The Inequities of the UC System

In response to Jeff Smith’s commentary (Aug. 28) on the growing public aversion toward the University of California for its indulgent perks for administrators, etc., in the face of drastic budget cuts for regular faculty and students: Class sizes are going up all the time, students are receiving less and less individual attention, and copying of teaching materials is drastically reduced. Smith’s “Those Who Teach Get the Least” sure hit home.

As a professor for 28 years at the University of California, I’ve seen some of these excesses up close. I add that I’ve been generously treated by both my department and the university over my nearly 30 years of teaching here. So I do not write out of sour grapes.

My concern over these inequities surfaced a couple of months ago when I read that the regents had voted salary increases of $7,500 each for two already astronomically paid “stars,” both literary theorists. Since they receive salaries far above the regular pay scales, an act of the regents is required to increase their already fat stipends.

While the main faculty--those without private secretaries, fax privileges to Europe and Australia and greatly reduced teaching loads--for the second year are not receiving increases and have, as Mr. Smith notes, had merit pay frozen, secretarial services curtailed, and supplies needed for teaching denied, not a single voice, so far as I know, protested these obscene raises in a time of drastic budget problems.

Yes, in the total scheme of things, these two pay boosts may not amount to much, but when they are seen as part of the larger picture of indulgences at public expense, they do matter.

Perks for the rich and powerful obviously transcend the needs of students and the general faculty. Good luck to Jeff Smith; I hope he’s not thrust out of his job for being frank.

ROBERT PETERS, Professor of English, UC Irvine