wonder, in an economy this unstable, about the first lady's departing wishes to leave the White House with a set of dishes that isn't even microwavable.
Drapes, perhaps. Maybe knick-knacks or doodads to decorate a shelf or windowsill, but 320 plates for a cool half mil?
Some might react with surprise, oh-nos, egads, and what-in-the-world-was-Laura-Bush-thinking?
But not me. I don't want Sarkozy sitting there mocking the presidential Tupperware or having to use a Styrofoam cup for drinking.
Besides, the china isn't all that bold: the plates she chose are only rimmed with gold.
Mike Chasar, a visiting assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa, studies the intersection of poetry and popular culture. He can be contacted at michael-chasar@uiowa.edu.
| Jan 11 at 07:54 PM
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Lois Kazakoff: Addendum on Steve Jobs
David Bunnell's Open Forum piece, "Steve Jobs didn't make the first Macworld, either," offers a gossipy accounting of having dinner with Jobs in 1985, on the night the first Macworld opened. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen was also at the dinner. Here's the clip of what Caen wrote following this dinner:
Talent. Three years ago, David Bunnell started a computer magazine, PC World, in the spare bedroom of his house near 24th and Irving in the Sunset. Today he is chairman of PC World Communications on Potrero Hill, with 120 employees and two hot mags. PC World, which runs to 350 pages monthly, has a circulation of 300,000, and Macworld (geared to Apple's Macintosh), sells 175,000 monthly with 180 pages of ads. Last Fri. night, to celebrate the first birthday of Macworld, David took over Sutter 500, where another major talent, Chef Hubert Keller, produced six dizzying courses. Dinner music was by a chirpy Macintosh playing a duet with a live clarinetist. Guest of honor: Steven Jobs, Apple's chairman and the rock star of the computer world, who ate with one hand and cuddled a blond nymphet with the other. Sunday was Jobs' 30th birthday, and he had Ella Fitzgerald, backed by members of the S.F. Symphony, to entertain at a party in the St. Francis. When Ella sang 'Happy Birthday'to a beaming Steven, it was the greatest coup of its kind since Luciano Pavarotti sang the same song to Gordon Getty on Gordon's 50th.
| Jan 01 at 12:56 AM
Advertisement : Skip 
Thursday, December 18, 2008
John Diaz: Your Views in 2008 in Letters to the Editor
The Sunday, Dec. 28, Insight section will be devoted to reviewing this remarkable year of change and big events. We welcome your thoughts on the year, from a local, national, international -- or deeply personal -- perspective.
Please e-mail letters for publication in this year-end edition to:letters@sfchronicle.com. Please include "12/28 Insight" in the subject line.
As always, include your name, city and a phone number for verification.
| Dec 18 at 05:34 PM
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Blagojevich's Epic Fail, for sale on Ebay
AP
| Dec 09 at 04:30 PM
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Letters Editor: What are you thankful for?
Thanksgiving Day comes this year amid the news of financial meltdown and growing job losses, yet the overwhelming feeling among many Americans is of hope and renewal.
Share with readers your feelings on what we should be thankful for. E-mail your 150-word comments to letters@sfchronicle.com. Please be sure to include your full name and the town you live in.
| Nov 20 at 01:36 PM
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Letters Editor: Who do you want to see in Obama's Cabinet?
President-elect Barack Obama takes office in 75 days. Who should he tap for his Cabinet?
Send your thoughts to letters@sfchronicle.com.
Don't forget to include your full name, the town you live in and contact information.
| Nov 06 at 01:34 PM
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Lois Kazakoff: Election day observation
There was a traffic jam this morning near my suburban home at the entrance to the church parking lot where two precincts had set up polling places. I've voted at this site for nearly 20 years. There's never been a traffic jam, or even a line.
This morning there were two.
I don't vote absentee because I enjoy the scene of democracy in action. This scene was the liveliest.Mothers, with small children and school-age children in tow, waited their turn to receive ballots. A middle-aged man helped his elderly mother totter from the curb to the polling place. A smooth-haired blond dog sat, tethered to a door knob, awaiting his owner, who was inside voting.
