Every time I tried to write this week Joe came to mind. Talking to my faculty friends and colleagues in California I get the feeling that the state is full of Joe Btfsplk PhDs. The sense of inevitable doom hangs over my friends like Joe's cloud.
With massive cuts to spartan budgets in place already the state prepares for a special election designed to mortgage its soul and future in exchange for the illusion of having solved the states budget problems. If the ballot initiatives pass the temporary cuts already in place that have zeroed out operating and expense budgets for many departments will become permanent. The funds from the state lottery which have become the only available resource for science departments to replace teaching lab equipment will go away. And there will still be an eight billion dollar hole in the state budget for next year. If the initiatives fail, as it appears they will, the budget hole opens to sixteen billion dollars, which due to mandated spending in the state constitution will be impossible to fill without additional draconian cuts to education.
This Btsplk flu weighs down departments, particularly at at the PUI and MCUs where, barred from RO1 type research and the funding it provides, state support is critical to their operation. The research universities can and do milk funds from the research enterprise and have faculty pay for copies for classes or university business phone calls on their own, which means out of research funding. This provides the RO1 with a cushion the the PUIs and MCUs don't really have access to.
I know I have caught the contagion, so please excuse a down beat assessment.
It is time to rethink the strategy of higher education funding. If the public sector is not willing to pay the real cost, perhaps it's time to face the consequences to our way of life and consider if we should get out of the game entirely.
T.S. Hall
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