Posted on 01/12/2005 12:06:22 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Has Berkeley a known bastion of liberalism become enamored of privatization? A recent Los Angeles Times article about the University of California, Berkeley Law School might have you believe so.
Last Monday it stated that the schools dean, Christopher Edley Jr., wanted to privatize the school, in part.
The story said Mr. Edleys plan was unusual for a liberal law professor who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations.
But Mr. Edley told The New York Sun that the Timess headline UC Law School Needs to Privatize, Dean Says was terribly misleading.
I need private resources to support our public mission, and we cannot afford further cuts in our public funding, Mr. Edley said. A better headline, he said, might have been Public mission requires private resources.
The law school, one of the leading in the nation, has declined in the U.S. News & World Report rankings: In 2002, it was tied for 7th; in 2003, it was tied for 10th; last year Berkeley dropped to 13th. However, its reputation has held steady at 7th or 8th, despite a steep drop in state funding.
State money has declined making up just 30% of the schools budget today, compared to 60% in 1994.
Im not talking about being liberated from the Legislature or Board of Regents, Mr. Edley said. One must distinguish mission, financing, and governance . The mission is inviolate. The question is how to finance it, if the state wont pay full freight.
The word privatize in the L.A. Times headline drew disparate reactions on the Web, from people across the political spectrum...
(Excerpt) Read more at daily.nysun.com ...
I would agree with that blogger as well. Delicious.
Regardless of who is "buying," it looks like they might be getting the school awfully cheap.
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