Most people stood silently in line, intent on working their way through the door and to the precinct workers' table. Two women behind me, whose children attended the same school, chatted away. The taller woman prattled along, talking about her planned Girl Scout outing and the traffic she braved to vote.
Suddenly, she stopped, looked the other woman in the face, and said, "I cried on the way here. It's just so historic."
| Nov 04 at 10:43 AM
Monday, November 03, 2008
Debra J. Saunders: Bankrupt with the facts
The blog headline read: "Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry" and the author charged that the audio of the meeting with Obama "had been hidden from the public."
One problem: The charge is utter crap.
Far from hiding the meeting, the Chronicle posted audio and video of Barack Obama's meeting with the editorial board on January 17, 2008.
And Obama did not say that he will bankrupt the coal industry. To the contrary, he said, "this notion of no coal, I think, is an illusion." He then explained that he believed in setting emission limits, and letting industry -- including coal -- figure out how to operate within those limits. And: "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can, it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."
I was in the room and my ears did not perk up as if Obama had issued a headline-commanding quote, when he said the above.
Why didn't the paper report on Obama's remarks? Because San Francisco is not Pennsylvania or Ohio. According to the Energy Information Administration, "Due to strict emission laws, only a few small-coal fired power plants operate in California." And a new California law prohibits utilities from entering into long-term contracts with conventional coal-fired power producers.The Chronicle and other papers have reported that Obama's energy plan calls for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. That means: No new coal plants in the United States, unless some amazing new technology magically appears. Or unless there is an energy fairy.
Let me add, Obama had made similar statements in other venues. In a January debate, "We're going to cap greenhouse gases. We're going to say to every polluter that's sending greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, 'We're going to charge you a dollar -- we're going to charge you money for every unit of greenhouse gas that you send out there.' That will create a market. It will generate billions of dollars that we can invest in clean technology." I assure you, coal execs weren't dancing with glee.
Sure, after a blogger uses an erroneous headline and falsely claims that the Chronicle kept the interview "hidden" -- the quote may seem as if it made news. But know this: It was the job of the opposition teams of both Hillary Clinton and John McCain to scrutinize every interview given by Obama word by word. Neither campaign made an issue of this interview when their candidates stumped in Ohio and Pennsylvania -- and it was their job to have listened.
P.S. If you are so inclined, you can listen at www.sfgate.com/ZCGA.
| Nov 03 at 12:46 PM
John Diaz: Palin's reckless desperation
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaigning in Marietta, Ohio, on Sunday, tried to scare coal-state voters by suggesting the San Francisco Chronicle had concealed an audiotape of Sen. Barack Obama explaining "his plan" to bankrupt the industry.
"Why is the audio tape just now surfacing?" Palin asked. "This interview was given to San Francisco folks many months ago. You should have known about this, so that you would have better decision-making information as you go into the voting booth."Shouts of "liberal media" could be heard in the crowd.
Shame on Sarah Palin. She should examine the facts before lifting her talking points from the right-wing blogs.
First of all, that audiotape is not "just now surfacing." It has been available for the world to hear -- and was heavily promoted by us -- ever since our Jan. 17 editorial board meeting with Obama. Other campaigns, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's and Sen. John McCain's, had ample opportunity to review Obama's remarks about coal, and challenge him on them before the closing days of the general election. None did.
You can hear the full editorial board interview at sfgate.com/ZCGA. Obama's remarks on coal (which come with about 23 minutes remaining) were in the context of a question about balancing his support for coal with the need to reduce carbon emissions. Obama hardly sounded like a man determined to shut down the industry. What the Illinois senator offered was a textured explanation of his determination to encourage cleaner coal technologies. "This notion of no coal, I think, is an illusion," he said at one point.
"You gotta listen to the tape," Palin told the crowd Sunday.On that point, we agree.
| Nov 03 at 10:59 AM
