Legislation would strip UC of independence

Legislation introduced this week would strip the University of California of most of its constitutional independence, a move the university called "absurd."

The constitutional amendment was proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who said UC spends too much on administrative salaries. The measures, which must be approved by both legislators and voters, would put the 10-campus university system under legislative control.

The university has had control of its own management since 1879.

UC responded to the amendments with its own angrily worded statement, chiding the Legislature for its own failures and arguing that the university pays most of its leaders less than market value. "Let's be clear: UC is working," read the unsigned statement. "At a time when it has become popular to mock California, the university survives as one of the state's great success stories.

"It has thrived under the system of autonomous governance, led by the (UC Board of Regents), that was so wisely written into the Constitution by our pioneers."

In order to be placed on the statewide ballot, the amendment would need the approval of two-thirds of the Legislature.

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