Deans' Corner —
At a Turning Point: Berkeley's Search for a New Chancellor

Robert Holub, Dean of the Undergraduate Division

January 21, 2004

Deans' Corner Archive

Letters & Science is a college of five deans, reflecting the disciplinary scope and diversity of Berkeley's largest school or college. In the "Deans' Corner", they take turns reflecting on topics of current interest. The "Deans' Corner" is a virtual "Op Ed" page, or — if you prefer a concrete metaphor — a Sproul Plaza.

In this contribution, Undergraduate Division Dean Robert Holub considers the qualities he'd like to see in a new chancellor given the current budget situation.

It is no secret that public institutions of higher education face difficult decisions in the next few years. More students than ever before are enrolling in college, and public colleges and universities have taken a disproportionate share of these students. At the same time state funding for post-secondary education in California and throughout the nation has resulted in budgets that do not match student demand. Since in the current climate it is unlikely that the state can count on increased tax revenues to fund additional expenditures, the situation will probably not change for the better in the short run.

Indeed, the current budget situation in California and its impact on higher education is only a continuation of two trends that are portentous for the University of California and for the Berkeley campus. (1) Less of the total budget of the University comes from state money, and that portion has been decreasing over the past few decades. And (2) the State of California devotes an increasingly smaller percentage of its overall budget to higher education. These two trends are not apt to reverse themselves anytime soon; the University and the Berkeley campus will therefore have to learn to live with the new realities caused by these changes.

Although the University of California and all institutions of higher education in the State are subject to the negative effects of the budget, Berkeley is a special case. For most of the twentieth century, Berkeley competed—and with a great deal of success—with the very best private institutions. While some other public institutions, including other campuses in the University of California system, have been able to excel in a limited number of disciplines, Berkeley alone among public universities has consistently kept pace across all fields of research with the very best universities in the country. In the last half century our preeminence has been verified in numerous reports and surveys, in particular the National Research Council rankings, and in measures such as memberships in distinguished organizations, such as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Unless we change our normal way of doing business, recent developments in the budget do not bode well for Berkeley's future. Let me point to one area that gives an indication of the challenges we face in the coming years. At the time that we could first claim a number one ranking, in the early 1960s, salaries for members of the Berkeley faculty were higher than those of any other institution. Over the past few decades, however, the average salary of faculty members at Berkeley has fallen far below our chief competitors. The comparison eight institutions, which are four private and four public universities whose salaries are used to set the salary scales at the University of California, never reflected Berkeley's real competition since Berkeley faculty are rarely lured away by other public institutions. We are most assuredly in direct competition with only the finest private universities, whose prestige and wealth sometimes prove attractive to Berkeley professors. A few decades ago, when salaries at public and private institutions were more equal, however, the use of the comparison eight did not place Berkeley at a severe competitive disadvantage. But over the past two decades salaries at public institutions have fallen far behind the privates', and the result has been that the University's salary scale has become severely misaligned with the realities on our campus. The fact that approximately 500 faculty members are paid salaries that are not aligned with their step on the current salary scales demonstrates that the scales Berkeley uses are no longer adequate to compensate the quality of faculty we currently employ. If Berkeley is to keep pace with its main competitors, it must find some way to address this situation. An institution that does not award salaries commensurate with those found at its peer institutions will eventually find itself with a different and inferior set of peers.

Berkeley may well be at a turning point, and for this reason the selection of a new Chancellor is particularly momentous. Clark Kerr, Berkeley's first Chancellor, tells the story of a meeting in 1956 that took place at Stanford after the University of California had been censured by the American Association of University Professors in the wake of the loyalty oath controversy. A provost from Harvard initiated a discussion on which institution would take Berkeley's place among the top universities in the country. Kerr's answer to the question of "who will take Berkeley's place" was "no one," and this type of resolute response provides some indication of the mettle we need in the next Chancellor as well. Indeed, in the situation that confronts us, I would like to suggest that the portfolio of our next Chancellor include at least the following items:

1. A standing in higher education and the capacity to become an important voice in discussions about higher education. Berkeley is not only the flagship campus of the University of California; it is also the symbolic leader of public higher education in the country. As the only public institution consistently playing in the same league with the best privates, it must always have a leader who will speak out on the important educational issues that face California and the nation, and who will represent and foster the tradition of public higher education in the face of its many detractors.

2. Dedication to and membership in the Berkeley community. Not every Chancellor has been a member of the Berkeley faculty before becoming Chancellor, and it is certainly not a necessary qualification for leadership of the campus. A Chancellor from another prestigious public or private institution may very well bring fresh perspectives on the challenges Berkeley faces. In either case the new Chancellor must be able to command the respect of the faculty in terms of academic stature and accomplishments, and to develop quickly a profile that emphasizes an allegiance to the tradition of excellence that has characterized Berkeley for many decades. The new Chancellor must be cognizant of the pivotal role he or she must play in maintaining Berkeley's preeminence, and dedicated to continuing this preeminence even as we confront perhaps our most difficult challenges.

3. Independence of mind and a willingness to rethink and revise current practices. It is important that the Chancellor be a team player, since he or she is a player on so many teams, either as the leader of various initiatives on the Berkeley campus or as a peer in the Council of Chancellors. But the Chancellor must also recognize that he or she cannot simply attend to business as usual. The state of higher education in California demands new solutions and bold experiments if Berkeley is going to remain competitive in the twenty-first century. The Chancellor must work within the University, but also at times against the impediments posed by the University, in order to preserve Berkeley's standing. The only tradition that should be considered inviolable is Berkeley's excellence.

These qualities, of course, have always been present in leaders of our campus, but they are especially important in the current context of fiscal crisis and impending change.

Does a candidate who possesses these qualities exist? I certainly hope so; the tradition of Berkeley, of the University of California, and of public higher education may very well depend on it.