Earning My Degree: Memoirs of an American University President

Ten: Tragedy and Tribulation

TEN TRAGEDY AND TRIBULATION As the twentieth century’s final decade began, life was good for me both at work and at home. The University of California was moving forward on all its nine campuses and planning for a tenth. UC’s academic reputation was on the ascendancy. Students were enrolling at unexpectedly high rates. And considering all sources of support, funding for the university had never been higher than in 1989–90: State funding per student—in real terms and on a weighted full-time basis—was at near-record levels; Gifts from the private sector were without precedent and growing; Federally funded contracts and grants for research and public service were at their all-time highs; Student fees remained remarkably low, compared to tuitions and fees at other major public universities nationwide; Staff and faculty salaries had been competitive within their respective marketplaces since UC’s budget of 1984–85. Those for UC’s most senior administrators were less competitive, taking into account salary, benefits, housing, and deferred compensation (the differences were modest to significant); Our state-funded capital budgets had reached unprecedented levels. The legislature had also enacted laws allowing UC to borrow for construction of research facilities and repay the costs from overhead earned on the research conducted in such facilities; 321 Students were willing to assess themselves or otherwise to be charged for building student unions, recreational facilities, athletic fields, health centers, student service buildings, and residence halls; Our five medical centers were in the black though struggling (as usual); and The budgets of our self-supporting auxiliaries were in balance—parking services, bookstores, cafeterias, intercollegiate athletics, residence halls, and the like. In addition to the budgetary and funding issues, the university was well positioned in other ways as we came into the 1990s: All nine campuses were completing their long-range academic and development plans; We were recruiting to our faculties most of those we wanted while generally holding on to those being recruited by others, although California’s high cost of housing was a growing problem; New academic majors and departments, professional schools and colleges were forming across all nine campuses, as were several newly organized research units; Relations with the governors (both Deukmejian and Wilson) were excellent , as were our relations with the key players in the state legislature; and Our central administration had experienced no turnover in seven and a half years, except for the death in the mid-1980s of my close friend and colleague Vice President Jim Kendrick. He was succeeded by Kenneth Farrell, who ably carried on the work critical to the university ’s obligations under the federal land-grant statutes and to the well-being of California’s agricultural sector. On the home front, our family was healthy. Two of our daughters were caught up in university studies: Marci was an undergraduate at Berkeley, and Lisa was a graduate student at the University of Washington. Shari and Karen had completed their graduate studies, one at UCLA, the other at Queens College, Cambridge, and both were soon to be married. Libby was heavily involved in representing UC not only in this country but abroad as well (as noted briefly in chapter 9 and earlier), and we enjoyed the increase in discretionary time that came with a smaller household. Thus as the eighties faded into the nineties, the prospect furthest from my mind and imagination was that my world—both personal and professional—would come crashing down within twelve to eighteen months, devastating me personally and demoralizing me about my work and service as UC’s president. These events are hard for me to write about. They bear on three of the four most important parts of my life: my marriage to Libby, our family, and TRAGEDY AND TRIBULATIONS 322 the University of California (leaving aside my religion). The resulting fusion of the institutional and the personal makes objectivity uncommonly difficult to achieve, but I intend to back off from praising or blaming others and defending or justifying myself. Still, in the nature of the case I cannot hope to be completely neutral. ADVERSE TRENDS California’s Economy Heads South As the nation moved into the 1990s, we began to see the first signs of a weakening economy. The cold war was in its final stages and as the Berlin wall came down, along with the Soviet Union, so too did much of...