Publication: Report on the Profitability of Education

The “Report on the Profitability of Education and the Exploitability of Students” was compiled by two UCSD students, based on the ‘Teach the Budget’ curriculum developed by graduate students at UCSC. It contains detailed sections on the cost of UC tuition, the regents, the state of California, student activism, and much more. It is fully footnoted with emphasis on primary sources.

It is available in a digital format, as well as a printable format, which folds into a booklet. References and Appendix are published online as well.

DIGITAL

PRINTABLE

REFERENCES AND APPENDIX

CLICS: A Recent History

[A skeptical and critical take on the CLICS Reclamation from a conservative, outside perspective can be found at http://skepticconservative.com/2012/01/11/ucsd-clics-break-in-a-story-untold/%5D

What was once CLICS, was opened in 1965 as Humanities/Undergraduate Library, UCSD’s first central library. Ironically, the building, and now the new lecture hall which will replace CLICS, was named after Chancellor John S. Galbraith in 1988 for his “lifelong interest in libraries.” [1]

On January 27th 2011, the UCSD Libraries reported that it had sustained a permanent budget cut of $5 million, and one time cut of $3 million. The libraries objected to Academic Affairs Office’s formula for allocating budget cuts because “1) it bears no discernible relationship to the size of the Libraries’ budget vis-à-vis the campus’ budget and 2) it’s in no way consistent with a stated intention to ‘protect the academic core.’” [2]

In February 2011, it was announced that CLICS, along with the Medical Center Library, Science & Engineering Library, and Scripps Library, would be forced to close due to a $60 million dollar cut to the UCSD budget, which had entailed the $3 million dollar cut to UCSD libraries. The estimated cost saved by closing these four libraries was $1 million annually. [3]

D1: Not Now

[A libertarian opposition to the referendum is available here]

A new referendum proposing to fund Division 1 sports with student fees will be open to vote between February 27 and March 9th. The referendum will charge students $165 per quarter. This amount is based on the recommendation from an athletics consultant. That consultant said an extra $5 million per year was the bare minimum needed to get into D-1 (our men’s water polo, volleyball and fencing are already D-1), but an extra $13 million to be “competitive.” Here is A.S. President Allyssa Wing on being competitive:

“We don’t want to be a university that is only in D-I but is not competitive,” Wing said. “We want to be able to provide scholarships [for] top-notch talent [that we] want to come to our campus. The number is a little higher than the projection, but that is to maintain our program and ensure that we don’t have to keep going back to students with more referendums” [1]

ast year, Wing and A.S. Council killed a referendum to fund the re-opening of CLICS with an $8 dollar quarterly fee. [CORRECTION: no referendum was actually voted on, it was a casual suggestion which never came through and which Wing did not support] Here is Wing on that issue:

“If A.S. came to students for fees, it opens up a lot of doors for the future of how A.S. is seen,” Wing said. “It’s a dangerous direction.” Wing said that creating the position of vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion suggests that there is money to fund the libraries. “If there is money to create a [new administrative] position, why are we closing down libraries?” Wing said. [2]