Posted on 02/25/2006 8:30:03 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Facing widespread criticism over secret and lucrative executive payouts, University of California President Robert Dynes is considering a reorganization plan that would hand over day-to-day administrative operations of the 10-campus system to someone else.
He and UC Regent Chairman Gerry Parsky are in the early stages of crafting a proposal for restructuring the Office of the President, one that would augment Dynes' academic background with a chief operating officer's administrative skills.
The chief operating officer could operate “not quite parallel” with Dynes, Parsky said yesterday. “Let's leave open the possibility that someone could be in charge of administrative matters and not necessarily require the president's approval on all things.”
The move follows revelations of generous payouts for UC chancellors and senior administrators reported in newspapers in November. Several cases were not approved by regents, including a $248,000 payment to UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox for a sabbatical she said she earned at a previous institution, Parsky said.
That's a violation of a UC policy, which was established in 1993 after a similar scandal. The rule states that all executive compensation must be disclosed and approved by the regents.
“The board of regents is going to help this president think about how best to deal with nonacademic aspects of the university, in light of its failure to comply in the past with board policy,” Parsky said.
Dynes and Parsky were in San Diego yesterday to meet with the editorial board of The San Diego Union-Tribune, which regularly hosts newsmakers to discuss current events and invites reporters and editors from the newsroom.
Part of the reason UC is facing criticism over its business practices, Dynes acknowledged, is that he has spent much of his two years as president on matters outside the daily operations. He said he has traveled the state providing a public face for the university and thinking about its future.
After the session, Dynes reaffirmed that his priorities have not changed.
“I obviously have to work at fixing our business practices, but the vision is still my top priority because it has to be,” Dynes said. “Somebody has to be making decisions about the policies.”
The reorganization may stretch beyond UC's Office of the President, an 1,800-employee operation that oversees 10 campuses and 200,000 students.
The campus chancellors' offices also may need to be restructured, Parsky said, because there is so much authority and emphasis put on academic scholarship and not on management experience.
“I've sat now on four chancellor searches, and 99.9 percent of the qualifications are academic excellence,” Parsky said. “It's clear that there needs to be a fresh look at (the president's) and the chancellors' offices.”
While Parsky said there are strong reasons for restructuring, he noted that it could be difficult in an institution with a tradition of shared governance – where faculty share responsibility for guiding the operation and management of the university.
Reaction to UC officials' comments was mixed yesterday. Some said that installing a chief operating officer, often called an executive vice president, is common, especially at university systems.
“In a large university, the president spends so much time on fundraising and legislative relations and big thinking that they need a day-to-day management czar,” said David Longanecker, the executive director of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The Colorado-based agency provides data and policy analysis on colleges and universities in 15 western states.
Pat Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, an independent research group, said the last thing UC needs is to create more senior executive positions.
“UC needs to consider a set of more fundamental questions: What is the function of the Office of the President? How large does it need to be, especially when the university is so decentralized?” Callan said.
“This reflexive notion to solve problems by having a bigger bureaucracy doesn't seem to be the right approach.”
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It's how moderates rule and operate. More more more.. even as they supposedly clamor for reform and reductions in the size of gubamint.
CA: Governor's office seeks 'autopilot' raise (Gub has argued against such increases elsewhere) ^
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