Mark Yudof - New UC President or new UC money pit?

Will the next UC President make TWICE Dynes' salary? Read on!

A UC search committee has recommended that current University of Texas system Chancellor MARK G. YUDOF become the next UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA President. While Mark Yudof has an impressive professional and academic background (he spent five years as head of the University of Minnesota before moving on to the University of Texas), one has to question whether he is the right fit for UC at this time. Just as UC Dyne's compensation package has been the subject of much scrutiny in these tough budget times (he makes a little over $400,000 per year), Mark Yudof currently makes about TWICE that amount at the University of Texas.

Whether that salary fact shows UC woefully underpays or UT overpays is a separate question, but a 2002-2003 article on Yudof's salary, published via a website called UT WATCH, states, "While UT staff and professors suffer from substandard wages, high-level administrators enjoy sky-high salaries. When confronted by reporters on the size and source of his salary, Yudof complained that "[he] is yet to make half of [the] football coach at Minnesota or at Texas."

In fact, YUDOF is the HIGHEST paid public university chief officer in the NATION. In addition to his salary, UT paid Yudof $172,000 in one-time compensation for retirement benefits he lost when he left Minnesota. He also receives a car allowance (UT Watch puts his 2002-2003 car allowance at $8400, presumably it has gone up since then!). He also gets Term Life/Long Term Care Insurance, Deferred Compensation, Housing (he lives in the UT mansion), moving expenses, and club membership dues.

$1.5 million pay-out for academic fraud

In addition, during his time at the University of Minnesota, a highly publicized scandal broke out regarding Clem Haskins, who was the men's basketball coach at the time. According to a 2,500 page investigation report, Haskins paid the manager of the University's academic counseling office to write papers for the players. Haskins had initially denied the allegation during his interview in June 1999, only to admit it later. Yudof made the decision to buy out Haskins' contract for $1.5 million (kind of makes the UC Davis Celeste Rose debacle look like a minor infarction!) Not only did Yudof pay $1.5 million dollars of University money, he seemed to defend Haskins several times and is quoted as saying, "These people are not criminals. They're not felons. What they did was they managed some situations poorly."

Yudof seems to think paying a University professional to write papers for the players and wilfully participating in academic fraud is mere mismanagement.

Tuition Increases

Also during his short five years at Minnesota, Yudof pushed one of the highest tuition increases in FOUR years! According to www.highbeam.com, tuition at the University of Minnesota was to increase 5 or 6 percent in one year, the result of what university officials said was inadequate funding from the Legislature and a need to raise faculty pay. Yudof told the Board of Regents that the record increase was needed to give faculty members an average 3 percent pay increase.

Hmmm. Sound familiar?

Union relations, etc.

There are other reasons to think more carefully about making Yudof UC's next president. University of Texas has NO unions. Zip. Nada. Zero. The University of California has over a dozen unions that represent its employees, so we're a far cry from Texas! While the University of Minnesota does have unions, Yudof was only there for five years, and apparently during that short time, he managed to pay out $1.5 million to buy out the contract of someone who contributed to academic fraud and he pushed a steep tuition hike to raise faculty salaries.

Race Discrimination

Also, Yudof is quoted as supporting the notion that schools should be able to racially discriminate against applicants for admission, commenting on a high-profile decision (Hopwood v. University of Texas) about the extent to which Universities can accept or reject applicants on the basis of race. (UT ultimately lost that case).

Gender Equality and the UC

There is another niggling thing working at the back of my mind. The University of California has apparently never had a female President. A University of California report highlighting gender inequality in the UC system listed the UCOP President, Faculty, Chancellors, and other high level positions as areas where women have been statistically significantly underrepresented. Yudof is an older white male. Dynes is an older white male. Before Dynes, there was Atkinson, another older white male. A full chronology of UC Presidents may be found at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/atkinson/ucpresidents.html. While I am NOT a proponent of selecting any candidate based on gender (and that includes selecting a woman just to have a woman), when women make up at least 50% of the population, one wonders why the UC has never found a woman to be the most competitive candidate when searching for a President. Is UC's selection criteria mandating a Y chromosome?

The final word

While Yudof may have some impressive qualifications, the UC Regents need to take a hard look at what bringing him here will mean for the State and for UC. Considering our Governor has declared a fiscal emergency, ordered a hiring freeze, and UC is heading toward serious budget cuts, can UC afford to bring in someone at double Dyne's salary? Should UC even consider hiring a man who insists on making more than any other public University head in the nation and who pushed to take more money out of student pockets to fund higher faculty salaries (though he didn't take money out of his overinflated salary to do so!)

If that isn't enough, here's an additional fact that gave me additional pause. Yudof is a member of The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, an appointment President George W. Bush made in 2006.

That's right, on top of everything else, we're getting someone George W. Bush has full confidence in. That's scarier than all the remade Japanese horror flicks combined!